**The Troubles with Modern Cars: A Personal Perspective**

As someone who has had the misfortune of dealing with numerous cars over the years, I have come to realize that modern vehicles are not as reliable as they once were. My latest experience was with a friend's 2017 Toyota Sienna, which he purchased with high hopes and a sense of confidence. However, from the very beginning, he faced numerous problems, starting with the rear differential, which was deemed "unsafe" by multiple mechanics.

The first warning sign came when my friend took his car to an independent mechanic for maintenance. The mechanic informed him that the rear differential needed to be replaced at a cost of thousands of dollars. My friend was shocked and took the car back to its original owner, who assured him that everything was fine with the vehicle. However, as it turned out, the airbags in the suspension had been blown, and the ride wasn't as smooth as it should have been.

Despite these issues, my friend continued to drive his car, and I was impressed by how well it handled. He attributed this to the fact that he had purchased an older model of the Sienna, which allowed him to avoid some of the newer features that were prone to malfunctions. In particular, he skipped out on the sunroof, which is a feature that often requires frequent maintenance and repair.

The lack of a sunroof was no doubt a blessing in disguise for my friend, as it meant that he avoided the hassle and expense of replacing condensers every year. This experience has taught me that sometimes, the things we don't have can be the best decision we make. In this case, opting out of the sunroof allowed my friend to save money on maintenance costs.

**The Benefits of Older Models**

My friend's experience has made me realize the importance of analyzing everything thoroughly before making a purchase. As he pointed out, you never know what might go wrong with a modern vehicle. He also emphasized that older models can be a good option for those who want to avoid some of the common problems associated with newer cars.

In particular, my friend was impressed by how well his 2007 Toyota Sienna had held up over time. Despite being over 20 years old, it still runs smoothly and has never required any major repairs. This experience has convinced me that sometimes, older models are worth considering. With the right maintenance and care, these vehicles can provide many years of reliable service.

**The Challenges of Modern Cars**

However, my friend's experience also highlights some of the challenges associated with modern cars. One of the biggest issues is the tendency for manufacturers to prioritize profit over quality. As he noted, newer models are often designed with cheaper materials and less attention to detail, which can lead to problems down the line.

In particular, the rear axle on my friend's 2015 Ford F-150 was rusted beyond repair, despite being only a few months old. This experience has made me realize that sometimes, even reputable manufacturers like Ford can get it wrong. The fact that they seem to be taking shortcuts in their manufacturing process is not surprising.

**The Importance of Research**

As my friend's experience demonstrates, research is crucial when buying a new car. By doing your homework and asking the right questions, you can avoid some of the common problems associated with modern vehicles. It's also essential to find a reputable mechanic who will give you an honest assessment of your vehicle's condition.

In particular, my friend was impressed by how well his older Toyota Sienna performed, despite having some superficial rust on the rear axle. This experience has taught me that sometimes, even when things look bad, they might not be as serious as they seem. It's always better to err on the side of caution and have a thorough inspection done before making any major repairs.

**The Future of Cars**

As we move forward, it's essential to continue analyzing everything thoroughly and doing our research before buying a new car. With the ever-changing laws and regulations surrounding emissions testing, it's becoming increasingly important to consider alternative options. For example, my friend is considering putting in a 350 crate engine or supercharger into his older Toyota Sienna.

This approach may seem unconventional, but it could be the key to extending the life of your vehicle. By choosing an older model with a proven track record and adding aftermarket parts as needed, you can create a reliable and efficient machine that will last for many years to come. As my friend said, "He wants to keep it forever, and basically not a bad idea."

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, my experience with my friend's 2017 Toyota Sienna has taught me the importance of doing our research and analyzing everything thoroughly before making a purchase. By choosing an older model or opting out of features that are prone to malfunctions, we can avoid some of the common problems associated with modern cars. As we move forward, it's essential to continue this approach and prioritize quality over profit.

