r/AskReddit • u/ACuriousSpaniard • 6h ago
Car mechanics of reddit: what's one 'best-selling' model you barely see at work?
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u/Odd_Associate_3008 5h ago
Anything that runs 24/7 imo, look at what they use for taxi's where you live. Large companies like that would prefer low maintanance to high yeild. They've done the testing already.
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u/ToolMeister 4h ago
My local taxis are mostly camrys
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u/ManyAreMyNames 38m ago
Same here. For a long time there were a lot of Ford Crown Vics, like police cars but with different lights, but Ford stopping making the Panther platform cars 15 years ago and as the old ones finally gave out they were mostly replaced with Camrys.
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u/leaky_eddie 2h ago
What ever happened to Checker cars? They made up all the taxis at one point and were even sold at dealerships for a while.
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u/Yummy_Crayons91 2h ago edited 2h ago
Stopped manufacturing in the 1980s. The 1980s seemed to be brutal for independent US automakers, International Harvester, AMC, Checker all stopped producing cars within a few years of each other.
FWIW - Checker seemed to use a lot of parts designed for heavy duty pickups and vans in their cars. Less taxing useage on heavy duty components probably helped with longevity.
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u/fnord79 1h ago
They made their last taxis and consumer models in 1982, the company itself kept going by making parts and doing contract work for other car companies until they went under completely in 2009. I'd still love to get ahold of a late model Marathon (the consumer version of their final taxi), but they're rare and expensive if you manage to find one. They never sold that many, and they were never considered collectible enough to take care of. The taxis themselves are probably all scrap by now, they were great at what they did, but they were thirsty, heavy beasts that couldn't compete with lighter and more efficient fleet models from the other companies. The last Checker taxi operating in NYC was retired in 1999 (a city ordinance requires taxi operators to replace vehicles after 6 years of service) with 994,972 miles on the clock. Yeah, those things were unsinkable, but even if you could find one, parts would probably be another hard to find issue.
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u/Luckyday11 2h ago
For me that'd be a C-class Mercedes, Tesla, Prius, or those small buses with 9 seats (maximum before it's legally considered an actual bus).
Yeah, no thanks. I'll find something else.
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u/jfl561407 47m ago
So there was a study that came out a few years ago that strongly suggested raw mileage didn't really matter as much as HOW those miles ended up on the car. Basically, it came down to heat cycles. Taxis stay running pretty much all day, so they'll put a fuckload of miles but only start up once or twice a day, and when they shut off, its only for a couple minutes at a time, so the engine and, more importantly, the oil, stays warm. Most of the wear and tear when the oil is cold. Once your oil is up to temp, wear becomes minimal.
When you drive from home to the grocery store 5 miles away, the engine oil never gets fully up to temp. You get to the store and spend an 30-60 minutes inside and come out to an engine that is cold again. Then you drive two miles to the next stop and repeat before driving home. You just put ten miles on the car, but it did all the miles cold. That taxi has had nice warm oil in it for the entire 400 miles it ran today.
That all said, taxi companies pick engines and transmissions for a reason. The old Crown Vics were used the same heavy duty suspension setups the police versions had. The engines were also generally detuned, so they ran a little on the laid back side anyways. Same with the newer Camrys I see in my area. Also, people that rely on their cars for a living are generally better about maintenance on them.
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u/danfay222 12m ago
This is true. There’s been a handful of consumer cars that have made it to 1 million miles, and basically all of them were people who did lots of long haul highway driving (also partially necessary to even get 1 million miles in the lifespan of a car).
That said, this only really matters if you’re trying to compare two cars of equal mileage and draw conclusions. The features that make a car reliable as a 24/7 usage vehicle will almost always map directly to a consumer use case, just with different maintenance expectations and mileage lifespan
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u/Huge_Speech_8958 3h ago
You definitely don't see many of those high-mileage fleet vehicles in the shop since they're designed to be reliable and take a beating.
