Detroit must be going down hill worse than I thought. My Wixom-built Lincoln Town Car didn't go POS on me until 2005, when it was 19 years old. I'm happy to say my 29 year old Bavarian tank is still holding up just fine.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Yeah everyone is starting to go now that my truck is getting on 8 years old.

Headliner.
Various dash lights that requite the replacement of dash parts to get back on again.
Oil leaks
No one can align the front end

Etc. 5-6 years is about as long as you want to keep an American vehicle.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I have to say what I never had those issues with my Excursion other than the oil drip but that is because I vent the crank case to atmosphere.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

That's about as long as I keep my reps. in their trucks, usually around 175K miles (although my eastern MA/Cape rep. put 240K on hers over the same period). That's about when the gremlins start showing up. I will say, appearance-wise my Chevy's have held up very well. Even when the trucks are nearing POS stage, they at least look good.

I just picked up a '13 for a new sales rep. Usually for new guys/gals, I go for a mid-level Colorado but my dealer stumbled upon a 2WD '13 Silverado 1500 short bed, extended cab on another dealer's lot. It must have been a factory order that someone backed out of the deal, it's the work-truck level but it's got power everything, AC, cloth, CD and the chrome package so it doesn't look at all work-trucky. The only difference between it and the mid-level equivalent is it's got the 6 banger and has rubber floormats.

The rebates on this trim level aren't as high as the upper levels, but we did get $6K off in rebates plus another $300 which paid for the bedliner so it was less than the last Colorado I bought (which I suppose is the reason the Colorado/Canyon is no more).

When they break $750K in sales, they get the next trim level up come replacement time. Get me $1.25MM in sales and they're into the next trim level up from that. While it's uncharted territory for us, my eastern MA/Cape rep is well on her way to a Denali package in 4 or so years.

Bottom line, even my lower performing guys are driving around in nicer trucks than I am.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Yes, pickups and SUV's are the money makers. The Tahoe, or Suburban or whatever it is, with the Leather interior added and the badges changed to "Escalade" is the REAL money maker.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

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