Additionally, my friend's experience highlights the importance of finding a reputable mechanic who will give you an honest assessment of your vehicle's condition. By doing our research and being thorough in our inspections, we can extend the life of our vehicles and avoid costly repairs down the line.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrev up your engines if you've heard me talk about chevy's i wouldn't buy a modern one because they don't make them like they used to it's an 07 tahoe four-wheel drive almost the original owner the original owner gave it to his son so i still say it's the original owner what does it have the original engine the original transmission the original four-wheel drive system it's all there it's all still working and none of it has had any type of work done other than changing the fluids now as we look inside check it out yeehaw it was made in texas arlington texas outside of big d this baby's got real leather seats well as real as they get the part that you sit on is leather but the back side is vinyl and the third row seats are all vinyl but in this case where are the third row seats hey where are they i see the second row seats well they are relatively heavy so he took the third row seats out throws him in the garage he uses it to carry stuff around so he doesn't need the third row seats but that was one of the big selling points of these you can pull an awful lot of people around in pretty good comfort it's a pretty bulletproof v8 engine now the only thing he's got against it is that it has that stupid system that he can turn off cylinders variable deactivation he doesn't like it so he's planning on putting the electronics in to turn it off but that said it's got 201 000 miles on it and it had that system on and it's still working he burns about a quart oil every 2500 miles that's really nothing i see the new ones that burn a quart every thousand he doesn't like the annoyance you get a big truck you're gonna get bad gas mods it doesn't matter what you put on it and that's kind of a gimmick but at least it hasn't destroyed his engine yet it's still the original engine this is rhode island so you can see anything that's got aluminum on it is going to look white and corroded like that don't let it scary if you're buying one from up here because that's just superficial corrosion aluminum parts just do that what you care about is the frame so let's look under there and what do we have again a little superficial but still solid as can be and look at that big old transfer case for the four-wheel drive it's clean it's not leaking and it still works fine as i said it's rhode island so of course these allied wheels they're going to get corroded when the coating wears off you can do them over if you really want to again that's totally superficial it's going to hurt anything a lot of guys will polish them off the reason they coat them is because they know americans are lazy and if they have the pure metal they know americans won't polish them and they'll look bad so they coat them with a clear cut like women's fingernail pops well what happens it wears off then they corrode like that you see all the american motorcycles do the same thing they look horrible especially harleys after a few years you paint something metal the paint's going to come off eventually and the wheels get hot from breaking and of course it gets flaky doesn't hurt anything and they don't lose air but it looks a little bad you can fix them up if you want if you're lazy take them to a place and they'll do it for you they'll do them all over or you know you can just spray paint them yourself now he doesn't tow with it but his father towed a 22-foot fishing boat that's why he got this with a four-wheel drive and he had no problems at all towing anything like that it's an enormous amount of space that's why people buy these things on a highway it's about 16.5 miles a gallon top gas mileage which isn't bad for something this big and this heavy and granted this is real gas mileage on a real four-wheel drive vehicle this isn't some fantasy epa made up on a dyno this is in the real world but you can sell it any way you want automatic two four high four low relatively sophisticated systems startup starts right up still sounds smooth with 200 000 miles you put it in gear it doesn't shake at all v8s are notorious for being smooth vehicles now the seat belt lights on because i'm not wearing a seat belt at the moment so that we don't care about got a lot of comforts on it it's no enough than it has things you want but not as insane as those modern ones they got a little bit carried away with electronics and other than that stupid cylinder deactivation that can be taken off they're solid built cars now i gotta say it's a solid vehicle but and this is typical in this country these days he took it in to get inspected he took it to a gmc dealer afterwards and the guy decided that oh it needed some work it needed six thousand dollars worth of work now i don't know what these guys have in their mind when they do that you see an old truck with 200 000 miles even if you're a dishonest mechanic dealer whatever you must have some kind of business sense and the business answer would be and i'll try to sell a guy with an old truck six thousand dollars maybe try to sell him 600 or a thousand dollars worth of stuff but not six thousand dollars worth of stuff now granted the rear airbags went out ages ago but he's been driving him six years that way he doesn't care like i say he's not towing he's not carrying heavy weights he doesn't care but a lot of this stuff was make believe they told him he needed ball joints now interestingly enough years