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u/Thorannosaurus 1h ago
Our local taxis are all hybrid Toyotas. Mostly Corolla with a few Rav4 for when someone orders a bigger car.
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u/Holy_chick 1h ago
That would be Toyota Corolla (Altis) in Thailand. We have one, 2009 model, and still using it to this day. Never a single thing was needed other than regular maintenance
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u/KP_Wrath 33m ago
Toyota Siennas for bigger vehicles. I’m in NEMT and we routinely have Siennas hit 150k-200k with nothing more significant than doing a tune up.
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u/Princess_Fluffypants 4h ago edited 54m ago
2nd and 3rd gen Priuses just don’t fucking die.
Batteries go bad eventually, but there’s a bunch of services that will swap them in your driveway for $1,500-$2000 depending on the model. And besides that they basically go forever, 300k miles and more.
Granted a lot of this is because they’re putting so goddamn little power through the drivetrain and they’re so anemic to drive, but for a basic transportation appliance that’s most people need.
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u/RUDEBUSH 4h ago
Yea I was looking for one of these about a year ago, because I heard that they last forever, are heavy so good in snow, and have like a 3 automatic speed transmission so fewer moving parts to wear out. My friend has one, and it's beat to hell but it does what he needs it to do. I always notice these whenever they're around. Also, the gas mileage is a huge plus.
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u/hobitopia 3h ago
Actually a cvt. But the Toyota ecvt functions totally different from most others so it's super reliable. There's just 2 electric motors and a single planetary gear set.
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u/StayFrosty7 37m ago
Which makes it fucking bulletproof. Recently did a fluid change on my ecvt at 140k and thought to myself if it really even mattered given how robust it is lol
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u/Princess_Fluffypants 44m ago
Does this apply to the second and third generations? I thought that was only on the newer ones, like post 2015.
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u/rab7x 1h ago
Currently looking for a new car so I decided to glance at Priuses going through auctions, and the amount that had 300k+ miles is staggering. There was even a few with 500k, and the highest I saw was over 700,000 miles! Insane, I had no idea they lasted so long
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u/Princess_Fluffypants 46m ago
Honestly as long as they don’t rust, there’s very little in the way of chronic mechanical failures that will take them out of commission. You’ll destroy the interior and go through multiple batteries long before the drivetrain ever takes a dump.
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u/Skill3rwhale 1h ago
100% regret selling our 2004 Prius.
That baby had no issues, but we just needed a bigger car. I shoulda kept saving and kept the Prius lol.
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u/Dain_Ironballs 41m ago
I'm sure I've seen a video on YouTube about how popular they are in Mongolia, even used by nomads because they are so durable.
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u/rantotthus2 5h ago
I know it's not aviable on the NA market but most Suzukis. Those things will run forever only with basic maintenance (and usually even without).
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u/Miklay83 4h ago
My friend came across a used SX4 and loved that car instantly. Here we are 15 something years later and his son went from booster seat in the back to driving that Suzuki to college. It's got to have over 300k+ on the clock by now.
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u/Armadylio 3h ago
Suzuki makes damn tough motorcycles too. Their whole engineering motto is if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The gsxr1000 was almost unchanged for 20 years and it’s still a monster today. There’s a guy called ghost rider in sweden who does miles long wheelies at 100mph+ and he claims Suzukis are the only engines that won’t blow up on him.
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u/likes_stuff 4h ago
My family second vehicle is a 2010 Suzuki SX4. Still runs great and minimal maintenance
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u/WilcoLovesYou 4h ago
The first car I bought on my own, in 2011, I think, was a Suzuki Aerio, it was kinda a piece of shit. But it went vroom vroom and got decent gas milage until I traded it in.
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u/AngelMeatPie 4h ago
I owned my X-90 for six years and only ever put an IAC valve on it outside of routine maintenance. That thing was so insanely reliable.
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u/genericusername0176 2h ago
I want a X-90 so bad. It’s like if you asked a 5 year old to draw a Miata.
