Hey all, just wondering…What are the highest miles you have put on a vehicle…either single handedly or via Hand Me Down Autos. I have hit over 250K in an Accord 4cyl. I know that really isnt very high these days. I am interested to know how far you have pushed some of your vehicles and what if anything you had to do to reach this mileage.
At around 200K, they start to smell bad enough to motivate me to look for a replacement…Repair costs today, especially automatic transmissions and timing belt failures sends many cars to the shredder prematurely…
If you are willing to spend the money, you can make any car last forever…But cars are not designed to last forever…
My current daily driver is a '97 Escort LX wagon with 290K on the OD.
That, however, is not 290K on the engine/transmission. Those Escort engine’s drop valve seats and destroy themselves. So, the engine/trans is from a running parts car I bought the last time I dropped a valve seat. And … when that one showed signs of the same, I put a new head on it.
So…most of the car body, save the wear & tear items, has 290K. (Almost all of the major parts are original - fuel pump, PS pump, AC compressor…) The block, its contents, and the AT all have about 190K on them. The head now on top of that block has about 7K on it.
So I don’t know if that counts.
We had a post on this last year with some interesting responses. Personally the highest mileage we put on a family car was about 300,000 miles (a 1984 Chevy V8 Impala). The car began costing too much in maintenance, although the engine and transmission were still in very good shape. We sold it for $700, and the kid who bought it is still driving it.
While I keep my cars 10-15 years, I’m not a high miles/year driver, so they move on to the next buyer at about 150k miles…
And Caddyman’s right, our 16 year old had that ‘old car smell’. Funny how that just happens.
I sold a 1992 Ford Ranger XLT about two months ago that had 420,000 miles on it. The little truck still runs good and refuses to die. The only parts that have been replaced were the starter, water pump and the alternator. The truck had all the scheduled maintenance done to it since it was bought in 1991. The original owners manual is still in the glove box along with all it’s maintenance records and receipts. I was the second owner. It had the 4.0 engine with auto and was a 2 wheel drive model along with almost every option that was offered. The original owner used it as a escort truck for mobile home deliveries so it had a lot of highway/freeway miles on it. The AC is still blowing cold air with no retrofit so far.
I could only join the LOW mileage club.
Sold my 1992 Explorer 10/09 with merely 140k. Local reservation buyers snapped it right up. Most of these customers of mine put on that much in a year or two.
My 1979 Chevy short stepside pickup has whopping 70,050. ( owned only by me, mileage provable. )
For high mileage vehicles I merely need to review my repair orders for a long list.
338,000 - singlehandedly. Had it not gotten totalled in an accident it’d still be on the road.
Our fleet of Econolines regularly put on over 300k (mostly hiway miles) before we swap 'em out.
2 Nissan Pathfinders with over 300k miles…One of them last I knew was approaching 400k miles. Both of them had over 300k miles when I stopped driving them…and total repair cost for them was less then $1000 each.
2 Honda Accords over 250k miles miles…one of them sold to friend put another 100k miles on it then sold it to someone who last I knew was approaching 400k miles. Our 96 Accord had over 250k miles when we sold it and I had a total of $4 in repair costs for those 250k miles. The 87 Accord I had to replace the radiator and the radio…which brought my repair costs to a few hundred.
Current cars…
05 Toyota 4runner - 170k miles…Haven’t put one dime into it except normal maintenance (fluids, brakes and tires).
07 Lexus ES-350 - 85k miles…Just fluids and tires on this vehicle so far. Probably have to replace the brakes this spring.
What is this 20 questions or something?
89 Buick Riv-Dumped at 530K. Bought it at 105K
86 Buick Rive-Sold at 360K. Bought at 120K
81 Olds Diesel-Sold at 480K. Bought new
74 Olds Cutlass-Sold at 240K. Bought new
95 Olds Aurora-200K. Bought at 60K
The rest not much over 100K and really don’t want a car anymore without a warrenty.
I have 260K on my 1994 Chrysler LHS. The engine is original and still runs good and uses very little oil. The transmission has been rebuilt, the alternator has been changed, tie rod ends have been replaced, and most of the engine sensors have been replaced. The water pump and timing belt have been done twice. (though it’s not an interference engine) The car is still on the original starter and exhaust system including catalytic converter. (not bad for the rust belt) The radiator and A/C condenser were replaced. (not the compressor) Everything works on the car.
