Hmmm, my mileage champ was my 1964 Volvo 1800S... had north of 300k miles.
My current toy has over 200k on the chassis... but everything else has 20k.........
But... that in its own right is pretty good, as that is 20k miles on a project car... 
Hmmm, my mileage champ was my 1964 Volvo 1800S... had north of 300k miles.
My current toy has over 200k on the chassis... but everything else has 20k.........
But... that in its own right is pretty good, as that is 20k miles on a project car...
Oh, I forgot to mention my uncle's Tacoma, which he has to have had for going on 15 years now. I think it's somewhere north of 320k, last I heard, which might not sound all that impressive for a Tacoma. But you don't know my uncle, who has a history of relentlessly abusing his cars and killing them in utterly spectacular fashion. He (allegedly) once broke all four coil springs on his Escort doing his best WRC impersonation on a snow covered gravel road, as a frame of reference.
This thread makes me happy.
It shows me I can afford cars/trucks I like. Just look for what you vehicle want and find one with over 200kmi and save thousands.
I just don't put enough miles on cars to get mileage up that high. My current DD is a '98 SL2 with ~164k on it. I'll get (already am?) bored of it long before I get to 250k, which would be about 10.1 more years. I'm constantly working to reduce miles driven further so it will just become less likely. Hopefully the next place I live will allow me to forego a car for daily usage all together.
High mileage doesn't scare me from a purchase, but rarely do I find a car I want where the body/interior/chassis are in decent condition and it has high mileage. Often by the time it is high the rest of the car has been heavily neglected and its not something I would consider purchasing anyway.
Just another three thousand miles until my '85 C900s SAAB rolls over 400,000 miles. I changed the transmission out about 10k miles back, but otherwise the thing has just needed regular service items.
It has earned a place in my stable as a "forever car", but don't think that means special treatment: I still drive the living berk out of it every chance I get. Seriously, I think it has always responded better when I give it a good beating.
Ah yes, the Italian tune-up 
Dad's 91 9C1 had 320k when he sold it. The wife's Accent was over 250 (true miles unknown). Dad's current Silvy is at 221k and they have no plans on getting rid of it. Sold the last projuect truck with 240k on it (89 1500). All of them dead nuts reliable. Hell, the Accent still had the original hoses and radiator on it.
Boom! http://www.thesmokingtire.com/2014/matt-just-bought-a-900000-mile-lexus-ls400/
Page 3 and no Miata content? 
1991 Miata 367K miles.
Hungary Bill wrote: Ah yes, the Italian tune-up
I really don't think it counts as an Italian tune up when you do it every single outing. Plus I'm talking about more than just the engine - the stereo works better when flogged. The windows go up and down better. Things just don't fail on that car as long as I drive it hard. At least that is what I tell myself.
I love all these stories of cars and trucks that are leading full and active lives! I presume the key to long life, in addition to good engineering to begin with, is preventive maintenance, not just oil changes, but all the other stuff, too. That, and staying on top of the little issues so they don't become big problems.
I agree that cars seem to have fewer problems when driven regularly, but I don't know if it matters whether they are flogged or babied. If you let them sit too long, even in a garage, they deteriorate, and things start going wrong. Regular exercise is good for cars, just like people.
2003 BMW X5 5-speed 180k
2005 Acura TL 6-speed 201K
2010 Saab 9-3 95k
I'll definitely agree with the sitting thing being bad. Some cars care more than others though. My freshman year of college, the Jeep sat a lot because I was broke and had nowhere to go. As in, it got driven about twice a week at most. It got to a point where I'd have to fix something (random coolant leaks, etc.) almost every time I drove it... Got a part time job towards the end of the school year and started driving it almost every day, suddenly, it went a few months without any issues.
Mezzanine wrote: ... the stereo works better when flogged. The windows go up and down better...
I need to try this. The stereo reception in the truck sucks, and the armstrong windows are way more difficult than they should be
I know a guy with a 200K mile 944
'01 Dodge 2500 diesel - 161k
'93 Mercedes 400E - 190k
'85 Mercedes 190E - 210k
The truck has far, far, far more rust than either of the Merc's. Actually, so far I have yet to find any rust on the 400E, and only one small tiny bubble on a rear wheel arch on the 190E. Meanwhile, there is scarcely a body panel on the truck w/o rust, and every repair / maintenance item involves liberal doses of PB Blaster.
Seems to me that if you find a body / chassis without rust, you can pretty much go as far as your check book and patience will allow. But once that rust takes hold, the patient sort of becomes terminal. I'm honestly unsure what I'm going to do w/ the truck - I love that thing and wanted to drive it forever (bought new). Even when I bought it, I said that the truck would rust out around the Cummins. I just didn't think it would happen so soon 
Trackmouse wrote: Boom! http://www.thesmokingtire.com/2014/matt-just-bought-a-900000-mile-lexus-ls400/
That was over a year and a half ago. Update?
When will I see 1,000,000 on that thing?