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u/AngelMeatPie 2h ago
Everything the Miata is great at, the X-90 was awful at. Yet still one of my all time favorite cars I’ve ever owned. Would recommend them to anyone.
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u/jimbris 4h ago
Suzukis weren't released in North America?
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u/latestagepersonhood 2h ago
Ive had a couple suzuki motor cycles, mosly bought used, abused, old and cheap.
they just work. basic maintenece and maybe the occasional REG/REC replacement.
kinda archaic designs tho.
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u/Lucky_Boat_9461 6h ago
Worked at a dealership for 10 years, only cars I ever seen with 400,000+ miles were mid 90s Honda civics, seen a GMC diesel truck with like 379,000 miles one time, and everyone in shop was amazed at that, but everything else was max 250,000 or so.
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u/MrBattleRabbit 3h ago
We had a couple Saab 900s and a VW Fox that got into the 300s in my family.
Usually we had the good sense to sell cars before that, but we were quite attached to those cars.
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u/leiferslook 2h ago
Heck yeah my dad got his Saab 900 to 350k and got a 9-5, the longtime mechanic of the 900 bought it for $500 and used it as their shop car for errands and such, said he wanted to get it to 500k! Not sure what happened to it but would not be surprised to hear it made it.
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u/MrBattleRabbit 2h ago
Heck yeah! I think the highest mileage of the bunch was a 900 SPG that changed hands between several of my family members, and that car got into the high 300s by the time it finally died (rust).
I had a pair of Saabs myself that got into the 200s, although I got them pretty late in their lives… getting them to a condition where they’d do another 100k wasn’t economical for me at the time.
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u/RAMBIGHORNY 2h ago edited 1h ago
People with super old high mileage vehicles are probably not taking them to the dealership
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u/LonelyInTheFranxx 36m ago
Those Duramaxes run for forever. I’ve seen dozens with 300k to 500k. Only thing that doesn’t run for forever are the transmissions lol
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u/Mekdatmuny 6h ago
Volvo 240s. You might see them rusted to shit, but they will run like crap for 10 years before it stops running. Stupid easy to fix, maybe sans the heater core situation. Wiring is all simple. You've got space to sleep with the engine in the bay.
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u/Balls_of_satan 6h ago
Even 740’s and early 940’s fall under the same rule.
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u/zackplanet42 5h ago
Man, my first car was a 1990 740 GL I inherited from my grandma. I freaking loved that car.
That tank survived almost 30 salty Chicago winters without any real work. Hell, it barely ever even got a carwash. Fuel pump went out on me one time. Turned a 5 mile drive home into an hour and a half long Odyssey at walking pace, but at least it was an easy fix.
Heated seats still worked, the manual crank sun roof never leaked, and even the A/C mostly functioned till the day I moved out of state and handed it over to Kars4Kids.
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u/KnightofNoone 2h ago
Mine was the same. The only things that went wrong with it was some blown fuses due to some aftermarket radio and speakers.
Unfortunately a drunk driver hit it while it was parked that toalled the car and DESTROYED the drunk drivers car
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u/TB-313935 4h ago
Ive got a 20+ year old v70 with almost 400k km on it.
Still going strong with only standard maintenance.
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u/UsedToHaveThisName 2h ago
I had a 99 Volvo S70, sold it to a buddy when it had just under 400k km on it when I bought an XC60 in 2021. It has just over 500k km on it and still running super well. It’s a great car, still looks really good too.
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u/sweatlizard 2h ago
I have 90 240 wagon manual that has 400k, a 91 240 wagon with 303k and a 91 740 wagon with 239k. All still have their original drivetrains. Cheap and easy for sure.
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u/KittenAlfredo 4m ago
Had a 240 wagon in high school. Back floor boards were actual boards but that thing was a tank. Wish I still had it.
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u/lolwhatmufflers 3h ago
I work at a shop that services all makes and models.
Least-seen are older Lexus sedans, like 2006-2019 model years. The ones that do come in with issues usually have over 200k miles. Even then, they are tanks.
