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I really meant it when I said don't let anyone else drive your car. I believe a car that has been driven by only one driver has a much better chance of making high mileage, than one that has been driven by several drivers.
I believe a car, like a pair of shoes or a kitchen knife, subtly "learns" how to "live" if it is driven by the same person all the time. Everything you do to a car is a form of abuse, and the car learns to accept a tolerance of abuse within a certain range. If an event happens outside that tolerance range, it pushes the car beyond its accustomed limit, and that event reporesents a life-shortening abuse-peak.
Also, you yourself might be perfectly capable of learning to get 300K out of a car. But that doesn't mean that the other driver is also capable of doing so. Every minute that the car is under the control of a 120K driver, its lifetime is being pushed back toward 120K.
Well, my mom's old car ('97 Altima) turned into the hand-me-down car. My sister & I took pretty good care of it when we drove it in college; we replaced the axles, muffler, intake manifold gasket, plugs, filters, O2 sensor, disty cap/rotor, alternator, and oil at no more than 5k intervals.
My 19 year old brother drives it now and knows nothing about cars. It's got 235k on it with no real issues but he does not check the oil. One day we checked it and realized that there was a leak from the valve cover gasket, so I tried to show him how to replace the gasket and maybe he could learn something about cars in the process. Too bad he'd rather be on Facebook and playing with his phone. At least the engine still looked very clean when I had the VC off. With some care this car could easily go to 300k but my brother might fack that up.
This one is a useless article. Minimal common sense plus reading the owner's manual that comes with your car and everyone can write such article.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 00molavi
It also has a lot to do with the type of miles you put on the car. Stop and go short distance driving won't probably render a surviving car for that many miles. Hence my wife's cars not going past 150K miles. In our case is the pile up of age and all the "small" things that end up scraping the car.
You buy a car to serve your needs, not vice versa.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wanneroo
I have 151K on my Audi now and it's 10 years old. A lot of stuff is simply wearing out on it, requiring constant maintenance to the point there is always something that needs fixed. I addressed most of mechanical stuff recently, but it needs new speakers, paint touch up, door trim fixed, hood strut replaced.
I am getting to the point of how much more do I want to sink into it. Mostly it runs fine otherwise.
Hopefully I can keep it as a beater and buy something newer to run for business trips.
There is something most people don't realize. Time is a factor as well. Not only driven miles. Things wear out and break even with moderate use. Tires - crack with age. Other parts (knobs, fans, wipers, electric wires) corrode and fail with time. Engine sensors, catalytic converters, dash board lights and gauges...you name it. Maintaining a car "by the book" is seriously expensive. After 60-80K miles, you need to replace the timing belt. Very expensive. Flushing transmissions is also expensive. A common practice today is to replace rotors each time you change brake pads. It adds up to many $ (unless of course you do most work by yourself).
In America today labor costs are enormous. The shop charges the same amount for a 15 year old car with 200K miles as for a 3 year old with 30K miles. That is the reason why many prefer to buy new. You are covered for 3-5 years and with no hassle and low chances for things to go wrong.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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300k is really not much. Of my 28 VW's (most bought for under $100), I only have a few that are under 300k miles. The one I just drove in the driveway shows 316,856 but speedo has been broken for many yrs.
Amsoil
5000 mile OIL FILTER ONLY changes, 20k or 1/yr between crankcase oil changes. Many are still on original tranny oil (I never even checked them, unless leaking). I have drove many home (50 - 100 miles with a big hole in the tranny case. Only One didn't like that much (ker-chunk )
I recently test drove a '96 Passat w/ 550k miles. still getting 52 mpg @ 70 mph w/ AC
I have 151K on my Audi now and it's 10 years old. A lot of stuff is simply wearing out on it, requiring constant maintenance to the point there is always something that needs fixed. I addressed most of mechanical stuff recently, but it needs new speakers, paint touch up, door trim fixed, hood strut replaced.
I am getting to the point of how much more do I want to sink into it. Mostly it runs fine otherwise.
Hopefully I can keep it as a beater and buy something newer to run for business trips.
This sounds more realistic than most.
I can think of a dozen vehicles over the years that people said "runs like new" and were all well over 200K. Without exception, they were all POS's. Sure, they could get from point A to point B, but between all the things that didn't work, the ragged out suspensions, all the warning lights lit up, and savaged interiors, I wasn't comfortable being in them. Yes, there are exceptions, but when someone says they have a 300k car, I'm not expecting much.
easy, keep fixing it when it breaks (assuming it's never totalled in a collision or something.)
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