i have a 2011 honda cr-v special edition. i bought it new with only 7 miles on it. now after 9 months, i have almost 22,300 miles. 95% of my driving is freeway. my question is… is this mileage too much too soon for this vehicle?. this suv gives an average of 32mpg combine city/freeway. i already changed the oil 3 times. So far the car has been great for me. any suggestion.
i live in the mountains of colorado. from my house to the freeway is about 10 miles on a dirt road, so it is hard for me to keep the car clean, for the outside is full of dust all the time. i don’t even recognize the color any more. i think it is red. anyway, i try to keep the engine clean at least. i am a careful driver. thank you for all your advice.
Just keep driving and maintain it well. This type of driving is very easy on the engine and transmission. I used to be in sales and put that many miles on in 9 months as well on a 1962 Pontiac 6 cylinder with automatic.
If you drive carefully, you can go 400,000 miles with this vehicle before anything really major wears out.
But keep up the maintenance!
My Wife And I Both Drive Each Of Our Cars More Than That. I Wouldn’t Worry That It’s Hurting The Car. It’s Actually Good For It As Long As You Maintain It At Least As Well As The Manufacturer Specifies.
Drive it, maintain it, enjoy it.
CSA
i live in the mountains of colorado, from my house to the freeway is about 10 miles on a dirt road so is hard for me to keep the car clean, for the outside is full of dust all the time i don’t even recognize the color any more i think is red any way i try to keep the engine clean at least. i am a cereful driver. thank you for all your advice
Just keep up on the maintenance…And highway driving is less stressful on the car then stop and go city driving.
Driving On Dirt Frequently, I’d Be Diligent About Checking And Changing The Engine Air Filter. It’s Probably Something You Can Do Yourself.
I’d also change engine oil and oil filter more frequently, too. Are you using an Oil Life Monitor in the car to tell you when to change oil ?
CSA
this vehicle is a smart one because they tell me even wish tire need some more air. the owners manual and the guys in honda tell me i need to chance the oil avery 7,000miles and so far i did that at hinda dealer, right now i am about 22,350 miles and my oil life is 50% down.
At that rate you may put about 30k miles a year. In seven years, your car will have about 200k miles which is well within the capability of most cars with good maintenance. This is almost the ideal set of driving conditions needed to pile up high mileage with as few problems as possible. Seven years is well within the age before anything but mechanics should need attention. All the other stuff including AC, power windows etc. should present few problems in 7 years as your car begins to age very gracefully mechanically. Not to worry…
My biggest concern about dirt/rough road travel is speed. Drive moderately slow and dirt roads other than filters present few problems. Drive fast and chassis components will begin to age quickly.
“the guys in honda tell me i need to chance the oil avery 7,000miles and so far i did that at hinda dealer, right now i am about 22,350 miles and my oil life is 50% down.”
Unfortunately, that oil life monitor has no clue that the vehicle is being driven at least 20 miles each day on a dusty dirt road. The guys at the dealership may also be unaware of those driving conditions.
I would advise adhering to the Severe Service maintenance schedule, as it pertains to driving on dusty roads. That will definitely mean changing the air filter more often than the regular maintenance schedule specifies, and it may also involve changing the oil more frequently than every 7k miles. Consult your Owner’s Manual for the details of the Severe Service maintenance schedule.
thank you for all your advice. i live in Bailey, Colorado and my house is about 10miles from the freeway so the first 6 miles is dirt road up and down a little hill i drive about 20mph over the dirt road you can’t go more faster will be insane to do that, then just regular road, then i hit the freeway and is all the way down till a hit another freeway i have only one traffic light. then at the end of the day drive up the hill for another 40miles. so i drive about 450miles a week. the car give me a average of 32mpg i fill with 87.
If the car were mine and based on the dirt road use and other terrain I’d bump the oil change intervals up to about 5k miles at most.
I live in OK and it’s extremely dusty here and humid most of the time. By the time engine oil has 3500-4000 miles on it around here it’s usually pretty dark in color and needs to be changed.
You need to keep that oil life monitor completely out of your mind. Those things lead to a lot of problems. (trashed engines due to oil sludging, conditioning people to never even check the oil level, etc.)
Littlebean
As you can see, ok4450 agrees with me, and that should be taken seriously, as he is a highly experienced mechanic, certified on aircraft engines in addition to automobiles.
If you were doing just straight highway driving, your current maintenance schedule would be fine. However, once you introduce at least 20 miles daily of driving on dusty dirt roads, you are in Severe Service territory. You need to forget about what the oil life monitor is telling you, and do much more frequent oil changes and much more frequent air filter changes.
I’ve lived on a dirt road for many years and the road in the winter especially is a help to the car. I have neighbors who drive farther then that on the lake where we live, daily. Driving slow till warm up is good those first few miles. Filters yes, but generally, that short a distance should not affect oil change. Absolutely no lower than 5k miles. The car loves this type of driving…warm slow drive then freeway. There is no dust more then six months of the year and it’s minimal otherwise. It’s not the dessert and only a few weeks total driving is it very dusty…mud season can be a bummer. But unless it’s deep, it only affects the chassis. But like OK, I hover around 5k and no lower for oil changes regarless. I would not feel bad, bumping it up occassionally.