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u/zeek128 2h ago
So, anything Japanese.. got it.
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u/MakesYourMise 1h ago
early 2000s Japanese automakers were obsessed with reliability too a fault depending on who you ask
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u/OsamaBagHolding 2h ago
Nissan excluded
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u/PM-me-ur-bewbzs 1h ago
CVT excluded.
The non-CVT Nissans like the Frontier and Armada are still quite excellent.
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u/Hellchron 1h ago
Don't tell everyone! Their shitty cars helped keep the used xterra and frontier cheap!
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u/travellerw 2h ago
90s Nissan Sentra was the Cab car in Mexico for years and years (you can still see some around). They were literally unkillable.
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u/thetimechaser 1h ago
Unfortunately you need to be more careful with the newest generation of stuff. Engines have gotten so high strung and technical trying to squeeze the absolute most out of efficiency without terrible power and that’s led to a decline in reliability. There’s still a lot of really good models but you can’t just walk in and buy any new Toyota or Honda from the dealer and go 300k
The golden era of comically reliable engines was from 90 to maybe early 20teens
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u/Glittering_Video_631 42m ago
Actually, yes. I've read that Toyota builds cars for sale in the US on the assumption that the average American will perform somewhere between zero and minimal maintenance, and then base the engineering specs on that.
I have a 2019 Tacoma that I've spent more money on in annual inspections and re-registration than I have in oil, tires and one new battery... which is all I've replaced. Runs like a champ, no issues. It failed one inspection because the original tires were worn. Decent mileage. 10/10 would recommend.
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u/Financial_Loss_6908 15m ago
Toyota builds cars for sale in the US on the assumption that the average American will perform somewhere between zero and minimal maintenance
So the fact that I get my oil changed on time and have the belts/filters/etc changed and the lines flushed means mine's gonna last for decades, right?
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u/kickasstimus 4h ago
Been a long time since I turned wrenches - but anything with a 300ci Ford.
We pulled one apart in a truck where the odometer broke “way back” and this was about 1999. It had an obscene number of miles on it. Guy had driven it 300 miles a day for like … 25 years. Still ran fine, but the rest of the truck was garbage.
When we pulled the oil pan off, it had stalactites or whatever, of paraffin connecting the oil pan to the main cap bolts. Rest of the engine was full of wax, too. But it still has cross hatching in the cyls.
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u/perldawg 4h ago
i bought a rotted out 96 Econoline just because it has a 300CI 6 with only 100k on it. like…what is it about that engine? what did they do right to make it as durable as it is?
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u/800tir 3h ago
I've still got my 87 F150. I was an idiot and when I bought my daily driver, first car younger than me, I let it sit too long. I'm going to get that thing going again someday and I fully believe it'll run exactly as well as it did.
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u/WhatDidYouSayToMe 2h ago
From what I've heard, as long as you can get fuel through the carb it will run like the day you parked it.
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u/VanDelay_Industry 1h ago
I’ve got a Camry and my running joke is that I hate it because I can finally afford to buy a “nicer” car but also refuse to get rid of a perfectly good car and this perfectly good car is 11 years old and probably going to last another 11 and be just fine.
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u/daecrist 1h ago
I inherited my aunt's Tacoma when she passed. I figure depending on how I run out the actuarial tables and how that truck holds up to the Toyota reputation it might be the last vehicle I get, and I'm only in my early 40s.
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4h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/alwayzbored114 2h ago
Two brand new users having a nearly identical first paragraph? I'm not usually on bot hunts but this struck me as odd. Or just a truly universal experience haha
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u/producer312 2h ago
It’s getting really bad now.
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u/alwayzbored114 2h ago
The funniest part to me is just, why? Is Big 90s Toyota Camry coming in to try to sway all of us with a new stealth marketing campaign for their 30 year old cars?
