2003 Honda Accord Running for Nearly a Million Miles

How does it beat buying a new, or newer car every few years? I'm sure the drivers seat is nowhere near what it once was. And I'm sure they only fixed what was necessary to keep the car moving. And ignored all the rest, like dash lights that don't work anymore. Or the dome light, or windows that no longer go up or down, or get stuck up or down. Doors that don't open right. Squeaks, worn out door hinges, speakers that no longer make a sound, heaters that only work occasionally. And paint, that only slightly resembles what it color it used to be. Then the biggie Rust. You know, all the tell tale signs that the car is shot and should be replaced.,,
Perhaps true in the rust belt. But looking at the car, it looks good. Much of what you suppose, in your “I’m sure” statement may not be true.

There is not one inoperative item on my wife’s Volvo XC as it nears 300,000 miles. Not even a bulb. No rust. Anywhere. Leather is good. Seats are nice.

This guy was a military pilot. I doubt he let things stay broken. Most of us aren’t like that.

And, in fact, if you read the article, he says he kept up on those kind of things.

“Items that you don't imagine wearing out have needed fixing too, from the driver seat (its adjustment wore out) to control arms and door lock actuators. Kilmer's Accord is on its third radiator and power steering pump, and he's recently had to replace its wheel bearings and steering rack. And while the engine may be original, the drivetrain didn't get this far with regular fluid changes alone.”
 
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All of these million mile cars are well taken cared for. Almost all vehicles can reach that million mile mark as long all are well maintained and not abused. I'm not so much of a traveler so all of my well maintained vehicles (including the feared not so dependable Jaguar as others think, :ROFLMAO: ) can reach that million mile mark.
They are all highway miles also. Like the million mile Tundra that the guy drove all over the country delivering oil field parts.
 
How does it beat buying a new, or newer car every few years? I'm sure the drivers seat is nowhere near what it once was. And I'm sure they only fixed what was necessary to keep the car moving. And ignored all the rest, like dash lights that don't work anymore. Or the dome light, or windows that no longer go up or down, or get stuck up or down. Doors that don't open right. Squeaks, worn out door hinges, speakers that no longer make a sound, heaters that only work occasionally. And paint, that only slightly resembles what it color it used to be. Then the biggie Rust. You know, all the tell tale signs that the car is shot and should be replaced.,,
Not quite the same league, but I own a 2008 Xterra with 387,000 miles, and about 320,000 of those I put on for work - pretty much all highway. Absolutely everything works, no squeaks or wiggles or lights - well the TPMS light is covered with a piece of tape but I will get new TPMS's next tire change. And I could use new seat foam - I have a cushion for my fat bottom.

In addition to not working the engine when it runs the highway all day, there are very few potholes on the highway to beat it to death.
 
From reading this it sounds like there is a tipping point where the repairs just start to mount, and time and energy have to be factored into costs.
 
In a world with gravity (just look at my....), radiation (just look at my skin as well as a vehicle's paint), oxidation as well as compromises at every step of production (the way of the world) I gotta go out on a limb and think that ~ 1 million miles AIN'T BAD.

That stuff wore out along the way doesn't really qualify as a negative. It's sure no surprise.
You can keep a vehicle as long as the economics of maintenance and operation can be justified.
Ain't nobody's call but the person paying for it.
 
From reading this it sounds like there is a tipping point where the repairs just start to mount, and time and energy have to be factored into costs.
I got the opposite. While you have to put parts and work into it, it never reached a “tipping point” where it got substantially different per mile. OK, axles at half a million. Engine mounts. A seat.

They were all one time deals, and his list of repairs, for which he kept a spreadsheet, wasn’t that big.

There is scheduled maintenance: oil, filters, brakes, tires. This doesn’t change over the long life of the car. It’s known, and can be planned for.

There is unscheduled maintenance. This is the surprise. The variable cost. But his weren’t that big.
 
This guy put a ton of money into this car to get it this far along and he's glossing over what the real bill is.

8 or so belt jobs and 4 water pump jobs at an indy with OEM parts is at LEAST a grand a throw...

Sounds like he left the ex valve lash unattended a bit too long.
 
This guy put a ton of money into this car to get it this far along and he's glossing over what the real bill is.

8 or so belt jobs and 4 water pump jobs at an indy with OEM parts is at LEAST a grand a throw...

Sounds like he left the ex valve lash unattended a bit too long.
Even if he is glossing over it, so what?

A grand a throw for a timing belt every 120,000 miles. For every car that goes past 120,000, that person is putting in a belt. Much over that and they’re buying a water pump, too.

So, every Honda on the road with over 120,000 has a belt/mile, or water pump/ mile cost that is exactly the same as his.

Just like tires and oil changes, those are known, planned, consistent expenses for every mile driven.

It’s the unscheduled maintenance that is key to understanding his overall cost. And that doesn’t look bad. A cat. Some axles. A seat.

Amortized over a million miles? That’s not much in the way of $$/mile, which is the only fair way to look at this.

And his ton of money is a whole lot less than the purchase of several cars, which most folks would need to get to a million.
 
8 or so belt jobs and 4 water pump jobs at an indy with OEM parts is at LEAST a grand a throw...
I really expected this Accord to be a 4-cylinder although their 3.0L and 3.5L V6 engines are pretty solid. I do wonder how long we went on timing belts. People mentioned his spreadsheet - did I miss a link to it in the story ? I might be scanning it too quickly.

