How to Make Your Car Last 200,000 Miles

[supton]

Headliner in our Civic started falling down after 8 or so years. But that has zero to do with milage; that car was simply a lemon. I suspect that 150k/200k lines up with around 10 year ownership, which is where stuff just wears out, either from usage or time. And most people just don't want to deal with the repairs. These days one keeps getting more in the newer cars, be it safety items or convience items or mpg, so, after x miles / y years, it gets real tempting to move on. Regardless of how much life it may or may not have left. And, one's needs do change periodically too.

Assuming one isn't dealing with lemons or poorly designed vehicles, that is.

 

[Tdbo]

1. Buy a car with a known track record. Ascertain all problem areas.
2. Maintain the vehicle utilizing a "severe service" regimen. Overcompensate maintenance in all problem areas.
3. Voila! Car lasts over 200k. Mine is at 264K following rule 1 and 2.

 

[R2d2]

My Jetta lasted 274k miles with nothing more then infrequent oil changes (10-12kmiles), a couple radiator drain and fills a few spark plug/air filter changes. I finally got rid of it because the radio/ac didn't work and I couldn't open the drivers side window because it was being held closed with golf tees. It ran well and had no major rust.

 

[Russell]

Originally Posted By: R2d2
My Jetta lasted 274k miles with nothing more then infrequent oil changes (10-12kmiles), a couple radiator drain and fills a few spark plug/air filter changes. I finally got rid of it because the radio/ac didn't work and I couldn't open the drivers side window because it was being held closed with golf tees. It ran well and had no major rust.


If you really wanted it, you would have fixed those items. As we all do, sooner or later, we want to move on so we need a "reason".

 

[MarkM66]

Do proper maintenance, and pay attention to it. Scrutinize under the hood once in a while, same with suspension, exhaust, cooling system, etc.

Buy a service manual, and do repairs yourself. The less you spend paying someone else to work on it, the longer you'll think it's worth keeping.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: MarkM66

Buy a service manual, and do repairs yourself. The less you spend paying someone else to work on it, the longer you'll think it's worth keeping.


+1 Just rolled 150k on the wife's Lexus. She wants to keep it forever but I think 200k will be trade in time. I have flushed the trans using the cooler line method every 50k and it still shifts like new though. I'll re-evaluate at 200k.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
1. Buy a car with a known track record. Ascertain all problem areas.
2. Maintain the vehicle utilizing a "severe service" regimen. Overcompensate maintenance in all problem areas.
3. Voila! Car lasts over 200k. Mine is at 264K following rule 1 and 2.


+1 Severe service schedule will make it last.

 

[supton]

I'd rather buy a better synthetic and run >10kmile OCI's than change it every 5k. If I was towing/racing, then sure, I'd follow the severe schedule. But I don't see a need to when I don't need to (plus an oil change is like fifty bucks on my car).

You bring up a good point about problem areas. Finding out what the problem spots might be, and staying on top of them (ie, hit up the forums) will certainly help prevent any "surprises" down the road.

 

[R2d2]

Originally Posted By: Russell
Originally Posted By: R2d2
My Jetta lasted 274k miles with nothing more then infrequent oil changes (10-12kmiles), a couple radiator drain and fills a few spark plug/air filter changes. I finally got rid of it because the radio/ac didn't work and I couldn't open the drivers side window because it was being held closed with golf tees. It ran well and had no major rust.


If you really wanted it, you would have fixed those items. As we all do, sooner or later, we want to move on so we need a "reason".

Absolutely true.

 

[fdcg27]

I suspect that the miles reached have a great deal to do with how a car is used.
I have a daily commute of fifty miles, and I drive around 21-22K each year overall.
It is probably much easier for me to get 200K+ out of a car than it is for someone who spends most of his time in traffic.
Most of my commute is on a semi-rural two lane that is very well maintained. While I do have some traffic lights along the way, they are usually easy to time, and I have sometimes been able to make the entire drive without touching the brakes.
I've seen 200K on three cars now, the '97 Accord in my sig, an '86 Civic Wagon and a '78 240D.
None of these cars were falling apart at 200K, either.