358,000 miles on a '92 Toyota Celica, original engine and transmission. Basic maintenance.
258,000 miles on an '88 Toyota Supra, original engine, but transmission swapped. Otherwise, basic maintenance.
206,000 miles on a '00 Ford Explorer, original engine and transmission. Basic maintenance.
98 Taurus
gave it up at 288,000
still ran good and got 30 mpg. never dripped or burned oil at all, changed oil at 6,000 miles since it was all highway @ about 700 miles a week.
beside tires and brakes it took 1 starter, 1 alternator, 2 thermostats,1 set of sway bar links.
the a/c still blew cold but the lower half fins were closed shut from road debris that I could not use it or it ran hot.
That was a great car, it was bullet proof
My personal high is 420k miles on a Mercury Sable and it was still running/driving well when sold.
All the rest of my cars, family members cars, and most of my in-laws cars also see high miles. Some examples on a not complete list:
88 Camaro 300k miles - engine/trans never touched. (Done in by a Crown Vic)
96 Camaro 250k miles - engine/trans never touched. (Still runs and drives great)
94 Lincoln Mark - 250k miles - engine/trans never touched. (Done in by a Dodge pickup)
My in-laws on a not complete list:
2002 Tahoe -250k miles - engine/trans never touched. Still runs/drives/looks like new.
2005 Tahoe - 200k miles. Ditto the above.
An assortment of Chevy and GMC pickups where are for business and personal use. Assortment of mileage but generally anywhere from 300-500k miles.
My cars and family members cars get oil changes at about 3500 mile intervals with trans fluid changes about every 30k miles, give or take. Other than that it’s a matter of every few weeks just spending a little time looking things over, change brake fluid, belt and tensioner inspections, changing filters more often than the factory recommends, change the thermostat every few years or so rather than wait until it sticks closed, etc, etc.
The only major failure that has ever happened with my cars or family members cars is the 400k miles+ Sable in which the transmission dropped at about 130k miles. Considering it was a used car to begin with and the problem happened every quickly I’d consider it an aberration. I put a 40k miles used trans in it and it was still fine when sold so that particular transmission had about 330k miles on it with the only thing done to it being approx. 30k miles fluid/filter changes.
226k miles in 9 yrs on a Civic. I got it initially slightly used with 9k miles.
I did the 30k services up to 90k including timing belt. After that I went to Walmart for $15 oil changes every 4k miles. It ran fine at 226k except it ran a little hot on highway. I jumped ship with a perfectly running Civic but in dire need of maintenance, struts and tires.
WHOA…I am totally shocked at the longevity of this Taurus…They usually give up their Transmissions EARLY in life…
my 99 civic had 96k miles on it when i sold it to my neighbor last June, I bought it in 01 with 46k on it.
That’s high for me, considering I just rolled over 2,700 miles on my Mazda earlier today
WOW guys these are some SERIOUS results… I’m shocked in many cases…esp the American vehicles that were older and not of the much higher quality that we see today. I was also blown away by the few Ford Taurus/Sable examples…I have seen so many taken off the road early due to transmission woes…other than that the Taurus/Sable group have very reliable engines.
My Ford Explorer is going on 228K with basic maintenance…I did have to do the clutch and all assoc parts about 3K miles ago. The clutch actually still had life left in the friction material…I had to swap it because the springs got fatigued and when you put your foot into the clutch it couldnt fully release all the way…Made it very hard to get into 1st gear. I either had to be rolling slightly or push the shifter into 3rd and 4th gear and then right into 1st…I believe this spun up the gears allowing 1st to get closer to rev match the engine…thats my guess. Other than the clutch and the basics it has been ROCK SOLID…The Explorers of the late 80’s and early 90’s were really built very well. Anyway keep em comin guys…Impressive so far. I am waiting to see the Merceded Diesels make an appearance with some crazy high numbers.
My 1998 Civic has about 199,850 miles on the odometer. I will try to get a picture of the odometer at the 200,000 mile mark. It still has the original clutch.