My Toyota Avalon Limited turned three years plus a day old yesterday. Bye-bye manufacturer's warranty coverage.
Haven't had any problems with it so far- and looking forward to more of the same in the coming years...
For the most part it is not te number of years but the number of miles.
For example 2 years ago I traded in my wifes 10 year old Camry that had about 35,000 on it. Outside of the scheduled service, all I did was put in gas,wiper blades, a new battery, and a set of tires.
Others may have worne out that car and had 300,000 miles on it in the same time.
The Avalon should go 100,000 miles easy with out spending much for repairs. Mostly a set of tires.
Yeah, been retired the last number of years and don't drive much any more. Only have 16,700 mostly highway miles on it. Probably last forever at that rate.
The seven year-old car I sold when I bought the Avalon needed about $1500 in major maintenance plus some repairs to return it to top shape.
But there was also a question mark about the cause of an A/T noise that was only present during creep speed up an incline. Opinions varied from just needing a fluid/filter change to big transmission bucks.
Bottom line is I was tired of driving anyway it so decided to pop for a new ride.
Wife and I are in the same boat not driving as much. Unfortunately age on a car also matters with components like tires which are recommended changing after 10 years because of potential for dry rot (oxidation). Same for other components like rubber belts and seal. If left out parked in the sun paint will weather.
A community college teacher told me that students were buying new cars way before they had mechanical problems just to keep up with modern electronics.
As an older driver I like the Eyesight system in my new Subaru. Hope I never have to use it but like it being there.
If the transmission was maing noise, it was time to get rid of it.
You bottom line was the same as mine. After having the car for 10 years and only about 35,000 miles I just wanted a new one.
I do have a 12 year old truck with only about 75,000 miles on it, but will probably keep it for many more years. Don't drive it much any more now as I am retired. Use to drive it to work every day but retired about 7 years ago.
Never had any problem with those in 45 years with the Golf/Rabbit. I did have spares of those but didn’t ever need them.
Never had any problem with that either and it was never in a garage or carport in its entire life.
I am considering replacing my now 13 year old Hyundai Getz with a new car just to get a decent advance cruise control but I can't find one that will do what I want. What I want will be mandated in future by the EU so I could be able to get one soon.
But it doesn’t really make much sense to spend that much just to get a decent cruise control. Otoh I'll never spend my vast accumulated wealth even if I live to 100 so I might as well get that for the convenience.
? Hope I never have to use it but like it being there.
I'd like to have a fully self driving car because we can have our drivers license taken away if we can no longer drive safely, but it remains to be seen if they will be viable before I cark it.
On Friday afternoonmy almost 24 year old Ranger with 370,000ish Km on it decided it wanted some attention. It just bucked and stopped, and turned on the check engine light. I pulled out my scanner and got code P0118 - datastreamed it and found the ECM thought the coolant was at
-40. I managed to get it restarted and headed forthe Ford dealer who fortunately had the coolant temp sensor in stock. I waited for it to warm up a bit on Saterday afternoon (to -4c) and changed the sensor on the driveway - 20 minutes and 50 bucks. First time it's tried to let me down
Yeah, aging belts/hoses/tire rubber deterioration was part of my decision too. Wanting updated electronics/driving aids was important also.
I really like the Avalon's lane drift warning/correction, backup cam with obstacle warning and radar rear cross-traffic notification, blind spot warning, pre-crash braking...and the radar-moderated cruise control that slows you down if you start to overtake a slowpoke in front of you is to die for.
Living in the deep south, the seat heaters don't get much use but the cooled air conditioning blown up through micro-perferations in the seat and backrest- really nice!
All the goodies like that are nice. My car also has the surround view for the camera so even better.
I participate in a Genesis forum. It is amazing at some of the complaints. I got my license in 1961 and we were lucky to have a heater and AM radio. Now people complain: You have to push the button to unlock the doors, my last car you just touched the handle The screen does not show the album art I can't see the text while driving, it only reads them to me I have to lock the doors, they don't lock when I walk away To change from DST to standard time I had to unclick a button. Shouldn't it do it on its own?
I may trade in my 2017 in a few years just for the electronic upgrades. I seem to be putting less than 5,000 miles a year on it now. Some one will be getting a very good car, just like the last 10 year old one I traded with about 35,000 on it. It was serviced and kept in a garage while at the house. Same as this one. About all this one has is the backup cam. I thought it had the built in GPS, however it is not a true GPS but something like a maping program that works off the phone. Make a wrong turn and it still thinks you are following the map. They did have an option for a true GPS and a way to update it. However if like most GPS units the cost to update it is very high. I use a Garmin that has free updates.
The selling dealer included one free Nav map update as part of the purchase deal- but Toyota didn't release an update for my model car for three years!
I doubt I'll update it again as they go for around $175. My $89 Garmin nuvi GPS from Costco has free quarterly map and POI updates for life- plus pretty much up-to-the-minute traffic alerts.
There's a funny YouTube video about the best way to update your in-car Nav system. It shows a guy sticking a Garmin to the car's dashboard Nav screen :-)
My nephew has a body shop and says all these goodies add significantly to the cost of car repair.
I'm from the same era as you.
My last car took me about a half hour to figure out how to change the clock. The new one Blue Toothed to my phone is supposed to work off the phone time but does not work on my flip phone. Fortunately there are buttons under the clock to change it.
That is similar to the update I did to a GPS unit a few years back. Tossed the old one in the garbage can and replaced. Got a new one for slightly over the cost of an update, better unit and free lifetime updates.
Hard to swollow 3 years before an update for your unit. I guess that I should be glad the map thing in my Toyota was not a true GPS. I just take the one out of my truck and put it in the car if I want to use a GPS.
Google maps on the phone leaves it for dead.
One of the reasons I did not opt for the in car gps. I have a Garmin with free updates but seldom use it.
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In most areas of US, probably so. Rural areas can be "not so much".
10+ years after the renumbering for 911 the maps outside of town limits are just wrong...And in portions of UT and other rural western states they have no clue often I've found.
Works fine for me in the wilds of australia. Tho the buggers were very slack here with the street view. They did a very complete street view here in 2008 but only did a very quick zoom thru a couple of the main roads in my 20K town in 2018 and didn’t even bother to add the new housing subdivisions at all. They are on the maps but no street view for them.
Brilliant with reports of map errors, they can get fixed in hours.
And when we had a major road outside town diverted for a month or two for the construction of a major roundabout, when it opened for traffic google maps was using it again for routing in hours. Not clear if that was due to a user report or some other way that happened.
Apple maps ignores all reports of map errors.
Not so great in the Transkei in South Africa tho when I tried to check something I was reading in a memoir.
Brilliant with the memoirs of a young kid in HongKong tho.
Have you tried reporting the error ?
Never seen that in the wilds of australia.
Many cars now have it standard. I get free updates for 3 years but if I want them after is is pricey, in the $100+ range. Updates are always behind anyway. My street has existed at least 18 months but none of the navigation units show it yet.
I do use it on a trip. When I first moved here I used it a lot until I found my way around. I still like to look at a paper map when planning a long trip. Just a little knowledge of geography I can find my way from Florida to Montana with road signs and never look at a map on the way. Once there though, it is nice to have navigation when looking for
1234 Main Street in Podunk, MT.
I much prefer to use google maps for long trips and havent bothered with paper maps for decades now, although I did used them a lot before gps showed up. We have a few towns with a rather quirky route for the main highway thru the town and google maps or a gps leaves paper maps for dead with those.
If the Toyota dies I'll be in the market for a 1965 VW mostly because I don't want any of that crap.
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