Can your car last 1,000,000 miles..

[kbohip72]

I don't know if my car could or not. I do know that I don't want to find out! I wouldn't want to drive anything with over 200k miles on it tops. Then again, with the economy the way it is and the way it looks like for the future, I'll be surprised if I don't still have my Maxima with 200k plus miles on it.

 

[NHHEMI]

 Originally Posted By: dishdude

Any modern car, import or domestic could do it with proper care and maintenance. I couldn't drive a car that long, I get bored quickly!

Same here.

 

[opposite_locker]

As long as someone else pays my gas bill, I'm willing to give 1 million miles a try on my '08 Dodge...already has 50.5k miles in 12.5 months. I figured out the other day that in 1 year, over $10k worth of gas has gone through this pig...

 

[parmm]

Well, My 2002 VW Jetta just turned 170,000. Have no intention of getting rid of it. Just got the injectors rebuilt.

 

[Gary Allan]

 Originally Posted By: dishdude

Any modern car, import or domestic could do it with proper care and maintenance.

I wouldn't say any modern car, but a whole bunch of them would. It won't occur without repairs ..some of them considered major. You can get about 12-15 solid years out of a chassis without major issues, assuming that the fundamental design is reasonably flaw free. Fitting 1M miles in that time frame shouldn't really alter much besides maintenance frequency. Some will have fatigue items that will be quite expensive (relative to chassis value) to have repaired along the way. When a taxi has 300k-400k on the odometer, you can bet the fuel that went through it could have done (probably) near double that in normal service.

 

[mstrjon32]

There is no way I could ever keep a car that long. I'm having a problem holding onto my car with 40K miles. I just get bored with them. You only live once, why would I want to drive the same car 1 million miles? I suppose I could see it if you used it as a work vehicle/delivery vehicle, though.

 

[StevieC]

I hope this thread is around in a few years when I hit my mileage, and I can revive it.

 

[Gary Allan]

 Originally Posted By: mstrjon32

There is no way I could ever keep a car that long. I'm having a problem holding onto my car with 40K miles. I just get bored with them. You only live once, why would I want to drive the same car 1 million miles? I suppose I could see it if you used it as a work vehicle/delivery vehicle, though.

It doesn't happen to everyone, but a few end their "romance" with the automobile. Many out of practicality. I'm not saying that if I had a very fat wallet that I wouldn't have a larger fleet of desired vehicles, but I'm not hankering for a car payment in my future ...ever. Maybe ending the romance is not quite right. I'd say that the relationship changes. You turn it into a game of seeing how long it can last. It's harder to do with domestics since they seem to like making them very boring in a short amount of time. It's like a leisure suit or disco ...or any other fad. The Asians tend to be immune to this ..as do the Euro's for a good share. That is, people don't regard them in the same disposable way that they do domestics. You buy a Euro for the perception of performance and driver appeal. You (typically) buy an Asian for perceptions of value. You buy a domestic based on either cheapness or comfort/convenience features and (perhaps) a passe~ styling that trips your trigger NOW ..but looks like moldy bread in a few years. Once you view a car as an expensive appliance that's doing a job for you, you might be able to learn to live with it for a longer term relationship. You may be able to shed the $350-$600/month car habit.

 

[mstrjon32]

 Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

Once you view a car as an expensive appliance that's doing a job for you, you might be able to learn to live with it for a longer term relationship. You may be able to shed the $350-$600/month car habit.

You're right, for some people they are just appliances, but I just don't have it in me to treat them that way. Even the $650 "beaters" I've bought ended up with tune-ups, repaired headliners, fixed accessories, etc. I bought my Jeep XJ as a purely utilitarian vehicle, so there's no good reason why I should spend ANY time washing it or detailing the engine, but I do, oh well. I've only financed one car ever, a 60-month term with a $260/month payment. I hated it, and ended up making payments of 4-5x as much every month, and I paid it off in about a year. I just can't stand being in debt. Any and all future vehicles I buy will be in cash. I suppose I'm of the old-school save-and-buy mentality. It's pretty likely that the next car I buy is going to be about 40 years old, too.

 

[Gary Allan]

Well then.. You DO treat it like an appliance -just one that you take care of because it does an expensive job for you. It's like an air compressor to a repair shop. Not really exciting, but essential to its functionality as a repair shop. We're on the same page, just state it differently. Cars fall into a couple of categories. Image, personality, or ego. Image can go in or out of vogue and is typically passe~. Ego can get expensive ..but personality is usually for life. They're all appliances. It's just how fashionable they may be in consumer trends. SUV's were minivans and station wagons for those who couldn't stand the image that minivans or station wagons labeled them with (I don't fault those who do this-it's their choice). Few really needed them. I don't own a flat screen or even a big screen ..nor a Blackberry ..nor a whatever. Why not? Because I don't want what I don't need in those areas of my life (that said, I do have a large collection of all kinds of filters- many that I do not need nor will ever find a real use for-all bought at salvage ). When the current offerings fail, then those items may become needs. Once you remove the automobile from making a statement about you (or change the statement that it makes about you to a more practical one), then it's much easier to hang on to them.

 

[Brons2]

I get a new car every 2-3 years but it's always a cheap car, never spend more than $20K.

 

[NHHEMI]

 Originally Posted By: opposite_locker

As long as someone else pays my gas bill, I'm willing to give 1 million miles a try on my '08 Dodge...already has 50.5k miles in 12.5 months. I figured out the other day that in 1 year, over $10k worth of gas has gone through this pig...

Yup, Dodge Rams, regardless of the engine( gas ), never met a gas station they didn't like. I have had them with every gas engine offered since the early 90's( 5.2L, 5.9L, 4.7L, 5.7L )short of the V6 and they ALL were gas pigs. It is the one real drawback to them. Otherwise great trucks. What stinks for you is the 5.7L gets at least as good as, and for me better than, MPG than the 4.7L. More power AND better MPG.

 

[joel95ex]

the reliability reports like J.D. are based on a very short time...they mean nothing. even when some brands <i> </i> were <i> </i> garbage, they would still be great for 3 to 6 months and that is where the latest 'best new car", "most dependable" claims are wrong....

 

[RISUPERCREWMAN]

http://www.millionmilevan.com Never sell American vehicles short!!!

 

[StevieC]

It has a website because it's so rare! hahaha J/K

 

[mstrjon32]

 Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

Well then.. You DO treat it like an appliance -just one that you take care of because it does an expensive job for you.

Not sure I agree. I drive the "beaters" to keep my nice car out of the city, and its not uncommon for me to go for drives in the middle of the night just for the sake of driving. If I'm at work, and decide mid-day that I'm going to spend the night in the city, I first drive home, leave the so-called "appliance" at home, and take the "beater." I've parked my car in the city, often overnight, hundreds of times in the past two years I've lived here, and the newer car has only been down there a handful of times. If it were just an appliance, I'd just drive it into the city and not worry about morons denting up my bumpers or breaking the window to steal the quarter I failed to sanitize from view.

 

[Saab9-3]

Go Saab

 

[herbie]

Mstrjon you think like I do. Herbie

 

[Ben99GT]

 Originally Posted By: StevieC

 Originally Posted By: PT1

 Originally Posted By: StevieC

I'm aiming for 500K. Good enough for me...

500k in a Hyundai???.....good luck.

Wanna put some money on it... I bet you I will get my 500K. I got 400+ K out of my other vehicles... See this link: http://www.thehyway.com/highmile.htm

500,000 MILES of kilometers?

 

[Ben99GT]

 Originally Posted By: StevieC

It has a website because it's so rare! hahaha J/K

It is rare, just ask Hyundai.