What car & engine lasts the longest?

TR3-2001SE · Sep 4, 2003

Gas I agree is Toyota,Lexus/Honda/Acura.
Diesel was Mercedes Benz in the 70's-80's but no longer imported.
I drove the Mercedes Benz 300d to 300,000 and required only transmission at 200,000.
I have Toyota Cressida with 250,000 and no engine or transmission work done yet.
From both of these I would bet the toyota will go longer without releasing the factory air out of the engine or transmission. Castrol GTX used in both these cars.

[ September 04, 2003, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: TR3-2001SE ]

Chris 2421 · Sep 4, 2003

What car and engine lasts the longest???

The one that is taken care of and maintained properly.

ToyotaNSaturn · Sep 4, 2003

I ran into a buddy from High School back in 1999. His mom has an 89 Accord LXi hatchback that's been in 2 major accidents. I was in the back seat for one of them--a 74 (?) Plymouth Fury rear ended us and threw me into the front seat. Major rear end damage. Luckily, the car was able to be fixed. Oh yeah, I was OK, too!

That Accord had 325K on it back in 99. I wonder how many miles is on that thing now!

NutBuster · Sep 4, 2003

Assuming an engine wasn't designed, tested, and assembled by Stevie Wonder, there are a few key factors (besides maintenance) that aid in long engine life.

1) Inline engines have inherent durability
2) Low horsepower output (i.e. non-turbos)
3) Low revving engines (higher gearing)
4) Steady highway miles

Almost every manufacturer I can think of has built some dud engines. Poor head gasket design, faulty castings, weak lubrication systems, and spotty assemblies will occasionally crop up. In the old days, it was trial, error, and voodoo that made an engine reliable. Now it's high speed supercomputers. We've come a long way and yet the basic priciples of the 4-stroke are a hundred years old. You'd think somebody would have come up with THE perfect engine design by now!

PandaBear · Sep 5, 2003

I truly believe any company can design and build an engine that keeps going and going, but the key question is who is willing to built one instead of making junk and pocket the savings.

Sure, technologies now a days have make cars supposely more reliable, but you still keep seeing auto tranny problem or head gasket leak right when the warranty expire.

To name a few of mine: 95 Toyota Corolla (built in Fremont, CA) got a tranny leak at 55k and 01 Ford Taurus (built in Chicago, IL) got a tranny leak at 25k, my 97 Acura Integra (built in Japan) got none at 102k, no problem at all.

It is really hard to predict but in general, the more expensive car in the same class usually last longer. Cars built in Europe and Japan usually last longer as well.

ToyotaNSaturn · Sep 5, 2003

What engine lasts the longest?

Any Ford 3.8L OHV engine
Any Ford 2.3L from Mustang/T-Bird/Ranger/Pinto era
Any American Merkur Scorpio or XR4Ti

...NOT!....

(Couldn't tell I used to work in a Ford shop, could you!

)

ToyotaNSaturn · Sep 5, 2003

I worked in Parts... too many upper-end kits on the 3.8L, used-up 2.3L's and the Merkur's rarely ever hit above the 60K mark.

94MaxGXE · Sep 6, 2003

Nissan VG30e....SOHC, 3L @22960cc....The car will wear out and fall apart long before that engine gives up........

sub_zero · Sep 6, 2003

Whatever engines in an '85 Nissan P/U, four banger I think 2.4L. My brother has one for Uni. and it just goes, still goin' I don't know how many K's but it is never serviced properly, maybe 1 change a year.

I enjoy driving it because it just goes nothing spectacular but great torque, given the vintage and displacement.

Hubjeep · Sep 6, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by badnews:
Jeep's 4.0 will last forever period. It is without a doubt one of if not the best engines ever made by man today.

Yup, The 4.0 in my mother's 1998 ZJ (Grand Cherokee) has 143,000 miles. Mobil-1 changes every 5,000 burns no oil.

My 1991 YJ (Wrangler) has 116,000 on its 4.0, runs great too.

-John

[ September 07, 2003, 01:03 AM: Message edited by: Hubjeep ]

Mark in NY · Sep 6, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by supraturbo:
The old chrysler slant 6 and toyota 22r come to mind.

Yes- from what I have seen over the years these 2 stand out in my mind for consistantly running well at well over 150k when maintained in the average (below average)manner of the average owner.

And thats why they stand out - they survive a long time without being cared for.

jc1990 · Sep 7, 2003

i think some of the worse engines are gm,s 3.1 and ive had problems with fords 351 truck motors but belive it or not i had a 94 ranger with 2.3 engine had 217000 miles and got beat on most of life but still ran great

Patman · Sep 7, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by jc1990:
i think some of the worse engines are gm,s 3.1

The older versions of these engines last forever, I know a few people who have gone over 300,000km on them, I know one guy in my car club who went over 400,000km, and my next door neighbor is close to 400,000km on his.

jc1990 · Sep 8, 2003

well patman im suprised to hear that i had botha 93 sunbird and now have a 96 grand am with 90000 miles and the engine is already junk

Patman · Sep 8, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by jc1990:
well patman im suprised to hear that i had botha 93 sunbird and now have a 96 grand am with 90000 miles and the engine is already junk

I think when they redesigned the 3.1 in 1994 it because much less reliable. I had a 94 Grand Am GT with the 3100 engine and it had major piston slap, enough for me to trade it in only 18 months into my lease!

PatrickW · Mar 21, 2005

In my personal experience, a Toyota with the 22R engine went the longest.

However, I also own a 4 cylinder, normally aspirated, cast iron Mercedes 240D diesel that is within 4,000 miles of my Toyota's "record".

And that old 240D isn't showing *any* sign of it's age....

- Patrick

andrews · Mar 21, 2005

I'll bet some Ford Crown Victoria police cars and taxi vehicles could pass for longevity/mileage records. I've heard of some taxis having hundreds of thousands of miles on them before they are retired.
Very good cars for a domestic!!

wander2039 · Mar 21, 2005

My vote would be for the Festiva and not the Aspire. Has the mazda b-series engine. Mostly anything with that engine can run forever. Mazda only used virgin metals in their blocks supposedly. But then again any engine can last with proper maintenance.

obbop · Mar 21, 2005

Hubba hubba in response to the one touting the Mopar slant-6.

Uber durable.

Mopar's 318 was also a long-lived engine but, just as with all the other engines, yah' gotta' keep the oil changed and don't mistreat the critter.

Chris142 · Mar 21, 2005

I'm not a GM guy! BUT.

I see many early-mid 90's Chevy trucks w/350's that are getting 300K+ on the original engine.

One lady that comes in just put a rebuilt engine in her Suburban @ 410K! Another guy uses his truck to pull a race car and last time I saw him he had 427K on his original 350

I drove him home in it and it ran fine.

The Totota 20r/22r engines that have the double roller timing chain setup were generally good for 300K+. I saw one one time w/450K on it.

What car & engine lasts the longest?

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