What do you expect for a vehicle life expectancy?
- Thread starter Umibozu
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250-300k or about 12-15 years. Rust will claim the car right about then.
Originally Posted By: Trav
I have no expectations. If the engine blows and i want to keep the car it gets a rebuild or another one.
The car will basically last as long as i want to keep it.
Yep. Jay Leno in regard to vehicles, Collins Foundation .aircraft.
I have no expectations. If the engine blows and i want to keep the car it gets a rebuild or another one.
The car will basically last as long as i want to keep it.
Yep. Jay Leno in regard to vehicles, Collins Foundation .aircraft.
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
200K is easy for most vehicles.
Living in an area with no snow / rust makes it easy for 300K miles.
I live in the heart of the rustbelt. I consider 15 winters as good, regardless of miles. Freakin' salt is the great destroyer of all things around here.....
200K is easy for most vehicles.
Living in an area with no snow / rust makes it easy for 300K miles.
I live in the heart of the rustbelt. I consider 15 winters as good, regardless of miles. Freakin' salt is the great destroyer of all things around here.....
Bud_One
Site Donor 2022
300k miles min regardless of age, if properly maintained.
My metric is 1 year/$1000 I spent to purchase it.
It used to be 10 years and 110,000 miles.
Now it is somewhere between 150,000-175,000 miles, years not as important. We are both retired and don't drive as much.
Now it is somewhere between 150,000-175,000 miles, years not as important. We are both retired and don't drive as much.
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I think 250-300k is pretty good nowadays. My Silverado is approaching 250K within a couple months and it runs/looks/drives fine. No reason to think it couldn't go another 100k if I wanted to keep it around. My old Camry is days away from 300k, but it also feels like it too. It is a great car, but if I want to make it better, it needs front struts, CV axles and rotors. I unfortunately get attached to them more than I should, but some of the new cars don't interest me. Plus having no car payments is nice. On paper, the Camry should have been retired at least 5 years ago, but I like it so I see it in a different light.
Pretty much any modern car, if you just keep up on the basic Maintenance, they engine should outlast the body. (esp here in road salt territory)
Barring anything catastrophic.
Barring anything catastrophic.
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I'm at 429K, original owner of an 84 Civic wagon. It's fine. I hope to be able to drive it to my funeral. I have no intention of ever selling it. There were not problems until the oil rings failed. Compression was fine but because of oil burning and smoke it would not pass California smog. So I rebuilt it. Nothing inside needed to be replaced but since I was inside the engine I did the whole thing plus a new clutch. I think to a large part the long life can be attributed to a good car to start, driving habits, maintenance, good weather and a garage.
I'm thinking 250k miles....The Kitacam's @ 120k now after 9 years and @ 10-12k/miles per year that'd be another 12 years...so it'd be 21 years old by then...
Most of it's 1st 9 years have been here in Shangri La Florida so there's a good chance it can make it.
Most of it's 1st 9 years have been here in Shangri La Florida so there's a good chance it can make it.
Originally Posted By: stevejones
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
200K is easy for most vehicles.
Living in an area with no snow / rust makes it easy for 300K miles.
I live in the heart of the rustbelt. I consider 15 winters as good, regardless of miles. Freakin' salt is the great destroyer of all things around here.....
Get the car oil sprayed every year....it works !
As far as how long a car lasts and the amount of repairs...one that spends most of it's time cruising on highways will generally go much further then one beat around the city all day .
Driving style and maintanance factored in of course .
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
200K is easy for most vehicles.
Living in an area with no snow / rust makes it easy for 300K miles.
I live in the heart of the rustbelt. I consider 15 winters as good, regardless of miles. Freakin' salt is the great destroyer of all things around here.....
Get the car oil sprayed every year....it works !
As far as how long a car lasts and the amount of repairs...one that spends most of it's time cruising on highways will generally go much further then one beat around the city all day .
Driving style and maintanance factored in of course .
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I'm going for 400K out of my Buick with zero varnish.
I like my car and it's at 19 years, 240k. I've put more work into it than many people, but not an inordinate amount of money. And the work has levelled off once I got past its "midlife crisis", having rebuilt the engine, suspension, and swapped in a newer, less rusty engine cradle.
Liking the car is a huge benefit for its longevity. Also there are few likeable, economic replacements. Light weight and visibility are important to me and everything seems to be lead sleds now.
Liking the car is a huge benefit for its longevity. Also there are few likeable, economic replacements. Light weight and visibility are important to me and everything seems to be lead sleds now.
I still drive a 1995 Ford Escort that I bought new in October 1995. Everything still works on it (even the AC, because I did fix that). I expect rust to get it eventually. Currently has over 222K miles (and yes the original automatic transmission too).
10yr/300k is what I aimed for on my Jetta. The last few years kinda hurt; at 250k it needed a lot of work. And I hated having the fear that something was right around the corner--since I can't carpool nor get a rental easier, having a sudden repair meant big issues. I'm not entirely sure if I will aim for 10yr/300k again. Certainly more than 5 and I don't mind 200k, but dang, the frustration was huge.
Seems like newer stuff can go 20 years / 200k, maybe even 300k w/o too much problem. But you gotta define "too much problem". One transmission rebuild? One or two exhaust systems? Wheel bearings? Rust?
I'd say in the general case 10yr/200k, whichever comes first, is probably doing just fine. A repair or two, nothing much more. And perhaps time to trade at that point.
Seems like newer stuff can go 20 years / 200k, maybe even 300k w/o too much problem. But you gotta define "too much problem". One transmission rebuild? One or two exhaust systems? Wheel bearings? Rust?
I'd say in the general case 10yr/200k, whichever comes first, is probably doing just fine. A repair or two, nothing much more. And perhaps time to trade at that point.
I think 250K miles or ~402K KM's should be a reasonable lifespan if maintained, considering that distance is achieved in a reasonable timeframe (~15yrs).
My 1993 Accord is almost at 402K KM's.
My 1993 Accord is almost at 402K KM's.
I have passed 203,000 miles and think that 400,000 is reasonable, and 500,000 is possible. Just with regular maintenance.
These days it is usually not the drive train, but accident, interior falling apart, rust, bad design (head gasket, drop valve, transmission, VW, or high cost of repair, etc) that cause them to die. I'm surprised that people in rust belt don't buy used southern cars instead of new cars to save money.
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