> I wish they would still build reliable cars like these today.

How do you know they don't?

Look at Nissan. Their CVTs are known to have an effective life of about 60,000 miles. Anything beyond that is betting against the reaper. Because of the way the transmission is mated to the engine (in order to reduce the overall size) most times the cost to replace it costs more than the car is worth. Many times insurance will total a seven or eight year old Rogue or Altima if the CVT needs replaced. This is because Nissans depreciate in value so quickly, and it's somewhat of an ouroboros in that they depreciate in value so quickly because of the short lifetimes of the CVTs.

Meanwhile Mitsubishi has been suffering issues with their AWD systems failing, and because the Eclipse Cross and Outlander Sport are sold primarily as AWD that affects a majority of their sales.

Ford's had the issue with the dual-clutch automatics failing on the Focus, Fiesta, and Escape.

Dodge has... Well, really only the Durango currently that's reliable. The Charger PHEV is having all sorts off issues, from the battery packs overheating to random software glitches to the engine refusing to disengage from the electric portion of the drivetrain. The Hornet's been getting the shit kicked out of it by Kelley Blue Book and Consumer Reports because the transmissions are ripping themselves apart and the BCMs are bricking themselves.

Jeep's had issues with the Cherokee, Wrangler, Gladiator, and Compass because of the Pentastar engine nuking itself before 100,000 miles either by losing too much oil or the water jackets cracking. Meanwhile the differentials in the Wrangler and Gladiator have had problems that Stellantis denies.

Back before about... I'd say 2016? 2017? You had a lot less issues with new cars. Most issues were simple recalls like transmissions slipping out of gear or premature wear on the cams, not something that would entirely junk the car.

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https://www.murileemartin.com/Junkyard/JunkyardGallery-300kM...

Check out this list. This guy is at the junk yard all the time. It's possible he isn't checking newer cars for high miles, but notice how all these mega high mile cars are from the 80s and 90s.

And related to the article, note the 500,000 mile Ford Econoline.

> It's possible he isn't checking newer cars for high miles

I read a few of the articles, he states the problem is that cars starting in the late 90's have digital LCD odometers that can't be easily read on a dead car

Electronics don't usually last for more than 30 years. Pre-2007 cars can be driven for that long because they had minimal electronics and relatively oversized manufacturing. This was because managers hadn't yet taken charge of reducing material thickness to the absolute minimum.

> Pre-2007 cars can be driven for that long

Even in the final years of the 20th century it was considered a big deal and a testament to a car's quality if it got past 100k miles. Even in the decade before that it was common for odometers to only have five digits, because most people would never need the sixth.

> This was because managers hadn't yet taken charge of reducing material thickness to the absolute minimum.

Henry Ford sent people to junkyards to see what parts hadn't failed, in order to make them cheaper.