High Mileage accomplishment cheat?
- Thread starter M1Accord
- Start date
Live in a dry climate. In New England cars rust out long before an engine or transmission failure makes the vehicle not worth repairing. Fluid film will help.
The key to longevity is maintenance and periodic inspections. My newest vehicle is 15 years old, but due to my strict maintenance and inspection schedule I'd trust either one on a cross country trip over some newer vehicles my family members own with bald tires, flashing oil maintenance lights, and the odd mouse smell coming from their dash.
The key to longevity is maintenance and periodic inspections. My newest vehicle is 15 years old, but due to my strict maintenance and inspection schedule I'd trust either one on a cross country trip over some newer vehicles my family members own with bald tires, flashing oil maintenance lights, and the odd mouse smell coming from their dash.
It's very easy to cheat. Just go onto Autotrader and set filter to 200k+ mileage. Then filter by highest mileage first, and you can find cars like this easy.
500k miles Grand Marquis
500k miles Grand Marquis
What do you think the perks of the 300k club are?
It's not as glamorous as it's often made out to be.
It's not as glamorous as it's often made out to be.
Just personal accomplishment. Not many people drive that much or capable/disciplined enough to keep cars long. To me, it is a relationship between and its machine.
A stick isn't hard to drive and exept for clutch replacement they're hard to kill.
The people who kill manual transmissions are usually people who don't know or care to learn how the clutch works and just force the shifter between gears. They usually smoke the clutch and break synchros and stuff. If you don't force the shifter and you press and release the clutch fully (some people only push the clutch until it slips a little bit and then they try and jam the transmission into the next gear) you shouldn't hurt anything.
And don't dump the clutch you can break stuff sometimes
I took my VW to over 300k. Feels good. But. Not sure I really want to repeat, not in New England, as that means 10+ years for me, so it's a matter of chasing rust. And random repairs. As long as you have spare cars for when one goes down, sure. Otherwise, it's just a number.
I was looking to take my '99 Camry to over 300k--but one accident later and it's razor blades. All the work I had put into it recently... for naught. Always a gamble.
I was looking to take my '99 Camry to over 300k--but one accident later and it's razor blades. All the work I had put into it recently... for naught. Always a gamble.
f355spider
$50 Site Donor 2025
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
The mention of the 2002 Accord brings back fond memories. We been buying Accords since the 1990s. We have often owned two at same time since I retired, sold the boats, cant hunt or fish any longer , so no need for a truck anymore (disabled too now). So the 2002 Accord we purchased brand new in Aug 2002 and wife would not turn lose of it. She kept the car for over 18 years and drove it to work every day 15 mi round trip. I begged her to get something new and she refused. Finally with about 180,000mi on the clock she did as women at times do (threw a hissy out the blue) one Saturday and informed me she wanted a new car that weekend. So the "Silver Bullet" got traded in.
Those 2002 Accords were notorious for blown transaxles. Luckily at the time one of my long time buddies was a Honda Dealership Service manager. He headed me off in advance and told me some of the tricks the Honda techs had been using to keep them running with no trans failures in their personal vehicles. We have two Accords now - 2009 Exl and a 2018 Exl. I am going to hand down the 2009 to my nephew who comes over often and does lots of my "honey-do" jobs that I can not do any longer and does predictive / preventive maintenance on the cars. Plan to buy a certified / used Toyota Camry in place of the 2009 Accord since I have lost faith in Honda Motor Corpration for the stunt they are ignoring with the fluke T-DIG gas engines that have the fuel/oil dilution issues they will not admit or acknowledge. Honda is not loyal to life long customers so I am done being a long time buyer of their products. 2002 was garage kept and looked new when traded.
It can be a great feeling to achieve high mileage through normal commute driving plus leisure (vacations, visit faraway friends/relatives, etc). But a high mileage "trophy" achievement seems silly. Yay I hit 300k... now what? Blast it on social media and tell all your friends every chance you get? Sure it's cool to have 300k / 400k / 500k+ miles and still running strong, but people achieving these high mileages are out living their lives and the big odometer number is not a goal in and of itself. What I mean is, either you drive a lot or you don't. And remember that high mileage eventually leads to high wear (generally undesirable), and certain milestones trigger major maintenance tasks (can be expensive hassles). My Tacoma has 191k miles and runs perfect -- honestly I can't wait to hit 300k, but there's no rush, I will get there when I get there. Better to focus on the journey rather than the destination 
Thanks DGXR for wise words od wisdom.
Sammy - I love my Accord. I wish I had bought a I4 instead. It was my first car straight out of college and i needed that power. Had I gone with I4, it would be with timing chain and thr money saved from premature maintenance would be put towards more meaningful care and engine and drivetrain upgrades. For example, a cold air intake, muffler system, and transmission cooler would be on the list leading up to a possible supercharger.
