I have a 1996 Toyota Corolla with 150,000mi well maintained and runs great was told by some one on this discussion panel because I drive mostly in town I drive about 5000 mi a year that was equal to 30,000 mi per year ,I know driving in town is hard on a car but this sounds a little far fetched Is this true or not? Thanks everyone.
Wow… a Toyota with the equivalent of 900,000 miles on it. That’s great!
Seriously, that’s bunk. City driving is a bit tougher but how can that possibly be qualified as 1:6??
I don’t know where you would find any statistics on this, so this is just an opinion based on my limited observations and understanding of engineering.
That 6-fold multiplier for city miles holds true for brake wear and clutch wear, and to a lesser degree, automatic transmission wear. For the engine and suspension components, highway miles are easier than city miles, but only about 2-fold, not 6-fold. If, however, those city miles are all short trips in which the engine never fully warms up, then the engine takes a real beating in the city. Lots of cold startups with no oil pressure, lots of condensed water in the oil (which leads to acid in the oil). In that case, the engine takes easily six times the beating in city driving.
Well the figure noted is bunk. No basis just some twisted urban lore. Some know and some just say stuff. In my opinion you have 150k miles. All the stuff about acids and wear and tear for low miles were never proven for your case. Taxi cabs yes, police cars yes, but you just drive and do not idle the day away NOT AT ALL.
City miles are harder on a car, but not that much harder. I would put this along the same lines as them myth that idling a car for 20-30 minutes uses less gas than it takes to start it. I know people who still believe that one.