My first 200,000 mile car ever

Saturday. between Monterrey and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, my 2002 Sienna turned over 200,000 miles. My first 200,000 mile car ever.

Congrats !

That’s a milestone to be very proud of.

Congratulations!

Only 2,800,000 to go:

@irlandes Great Going! My first 200,000 mile car was a 1984 Chevy Impala, which reached that milestone in 1996. Although reliable, it still needed the following parts replaced:

  1. Two sets of shock absorbers
  2. Front ball joints
  3. Two batteries
  4. Two exhaust systems
  5. Alternator
  6. Starter
  7. Fan motor
  8. Radiator
  9. Gas tank
  10. Ignition switch
  11. Front springs and bushings
  12. EGR valve
  13. Speedometer cable

I’m not counting tune ups, cooling system service, and brakes jobs; these are normal maintenance.

For most of the car’s life I was involved in construction and field maintenance activities, so a lot of rough roads. Gave the car to my son in college who drove it another 5 years.

The guy with the 3 million mile Volvo spent roughly the equivalent of almost 10 years of the last 47 in his car. We have an average speed readout in two of our cars and with a mix of urban, suburban and long trip driving the average speed reads around 35 mph. According to that, 3,000,000 miles/35 mph = 85714 hours. 85714 hours/8760 hours per year = 9.78 years.

I have been waiting for this on any of my cars. I bet the beaters I had with the 5 digit odometers were well over that, but in the new era, I have managed to junk the car before that milestone. My '89 Corolla had too many gremlins with the electronic carburetor and I gave up on maintaining shocks/struts and body work. The engine would constantly hiccup and we felt it is not safe for us any more. My Mitsu Galant was burning oil faster than gasoline and did not pass smog and we weren’t going to put a new engine in.
My recent one was the 2000 Dodge Caravan. It made a real mechanic out of me :slight_smile: But was leaking everything from every place and the paint was gone. It was turning into a money pit and I didn’t have the time and energy to keep up with the repairs.
Not very optimistic on my 2005 Camry either. Just turned 100K miles, but has an engine known to have stripped head bolts, so it is like sitting on a time bomb.

Yep, congrats.

74 Cutlass 240k
81 Olds Diesel 520K
86 Buick Riviera 340K
89 Buick Riviera 530K
95 Olds 210K

Of my daily drivers I’ve got 20K and 98K and frankly don’t ever care to get into the high numbers again.

Congrats on making the 200k mile club.

You still haven’t made it to the Moon. :slight_smile:

congratulations!

Seems like 200,000 is now the 100,000 mile club. I remember you used to throw a party when your car hit 100,000.

1999 Buick Century: 225,000

2001 Ford Ranger: Bought it from my BIL with 250,000. (Delivery truck for his NAPA store.) Drove it until it hit 350,000. Rust did it in, was still running fine.

2001 Buick Regal: 265,000, and still running.

2004 Ford Explorer: 225,000 then the transmission bit the dust.

Congrats to you.

I had a 98 Taurus that had 281,000 when I let it go. Other than maintenance items the only thing I had to change was a starter and alternator.

My son put 225k miles on the 86 Nova we turned over to him and 250 k on the Accord he bought. What kept him from going further was the broken AC and the power windows.

Of course, most of my life I drove old beaters so there was no way to drive the 200,000 miles on a car which was nearly on its last legs when I bought it. Thanks for comments.

“most of my life I drove old beaters”

But those old beaters, if they’re fairly reliable, allow you to save money for the next car, which will hopefully be nicer

Since you’re in Mexico, are you sure those aren’t those short little kilometers?

Seriously 200K is quite a milestone. Keep up the good work, and obviously maintenance.

Short, little kilometers? Funny. Good one.

But, yes, they are miles. A few years ago, I left the village one day, and came back 59 days later, having driven 11,000 miles. I hated that car for a few weeks, heh, heh. So, while actually in Mexico, I probably only drive maybe 9,000 miles a year, but during trips back to the States, I sometimes put on a lot of miles in a hurry.

Congrats!
Keep up the good work.

@irlandes Likewise, please keep us posted on what repairs you encounter.

Buena Suerte!

My first vehicle, a 1974 F-100 had a little over 170k when I got it, my dad picked it up for $800 when I was 15 and we spent about a year restoring it, had the truck repainted and all the dents and dings fixed, had the trim and bumpers either replaced/rechromed/repainted, new brakes, new clutch, recored the radiator (but we really should’ve gotten a bigger one), new wheels, bedliner, repainted the interior, had the seat reupholstered, replaced the rubber around the rear window, new shocks, replaced the rear leaf springs, and we got rid of the weak-sauce 2 barrel 302 and replaced with a junkyard 390 4bbl that we rebuilt ourselves, had the heads decked and cleaned up, aluminum mid-rise intake, slightly hotter than stock cam, and some headers, and we put a center section with 4.11 gears in the axle ( it was Ford 9 inch). Put about 50k more miles on it, before getting something more modern to drive, and my dad kept for about 10 years after that, and put another 30k on it before selling it. I still see it around on the road sometimes. It might have around 300k on it now

My other 200k+ vehicle was my 1995 Bronco, It had about 60k on it when I bought, and I sold it with about 270k on the clock. Aside from regular wear and tear items, the only major repair was a transmission rebuild around the 150k mark.