Car lifespan 150k or Ten years says Ford

[previasc96]

Just watched a video on youtube about the Ford Dual clutch automatic. The man in the presentation noted that these transmissions don't need maintainence, that the fluid doesn't need to be changed over the life of the vehicle. He claims the life span of the vehicle is Ten years of 150,000 miles.
I just traded my 1994 Camry in to put my wife up in a base model 2012 Ford focus. The Camry had well over 200k on it and odviously had more to go. It seems that newer vehicles are not being built to stay on the road for 20+ years anymore. I guess I should just accept that I will probably have a car note for at least one of my vehicles for the rest of my life.

[Raxe]

BMW has been saying the same thing for years, in reality their definition of lifetime = extent of the warranty period.

[dnguyen1963]

The life span stated by Ford is the average life span. This includes all of the abused cars out there. If you take good care of your car then it can last much longer than 10 yrs.

[evandael]

like said before, ford factors in all the negligent fucks to come up with that number.


take care of a car, any car, and it'll last longer than you care to own it.

[Holland]

Yeah, there is no such thing as a "maintenance free" transmission.

[Dustn525]

yeah, there is no such thing as a "maintenance free" transmission.

+1

[Exodus_2pt0]

Most people only keep their cars for 3-5 years before they consider it used up. Many get trashed even before that either from neglect or wrecked. For the few e30's that we own, millions never even made it to the ten year mark.

Yeah, there is no such thing as a "maintenance free" transmission.

For the average owner, there is.

[slammin.e28]

Auto transmissions are maint free. When it blows you slam in a manual. Done.

[matthugie]

A guy I used to work with was telling me about his son's car breaking down on an unapproved road trip. He said "of course it broke down. It's got 100,000 miles on it, the car's done. I could have told you it was never going to make it." The trip in question was about 3 hours each way... I didn't bother telling him I had sold my last car with 250k on the clock and my current was over 160k.

[Q5Quint]

added a turbo to a 300k mile e30
current e30 at 250k
benz at around 300k

my new baby, the cummins, at a measly 128k
even my jeep had 160k

my biggest problem seems to be the odometer breaking, not the car.

When people say the 100k mile thing it just lets me know that they don't know anything about vehicles.

[Jalves619]

I haven't owned an e30 with under 200k.

[nando]

Most people only keep their cars for 3-5 years before they consider it used up. Many get trashed even before that either from neglect or wrecked. For the few e30's that we own, millions never even made it to the ten year mark.



For the average owner, there is.

millions? they only made about 2.5 million of them to begin with.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Maybe a little exaggerated, but still. A good portion of vehicles produced don't make it to 10 years.

[Quinthirty]

Just watched a video on youtube about the Ford Dual clutch automatic. The man in the presentation noted that these transmissions don't need maintainence, that the fluid doesn't need to be changed over the life of the vehicle. He claims the life span of the vehicle is Ten years of 150,000 miles.

You can google Ford DSG / DCT info and you would see that these claims are not true. So many issues on these new transmissions even on the new Focus. Consumers bringing in their cars at 10k miles for servicing, and Ford claims its a software issue.

I have a 2009 model with a (wet) DSG, and at 35k (vs. 40k in the manual), I had to replace the ATF because it was surging and bucking. The RPMs were going crazy and it was just upshifting and downshifting between gears, it was crazy. If I had run a few thousand miles more, I know I would damage the transmission.

The funny thing is, Ford claims it is sealed and unserviceable. No drain plugs. Essentially, throw-away. Found a transmission specialist to flush the oil in the system by using large amounts of oil (friggin wasteful). These trannies don't have filters and only strainers, and once it gets clogged, its all downhill from there...clogging>burning oil> clutch damage, etc.

We all know from experience that fluids need to be replaced every now and then so why design something like this? Planned obsolescence?

[eurohick.]

people who say cars arent built to last like they used to never owned a new car 25 years ago. the fact that 200k mile cars are still saleable vehicles, and average consumers keeping their cars for 8 years is proof of that.