Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
I find that cars are much more reliable today, than say, 20 years ago. The last 2 cars I've had required almost no repairs, except for regular maintenance. I find that a lot of people do not maintain their cars, and then end up paying more in the end. Not saying that you do that, but, around here, it seems common.
My last car was the most reliable car ever to sit in our driveway--a '97 Ford Escort. When it was about 9 years old the A/C died...which was partly a design flaw. Ford had some sort of thermostat that prevented the A/C from being used if it was <50º, which meant that it went unused for months at a time in MI. An unused A/C system ends up with seals that don't get lubricated from use.

That was the ONLY issue we had with that car in over 200k miles of use. When we sold it it was ~11 and we really only got rid of it because it was becoming too small as our kid grew. We essentially gave it to a friend who hit hard times as both she and her hubby were in college.