2003 was a very good year. My DD is an '03 Golf TDI with 840k miles. My weekend car is a near-identical '03 Golf TDI with 150k miles. My sister and her family are using an '03 Jetta TDI wagon with 250k miles that I picked up last year. And my nephew just bought a gorgeous '03 Jetta TDI with only 177k miles. All are mostly identical with 5-speed manual transmissions, but different levels of performance modifications.
Older car daily drivers
- Thread starter doublebase
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I drove an '88 Ford Escort as a daily driver to and from construction sites for years. Sometime I'd put as high as 200+ miles a day on it. When I moved from NC-KY in 2010 it had over 500K miles on it, I drove it 500 miles from our old home to our new one with no problems. When I finally retired it it had 518K miles and was still moving under it's own power.
I can't really call it a daily driver, but my Monte Carlo gets driven regularly all summer and goes in storage for the winter. It has never seen a rust belt winter. It has been a surprisingly good car.
I had an '88 wagon. Simply wouldn't quit, even after a few incidents. The major issue was oil consumption after Mr. Oil Change (looking at you, @redhat , you know the place) didn't bother to screw on an oil filter properly.
Donated it to Goodwill here in SW Ohio in 1997 and they remarked "everything works on it."
I had a 2006 Sentra up until about a year ago.
It had 206 K miles on it.
Everything worked just fine,motor,tranny AC etc.
But it needed struts all around, new Rotors and pads.
I was going to fix all that about $800.
But then the drivers side door would not open and the cost to fix was unknown.
I drive 5 days a week 42 mile round trip to work on I 70 through Denver.
So rather then put the money into a now 13 year old car I decided to get a new Elantra simply for the reliability factor.
If it was just an around town car I probably would have fixed it.
I sent it to the recycler $225.
It had 206 K miles on it.
Everything worked just fine,motor,tranny AC etc.
But it needed struts all around, new Rotors and pads.
I was going to fix all that about $800.
But then the drivers side door would not open and the cost to fix was unknown.
I drive 5 days a week 42 mile round trip to work on I 70 through Denver.
So rather then put the money into a now 13 year old car I decided to get a new Elantra simply for the reliability factor.
If it was just an around town car I probably would have fixed it.
I sent it to the recycler $225.
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I'm not really sure I like heated seats. Two of my cars present have them.
The High (3 out of 3 levels) setting on a G8 is also too hot. You could be in Alaska and it would be too hot...
(350Rocket's post) Almost identical thing happened to my father in a Delta 88.. the one that was similar to, but not, a Caprice Classic like yours. Only thing needed was a grill, bumper, and hood.
Olds had.. I believe it a 307. 5.0. Total slug and gutless engine but it seemed to be bulletproof. Others may disagree.. 140HP from a 5L V8. Seems funny today.
Painting of hood was stopped after budding and after only spraying one side. Delta 88s had a trim piece that ran along the hood.. IIRC. Stayed like that.
Sold for $500, late 90s. Clock disabled, as it would drain the battery. Last seen in the wild in the 2000s. Would not surprise me if it was still running today.
I wonder what oil it had in there. I know it was NOT Mobil 1, we always used conventional...
I daily my 00' Ranger more then my 95' F150 (it just easier to park at work) and I just use quality replacement parts in the rare case something fails on it. Beside basic maintenance this lil Ranger has been great (very low maintenance), would love it more if it was 4 door and had the much stronger 4.0 . The 3.0 is just such a turd when it comes to power I'll never understand why Ford put it in a truck application (even worse in a 4x4 app. that I ended up with smh).
Yeah it was gutless. The best one I had for power was the 86 with the carbed 305 165hp. It would roast the tires pretty good. The 83 is only 150hp and the 89 with TBI felt slower than the 83 despite being rated at 170hp but it had well over 300k miles. Compression checked out good though and another one I drove with only 220k miles ran exactly the same.
My wreck with the 86 bent the control arms, frame, basically destroyed the car. But I walked away from it with just a small cut.