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
So people get rid of their cars for some reason other than a dying engine or transmission.


This was my case with the last car I had. I sold it with just under 175,000 miles. The transmission was perfect, engine was solid (other than some wrist pin slap that had always been there since I bought it used), interior was clean and nearly flawless, and everything else was in good working order. Then it seemed that the car started having one problem after another; some problems were small, others were not so small. Some were pricey too. It got to the point where it wasn't worth the time, trouble, and money I was sinking into it, so I sold it and bought my Focus.

For every car, there comes a point where you're better off laying money down for something newer than throwing money into something that'll likely keep giving you problems (collector/sentimental cars aside).

 

[otis24]

My 2005 Grand Caravan that I purchased new has 151k miles. Replaced brakes, rotors, struts and shocks. Been through a couple of batteries, a water pump, alternator and a rack-n-pinion. We purchased a pop-up about a year after getting the van, so we installed a tranny cooler right away.

Interior has a few flaws. Considering that my daughter was 4 and my son 1 when we purchased it, I think its in pretty good shape. Golf ball sized hail "totalled"it. A few dings but doesn't look too bad. Runs and shifts great. I plan on running it till it dies, which hopefully will not be for at least another two to three years.

 

[Russell]

Originally Posted By: otis24
My 2005 Grand Caravan that I purchased new has 151k miles. Replaced brakes, rotors, struts and shocks. Been through a couple of batteries, a water pump, alternator and a rack-n-pinion. We purchased a pop-up about a year after getting the van, so we installed a tranny cooler right away.

Interior has a few flaws. Considering that my daughter was 4 and my son 1 when we purchased it, I think its in pretty good shape. Golf ball sized hail "totalled"it. A few dings but doesn't look too bad. Runs and shifts great. I plan on running it till it dies, which hopefully will not be for at least another two to three years.

My 90 grand caravan with a 3.3 liter engine lasted until about 150,000 miles. However it went through about 4 tranys. All but the last one totally paid for my the dealer. They had siginifant problems with tranys that year. My son loved it in college though.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: Russell
Originally Posted By: R2d2
My Jetta lasted 274k miles with nothing more then infrequent oil changes (10-12kmiles), a couple radiator drain and fills a few spark plug/air filter changes. I finally got rid of it because the radio/ac didn't work and I couldn't open the drivers side window because it was being held closed with golf tees. It ran well and had no major rust.


If you really wanted it, you would have fixed those items. As we all do, sooner or later, we want to move on so we need a "reason".

Unless the repairs were a huge amount of money...a guy I work with replaced his car because the A/C compressor went out...the repair would be close to $3000.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: Russell
Originally Posted By: otis24
My 2005 Grand Caravan that I purchased new has 151k miles. Replaced brakes, rotors, struts and shocks. Been through a couple of batteries, a water pump, alternator and a rack-n-pinion. We purchased a pop-up about a year after getting the van, so we installed a tranny cooler right away.

Interior has a few flaws. Considering that my daughter was 4 and my son 1 when we purchased it, I think its in pretty good shape. Golf ball sized hail "totalled"it. A few dings but doesn't look too bad. Runs and shifts great. I plan on running it till it dies, which hopefully will not be for at least another two to three years.

My 90 grand caravan with a 3.3 liter engine lasted until about 150,000 miles. However it went through about 4 tranys. All but the last one totally paid for my the dealer. They had siginifant problems with tranys that year. My son loved it in college though.


That early 4 speed box was so bad that at one Chrysler dealer where my mechanic friend worked, they had a trans tech that could pull an ATX in under 20 minutes, fix it, and have it back in about one hour later. A flat-rate bonanza to be sure.

I knew the gentleman who came up with the field fix for it. I no longer recall the specifics as it was 20 years ago. But Chrysler took it and incorporated into later production, and offered him a new Viper as a thanks. I do remember that.