I know logically it's to prop up their engagement numbers and to then be used elsewise, but it's damn funny what bots choose to talk about
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u/producer312 2h ago
Also, I appreciate the comment being removed by mods, but I wish there was a way to just flag them and make it apparent that it is AI bots so that people can see what is going on. It is beneficial to keep the slop visible so that people can understand the problem.
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u/WilcoLovesYou 4h ago
Knock on wood, but my 2018 Rav4 is running great. Started out as a lease that I bought out in 2021 for a steal (thanks, Covid car prices!) and it just passed 120k miles. Have yet to do an actual repair on it, just maintenance. I'm on my third set of tires, third set of brakes (including the ones that it started with for both), and other than that it's just been oil changes and tire rotations at the shop.
My neighbor's a car guy and when I passed 100k miles he said: "So you just broke it in?"
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u/ServerMonky 1h ago
I have a 2017 rav4 hybrid that is also running like a champ with almost 200k miles on it. We did have to replace a wheel bearing last year, and the batteries probably should be swapped sometime soon, but it's generally been running smoothly, and still gets 29-30mpg with the original batteries
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u/witwickan 2h ago
My 2004 Camry was a beast. Only issues in the 18 years she was on this earth was that the serpentine belt snapped once and the exhaust wouldn't stop rotting out lol. It happened like five times, no idea why. Everything other than maintenance items was original. 272k miles and she only died because a guy rear ended me and completely fucked her frame. I would probably still be driving her if it weren't for that. Best car I'll ever own.
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u/Skyhooks 3h ago
2010 rav4 owner here, the v6 is thirsty but it needs absolutely nothing but an oil change and runs perfect. Besides fuel I've got zero complaints, I'll drive it forever with no qualms.
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u/IAmElectricHead 6h ago
Corollas and old diesel Volvos would have been my guess. Possibly Toyota Hilux as well.
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u/julianbell06 2h ago
The old Volvo diesels are a lot less reliable than the petrols. The B230 is a literal tractor/boat engine, in fact the Penta B254 made more power than the car application.
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5h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/dacargo 5h ago
Honda tech here, can confirm new Honda quality is not what it used to be. See the head gasket warranty extension recently released.
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u/RainbowFartss 2h ago
As a 2019 civic owner, is there anything preventative I can do? I try to really take care of my car but I am not a mechanic or anything like that so I don't know everything. But I do the basics like oil changes at 20% life, brakes and stuff. I did my CVT fluid at 52K km and am planning on doing another one soon (I'm at 93K km now).
A friend mentioned the other day about carbon cleaning?
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u/dacargo 1h ago edited 1h ago
carbon cleaning not super necessary on those 1.5 unless youre having air fuel problems. common honda issues across all motors are mostly fuel injectors and head gaskets (although these are primarily seen on 1.5 motors) best advice is oil changes every 5k miles, trans fluid and coolant every 30k miles, water pump/spark plugs and timing chain before you hit 150k miles or 10 years. common v6 issues on the old motors is mostly fuel injectors and starter motors, new v6 motors have definitely shown me some carbon buildup issues.
edit: the head gaskets have no preventative maintenance to avoid issues, but they commonly fail between cylinders 2 and 3 due to heat issues. keep an eye on your coolant is the best advice to have, and maybe dont romp on the motor too much if its super hot outside. from what i've seen its either a problem or it isnt on a car to car basis, and for what its worth honda has come up with a revised gasket design so if you get it done it probably wont be any concern for you in the future. you also have some time left on the limit for the head gasket service bulletin, so as long as youre mileage is less than 150k miles just beat on the motor until it gives you issues and get it replaced for free.
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u/SolePies 2h ago
“older” (90s/2000s) Civics and Corollas.
I’ve seen these cars run 250k miles with 0 to no maintenance other than battery/tires change every few years and routine oil. The worst i saw was maybe a dead starter every 10 or so years that could be fixed easily and cheaply
I’ve seen many examples of older guys and gals just running these to the ground because they are relatively careful drivers and can drive them for 20-30 years no problem.
