Re: Brag on your high-mileage car

[Maigahane]

Mine's not that great but last summer I sold my '03 Taurus with 200k miles. It was still driving strong but was getting to the point where things were wearing out from age (last fix was radiator hoses that deteriorated). I got a lot of surprised looks from people about how many miles that car had since Taurus's have a bad reputation. Right before we sold it my husbands coworker drove it and said he's never driven a car with that many miles that drove so smoothly.
DH's car is at about 130k miles and runs like the day we drove it home

My parents had a '94 Escort that they sold with ~260k miles. I think the engine was still pretty solid but the tranny was going

[Mom to 5]

2003 Honda Odyssey minivan 193k miles

I love it! I think I have spent $1k replacing stuff on it in addition to the transmission being rebuilt. We got a discount on the van that was about the cost of the tranny repairs. Oh, and that $1k is dealership prices. It is the closest place to me, and I feel that they are trustworthy.

[Maigahane]

I got a lot of surprised looks from people about how many miles that car had since Taurus's have a bad reputation.

I thought that as well but a coworker of mine had a Mercury equivalent to a Taurus and got it to 300k I thought.  She said her sister had a Taurus and it got to 270k or something like that.  She said the mechanic told her that those models were known to run forever.

DH saw this article the other day "10 Cars Most Likely to go 200k Miles" and the Taurus is the only non-Japanese one to make the list. Makes me laugh whenever people dog on Fords :)

[oldtoyota]

This thread has gotten long, which is good news for the world. I may have already mentioned mine and that you can easily guess what kind of car I have. =-)

I was just thinking about this topic today as I am driving to meet someone and started to wonder if I would be judged for my car. I rarely drive to meet anyone as I either walk or take public transportation, so driving feels weird. The car is about ten years old, and some would be embarrassed for me, I know. What others do not know is that I think it would be even better to have no car at all!

[oinkette]

Just bought a 2011 Prius with money I've been saving up for the past 2.5 years.  It's a funny story actually.

I had a lease on a gas-guzzling Toyota Venza (SUV), prior to learning about MMM and early retirement. The lease was actually up in September but when I took it in for the 20,000 mile service at the dealership where the lease was held they apparently decided I was so far under my maximum allowable milage before penalties accrued (36,000) they wanted the car back.  They actually "bought" the car,  paid off the remainder of my lease and gave me a little bit towards the next car I wanted, a Prius. 

I was so under because I've been taking the bus to and from work everyday since I decided to become FI.  This not only saved on gas, wear and tear, and insurance but led to the above happening. Now with the Prius its actually cheaper (though probably not as enviro-friendly) to drive into work than take the bus.  I'll occasionally supplement with bus travel (and eventually bike, though Houston SUCKS for that). But one month in and I've only filled the tank once!

[thedayisbrave]

Boy, my car is a pimply adolescent compared to y'alls wizened elders.  Bought it new (pre MMM days) for $15K, it's a 2010 Nissan Sentra.  Financed it because my mom wanted me to learn how to budget my money and take on the next financial step/responsibility of paying for a car.  The loan was <3% but after a year or two of making payments she gifted me the loan balance so it's been paid off for a while now.  It had 600 miles on it when I got it in 2011, now it's at 38K miles.  I plan to hold onto it until at least 100K miles.  MPG is about 30 combined. 

I plan to save up cash & get a plug-in Prius next.  Or if the next generation Tesla is reasonable, I may just spring for one of those ;)

[Astatine]

We drive a 2001 Toyota Corolla hatchback, done nearly 160,000 km. I've owned it since 2004 (bought used). Earlier this year, we sold hubby's Holden V8 Commodore. That was a 1994 model and had done close to 300,000 km.

[Roots&Wings]

I just found something cool for all these high-mileage old cars.  When co-workers and friends brag about their new cars this one little bumper sticker will take your old honda and magically turn it into a Ferrarri(at least in value).



http://www.vanguardgear.com/shop/lifestyle/bumper-sticker.html

OMG, I wish Vanguard offered that as a free customer appreciation gift! 

