Questions about Cars and Mileage

[Storm]

After reading some of the comments from psteng's thread Isnt more than 10k mi/year kinda bad for the car? Given the owner takes care of the car changes the oil, routine maintence and checkups. I know nothing about this sort of thing ( I drive my mom's 89 Volvo 240DL when I need to get around). If not, then what is too much? Also are they anything particular cars models (include yr) that you or someone you know has owned run well with a lot of miles? Finally shouldnt modern cars have odometers that are not easily toyed with? If so which cars should I be afraid of? Sorry about all these questions just got a bout of curiosity.

 

The average American drives twelve thousand miles a year.
That is all I have to say.

 

[iamwiz82]

I have a 2000 neon has 53000 miles, a 1999 Jeep Cherokee with 47000 miles, and a 1993 Grand Cherokee with 120,000. I do not think over 10k miles a year is bad. Between girlfriend and myself we put on somewhere in the range of 35,000 miles a year.

 

[StageLeft]

There is nothing wrong with putting lots of miles on a car per year: ie, a car with 30k miles in 6 months is no less healthy than one that had the 30k put on in 12 months or one that had 30k put on over 36 months. Personally I've put on 19k miles in the last 11 months on my 93 sentra. It's up to 160k now and will hit about 162 or maybe 163k by the end of november (one year mark).

 

[toph99]

sometimes high mileage per year is a good thing... if it's mostly highway driving the engine has undergone less wear from being at a constant temperature, than one which only goes 10 miles a day to work, running cold the whole way.

 

[DonaldC]

Average miles driven/year varies with location. If you live in the NE maybe 10K/year but West of the Mississippi 15-20K is more the norm. High miles are not necessarily a bad thing if the car is properly maintained.

 

[Pepsi90919]

i put 60-70,000 km on my car every year (37,500-43,750 miles)

 

[ElFenix]

mileage isn't bad... not taking care of the car is

 

[Radiohead]

Originally posted by: toph99
sometimes high mileage per year is a good thing... if it's mostly highway driving the engine has undergone less wear from being at a constant temperature, than one which only goes 10 miles a day to work, running cold the whole way.

Word!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Milage has to be taken into account, but doesn't signify that it's bad. I bought my 1991 Grand Prix with 143,000 miles on the odometer for $5500, drove it another 100,000 miles in the next four years with no major problems, and sold it last year. My 2002 Dakota should be hitting 20,000 miles any day now (bought 10/9/01)

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Milage has to be taken into account, but doesn't signify that it's bad. I bought my 1991 Grand Prix with 143,000 miles on the odometer for $5500, drove it another 100,000 miles in the next four years with no major problems, and sold it last year. My 2002 Dakota should be hitting 20,000 miles any day now (bought 10/9/01)

you paid $5500 for a grand prix with 143,000 miles?! :Q

 

[Zenmervolt]

A properly maintained car will basically run forever, but if the car has only been taken care of by your average joe-schmoe, I'd say that you're looking at only about 150,000 miles before trouble starts to set in.

ZV

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Milage has to be taken into account, but doesn't signify that it's bad. I bought my 1991 Grand Prix with 143,000 miles on the odometer for $5500, drove it another 100,000 miles in the next four years with no major problems, and sold it last year. My 2002 Dakota should be hitting 20,000 miles any day now (bought 10/9/01)

you paid $5500 for a grand prix with 143,000 miles?! :Q

It was in 1997, and had a generous helping of options. (and I sold it for $2500)

 

[iamwiz82]

better have come with a harem and an asian house boy for that price.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I don't know if cars are cheaper in Michigan than in California (maybe because of the road salt rust they are), but it was a fair price.

 

[Evadman]

My borther has put 27k miles on his grand am in the last 8 months. I have put 14k miles on my dodge ram in 2 1/2 years.

Both still look and drive like new. It is all about how you take care of it.

 

[Thegonagle]

It's all about maintenance, not mileage per year. Cars are complex machines that can last a long time if you take good care of them. Some parts do go bad because of age, some parts go bad because of mileage (mechanical wear). Some other parts, a combination of age and wear.

Some higher mileage cars that I've known about:

89 Civic LX, 192,000 miles (mine, crashed and junked, but was running "like new" and using almost no oil)
87 Accord LX, 247,000 miles (mine, crashed and junked, but was still running well and using very little oil)
94 Saturn SL2, 211,000 miles (mine, current work car, running strong, uses some oil)
92 Accord LX, 170,000 miles (friend's, sold, used some oil)
88 Accord LXi, 180,000 miles (friend's, sold, used almost no oil)
93 Camry, 175,000 miles (friend's, sold, ran "like new")
92 Civic LX, 157,000 miles (mine, runs great, uses very little oil, currently "in mothballs" because of worn-out alternator and because I'm using the Saturn until it dies)
86 Jetta, 180,000 miles (coworker's)
86 GTI, 195,000 miles (friend's)
90 Jeep Cherokee, 200,000 miles (coworker's)
84 AMC Eagle, 212,000 miles (coworker's)

 

[Gillbot]

My '95 Ford Aspire has over 250k and still runs strong. My Camaro on the other hand has about 6k and runs even stronger