Keeping a car in Japan for 20+ years

[KiwiinJapan78]

I've set myself the ambitious but doable goal of retiring within the next 15 years (I'll be 58), so I'm really focused now on living a minimalist lifestyle in order to make my goal a reality. My question is regarding how realistic it is to keep a car for 20 to 25 years in Japan. I'm currently driving a 10 year old Toyota Wish that I've owned for 7 years - it's done 64,000 kms and I drive about 8,000 to 9,000 kms a year. I change the oil every 6 months and have it serviced every year. Anyone here managed to hold on to their car for 20+ years without the shaken enforcers making it so expensive to keep that you're forced to upgrade?

[RetireJapan]

I finally got rid of my car last year: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/car-died-again/

It was a 20-odd year old kei car

[northSaver]

Our Wish was 18 years old when we effectively scrapped it last year (actually got about 50,000 yen including tax rebate). About 120,000 km I think. Minor problems at the time were a small power-steering oil leak (had to top it up every week), tyre leak (had to pump one up every week), broken CD player, a bit of rust where the paint had chipped, minor engine oil burn/leak (had to top it up every now and again)... that's about it. The previous shaken was costlier than usual due to rusty brakes that needed replacing, and a problem with the headlamp lenses. Most of the shakens before that were normal cost as far as I can remember.

So yeah, a decent car overall and built to last. We didn't look after ours very well but even so got 18 years out if it.

[Tkydon]

Depends where you live, and how often you need to use the car, and whether there are local car shares or rentacar, but if you can do without it then a combination of local car shares, rentacar and taxis is much cheaper...

[mighty58]

You'll find that there will come a point where it's cheaper to just buy a new used car than it is to repair the old one. Most well-used cars that don't have some enthusiast community that value them (eg. old Land Cruisers), are not actually worth anything on the market, and the only value they hold is to you, the owner. If that vehicle should require a repair costing 35man+, it's often a better decision to just get rid of it and get a new sub-50man yen used car in better condition with better mileage. If you get lucky, you may get 50,000yen from the company that takes it off your hands to deregister, or to get a nominal amount as a trade-in when getting another car.

[captainspoke]

I've only gone to 13-14 yrs at this point, but just did shaken on a 13yr old, so have two years to assess.

Not many km on it, still under 90k, and I don't drive much these days, but also would not want to be without a car. The brake pads are okay for now, hopefully next time there will at least be the option of leaving them as is and still passing shaken. Or, bite the bullet, do some of that stuff, and hope for 4-6 more years out of it, and not just two. The mechanic also mentioned some rubber that may need replacing next time (suspension/tie rod stuff).

My last car I drove to about 130k km, this one (which I bought new) should easily do that. I've used the original dealer all along for service and shaken, and while they've been great, that may also have been a sales ploy to get me to buy another. I hope they don't give up on me and this car.

[Bushiman]

Currently driving a 21year old Subaru WRX sedan that I've had for the last 6yrs...
It's on 126,000kms (I've put on 60k) and I drive it pretty damn hard -we live surrounded by mountains so going for a 'hoon' is just too tempting.
Sure I've had to replace timing-belt, brakes, radiator etc. but not overly expensive as I source all new/used parts myself off Yahoo Auction/Mercari... 2021/22 the only expense the car had was an oil change and road tax...
The thing is a tank and I plan to use it till it dies which unless for some catastrophic failure, should be a looooong time... Fingers and toes crossed!

[TJKansai]

We've had a couple K that went over 20/100,000km. Main problem, as others have said, is maintenance starts to cost more than buying a used car. Plastic and rubber will not last forever, and a leaky seal requiring hours of labor may not be worth it.

[RolandB1]

My Car (2010 Honda Freed) is coming up to 12 years old. It has 90000 km, which is quite low mileage for its age. Apart from changing the oil and tyres when required, in addition to the shaken every two years, it's never broken down or needed any additional maintenance. Based on this, I do believe that making a car last 20 years is definitely possible. Of course it depends on how often you drive it and overall reliability but seeing as Japanese cars are very reliable, it shouldn't be a problem. One thing I have heard is that car tax gets more expensive the older the car gets but it's not massively more expensive.

[Roger Van Zant]

I've set myself the ambitious but doable goal of retiring within the next 15 years (I'll be 58), so I'm really focused now on living a minimalist lifestyle in order to make my goal a reality. My question is regarding how realistic it is to keep a car for 20 to 25 years in Japan. I'm currently driving a 10 year old Toyota Wish that I've owned for 7 years - it's done 64,000 kms and I drive about 8,000 to 9,000 kms a year. I change the oil every 6 months and have it serviced every year. Anyone here managed to hold on to their car for 20+ years without the shaken enforcers making it so expensive to keep that you're forced to upgrade?

I just got rid of my 19 year-old Suzuki Jimny, with 210,000km on the clock.
Changed the oil every 3000km or so, the oil filter every other oil change.
Drove about 12,000km per year on average
In her life time, she had a new clutch and new radiator fitted; that was it (aside from tires, of course).
I only got rid of her because "shaken" was due and was going to cost me around 200,000 yen (four new tires alone = 60,000 yen).
I ended up buying a brand new Suzuki Kei-truck for just under 1.2m yen; love it!