Any cars known for not rusting?

I'm watching wheeler dealers build up a first gen escort rally car now. So far in the episode they've mentioned about 3 times "oh you know how bad fords rust, gotta look this one over real careful now" or something to that extent. I typically hear the saying generalized the same way for older British cars/Japanese cars/60s cars/70s cars/etc.

It got me thinking, is there anything out there known for resisting rusting?

Only thing I can think of is the well regarded California/Southern car but that's just geographical.

Ones made of carbon fiber.

Lots of manufacturers galvanize bodies now which helps a LOT. The Germans started doing it before everyone else. Porsche in the late 70's, Audi in the late 80's, VW around 2000...I had a '90 Audi 200 Quattro that lived 290k hard miles in salty Wisconsin winters and didn't have a speck of rust on the body. I know more people do it now but can't think of them off the top of my head.

I was just going to mention VW/Audi. They seem to hold up well in the land of ridiculous over-salting. My 01 GTI had one small rust spot at almost 200k.

I wouldn't say that "Fords rust" - Escorts rust.

I would say that Tauri, Mustangs, Windstars, Ford Trucks, Exploders, are all pretty rust resistant considering how poorly most of them are treated.

I can assure you that Buick LeSabre and fwd Chevy Impala are not the answers.

DeLorean

My 03 VW Golf has very little rust considering its spent it's whole life in Northern Quebec and Northern Ontario.

Texas Cars are known for not rusting.

Tupperware

I think Volvos from the 740 series on we're quite good at resisting rust.

Hondas after about 2000 seem to be very good as well.

Chrysler and Mazda in particular still don't seem to have their acts together.

In reply to bastomatic:

That's right, Volvo was another company that used galvanized bodies. I don't know when they started but I know they all had it by the time the 850 was in production.

parker wrote: DeLorean

Their plain steel frames rust quite well, while the fiberglass and stainless body survives just fine.

Vigo wrote: Texas Cars are known for not rusting.

Surprisingly, in the Inland Northwest, cars hardly rust. When I go visit my relatives in Spokane I see all kinds of old cars running around that are sun faded badly, but don't have a spec of rust, including late sixties and early seventies Jap tin, out on the road, being used a DDs!

BlueInGreen44 wrote: Tupperware

Saturn S-series are really bad for rust. The trunk corners rot out as do the rockers and the rear door sills. The problem is, you don't notice it until it is far too late to do anything but put your plates on another car.

Regarding OP, basically any Audi or Volvo from the mid-2000s up won't rust. Audi started galvanizing in 1990ish and they got really good at it by the B5 chassis. The subframes rot out but you can replace those easily.

Volvo also does really well with the anti rust magic. What is interesting is that the P1 S40 is rated as one of the least rusty prone cars out and the Mazda3 is rated as one of the most, and they are the same car, just manufactured in Sweden vs. Japan.

pointofdeparture wrote: In reply to bastomatic: That's right, Volvo was another company that used galvanized bodies. I don't know when they started but I know they all had it by the time the 850 was in production.

Sadly, they either didn't galvanize the "NEDCAR" S40 or they did a really really crappy job of it. My car's front fender bottoms disappeared, revealing that the rockers have made like Elvis and left the building.

Body shop quoted me $1200-1300 to cut and replace, fix some other rust bubbles, and repaint the car from the waistline down. Probably will do it, the car is amazingly fun to drive and easy to live with.

European cars built since the 80s, with a few exceptions.

Checker cabs.

My is300 sedan had many many new england winters on it without a spot of rust on the body and minimal surface rust on even the fasteners on the underbody. My experience has been that rusty lexus stuff is poorly repaired, crashed lexus stuff.

Old Toyota pickups rust, but they don't seem to care.

I don't think I've ever seen a rusty W126 Mercedes.

EDIT: 1st gen Honda Insight, since it's made of aluminum.

944s.

drdisque wrote: I wouldn't say that "Fords rust" - Escorts rust. I would say that Tauri, Mustangs, Windstars, Ford Trucks, Exploders, are all pretty rust resistant considering how poorly most of them are treated.

I would certainly take Windstars off that list. Almost everyone I have seen in the last ten years have had holes in the body that I could stick my head through. Early Tauri and exploders came from the factory with rust holes and the Rustang got that name for a reason.

While some cars won't show rust on their body, they all end-up with rusted bolts and fuel/brake lines and control arms, etc... You can have a very nice looking car that is absolutly impossible to work on.

Corvettes?