How 'used' is your car/truck?

[Colt45ws]

My car goes where I need to go including dirt/gravel roads and even a farm once. I take it up to 5000RPM on occasion sometimes multiple times per day. Take the corner on to the highway on ramp as fast as tires will allow. It gets occasional road trips then it will get used a couple times a day for less than 5 miles. Once in awhile it gets to idle for a extended period. I take it through an automatic 'touchless' carwash because if I do it myself my minor OCD kicks in and I have to make it perfect, which can take days.
Schaeffer 7000 5W20 in the engine, last OCI was 4,600mi.
Transmission has had the valve body modified for harder shifts and has a +2qt aluminum pan installed along with Schaeffers All Trans Supreme Full syn.
Rear diff has Amsoil Severe Gear 75W110, extra protection for those smokey take offs.

 

[wander2039]

My Ranger with 35k the front brakes are almost gone. Probably towed 2x what's it supposed to 3 or 4 times same with loads...always something back there and it shows. The Escape ever since the boy was born every trip has had a good sized cargo carrier on top. Several trips with trailers 3k to 4k. I have been known to run a few at stop lights.. to uh yeah blow out the soot.

 

[cousincletus]

I take really good care of my cars also. Impala gets oil change once a year with M-1, but only gets about 5-6,000 miles a year. It's basically used as a third car. Wife's Malibu gets M-1 changed when OLM gets to around 25%. My Colorado gets Havoline dino every 3500 miles. I drive with the mindset of getting the max gas mileage. If traffic is light, I set cruise at 63 mph, and can get as much as 26 mpg with my pickup truck. Impala gets as good as 34 mpg. Malibu 30, but wife drives it a little harder. If traffic is heavy, I go with the flow to avoid annoying others and I think it's safer.

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
... The TL is babied most of the time. ... rarely get above 2,500. ... I figure all these years of babying it will hopefully make up for the abuse I'm about to give it at Willow.


Make sure you give it a few good runs on the street a few weeks before racing it so that it has a chance to break loose any "Grandma driving carbon" in the system...

That would be "Grandpa driving carbon" lol. Even my girlfriend gets annoyed with my driving habits and says I drive like an old Grandpa but she's one of those that will keep the pedal on the floor until she has to slam on the brakes for a stale redlight. My brakes have never been replaced at 76,000 miles. Hers already have at 25,000.

The other personality comes out in the GN and when it's been down for more than a month, the TL usually suffers.

 

[rationull]

My Civic 1.8 gets treated pretty easily most of the time. Probably 80% highway driven 22 or so miles per day round trip, shifting between 2500 and 4000 RPM depending on how I feel. It does get high load driving at 3500+ RPMs up a long grade every day and gets revved up a bit once a week when my commute is longer. Oil changes at ~6000 miles with good dino.

GF's Mazda3 2.3 gets roughly the same treatment although she's a little more "zealous" on the brakes and suspension than I am. It's only had one oil change so far but it's probably going to get the same as the Civic. Both cars get longer (200-350 mile) road trips probably 2-4 times a year each to visit the parents.

The Suburban 7.4 gets driven gently every 2 or 3 weeks to keep it in running order. It gets used for towing a two-horse trailer probably 3 times a year. If I'd known it was going to be that infrequently I probably would have hesitated a little more about buying it. It has to work when pulling the trailer but not too hard. Yearly oil changes on High Mileage conventional for it.

 

[Anduril]

I've achieved 17 mpg in a Cavalier a time or two, for a 4-cyl it's got a decent exhaust note

 

[labman]

I never abuse anything, even the boss's truck. After all, who else's daily driver is a 77 bought new? On the other hand, I am not afraid to use what I have got when I need to. I will bet that old guy in the pick up gripped about me passing him in my Grand AM with the HO Quad 4 and 5 speed the rest of his life.

I made good use of the 5 speed and Ecotec in my Cavalier on the hilly, crooked, 2 lane roads in our recent trip to Pennsylvania. 2 people, a 60 pound dog, and stuff for a week.

I haven't needed to haul a 10' pipe or a bunch of 8' 2x4's in it like the Grand Am, but I think they would fit with the trunk and windows closed too.

 

[ViragoBry]

My Mazdaspeed 6 is getting ready to flip over 10,000 miles, but the nose looks more like it has 60,000. Rocks and other road debris have raped that soft Mazda paint.

 

[TooManyWheels]

Our '08 TL was broken in by running it gingerly for 100 miles in stop/go traffic, then for 20 miles on the highway in second gear at 6K RPM. The second part wasn't deliberate - apparently I didn't do a good enough job of explaining the sport shift feature of the automatic trans to a certain member of my family before she took it on the road.

It has had an easy life since.

 

[HM12460]

my truck is a real work truck. it works every day. it has made numerous tips to north carolina and back hauling tools of my trade, hauling firewood, hauling equipment for my lawn care business etc... every saturday afternoon i stop what i'm doing and clean it up good and then drive it to church on sunday morning. the paint still shines! btw, i use Pennzoil conventional in the old beast with oci dictated by the olm.