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Originally Posted by shovel
I would just like to state for the record that it has NOT been my experience that "Japanese vehicles outlast American vehicles", and I strongly believe that to be an obsolete and ignorant story that people repeat to each other and only believe because they hear it from each other all the time.
It has no bearing on reality, not in my household anyway. Any arguments can be directed at my girlfriend's on-its-third-transmission-in-110k-miles Acura TL and my 414,000 miles and still running on original drivetrain 81 escort (now fully retired) and 141k mile on original everything Tempo and practically brand new lookin' 2001 Blazer that I beat on in the desert every chance I get.
That said, it's going to be hard to combine "home on wheels" with "4x4" with "high MPG".... maybe a Steyr Pinzgauer radio truck? They're slow... but have portal axles and smal engines, should be easy to aeromod without big axles hanging under the box.
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I always wondered the validity of that statement as well. Once a salvage yard operator told me that the average time from factory to junk yard for american cars was 10 years and for imports it was 22 years, don't know where he got those numbers though. Toyota, Honda, and now Subura always seem to get the best reliability ratings for Consumer Reports who I think is an objective source. From their website: Overall, the most reliable vehicles come from Asian nameplates. Though domestic cars are getting better, they still trail the Japanese models. European models are also improving, but the older ones tend to be among the most problematic.
Used car reliability: Learn more from Consumer Reports
Then again there is that guy that says he got a million miles on his '95 Dodge Cummins Diesel.