Just found out that my current car will die any day now due to a known defect. It's out of warranty and I have no money to replace it right now.
I've been cursed with car problems my whole life, no matter how well I take care of them, I keep getting screwed.
All of the cars have been Fords because I always heard they were generally dependable and cheap to repair/upkeep, but so far they have all failed me.
What cars do y'all recommend? What cars do you have that just won't give up the ghost no matter how old/beat up they get? If your life depended on your car lasting as long as possible, what car would you drive?
I want whatever car I get next to last me 10-20 years. I want to be that person posting a picture of the odometer hitting 300k miles. I also don't care much about features, reliability is key.
Toyota Camry or Corolla. If you just need transportation that you can rely on to start every morning without requiring major repairs all the time, these are your best options. Honda Accord or civic if you just like Honda better
If those are too boring buy something else from either Toyota or Honda.
I have personally seen double digit numbers of these vehicles go north of 200k miles and multiple over 300k miles with little more than basic maintenance. Some of them were outright abused with maintenance not done, driven with no oil, in accidents, etc. They just keep on ticking. These are individual anecdotes that should be taken as such but I encourage you to read others' accounts as well. My experience is not unique at all. I'm convinced you have to actively kill these cars. I live in the rust belt and I am quite sure that the bodies of our Toyotas will completely disintegrate before the engines give out. All I do is follow the maintenance plan in the manuals.
This is not to say you don't get small issues, or maintenance items. You still have to replace brakes, tires, etc. We had random minor issues with the interiors. But they always started and did their best to get us from point A to point B.