That’s why I gave examples. Next to nobody keeps any vehicle running past 375k, right?
There's luck, and there's careful maintenance, which is you, Mike
I just followed the normal maintenance schedule outlined in the owners manual. Nothing more…nothing less. My current 4runner and wifes Lexus…the only thing different from the outlined schedule is I’m changing the tranny fluid every 50k miles. According to Toyota…the WS fuild should never need changing. I’m NOT going to trust that.
And the vehicles that have been going to past the 400k mile mark…nothing really bad had to be replaced to keep them going. My 98 Pathfinder needed new ball joints at about 370k miles. I consider that to be acceptable.
As much as we talk about good maintenance, driving habits are equally important. That you can routinely go 400k on cars you decide to keep that long, says just as much about how you drive the car as how well you maintain it @MikeInNh.
A friend who maintains show cars, has twice as many storage barns as most have cars, with each filled with old cars in mint condition. He drives his cars like they make no more parts for them. He never exceeds the speed limit and takes forever to accelerate and brakes by coasting as much as practical whenever he can. His cars are spotless before he leaves them to go inside for the night, regardless of the weather. There is a hose he runs from a heated area to the outside to wash them down when needed with cars all eventually being stored inside.
He even spreads cardboard down under his feet to protect the floor of his John Deere tractor before he plows the field. Anfter he is finished, it is all washed and every scratch is touched up and any thing not in perfect running form is fix. His cars have no limited lifetime. Even his three older SAABs have an impecable reliability history. How can that be ? Is that you. Mike ?
Maintain,maintain, thats the key to making things last,its hard to believe but all these junkers you see on the street were shiny brand new once upon a time,if keeping that vehicle spotless is your priority-then go for it! I guess most of us common folks view cars for what they are,appliances for getting from here to there,you are fighting a never ending battle to keep something pristine,that was never designed to last to start with(if our goods were immortal,there would be a lot of unemployment)-Kevin
My wife from time to time complains if I had taken better care of our 2002 Sienna it would be in better shape. It has around 205,000 miles, a lot of it in Mexico. She has no knowledge base to judge a high mileage car. It actually isn’t in that bad a shape.
The driver does make a lot of difference. I know that for anything mechanical, the difference between night and day would be me and my wife.
A house’s door lock would be just fine for many years. Have her move in and she would break the door lock after 6 months, no matter what.
We share out cars, she does not speed, but does not have a good feel for the car. Accelerates, then quick braking-she thinks the car is made for that. When she makes a U turn, you can swear the front end of the car takes a toll equal to 100 U turns I make.
She is also not very sensitive about unusual noises etc/so she has had a few car failures and needed to be towed.
I know, training is in progress, but after 20 years, I am kind of getting used to it.
It would be nice if GMkid would return to tell us why they are only looking at these vehicles. I looked at AUTOTRADER.com and saw a 2007 Suburban with 153000 miles for 18000.00 and a 2007 with 103000 for 19500.00 It would not take much more to buy a crossover suv new.
I have a friend who bought an 09 trailblazer for under 10k with 125k miles. He was impressed with mine, especially after we did some 4 wheeling looking for a wounded critter, a number of road trips. His actually came as an off lease vehicle of the Navaho nation in AZ, and had all maintenance done. Now at 16 in town and 22 hwy mpg that is not so far off of any car. 160k so far, on demand 4wd, I am still happy buying it used at 78k 6 years ago, another maintained off lease vehicle, tows the boat etc, and thermostat, front wheel bearings, and other minor issues so far but nothing cost prohibitive.
Still planning 3 1k mile round trips next summer, to the cabins, pull out the boat from a sand launch that 4wd is required, sure gonna change the transfer case fluid and rear differential before I go, maybe poster has some friends with similar experiences.
When you consider that a new Tahoe starts at $43,000 and a new Suburban starts at $46,000, under $20,000 is a steep drop in price.
No offense, guys . . . but you can’t really compare a Trailblazer and a Suburban