10 cars that can last for 250,000 miles (or more) - Yahoo! Autos

snicker!!! mine is way past that, and more. the speedometer cable was disconnected when I bought it, so who knows how many miles it has gone???

and like any one dumb enough to read Forbes magazine would be smart enough to turn a wrench.

 

that article is dumb, who is going to own a Ridgeline that long? i have a couple friends with 4runners/tacomas, and they will go 250k, but the engine wouldn't pass a compression test @180k...

 

Hell, my 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 with a Cumnins has over 300,000 miles on it and still going strong.

 

My VW has 357,5k on the odometer (being a Motometer gauge, there were significant portions of the car's life where the odometer was inoperative) and it's still on the original engine, transmission, and clutch.

Thursday night I snapped an odometer pic of 356,911 with the trip odo reading 914.6.

My second RX-7 had 211k on the original engine when I overheated the wee out of it and it died. My current one has 213k on the odometer... not including 10k-ish of having an inop speedometer.

Many of my customers have 250k plus on their cars. Just maintain the stupid things. One of them is a 4.2 Audi with over 300k on it, those engines are lucky to last 70-80k in the homeland before the plating wears off of the cylinders (no steel or iron liners, just coated aluminum) and the engine is junk, because they believe that 15k miles is an acceptable oil change interval.

 

Datsuns... I've seen my buddy use the unstopable reliablity of Datsun technology.

Second would be Toyota... And not because of the stereotype, but also from my family's experience.

Third is Dodge... Dodge produces some rock solid engineering. I beat the BEJESUS out of my Dakota and it turns over EVERY time I turn the key with little to no maintaince. (old dodge IDK about the newer stuff)




EDIT: my buddy paid $300 for his 210 wagon. Put 50k on top of the 200 existing miles; did a head job (leaky gaskets). Now its got 350k? Still runs like a champ. And thats just one of a few he's got.

 

A shop that is somewhat local to me has a list of the highest mileage vehicles they have serviced. They do a lot for the local cab companies which use a lot of dodge caravans. Highest mileage for a car still running I think was about 475000km, or about 300000 miles for a dodge caravan. Highest on the list died at 724000km, or about 450000 miles. That was a mid 90s ford ranger I believe.

It all comes down to how well you take care of your car. Regular maintenance and washing goes a long way.

 

One of our customers had 670k miles on a Chevy van (still original unopened engine save for intake gasket) until he gave it to a family member and picked up another Chevy, this one a 6.0 powered box van.

He contracted to a delivery company for a living, driving 100-120k per year, and the box van allowed him to put a bed in the back. We installed a bank of batteries, isolators, and power inverters on the back wall.

At one point, he was in Texas during a heat wave, running back and forth. He went two weeks without shutting the engine off so the A/C would stay active.

At 300k I had to replace the oil pickup O-ring, which was causing low/no oil pressure. Common failure, but it usually fails at 200k not 300k.

 

2 favorites of ours:
95 GMC 2500 6.5L Diesel Suburban - 348k and climbing. Still unopened diesel engine, original transmission, rear end, amazing vehicle.

97 Subaru Legacy Outback wagon 5sp - 253k and daily driven. Pretty amazing car and drives like it's on rails.

The last FB parts car that I had possessed 236k miles on the chassis and I still have the 12a but haven't opened it yet.

 

Seems like the domestic market made some kick *** stuff in the 90's to bad it is all slap and sell today.
1988 markVII both still had working air ride one was a LSC the other a Bill blass ed. The BB is cruising around Joliet Il with 300,000 on the clock the guy has taken good care of it, the other an LSC..... still going around the east peoria area in pretty bad shape
1993 silverado the ex GF had pushed 240,000 when we broke up

 

GM makes an amazing all around vehical, but I've heard the most horific stories about GM diesels. Like the engineers that made the GM diesel just used the gasoline block/heads and put higher compression pistons. They pop there head gaskets like mad men. However, I belive the new Duramax is just an Isuzu clone engine and bad ***.

Cummins all the way!

 

Yeah, GM did that in the mid 90's. The prognosis for our overheating issue was bad head gaskets and they were done 3 times before we figured out what was wrong on our own - on a forum! In 94 they went from 6.2L to 6.5L put didn't change anything cooling-wise. Overheated like a banshee until cooling upgrades. Since then no issues to speak of besides PMD changes. I'd love a new Duramax, those things are awesome with the Allison transmission behind them - I drove one a few months back.

Cummins are very reliable and tow like beasts - a few friends of mine have them and one has 400k+ miles on it with a 5sp, the other has 275k on an auto. They are beautiful forms of diesel enginering.

 

i heard a story about an 80's GM diesel, they guy bought one, and the crank fell on the ground when he pulled out of the dealership!

the record for the Rx7 is an 85.5 GSL-SE, white, brown leather, painted mirrors and shaded glass (thats the .5 part), it went 320K, original engine, trans, CLUTCH.... car died in an accident.

my high school friend has 260k on his gsl-se, original engine. its tired, but it should be!

i used to know of an 87 T2, original owner, at about 205k it got injectors/ACV/radiator, but it was still running fine on the original engine @210k when it was sold. car had one ding in it, on the roof, from a golf ball.

the other noteworthy car is a 1994 FD that later burned down. it went 118k before it needed anything more than normal service, and not normal FD service, i think @118k it got front brakes, and the turbo water hoses. the second owner put a microtech in it, so badly it shorted out and caught fire.

others? i had a BMW E30 with 350k on it. i bought it with like 320K, and when i opened the hood i expected to see that everything was new, well it wasn't! original radiator (they only last 60k), and hoses (they only last 30!). diff was LOUD in that thing....