"As you drive down the road to retirement, we don't think you'll offend anyone with this sensible bumper sticker!"

Too bad that being "sensible" and saving for retirement are topics a lot of people can get highly offended about.  But yes, it would be a nice addition to my older car :)

[SimpleCycle]

any idea how much you guys have spent over the lifetime of the car to maintain it those miles? i wonder if the costs adds up...

We don't do our own repairs or maintenance and have a 2003 Toyota Corolla with 163k miles on it.  DW and I merged our finances 7 years ago and we've put about $3500 total into it since then.  So about $500/year, and that includes getting unlucky with a transmission.

[SeaEhm]

1993 Honda Civic Hatchback, ~163K miles.  My 8 year old talks about how she'll drive the white car when she's old enough (our other car, 2008 Fit, is purple).  Yes, you probably will.  :)

I used to have a '94 Civic.  I loved that car, and was sad when we had to let it go :(. Manual everything, easy to maintain, and fun to drive.

Yup...manual everything on ours too.  It's also got the clamshell hatch so it fits a ton of stuff.  Apparently it's also a teenage boy dream car because in the past 18 months we've had three different 16ish year olds knock on our door asking if we wanted to sell it.    :)

I am not a teenager, but would you like to sell your car? haha

[craiglepaige]

2004 Saturn Vue V6. Currently at 149,569 miles.
Have had it since 72k miles. Great suv.

[Samaki Mdogo]

1997 Nissan Maxima gle with 230k miles. Still running strong. Bought about 11 years ago. Hhad to replace all struts 3yrs ago, and muffler and cat converter last year after they rusted out. Other than that, I only do general maintenance like oil change, etc. Will drive it till it can't drive any more.

Here to sadly report the passing of my 1997 Nissan Maxima. She died of complications due to transmission. I am really bummed.

[paddedhat]

I also have mixed experience from dealers. Used to go to a Hyundai dealer that was just fine; they were bought over by a different company; the service after that... well let say I never went back and a year later they lost the Hyundai name.

Wow, based on my market area,  I would imagine that you pretty much have to be a franchise owned and operated by the devil himself, to lose it. I had an business associate in the finance end of the car business, who had inside knowledge of a local dealer. He had endless stories of the unethical, and illegal crap that this dealer would pull, when it comes to sales and financing. At one point he caught a finance manager placing post-it notes over contract details like APRs and contract terms, while lying and quickly rushing customers through the loan application process. The guy pulling this was the son of a close friend. He told the kid that he had was playing with fire, and when it all hit the fan, the dealer would toss him under the bus the second the State's AG office walked in the door. He asked the kid if he understood that the governor made a big show of directing the AG to go hard on consumer fraud,  car dealers are a big part of the campaign, and that they would make an example of a guy like him, once he got caught. The kid left, since you couldn't make your goals in the finance department if you weren't willing to play dirty. That dealer was part of a multi- brand chain. IIRC, Chrysler revoked their franchise, GM forced them to totally clean house of all management, and they never skipped a beat at the store i'm referring to, while advertising crap like "$7000 over Kelly Blue Book for your trade" and " A brand new $35K SUV for $79 a month!" Personally,  I wouldn't walk into one of their dealers unless I really had to pee, other than that there really is no reason to be there.

[737MX]

07 ford ranger. 135k - just breaking her in. I hope to get at least another 100-150k out of this workhorse !

Right on Kevin

2007 Ford Ranger: 120k

[iluvzbeach]

I bought a brand new 2002 Toyota Tacoma back in '02...so facepunch...but I've kept it this entire time and now have about 250,000 miles on it. Still running like a champ, Tacom's are bulletproof I'm convinced.  I recently bought my mom's 2005 Ford Escape with less than 20,000 miles on it for $2500 which I thought was a great deal! For my daily driver I used to drive a 96 Toyota Celica with 220,000 miles on it but we gave that away to a friend.

@Owassogirl1 Are you in OK? I’m originally from there, but haven’t lived there in many, many years.