I've got a 1990 Aerostar (19).. My dad has a 1999 Taurus (10).. My mom has a 2001 Escape (8).. My brother has a 2000 Taurus (9)

I really don't think It's the cars that are the problem.. It's a lot of the people driving them. How many people are having motor problems because they don't get their oil changed or have any basic matinence done? A lot. People just drive them, they don't care to keep up with them, especially the way the economy is.. They don't know how to work on them and they don't have the money to get them worked on.

this is one reason why i believe politicians and govt. should never be involved in bizz no matter how big or how little it is.

I was actually quotong from an old country song. In truth, though, the guideline used to be that for every $100 you spent on a vehicle, you were supposed to get 1000 miles out of it. That is no longer true, no matter how well you maintain it.

That's waaay overestimating.

I spent 25 dollars to get the oil and oil filter for my oil change every 3,000 miles.. That's about all I spend every 3,000. It's been almost 40K since I needed to replace anything on my Ford Aerostar.

I took this to mean that for every $100 you spent to buy the vehicle, it was supposed to last 1000 miles. PM costs were not even factored in.

Has anyone else heard of this rule of thumb? Or have I been listening to too many really old people talking?

10,000 miles for every 1k
100,000 miles for every 10k
200,000 miles for every 20k
300,000 miles for every 30k

My 19 year old Aerostar was worth about 25k new has about 295k. So in your theory, it should have at least 250k?

You go girl :)