I have a 2001 Focus with 121,000 miles. I’ve heard that there was a time when a car with this many miles would have been considered old but that cars have improved to the point where this is not so.
Opinions?
This is really IMHO territory, but the answer depends on the age and model of car, how well it’s been taken care of, and where you happen to live.
For example, by what you have said I would have thought your car would be past its prime, given normal expected wear and tear, however it could theoretically last another 100K miles if it was well taken care of, you lived in a moderate climate with good roads, and if you were lucky.
IMHO, the 100k mile mark has been replaced by the 150K mile mark. You can shell out 6,000 - 9,000 for a 10-year old common car (Civic, Fusion, etc) that has 100,000 miles on the odometer or more. I just sold a truck for 6400 bucks with 120k on the odometer.
I think one could argue that 175k miles is the new wall, where a huge drop off occurs in survivability. So, middle age is somewhere between 75,000k miles to 87,500 miles.
YMMV. See what I did there? 
Since the OP is seeking opinions, this is better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
In my experience, modern cars (post 1995 or so) will outlast older cars by quite a bit mechanically, but the paint and interiors will still crap out at the same rate as the older ones.
So you may have a 100,000 mile car that runs great, but it looks like a 100,000 mile car.
My general opinion is that most cars are middle-aged at 100,000 miles. That is not necessarily a mechanical opinion, but just because most people seem to get antsy about their car’s reliability once it gets close to 10 years old and/or 200,000 miles.
I realize there are always exceptions.
It’s not just mileage but years as well.
My 1987 Mazda 323 (w/227k miles) is starting to get difficult to find local parts for in the last couple years. So I would consider 20+years “old” due to the parts issue.
So less than 20 to maybe 10 years old is middle aged assuming about 10k miles per year. Put more miles on it/year and start reducing those.
Probably varies quite a bit. My car is nine years old, with 100K miles on it. I take good care it, and I avoid short trips, so the engine and driveline are healthy. However, salty Michigan winters take their toll, and there are a couple of spots where rust is starting to show. The rust will only advance from there. I plan to sell it a year from now. If someone else doesn’t mind the rust, I expect the car will be good for another 100K before someone considers selling it for scrap.
I guess that matches bump’s perspective.
I read an article on peak oil a few years ago where the authors were talking about how expensive it would be to convert the vehicle fleet of the US to forms of fuel other than petroleum. One thing they mention is that the general lifespan of a car is 17 years before it is junked, so even if you start mandating all new cars have new fuel X, it will be 17 years before the oldest petroleum cars are getting junked. I don’t remember if that was the average or the median though, but 20 years is a good rough estimate for the life of a modern car.
As far as miles, it depends. I see Hondas and Toyotas with 160k+ miles being sold for several thousand dollars. I wouldn’t expect to see very many Jeeps, Dodges or Kias going strong with those kind of miles.
Personally I consider 150-180k the downhill mark where the costs of repair are exponential after that. But that is because my truck worked great until it got to 150k and then started falling apart.
As far as middle aged, I would say starting at 6-7 years and 80k miles it starts to become middle aged and isn’t young anymore.
I disagree. Paint and interiors seem to be lasting much longer, too.
My first vehicle was a 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit. It did not make it to 100,000 miles. By 1987, pieces were falling off (door handles, the emergency brake handle, etc). It was also rusting badly.
My second vehicle was a 1985 Mazda GLC. It made it to about 120,000 miles. By the end of its life, the paint and interior had badly faded, and there was visible rust in many areas.
My current vehicle is a 2004 Toyota 4Runner. It currently has about 160,000 miles on it, and still feels fairly “new” to me. The interior is in great shape, and so is the paint. There is no rust visible anywhere on the vehicle’s body. It runs great and still handles well. Knock on wood, I have not had to do any major repairs yet (other than maintenance items like brakes, and the muffler at 150,000 miles). It doesn’t even have a timing belt that needs to be replaced. People are shocked when I tell them how many miles there are on it.
My wife has a 2003 Subaru Outback. It has not aged quite as well as the Toyota, but is still going strong with about 170,000 miles on it.
I feel confident that my 4Runner will easily make it to 200,000 miles, and perhaps a great deal more.
For me, it’s about two years.
Not all of us can afford to buy a brand new Nissan Sentra every year you know.
Damn. My 1971 Super Beetle made it to 156K before crapping out.
Come to think of it, with the exception of one car that got totaled in an accident, every car I’ve owned has made it at least that far.
For me, having a garage has made a gigantic difference. Now that we have a garage, our '96 Corolla (130K) and '02 Honda (94 K) each still look decent and drive decently. I’d say they’re middle-aged.
Hoping to get the Corolla to 238,857.
As a counterpoint, my '99 Olds Alero is a Chicago city car. Street parked in harsh winters, lots of sitting parked until recently and lots of short trips and bumper to bumper traffic. It’s less than 11 years old and has about 85,000 miles on it and it’s going to probably strand me and be in the scrap yard inside of 3 months. It’s badly rusted, both the body and frame, and parts are failing left and right. The instrument panel is lit up with a Xmas tree. The tranny recently started acting up and as the weather has cooled it’s almost impossible to get out of first gear in the cold of the morning.
So yeah, it’s not about the years or the miles, it’s about the circumstances. My car is basically a WWI vet, it’s been gassed, shot at, frozen, infected with dysentery and fed a steady diet of bacon, cigarettes and K rations. It’s old and all used up.
Just an anecdote, but if the Subarus that people that I know have owned are at all typical, Subarus don’t age as well as other cars. The AWD is nice though.
Better keep an eye on that car. It might develop a mid-life crisis and go out and buy a Porsche.
So my 2001 Saturn SC with only 45,000 miles on it is still a whippersnapper?
Really? Cosmetically, they may have some issues, but the boxer engine is notorious for just keeping on ticking. My Outback does have quite a bit of body rust but that’s because I keep dipping it in salt water while launching my boat. And at 15 years old and ~210K miles, I really can’t complain.
I think it was probably at 170K before I stopped thinking of it as “the new car”.
If I used your rule, then I’ve only ever bought 1 car that wasn’t already old. I like your rule. It means I have a steady supply of fairly cheap (but plenty of life left) vehicles. Stick with it!