The only time I use them really is on the coldest Ontario winter days. Turn it on for a few minutes so I stop shivering.
Have to replace the front struts on this car, there's a broken coil spring on the driver's side. Not bad for 16 years at 267,000km on the oem struts.
I had that same engine in a ‘92 Expo. The only difference was that it was fuel injected. Those 1.8 motors were like sewing machines and would run forever if taken care of. Between us and a family member that car racked up around 360,000 miles before the transmission died. It served us well for twenty years.
Thank you for sharing that story! They are definetely great engines and I really like the concept behind it.
From my impression they are not really about peak power at high rpm.
They feature a nice powerband with a decent amount of low-end torque due to the 8v-design and the long piston stroke.
This allows for quite a long gearing, making the engine very economical at highway speeds.
86hp in a sedan might sound absolutely ridiculous today, but it still gets along rather well in todays traffic without needing to excessively rev the engine. In fact, it feels more vivid to drive than our Renault Clio II with a 1.4l 16v engine putting out 98hp.
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Just an update...
Now at 128,000 miles in this thing (three years later). Not one single issue...not one single check engine light, noise, misfire, leak. Nada.
Enjoying no car payment. Enjoying 28 mpg. Have even started doing 10,000 mile OCI’s. uses no oil. 500 highway miles a week.
Maintenance — plugs at (120,000 miles), tranny service every 30,000 miles (drain and fill), air filters every 40,000-50,000. Been through a set of tires, a set of brakes. I do everything myself (I work in the industry).
Loved reading through this thread again! I love high mileage stories, and machinery that nit only does what it was designed to do, but exceeds it (with the help from the owner). I want to see if I can keep this car till 300,000 plus.
Update for me too…
3 years later and I’m still doing my 75-mile round trip in the same 2009 G5, now at about 185k miles.
Air still blows ice cold, and it still doesn’t use a drop of oil, but the TC tensioner rattles on most starts unless I add something like STP to the oil.
I’ve repaired/replaced quite a bit on it, but it is still way cheaper than new. Rust is there, but nothing life-ending yet. Will just keep trucking on until something major quits - engine, tranny, or major electrical failure.
3 years later and I’m still doing my 75-mile round trip in the same 2009 G5, now at about 185k miles.
Air still blows ice cold, and it still doesn’t use a drop of oil, but the TC tensioner rattles on most starts unless I add something like STP to the oil.
I’ve repaired/replaced quite a bit on it, but it is still way cheaper than new. Rust is there, but nothing life-ending yet. Will just keep trucking on until something major quits - engine, tranny, or major electrical failure.
Think I posted somewhere in here... still have the '99 Camry, was driving it 100 miles roundtrip a couple times a week for work. Would be 100% content to do so, but, after doing lots of shopping for used cars in the area, I could not find a beater that I'd be willing to try out. Bought myself a newer car as I felt a need to go to 4 vehicles (4 drivers, often going in different directions, and things are getting to where it's "need to be there" not "it'd be nice to go").
Sam_Julier
$50 Site Donor 2024
Addendum to my earlier post.
In order of the pictures: 1993 240 wagon 205k, 1993 240 sedan 235k, 1991 240 sedan 227k.
All meticulously maintained and ready to go anywhere, no matter how far.
It’s a blast taking care of them and having people comment.
In order of the pictures: 1993 240 wagon 205k, 1993 240 sedan 235k, 1991 240 sedan 227k.
All meticulously maintained and ready to go anywhere, no matter how far.
It’s a blast taking care of them and having people comment.
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How many miles are on the Camry now? 261k in your signature or more?
261k I think, I haven't checked in a couple of weeks. My daughter's travels are much shorter.
I have a 91’ Previa that I drive regularly. I don’t use it for DD, but I do use for hauling, house repairs, and hauling bicycles for recreation. It’s got about 201k miles on it. Still has functioning AC, but does need recharges annually. Great car.
840k ok this guy wins the bitog cake. Would you like the filling to be directly injected or port injected only?