Vovchandr

Consumer reports isn't something that I've been finding valuable due to their measuring rubrics and weights on issues.

Noted. You're correct I haven't been in either. To be fair my standards are pretty low. I'll try to arrange a drive in either in the future but back to drawing board in meantime. Maybe a 2010 Tacoma/4 Runner

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well said You're certainly a man with experience to contribute to this discussion as somebody who owns a fleet of obscure cars that are in various forms of restoration. The reason behind the thread is that it's one thing to have an obscure fun project car down for 6 months waiting for some part but that can't happen to a daily driver but both will face the same problems in the long term. A Defender while works on paper, it is practically a tractor for the road and is certainly not safe or good for long distances so unfortunately that's out as far as I'm concerned. What are the arguments against a W463 G Wagon? Modern enough to be safe with creature comforts. Long enough run span (28 years?) to have parts and options available globally. Not too sure on the V8 on the G500 but likely shared with other Mercs and I've seen people do LS1 swaps if needed. Body on frame. Built tough. Major manufacturer. Priced cheap. Talk me out of this being a good idea for long term. ~2005 for like $35k?

Matt Farah did all the legwork for you and did a test on just this He had a whole ownership series throughout the 2024 for this car. If I recall it was rock solid beyond a few small issues that got fixed with a window regular or similar.

The fact that he recently released all the data from the cyber truck explosion AND all the charging station data and pictures is way over the top for me.

For most people who drive A to B in their appliances it's a perfect car. Its not at all for me, whether financial or practical. I don't want to own depreciating assets nor do I want to deal with problems that used ones present. See above parts supply and troubleshooting. Used ones can be had for pennies and there are reasons for that. It would make a perfect second daily in addition to the main forever daily.

ITB's can be either roller barrel or butterfly valve. TWM's above (now owned by Borla if you need a rebuild) are butterfly type that are commonly used state side. Roller barrel talks I've mostly seen when people discuss things on the other side of the pond for K series or Rover engines and the like. I don't believe you have an idle air control valve for idle so your ITB's are likely setup to hold butterflies slightly open with an idle screw. Your manifold had ports for IAC valve but they are plugged (each runner has a nipple on it past injectors) On an old car like yours when it runs funny is to do full maintenance/inspection on all mechanical items that could have worn down over years and miles. Full engine health test > compression + leakdown. (can be rented) Sparkplugs replaced and regapped Coolant system pressure test (rent it at autozone/advance for free) Get a vaccum reader for each one of your runners to see if they are all pulling similar vacuum https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMC57R0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Ideally get a wideband air meter mounted as well Check the health of your air filter covering ITB's (mine disintegrated) Get a fuel pressure guage mounted to make sure you're getting around 40psi going into the ITB's You need to know all your mechanicals are solid before you want to dive in troubleshooting ECU or whether you need to Lots of these things have been learned by me the hard way over the years and are documented in my looong thread.. I'm slightly jealous of the people who have either modern engines or regular zetecs on stock ECU but unreliable cars make good stories so I have lots of those I suppose..

Very regular. Same ITB setup as most of us have state side with Zetecs/Pectel combos. Your biggest saving grace for having a Zetec is having @1turbofocus not too far away from where you are. He's not too familiar with Pectels while we messed around with mine but if you can have data logging sorted out, wide band installed, adjustable cam gears setup and software on your laptop then he can tune it just like anything else.

I've been battling this myself. One on hand I'm a big fan of not fixing something if it aint broken. On the other, it's been a wild card of issues throughout my ownership of 5 or 6 years now? I know if I get into swapping to a different ECU its going to be a long down time and it's not worth it for me as the "improvement" doesn't change anything in the day to day operation (IF things are working now). Improvement is in the troubleshooting and tuning for if/when that time comes. What is your induction exactly? ITB's? If so I personally wouldn't get rid of them. I love mine and they are really a defining characteristic of the car as it sits, thats why I kept them even throughout the issues. With that said, if you want to keep them you need to keep a standalone ECU of sorts and you can't go to stock. Going to stock regardless is a big undertaking with little to no gain other than sanity and you'll lose performance with this "upgrade". Committing to a new standalone is the right choice but it's expensive. Hardware alone will be thousands of dollars between wiring and a new unit. Not to mention labor if you're not doing it yourself. Hence the dilemma and why I and most people and up "stuck" with these units and keep limping them along. Last summer I thought I fried mine when I reversed the terminals on the battery and left the car dead. That lead down a long and expensive path of partitioning, getting a new unit and wiring harness, sending both old unit and new unit to CT for testing etc. Months of panic and a bill with a comma in it just to discover a 3.5A inline fuse that I couldn't find. Big problem is it's an old unit with very few active users. The few of us that have these units can stick together and make sense of it all and then it won't be nowhere near as much of a headache. We collectively now have some understanding of it, have the software, some of us have datalogging figured out etc Post here with questions/problems.

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Good to see other mind sets here. In my world daily doesn't need to be fun at all. More practical and Certainly preferred with some character compared to lets say an F150 or something. Strong preference for AWD, no coupes or sedans and no crossovers. Definitely needs to tow at least 3500lbs and fit family. That leaves Wagons and SUVs mostly. I don't expect it to be trouble free going hypothetically into 300k or whatever over next 15 years however long term parts availability is a must. Can't fix it if parts arent there. 2011 MBz E350 is a strong contender for my next daily but not necessarily a 20 year car. Maybe a 5 to 10 year. If I can skip it now with a better daily I might just go that route. I've considered Cayennes here previously of the same 2011 or so Era but I don't think I'd trust that long term. A 2008 or so Era V8 G500 is currently a potential front runner in my world. Certainly wouldn't lose any depreciation money on it anymore. With that said I'm still very curious about what mindset others have going into the future. Whatever car I'll end up with ill likely pre buy a bunch of consumables like brakes to stock up on just in case.

Long term ownership has been on my mind a bit lately. Some of us will still own 7s into the future and these are somewhat easy to keep going. Very simple overall and many parts can be made or swapped although some things are proving difficult long term like sourcing 13in tires. What about dailys? I like to have my daily car for as long as possible which means it needs to be pretty simple to begin with and have future parts availability. Whats a car that could be good to own for next 10 to 20 years into 200k miles +. Modern cars become a nightmare for long term ownership. Likely should be from a major brand and pretty mass produced. Likely should be relatively simple and possible open to an engine swap if necessary. I'm sure a number of you had issues with sourcing parts in recent years or just in general to nature of some of your other vehicles @Croc . If rebuild parts are NLA it makes it very difficult to keep a car on the road. Id like to say something like a Wrangler but their thirst for parts rules them out. Anything 2010+ generally speaking will be too dependent on too many sensors and overly complicated for no good reason. Something like an original Defender or MB G500? Both are similar to a 7 as they had a very long run on the same platform and are relatively simple?

Lego Cat

Keychain that was very hard to source for a while

A few more Stig Cat

Most of the time I don't enjoy being a modest 5 ft 7. That is until I get into a Crx, NA Miata or especially an S3 Caterham. Then I feel like my size is rewarded.

I need to start looking at tow hitches and 7pin wiring for the XC90 now. The day will be here before we know it

The S3 Tillet seat is even a tight squeeze into S3 chassis. Its a dreadful job every time.