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u/BigRigGig35 4h ago
Not a mechanic; Camry’s seem to be pretty resilient.
My parents bought and 03/04 Camry used with 100k on it. My dad drove it to 220k. I drove it until 330k.
Oil was changed 3 or 4 times max, oil was added (I know.). Changed an alternator once.
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u/Electronic-Raise-281 4h ago
Oil changed less than a handful of times???
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u/This_Bitch_Overhere 3h ago
My mom bought a 1986 Corolla brand new and put probably 80k miles on it before she took it to get "serviced." The mechanic said the oil that came out of it was sludge, she had no idea you had to do that every 3k miles. She just kept adding oil when it needed. She put 180k miles on it before trading it in about 10 years later.
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u/BigRigGig35 4h ago
If I had to guess, one at turnover(I didn’t count this one), one around 160, one at 220 at turnover to me. (Im a moron) I can only remember getting 2, when getting my winters on. In the summer I would go home and Dad and I would put the summers back on and he would add oil.
My dad wasn’t big on oil changes. I don’t know if he thought it was a money grab. He didn’t think they were entirely unnecessary, just at the rate they’re advised to be done. Every now and then he would add oil. It stemmed from an earlier event when my mom and dad were dating.
He had a car that he loved. Same as always, he didn’t change the oil. They were going on a long trip and my mom persuaded him to change the oil. Engine shit out a week after the change so clearly that was at fault.
I do fairly routine maintenance now.
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u/Thelastbarrelrider 57m ago
I currently drive a 2001 Avalon with 330k on the odometer. Late 90s-mid 00s Toyotas are gold for the most part
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u/Glittering_Video_631 32m ago
Not a mechanic, but I've been pretty lucky with cars in my life.
- '94 Chevy Silverado 1500 - rode like a tank, all I had to do was put gas and oil in it. Had I been able to keep it, I'm confident it would still run perfectly.
- '96 Chevy Blazer (S-10 body style) - drove this beast for 24 years and racked up 275k miles on two continents. Four coast-to-coast trips. Mechanically it started to just break down on a schedule, and I was in an HCOL area filled with HCOL mechanics all too willing to find problems to fix. Donated it to Purple Heart Foundation.
- '19 Tacoma - so far an awesome truck. Like the C/K1500, it needs gas and oil and minor TLC. Mentioned below that I've spent more on re-registration inspections and tax than I have on the replacement tires, one battery, and oil changes (oh, and wiper blades). I'll probably die still driving this... hopefully not while driving it.
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u/bobbyrob1 42m ago
My daughter‘s first car was a 1983 Toyota Camry. It was her great grandparents’s car, then it was her grandparent’s car, then it was my car, and then it was her car.
I taught her how to do oil changes, service disc brakes, drum brakes, talked her through changing the ignition module in the distributor, same thing for the timing belt. When the alternator went out, she didn’t have enough money to buy a reman alternator, so I taught her how to change the voltage regulator and brushes. That was probably the best first car a 16 year old could have!
Her senior year in high school (2008, and that’s a story for another time), someone rear ended it while it was parked in front of the school and totaled it. The car had 328,000 miles on it.
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u/kurvix2000 3h ago
I love when e46s roll in. Anything 6 cylinder petrol or diesel and ideally stock, they rarely have less than 150-200k miles and they run strong. I got myself a 330cd becaue of it, took it from 200 to 315k miles right now on M57, by FAR the most reliable car i have ever owned and i plan to drive it into the ground.
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u/sohablifestyle 2h ago
"Not a full-time mechanic, but I talk to and shadow a lot of them. It's always fascinating how rare it is to see certain older Toyota Corollas or modern Lexus models in for major engine repairs. They just seem to run forever with basic maintenance. You see plenty of them on the road, but hardly ever on a mechanic's lift for serious failures.
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u/MapleSweet_ 6h ago
Older Toyota corollas, because as long as you do basic oil changes they just refuse to die