My parents recently purchased a brand-new 2024 Toyota RAV-4 (XLE hybrid trim). This is to be their forever car, one to use for the majority of their retirement period. Being a Toyota product, I have no reasons to suspect it won’t (at least) mechanically last for two plus decades. The key is to keep it meticulously serviced, by the book, at the dealership. I suspect a lot of reliability issues people experience with cars is due to not following the correct service schedule. A mere oil change at the local Jiffy Lube every six months isn’t going to cut it.
This is why I am leery about buying the typical used car. You can never be sure if scheduled maintenance is done by the book. It’s likely safe to bet that it hasn’t. Owners aren’t wont to pay for what they think is needless extras, such as brake inspection, or lubing the jams. Soon as that two-year free maintenance plan is over, that Toyota Corolla is back to oil changes on the driveway. The only used car I’ve ever bought was a Porsche 911 GT3, a six-figure specialty sports car that I can count on owners to be meticulous. That car came with a full dealer service history with all the print-outs.
So in support of it lasting more 20 years, my parents’ RAV-4 will be serviced by the book.
That is something we can control. What we cannot control is other drivers on the road. I too have every intention of keeping my own BMW M2 for a very long time. However, all it takes is one errant driver crashing into me to destroy that long-term plan. I can defensively drive as much as possible, but sometimes an accident truly is an accident. Heck, I might do something careless on the road. It only takes one scant moment of inattention.
As with most things in life, the best we can do is take care of what we can control, and don’t stress about what we cannot. That Toyota RAV-4 will last a long time if the car gods deem it to be so fortunate.
As vanilla as it gets.