How often should I drive my spare car

Maintenance/Repairs
1

So I have a 96 Camry which has been my daily driver since I bought it in 2001. It has been basically trouble free the whole time. I am in the process of buying a 93 S10 Blazer with 4wd which will be my mountain and bad weather car. How often should I drive it to keep from causing issues? I’d like to keep most of my miles on the Camry since it has been so reliable and I don’t want to change up how I’m treating it since whatever I’m doing seems to be working.

Would 1 longer drive (20 miles each way with at least a couple hours in between while I’m hiking or whatever) be enough each week for the Blazer? I go to the mountains twice a week and I’d like to keep one of those trips for my Camry. My work drive is short 10-15 minutes each way so I figure the long drive at least once a week is good to offset those 5 short trips. Should I add 1 work trip a week to the Blazer or invent a longish drive each week to give it 2 drives a week?

2

When the weather is good and you aren’t using the Blazer, I go with the long drive to the mountains once a month for the Blazer. The only reason to use it more frequently would be if the battery discharges between trips. A '93 Blazer should not have much draw on the battery as it sits, therefore I’d try monthly trips.

3

I run mine about once a month.

4

Agree with above posters; once a month is OK. If you can’t get it out that often, put a battery minder on the battery, then you will have a full battery anytime you start the car.

5

I generally agree with the assessments made by the previous postings. From my experience, the biggest problem over time will be from the gasoline assuming you drive it just once a month. I suggest that any of these times are fine with the caveat that ethanol grade Stabil be added, especially in warm weather. I would then make sure that I used the equivalent of a full tank of gas, at least every two months or so and be sure storage times were on as much a full tank of fresh gas as you could.

Personally, when we had three cars and one was a truck that got little used, I made sure that it got at least a 20 minute drive once a week.

6

45 minutes or more once a month.

7

I drive my 97 F-150 about once a month, usually just to work and back.

8

If there is an advantage driving a car more often, it lies in making sure it diesn’t become a mouse hotel.

9

I’d make a habit of using Stabil to reduce any fuel problems.