The Chrysler 3.3 was a sturdy if unexciting engine. The Mitsubishi six they offered stayed nice and silky if you were diligent with maintenance. I had one new in '90 tethered to a 5-speed manual (me and about two others it seemed). You could have a lot of fun with it and it NEVER broke. Got bored of it somewhere between 150 and 200k. Didn't use/lose a drop of oil the day I sold it.

 

[Russell]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
Originally Posted By: Russell
Originally Posted By: otis24
My 2005 Grand Caravan that I purchased new has 151k miles. Replaced brakes, rotors, struts and shocks. Been through a couple of batteries, a water pump, alternator and a rack-n-pinion. We purchased a pop-up about a year after getting the van, so we installed a tranny cooler right away.

Interior has a few flaws. Considering that my daughter was 4 and my son 1 when we purchased it, I think its in pretty good shape. Golf ball sized hail "totalled"it. A few dings but doesn't look too bad. Runs and shifts great. I plan on running it till it dies, which hopefully will not be for at least another two to three years.

My 90 grand caravan with a 3.3 liter engine lasted until about 150,000 miles. However it went through about 4 tranys. All but the last one totally paid for my the dealer. They had siginifant problems with tranys that year. My son loved it in college though.


That early 4 speed box was so bad that at one Chrysler dealer where my mechanic friend worked, they had a trans tech that could pull an ATX in under 20 minutes, fix it, and have it back in about one hour later. A flat-rate bonanza to be sure.

I knew the gentleman who came up with the field fix for it. I no longer recall the specifics as it was 20 years ago. But Chrysler took it and incorporated into later production, and offered him a new Viper as a thanks. I do remember that.

The Chrysler 3.3 was a sturdy if unexciting engine. The Mitsubishi six they offered stayed nice and silky if you were diligent with maintenance. I had one new in '90 tethered to a 5-speed manual (me and about two others it seemed). You could have a lot of fun with it and it NEVER broke. Got bored of it somewhere between 150 and 200k. Didn't use/lose a drop of oil the day I sold it.

Thank you so much for this. The dealer suposedly installed a factory trany, with the latest fix, each time. I could never undrstand why it was not fixed properly.

 

[Volvohead]

That's because it probably wasn't.

If you walked into this particular dealer garage on any given day in the early to mid '90s, the shop floor was usually littered with half a dozen ATX boxes either going in or coming out.

At that time, I don't know which one was worse, these Chrysler boxes or the ones down the street at the Ford dealer coming out of the Tauruses (heaven forbid you had a 3.8 with one of those). Not a great time for 4-speed FWD ATX.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
That's because it probably wasn't.

If you walked into this particular dealer garage on any given day in the early to mid '90s, the shop floor was usually littered with half a dozen ATX boxes either going in or coming out.

At that time, I don't know which one was worse, these Chrysler boxes or the ones down the street at the Ford dealer coming out of the Tauruses (heaven forbid you had a 3.8 with one of those). Not a great time for 4-speed FWD ATX.

Nissan 4-speed transaxles worked well at that time. It is amazing to see ho many 1989 and later Maximas are still on the road.

 

[Rick in PA]

Originally Posted By: ag_ghost
...We just returned from a 1000 miles trip up and down California's I-5 after the clock turned 150k in our Windstar and I'm quite confident of hitting 200. It'll be more about finding someone competent to help with stuff like window regulators, sliding doors and how much of the peeling paint we can stand.
Kevin


My wife's Windstar just rolled over 200k, in fact, I'll be doing the 200k mile oil change tomorrow morning. It did take a set of head gaskets, but they were known for that. And the intake runner control solenoids had to be replaced. Oh well, nothing's perfect. Overall, I've been happy with the Windstar, it's been a good vehicle. Your's will make it.

 

[kschachn]

When I read this I thought gee, only 200,000 miles? No problem, I'm shooting for 300,000