# Expected Mileage from a Mercury Mystique **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** mercury, mystique, fuel-economy\ **Created:** [October 13, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032 "2009-10-13T02:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kitterman33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ccd318/32.png) [@Kitterman33](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Kitterman33)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/1 "2009-10-13T02:32:25Z")
I have a 1996 Mercury Mystique, it just passed the 150,000 mile mark. IT seems about every 6 months for the past 2 yrs something’s been breaking that costs about $400 to repair. How many more miles (if any) should I keep repairing and driving, or have I driven this car to it’s end? ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/2 "2009-10-13T02:59:16Z")
$800/yr is cheap for a '96. I’d keep driving it (maintaining it, too) until something BIG breaks. ---
**Author:** ![pleasedodgevan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@pleasedodgevan2](https://community.cartalk.com/u/pleasedodgevan2)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/3 "2009-10-13T04:20:51Z")
Until something expensive happens is a good method. If you are not short of money, I recommend a newer car. Your car isn’t one of the better ones. ---
**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/4 "2009-10-13T10:53:03Z")
Compare any car payment you can think of to the $800 a year it’s costing to keep your current car on the road and see which is less. It’s almost always less expensive to maintain and repair a car than to replace one. ---
**Author:** ![andrew\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@andrew\_j](https://community.cartalk.com/u/andrew_j)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 11:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/5 "2009-10-13T11:07:51Z")
$400/6months is very CHEAP for any 12 year old car. Some of those “repairs” may be maintenance as you do not specify. Keep motoring. ---
**Author:** ![Kitterman33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ccd318/32.png) [@Kitterman33](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Kitterman33)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/6 "2009-10-13T13:56:18Z")
as my owner’s manual stops telling me what maintenance to do after 100,000 miles and I am not a car person, I don’t know if these are considered “repairs” or “maintenance”: the latest repair it needs is replacing all the hoses in the coolant system as it is leaking at the place they all connect (so said the repair man, will be about $400 parts & labor) I am just reviewing the receipts we have and it seems we replaced the lower radiator hose this summer…about $350…hmmm… Last spring to pass inspection we had to replace the combination switch, blinker was not working consistently. Fall of '08 it was the water pump that broke, replaced thermostat, also replaced the timing belt while they were in there. The transmission was rebuilt in summer of 2005, at 108,480 miles, so that should be good for a while yet, right? ---
**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/7 "2009-10-13T14:06:41Z")
After 100,000 miles you continue to follow the same maintenance schedule you followed before 100K miles. The maintenance intervals remain the same. Repairs are necessary as things wear out. Such is life. ---
**Author:** ![UncleTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9a140/32.png) [@UncleTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/UncleTurbo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/8 "2009-10-13T14:20:11Z")
Nothing here out of order, pretty much type of repairs to expect for a car 14 years old with 150K miles. Brakes, struts, hoses, pumps, alternators, just wear out over time and with the miles. Killer repairs for your car are those that exceed the value of the car. At this point the value is so low that your focus is to keep it going as long as you can. A new steering rack would be a killer for me. Perhaps I’d spring for a new radiator if it was needed. A new battery would be OK. You just have to weigh the cost of each repair with the costs of replacing the car if the repair is pricey. As long as the car is dependable, doesn’t leak or burn a bunch of oil and gets you down the road keep it going. At the same time put some money aside because it won’t last forever and someday you’ll need money for another car. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/9 "2009-10-13T14:49:35Z")
“After 100,000 miles you continue to follow the same maintenance schedule you followed before 100K miles. The maintenance intervals remain the same.” Exactly. At 105k, you should have done what is specified for 5k, and the same would be true for each subsequent service interval. At 160k, you should do what is specified for 60k. Car maintenance needs do not disappear just because there is no “page 2” in the manual for maintenance intervals. ---
**Author:** ![andrew\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@andrew\_j](https://community.cartalk.com/u/andrew_j)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/10 "2009-10-13T15:17:14Z")
With a rebuilt transmission just keep repairing till excessive to get your money back on it. Usually a tranny failure would send this to the junkyard. With regard to maintenance and owners manual I would not go crazy on this car. Your repairs are likely covering some maintenance items. For example the hose changes cover your coolant replacement. The water pump took care of the timing belt. The only maintenance besides oil changes I would suggest is replacing your transmission fluid in the next 10-20k miles. In all honesty I would simply change the oil, save some money for a new car, repair the small things, and when you hit the wopper repair mull the buying question. ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/11 "2009-10-13T16:46:44Z")
I think that an important consideration is the type of driving you do and how much you depend on the car. If you are an over the road salesperson and making appointments is a must, then you may want to consider a newer car. If you take long road trips, you may want something newer. On the other hand, if you use the car for commuting a few miles to work and can easily find alternate transportation, the Mercury may be just fine. Keep up the servicing–oil changes, transmission fluid changes at 30,000 miles, etc and you will probably get to 200,000 miles. A $400 repair every six months is really quite good. It’s a lot less than the charge to put a timing belt on a Honda Civic, and the $600+ charge for a timing belt on the Honda is considered as normal maintenance. ---
**Author:** ![Docnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Docnick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Docnick)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/12 "2009-10-13T16:51:57Z")
Be thankful; the average American spends about $1200 on maintenance, repairs and tires per year. The Mystique has an average or worse than average repair record, so at only $800 per year you are doing fine! As others ssay, just keep maintaining it and when something really big happens, scrap the car. ---
**Author:** ![bscar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bscar/32/34_2.png) [@bscar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bscar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expected-mileage-from-a-mercury-mystique/38032/13 "2009-10-13T22:51:20Z")
> At 105k, you should have done what is specified for 5k, and the same would be true for each subsequent service interval. Also, around that mileage(~105k) is a timing belt and water pump replacement. But the age of the vehicle it probably should have been changed twice already