I cringe when I see a statement like that. Just wait until that starternator goes out and needs replaced. Here's an actual conversation between student and instructor at a GM service class I went to:
Instructor: The starternator is great! It eliminates two easily replaced and fairly inexpensive parts with one part that's expensive and hard to replace.
Student: How much does it cost to replace?
Instructor: About $2k.
Student: What's the expected life?
INsructor: It's designed to last the life of the vehicle.
Sutdent: How long is the life of the vehicle?
Instructor: 36 months or 36k miles, whichever comes first.
Gotta love something put together like that.
My last driver was a GMC and I can't imagine ever owning another one. In addition to the payments and other normal expenses it cost us about $10k to keep it running for 3 years. New front end, three transmissions, rearend, steering column and a bottomless pile of carbs and EGR valves. What a POS. In its defense, the original purchaser was a dumbass. Half ton truck with 4.3 V6 (first year!), three on the tree, 2.73 gears and the towing package.
I replaced that truck with my current driver. 1990 F-150, 4.9, 5 sp, 3.08. It's at 370k miles and still runs and drives great. It doesn't even have any squeaks and rattles that couldn't be fixed by cleaning all the junk out of the cab. I've had to put some money in it, but nothing you wouldn't expect over 20 years and that mileage.
