[dlmiller]

$7,000 to put a new engine in a 2011 GMC Terrain that was worth maybe $8000. The engine was recalled by GM for excess oil consumption, my engine had the fixed installed and still died 30k miles later.

I went with a new one because that particular vehicle ended up costing me more monthly than a car payment.

[mytdi]

I think OP's advice is good, that's what I would do, but I think for this particular vehicle it's not a good idea to replace the engine with a used one from a junkyard, because they have a lot of engine problems and the replacement engine wouldn't last long either. A friend of mine found out the hard way. Other vehicles though, I think it would be worth it replacing the engine with a used one in good condition.

[hourislate]

Stop buying shitty GM's. I learned my lesson back in in the late 90's when I couldn't keep a GMC Sonoma running long enough to sell it (was like 3 years old). In 2000 I became part of the Toyota family (worked for FORD at the time) and never bought anything else since.

The 2 Toyota and 1 Lexus we own are between 14-11 years old and look and run like they came off the assembly line yesterday (all 3 were bought used). I figure I am still good for another 5 years minimum on all of them.

[olyjohn]

Eh... my anecdote is that I know multiple people with GM vehicles with over 200,000 miles that run fine. And my 2007 GMC Sierra is still like new, and should have way more than 5 years of life left in it.

Your Toyotas probably have well more than 5 years left in them too. Unless you're someone who replaces cars at 100,000 miles, which a lot of people do.

[throwaway0a5e]

Lifetime TCO is a thing.

If you bought a Bubble Taurus in '99 and fed it a new transmission every 100k you'd probably come out the same after adjusting for inflation between then and now.

I deal exclusively in shitboxes that are about 10yr beyond what the demographics most represented. Anyone peddling a "just buy a particular brand and you'll be all set" narrative is just wrong. If you said "be rich enough to do maintenance on the book schedule and not abuse your vehicles" you'd be on to something. There's a reason everyone wants a used grandma car.

[WkndTriathlete]

That depends on how much you value your time. I have had Hondas for the past 25 years that have not required major repairs for anything. Worst was having to get the automatic transmission solenoid replaced on a Pilot with 240k+ miles on it. In your world that would be 6 transmissions over three cars over 25 years; there's no way I would make that trade, since those 6 transmission failures represent significant lost time (opportunity and time costs when the car breaks down, getting it back and forth to the repair shop, etc., etc.)

[jdmichal]

Funnily enough, my first car was a used grandma '99 Taurus. I sold it to a family member, and it's still driving.