ago he had the ball joints done now i'm assuming these clowns at the dealership just see here's an old truck so we'll sell them ball joints because it's got 200 000 miles they didn't know the history that had been changed before well guess what it didn't need ball joint he took him apart looked at him there was no play nowhere he's driving on a highway it doesn't shake it doesn't clunk just total bs and that was of course just part of the deal they didn't want to just sell them the ball joints they wanted to sell them the whole control arm assembly because what are they at these dealers they're parts changers and they're selling you their parts with their markup always take it with a grain of salt when they're trying to sell you stuff like that you didn't even need them to begin with which is the disgusting part but they could have just replaced the ball joints but they didn't need replacing so you're gonna see this all over the country here in rhode island texas tennessee i mean the problem with these dealerships are they have these immense overhead millions of dollars a year they got to pay that before they even break even so they just try to gouge all of their customers as much as they possibly can and they hope that most of them or at least some of them one out of ten will say okay yeah do it i feel unsafe and almost always going to tell you your car's unsafe you can't drive it that way and he just told me that's exactly what they told him just like the other day when i had that toyota sienna and they told it it needed a rear differential for thousands of dollars and then he took it to his independent mechanic he said there's nothing wrong with it they told him it's unsafe the rear end could lock up you could spin off the road and be killed with him that was over a year ago it doesn't make any noise it hasn't locked up he drives it all over the place it's the same thing you just can't trust these people anymore sad but true now as you can see you're high up you feel comfortable even though the airbags on the suspension in the back are blown it still rides decently just don't overload it fix them you can always put aftermarket ones on it cost a lot less let's step on it see how it accelerates you can hear that engine kick in it shift perfectly fine got good acceleration 200 000 miles there's a lot more left in this has most things but it doesn't have a sunroof why because his father who gave him the car knows they leak over time he wanted something that would last forever and not have problems smart move really what do you need a sunroof and a truck for it's got air conditioning and the air conditioning still works why would you need a sunroof on something like this you don't so he didn't get it and here we go 201 000 miles later it's still working fine and it doesn't leak now again i have to warn you if you want to get one of these get one of these older ones the ac is still ice cold and he said they've never touched it they've never even added refrigerant okay if you remember last year when i was in houston i had one that was a year and a half old and the ac was broken already because the idiots made the condensers in the front poorly and they all leaked and you had to replace the condenser on a year and a half old gmc truck they just don't make them like they used to he wants to keep it forever and basically not a bad idea everything wears out eventually but this is a conventional v8 engine there's many different engines you can put in it and of course as they age the laws change too here in rhode island they have a very interesting law once your vehicles are over 20 years old you don't have to get them inspected anymore for emissions so you could put in a 350 crate engine supercharger whatever you wanted and you don't have to worry about all that epa bs what have we learned today we learned that you got to analyze everything fully yeah i'm not a chevy fan but an 07 200 000 miles still run shifts good engine training never been touched ac still blows cold never been touched made in arlington texas where they care about how they build spots as long before the day that the differentials came from mexico or they're even built in mexico they were better made he wants to make this thing last forever he's got a good chance at it hey eventually the engine wears out put another engine in it but another transmission if it finally goes off the price of a new one those astronomical figures he could put in 15 or 20 engines and transmissions and here's some bonus questions and answers us air force dozer pilot says 2015 to 2021 f-150 rear axle rust has any else seen this my 2015 there's more rust than it should i've even seen the newer ones have it what's the story it is too much rust and the geese agree they're having a little honk fest there luckily it's superficial rust it looks bad but that's all solid steel and what you see is a superficial rust they're obviously not painting them right sealing them they must have done something wrong and you see all the superficial rust and i have seen ones that are six months old and they're rusty as could be but it's superficial rust that's a solid rear end you know there's a lot of heavy steel it doesn't really mean anything it makes ford look bad i mean you can imagine he buys a new truck they look under they say look at all this rust it just looks bad so if i were you ford i would paint them better seal them better with something because it looks bad now it really doesn't mean anything because that steel is real thick but it looks bad so ford you should do something about it you're doing something cheaper than you used to do so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell\n"