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When did cars stop being repairable?


ruralandalone
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19 hours ago, Pete M said:

I offer up a cutoff of sentry key (or whatever it's called) introduction.  when vehicles had to have that fob nearby in order to start.  screw that crap.  that's way too much computerizing for me in the hypothetical post apocalyptic wasteland. 

Sort of the reason I own an '81 MB 240D 4 spd. If XJ and WJ, I'd add a ZJ to the list. They have the same basic mechanicals as the XJ. From what I see they go for less money. A neighbor picked one up with minor rust for $500. A few minor issues. 

         I just looked at an '00 XJ with 215K, a few rust spots. Asking price $4,200. This was a dealer. No, I did not buy it.

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You miss my point(s).  You might, as a skilled mechanic, be able to replace the bearing in my diff.  You still have to deconstruct half the car to do it.  And even you cannot mess with the diff beyond that, as the parts are WELDED together.   Sealed  wheel bearings which supposedly last a long time, fail at 150000 km.   You can't grease them. 

And have a look at wiki's definition of "quadra-drive".  Just a  TAD more complicated than a  T90 tranny and a Dana 18 transfer case - which has always suited my needs...

So I may be dreaming to find a decent daily driver  that can be at least partly worked on by a person of my skill level, but I can hope, can't I?  

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14 hours ago, ruralandalone said:

Looks like the honda passport had some serious rust issues.  Not a good sign. The BMW's might be a goer.  Especially if I could find a wagon....

13 hours ago, ruralandalone said:

A cursory look suggests to me that the drive train on the wj is quite complicated.....

 

Not really.

The 4.0 is obviously a great motor but the 42re tranny sucks but they are easy and cheap to rebuild and you can put a shift kit that fixes most of their issues. Biggest fault really is the 4.0 isn't the best choice for a WJ.

The 4.7 on the other hand plenty of power for a WJ but not the friendliest engine to work on and they have their issues. But they have a way better tranny, 545rfe, and the quadradrive is a moot point since you can swap in a 242. 

 

You can also look for a E53 (X5 from BMW) if you want something a little bigger. if you can find one with the 3.0 those are great engines. I'd avoid the v8's, they aren't terrible and their biggest fault is the timing chain guides, DIY job but very involved. I had a 4.6is for a few years and like a typical BMW was amazing to drive. Going 100 felt like nothing and it just holds the road. Wagons are going to be tough to find. There aren't that many and are big with the roundel crowd. 

 

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Honda Passport. Stay away. 

 

My my wife bought one many years ago without talking to me about it first (college years, we were still only dating). 

 

I had had to fix it, often. And I don’t ever recall an “aha! I’m glad they put that there so that I could work on this car easily” moment. 

 

Under powered and GM parts on and Isuzu platform with Honda badging. Never again. 

 

Since we’ve disposed of the Passport, we have happily owned and sold a ‘98 Civic EX, and currently own an ‘04 Accord EX and a ‘17 CR-V EX-L. All of the actual Honda’s have treated us very well! 

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cars became disposable when they put computers in them...

 

i like the ZJs better than the XJ except for the drivetrain, if i can swap engine, tranny, transfer case and differentials from an Xj to a ZJ i´ll be great, as for pick up i would kill for a J10/J20 but my i´ll definitly keep my MJ, they gonna bury me with it

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Part of this repairability thing is cost of parts vs labour. In most cases a component like a transmission is going to be cheaper to purchase rebuilt or even brand new, vs the cost of labour to have a shop repair it. The shop gets the customer out the door faster and doesn't have to charge them as much. Manufactures know this and it's just anticipated no one is cracking a trans just to replace a couple $30 bearings. There's also less liability on the part of the shop in case something happens, and they don't have the customer upset with them when something completely unrelated that didn't get replaced in the trans $#!&s the bed a few months later. 

Just more crap from our society that would rather toss stuff and get new than fix things. 

The other thing is that the vast majority of vehicle owners aren't enthusiasts. To them, it's just a tool that gets them from a to b that they don't even care enough about to not drive it into other things. 

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