300k miles on spark plugs is surprising considering how much he follows maintenance but on the other hand, if the plugs are firing properly, why change them ?
 
Even if he is glossing over it, so what?

A grand a throw for a timing belt every 120,000 miles. For every car that goes past 120,000, that person is putting in a belt. Much over that and they’re buying a water pump, too.

So, every Honda on the road with over 120,000 has a belt/mile, or water pump/ mile cost that is exactly the same as his.

Just like tires and oil changes, those are known, planned, consistent expenses for every mile driven.

It’s the unscheduled maintenance that is key to understanding his overall cost. And that doesn’t look bad. A cat. Some axles. A seat.

Amortized over a million miles? That’s not much in the way of $$/mile, which is the only fair way to look at this.

And his ton of money is a whole lot less than the purchase of several cars, which most folks would need to get to a million.


The title of the article asks what it takes to get there but then it doesn't give you the number.

The article would sound a lot less appealing if he came out said he put 10K+ into the mill to get to 980K and now it needs to come apart in paragraph one.

Agreed his unscheduled expenses look pretty good.

Sure amortized for a million miles the price comes down, but would a car with a timing chain and hydraulic valve adjustment have been cheaper to run that high a mileage? or a 4 cylinder that had cheaper maint costs?
 
He also said he used the recommended oil grade. Fit a 93, would that be 10w-30? Or 5w-30?. I cant remember what my 91 and 96 took.
 
Even if he is glossing over it, so what?

A grand a throw for a timing belt every 120,000 miles. For every car that goes past 120,000, that person is putting in a belt. Much over that and they’re buying a water pump, too.

So, every Honda on the road with over 120,000 has a belt/mile, or water pump/ mile cost that is exactly the same as his.

Just like tires and oil changes, those are known, planned, consistent expenses for every mile driven.

It’s the unscheduled maintenance that is key to understanding his overall cost. And that doesn’t look bad. A cat. Some axles. A seat.

Amortized over a million miles? That’s not much in the way of $$/mile, which is the only fair way to look at this.

And his ton of money is a whole lot less than the purchase of several cars, which most folks would need to get to a million.
^^^ This....That being said most car owners will sell their vehicles if it reaches 100K + miles and there a lot of new car owners sell their vehicles when the warranty expired. Yeah, there will be more million mile vehicles on the road today "IF" car owners would spend thousands and thousands of $$ just to maintain their old vehicles. Nowadays, a lot of motorists want a new vehicle (taking advantage of the warranty * warranty expired SELL) or a used one that is likely new..
 
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I really expected this Accord to be a 4-cylinder although their 3.0L and 3.5L V6 engines are pretty solid. I do wonder how long we went on timing belts. People mentioned his spreadsheet - did I miss a link to it in the story ? I might be scanning it too quickly.

300k miles on spark plugs is surprising considering how much he follows maintenance but on the other hand, if the plugs are firing properly, why change them ?

Im curious if he checked and serviced the valves as per schedule - or if the one exhaust valve closed far enough between checks it burned.
 
He also said he used the recommended oil grade. Fit a 93, would that be 10w-30? Or 5w-30?
It's an '03 not '93. Off-hand, I'd say it spec'd 5W-30. We had an '05 Odyssey with a 3.5L and it spec'd either 5W-30 or maybe 5W-20.

Honda back-spec'd a lot of models to 0W-20 though I'm not sure they went back as far as 2003 including this one.
 
20 year old car, average mileage for most people would only be 270,000. There are a fair number of 300,000 mile cars our there.

Very few people will drive 1M miles in their lifetime which is likely why we don't see that many 1M mile cars around.
 
Nice to see a million miles on the same power train as my own Accord.

He has done a fair bit of maintenance but a million miles is still quite an accomplishment. I only have 190,000 km (it's still just a baby) on my even less common V6 6MT 4 dr sedan but I'm not aware of a single thing not working properly. And there's no rust.

My Accord is a very good car but, with due respect, I think my '86 Volvo would have been better at racking up the big miles. My BMW would have been good too but it would have cost a lot more than either the Accord or the Volvo to rack up big miles.
 
I got the opposite. While you have to put parts and work into it, it never reached a “tipping point” where it got substantially different per mile. OK, axles at half a million. Engine mounts. A seat.

They were all one time deals, and his list of repairs, for which he kept a spreadsheet, wasn’t that big.

There is scheduled maintenance: oil, filters, brakes, tires. This doesn’t change over the long life of the car. It’s known, and can be planned for.

There is unscheduled maintenance. This is the surprise. The variable cost. But his weren’t that big.
The way I look at it, if I cant DIY it its going to be a major expense factored in favor of trading in the car - not to mention the time and energy that is not quantifable. My uncle nearly went 500k on a 97 camry 4cyl putting in similar miles daily for work, all original transmission and engine. The the problem is everything else was shot - ac, windows, radio, etc.
Back to the article, if you add up all the costs besides regular maintenance after 400k, one wonders how much the delta is in costs vs trading. Missing data. Maybe this guy was trying to make the most of his mileage tax deductions.
 
20 year old car, average mileage for most people would only be 270,000. There are a fair number of 300,000 mile cars our there.

Very few people will drive 1M miles in their lifetime which is likely why we don't see that many 1M mile cars around.
Correct. As someone who has taken multiple vehicles to over 300k and one to over 460k, 1,000,000 miles is a huge task.
 
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