The gauge cluster on my miata reads 293k (past owner claims to have replaced it when it went out and it's really got ~180ish) but have put about ~25-30 autocrosses and two track days on it in the past 3 years.
A friend took a Volvo 240 in trade at his Volvo dealership with 750,000 miles on it. It was still driven every day, but he described the car as "Loose. Very Loose. Like even the glovebox was loose."
In reply to spin_out:
Yeah, that illustrates the "drive it regularly" philosophy of automotive preservation.
In reply to Danny Shields: My pickup (1997 1/2 ton regular cab shortbox Chevy) is approaching 400,000 miles with very little expense and fantastic reliability. I still have the original alignment, engine, transmission, starter, fuel system, (OOPS fuel pump replacement 183,000 miles ago)
I've really babied it too. It's never been called on to carry more than 4500 pounds (it's a Half ton pickup) or tow a heavy tandem axle trailer more than 5000 miles round trip.. Sure the mountain pass out of Denver has been crossed at least 5 times that way but it's only about 13,000 feet.
It supplied all the timbers and stone etc. to build my home.. That's 55,000 board feet of hardwood. I've found that by leaning forward I could sometimes get the front wheels to touch back down when the timbers hanging out the back end caused the front tires to lift off the ground.. The granite used for my steps came home from the quarry in one trip but to be fair the rear axle was squished against the bump-stop and the tires bulged worse than I've ever seen.. Nope I didn't exceed the freeway speed limit once!!
Yes the tires wear down to replacement every 65,000 miles or so but I keep replacing them with the same OEM Goodyears so I shouldn't expect much longer life.. I should mention how comfortable it is.. It's been from Minneapolis to San Diego more times than I can count.. Normally I drive non-stop to someplace past Denver, pull into a roadside rest, stretch-out on the front seat and get a couple of hours sleep. Then Non-stop to San Diego..
I still get 17 MPG in town and 19 on the highway and lately I've been using nearly a Quart of oil between oil changes every 5000 miles.. However the dreaded tin worm has taken to lightening the load the truck carries.. I did buy a right front fender free of rust for $50. (even the same color) but noticed all the other holes that were opening up and decided not to bother..
In reply to frenchyd:
I could read stories like this all night!
Besides the truck, my current mileage champ is the Miata at 165k fallowed by my wife's Hyundai with 130k and then the DD work beater 11 Focus with 103k.... I've had 2 E36's over 250k also
Nothing with more than 180k, but the fleet (all running!) totals over 1 million miles.
My first high mileage car was a 1995 Escort. The wife's first new car it was passed on to me when we got married. I commuted to work 160 miles round trip until a poorly timed nap lead to a rather violent off road excursion and a four month sabbatical from work. She had about 290,000 miles one her at the time and ran like new. About a month before the crash my wife talked me into replacing the broken motorized seatbelts that were stuck a third of the way out.
My next victim was this 1999 Cavalier. I needed a car after wrecking the Escort and a friend needed to sell a car. It started and ran every day I owned it except the day It was appraised as a trade in for the wife's new Fiat, then the started crapped out at the car wash. It was a frustratingly reliable little car that was ultimately done in by my wife's desire to have a new car and some rust taking hold in the floors. At one point it was the lowest rated Reader's Ride when you could vote them down and after appearing in print the only one to generate hate mail. This pic was taken on the way to the dealer for trade and when we reached there it had 214k on it.
There may never have been a better example of the phrase "E36 M3 rolls down hill" than this. After getting her beloved Fiat I inherited her 2002 Chevy Malibu. The car was purchased in August of 02 as our first big purchase at the time of our wedding. Like many of the cars I've bought it was purchased quickly out of desperation. We also got lucky because as badly as we needed a cheap, reliable, and cheap car our local Chevy dealer needed this off their lot to make way for next year's redesigned 2003 leftover Malibus. So desperate where they that while we were waiting to be approved for their 0% please buy something, anything financing that when I got up to use the bathroom they knocked another $500 off the price and when I got back they gave us another $500 for our trade in. It was going to be temporary until we got our E36 M3 together. We still haven't and it was my wife's DD from Poughkeepsie to Albany for four years before she could transfer closer only (40 miles each way) to home. Aside from the intake gaskets that plague all 3100s and an appetite for front wheel bearings it to was a reliable if soulless machine. In 2012 The Wife was recovering from a stroke and I may have promised a new car if she was able to drive again. She went on to get her license back and a New car and I began taking what was left of out Malibu down to Manhattan every day piling on miles until I had to avoid someone blindly merging onto a snowy parkway and caught the guard rail. Being mostly rust it disintegrated but still ran well enough to get home. We cried a bit driving it to the junk yard where it still ran almost like new after 413,000 miles.
Pic taken a few months before:
our current fleet seems like new with the 2013 Fiat 500 closing in on 90K and my 2014 Buick Verano, another car bought in a desperate hurry having a mere 61k on her.
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