4.0 V8, rear-wheel drive
It appears the current owner has taken very good care of the vehicle - he has a personal maintenance log, and it comes with shop manuals.
I have basic mechanical skills. Would I be able to work on this car enough to make it run “forever”, maybe with periodic help from the shop? (I’m attempting to do this with an ‘03 Trailblazer LTZ 240K mi.)
Vince
Id stick with your trailblazer. That era of GM was pretty high up in build quality & reliability.
Plus at that age & mileage (for both cars) anything could go. But, better the devil you know than the devil you dont. If the trailblazer is still in good condition keep it. You dont know what little gremlins that Lexus has.
Glad to hear that about the GM. This all makes sense, thank you.
At 23 years old it's already run practically forever in automotive terms, anything more you can get out of it is gravy.
Thank you. Do you think this type of vehicle is capable of lasting 500K miles with maintenance?
That doesn't seem realistic. Most of even the most reliable cars will not reach 500K miles without needing serious repairs costing more than it's worth.
Got it.
If you're really determined you can keep a car going almost indefinitely as long as it doesn't rust into pieces (see what they've done in Cuba), but for most people that just isn't an economically viable proposition.
Actually, I’ve been to Cuba back in the early 2000’s, and have seen those cars.
If you’re working with a strong platform (the LS 400?), can’t the cost of regular maintenance be competitive with replacing the vehicle?
This brings the Ship of Theseus to mind.
Hard to say. If the engine and trans go out there won't be any convenient old Soviet running gear around to create a Frankenstein-mobile as gets done in Cuba.
I drive old cars but ditch them when something that will cost a lot of money to repair goes wrong and buy another beater. It's what the British refer to as "bangernomics". It's not always easy to tell where to draw the line.