Everything is original beside tires, brakes, and maintenance items. Very solid and the V6 is nice on highway.
Here is a nice 4-door. My only hesitant is that it has over 100k and I know most people don’t change their ATF and that is a big risk on any vehicle I don’t like. My buddy who is very versed in cars and had bought and sold tons of used cars say I am too fixated on ATF service. I asked if he had serviced ATF and he said ‘of course. I want to keep these cars purchased new forever.’ His Kia van has 350k miles and had been used to tow all kind of things.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/397803449308206/?ref=search
Sammy - I love my Accord. I wish I had bought a I4 instead. It was my first car straight out of college and i needed that power. Had I gone with I4, it would be with timing chain and thr money saved from premature maintenance would be put towards more meaningful care and engine and drivetrain upgrades. For example, a cold air intake, muffler system, and transmission cooler would be on the list leading up to a possible supercharger.
Everything is original beside tires, brakes, and maintenance items. Very solid and the V6 is nice on highway.
Here is a nice 4-door. My only hesitant is that it has over 100k and I know most people don’t change their ATF and that is a big risk on any vehicle I don’t like. My buddy who is very versed in cars and had bought and sold tons of used cars say I am too fixated on ATF service. I asked if he had serviced ATF and he said ‘of course. I want to keep these cars purchased new forever.’ His Kia van has 350k miles and had been used to tow all kind of things.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/397803449308206/?ref=search
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I am confused. I thought you wanted to drive one of your current Honda's to 300K?
If your just going to buy one - well there is no skill there. The skill will be fixing everything when you get it home. Unless you buy one from me, in which case it will need nothing and you can resume your boredom. Except I don't sell mine.
If your just going to buy one - well there is no skill there. The skill will be fixing everything when you get it home. Unless you buy one from me, in which case it will need nothing and you can resume your boredom. Except I don't sell mine.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Sweet looking. The very same car the wife picked up in 2020 in pearl/white exterior with white/grey interior. She caught me in a weak moment. Had I not been down with back/neck issues at the time she drug me to a dealership, I would never have bought a car with a turbo. I just am upset I learned after the fact about the Honda gas/oil dilution issues. Anyway. I been lurking over it like a hawk and of course over do the oil changes and pm work on it. Just changed out the PCV valve with a new one. It does run amazing, efficient and awesome gas mpg. Topped it out one trip at 49.9mpg. Even with the tiny sewing machine / turbo engine that I am not a fan of..... we both admit it is our favorite Accord we have owned. We just find the body/paint and interior of that 2018 to be far superior to any of the others. The 2018 engine is so quiet at times I need to check to see if it started. My 2009 is a much roomier car inside but you can tell they went cheap on the interior n leather back then. Of course the Honda paint jobs really do stand up well if you keep them indoors or at the least washed and waxed often.
Honda is slowly chipping away its reputation with these turbo engines. You would think they learned their lesson with the V6 automatic transmission problem across multiple platforms in both Honda and Acura frok 1998-2002. I still don’t know what was the problem but multiple ATF changes at 20k, 50k, 75k, 100k, 150k and 200k sure saved my bacon. And if it hadn’t happen by 100k, it won’t happen. My cousin’s wife has the same car and that problem caused her Accord to fail CA emission or something so they junked it. And she bought it after he told her about my Accord and how I took him and his brother to 100 mph when they were kids.
3783-KC1
Site Donor 2024
Ehh, both cars will get you there if you want to go there. I mean if Hugie's Legend Coupe has done over 590K on the original clutch, then no reason that a whole car can't make it to 300K easy. Just be a lot more mindful/proactive on maintenance than a normal car so that things don't break excessively. As to getting to that mileage. Just set some extra allowance for gas and drive around on random public roads for no reason. It'll rack up the miles quickly! As for the car I'd do it in. I'd personally take the accord due to the sheer quality that I've seen from them in the past. Had a 02' in the HS auto shop for a starter when I was still in school. Had 260K miles and looked brand new inside and out. Granted a pilot owned that thing and was very meticulous with the maintenance of both visual and mechanical items, but the quality of the materials were high quality for an economy car in my opinion.
You can have my 2018 Subaru wagon with 350K for a song, spare transmission not included.
I'm kinda tempted to sell mine but I would only want someone as maintenance friendly as I am. Currently at 325,000 miles
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
My favorite trucks of all was my 1986 Bronco and the 1994 F150 both with the 302cui engines. I actually loved those 5.0s so much I was tempted to pull a stunt and install a 5.0 in one of my Chevelles.
Did the rust stop you from putting on more mileage?
