Brag on your MMM high-mileage or old car

[CatamaranSailor]

265,000 miles on the 4Runner. 252,000 in the Highlander.

I love Toyota's.

[iluvzbeach]

Checking in with winter weather - sometimes you wonder just how reliable your car is and if you want to risk breaking down when the windchill is -30.  Or when you get a brand new battery and it struggles to turn over after sitting outside overnight.

Significant other and I were planning a 250 mile trip to see family at holidays. First we worried about forecast snow amounts, then got a flat tire day before trip! Spent hours worried about safety of trip/car/etc.  Ugh, winter trips just aren't worth it.  I'm going to try to convince my better half to have a "no winter trips" policy.  Why do people insist on seeing each other for Christmas?

When that car had issues, a bummer was that i wouldnt even consider taking my car that distance.  Maybe my frugality needs to be toned down a little.  On the other hand, if I could replace in-person visits with phone calls...

Sounds like the perfect scenario where renting a newer car through a car rental agency would come in handy.

[weebs]

265,000 miles on the 4Runner. 252,000 in the Highlander.

I love Toyota's.

Nice!  We have a 2016 Toyota 4Runner that we will drive until the wheels fall off.  It has ~46K miles on it now and we drive it ~7K miles a year, so it may outlive me.

[ColoAndy]

2012 Honda Accord at 127k trouble free miles.  Wife's 2015 Honda CRV sitting at 96k.

[stacheasaurus]

2012 Honda Accord at 127k trouble free miles.  Wife's 2015 Honda CRV sitting at 96k.

2013 accord 6MT at 125k, not quite trouble free miles though .  AC compressor needed to be replaced, as well as starter.  Regular maintenance otherwise. Hopefully just breaking it in

[londonbanker]

One of my old land rovers managed to get over 150k miles since it left the factory in 1966

[chasingsnow]

Currently have a 2002 Mazda B3000 (Ford Ranger) that is still running well at 200k kilometres. We have been given our in laws 2019 CRV this spring though and I am pleasantly surprised at the amount Honda comes up in this thread.

[Dicey]

This story is courtesy of Mr. Dicey. One of his buddies had a 2001 Toyota Tacoma. He passed it on to his son. The truck now has 495k miles on it. The son took post-college job in Florida. He packed his stuff in the truck and drove from the Bay Area. He and his dog arrived safely and he started the new job. A few days later, the truck broke down on his way to work. He found a nearby shop and they replaced the ORIGINAL fuel pump for him in a couple of hours and got him on his way. He would have fixed it himself, but he didn't have any tools with him.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that young man sees this post one day.

PS - That is not a typo. Four hundred and ninety five thousand miles on the original fuel pump.

[chasingsnow]

This story is courtesy of Mr. Dicey. One of his buddies had a 2001 Toyota Tacoma. He passed it on to his son. The truck now has 495k miles on it. The son took post-college job in Florida. He packed his stuff in the truck and drove from the Bay Area. He and his dog arrived safely and he started the new job. A few days later, the truck broke down on his way to work. He found a nearby shop and they replaced the ORIGINAL fuel pump for him in a couple of hours and got him on his way. He would have fixed it himself, but he didn't have any tools with him.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that young man sees this post one day.

PS - That is not a typo. Four hundred and ninety five thousand miles on the original fuel pump.

I honestly believe it Tacoma's run FOREVER and most Toyotas in general. The only knock is how high the cost is for a used one in British Columbia its commonly referred to as the "tacoma tax" because people ask so much for used cars that it is hardly ever a reasonable option to buy used compared to other trucks.

[Dicey]

This story is courtesy of Mr. Dicey. One of his buddies had a 2001 Toyota Tacoma. He passed it on to his son. The truck now has 495k miles on it. The son took post-college job in Florida. He packed his stuff in the truck and drove from the Bay Area. He and his dog arrived safely and he started the new job. A few days later, the truck broke down on his way to work. He found a nearby shop and they replaced the ORIGINAL fuel pump for him in a couple of hours and got him on his way. He would have fixed it himself, but he didn't have any tools with him.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that young man sees this post one day.

PS - That is not a typo. Four hundred and ninety five thousand miles on the original fuel pump.

I honestly believe it Tacoma's run FOREVER and most Toyotas in general. The only knock is how high the cost is for a used one in British Columbia its commonly referred to as the "tacoma tax" because people ask so much for used cars that it is hardly ever a reasonable option to buy used compared to other trucks.

There are definitely cases where buying new and taking great care of a vehicle for many years is the most efficient way to go. It helps to start by buying a solid vehicle.

[scottish]

This story is courtesy of Mr. Dicey. One of his buddies had a 2001 Toyota Tacoma. He passed it on to his son. The truck now has 495k miles on it. The son took post-college job in Florida. He packed his stuff in the truck and drove from the Bay Area. He and his dog arrived safely and he started the new job. A few days later, the truck broke down on his way to work. He found a nearby shop and they replaced the ORIGINAL fuel pump for him in a couple of hours and got him on his way. He would have fixed it himself, but he didn't have any tools with him.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that young man sees this post one day.

PS - That is not a typo. Four hundred and ninety five thousand miles on the original fuel pump.

I honestly believe it Tacoma's run FOREVER and most Toyotas in general. The only knock is how high the cost is for a used one in British Columbia its commonly referred to as the "tacoma tax" because people ask so much for used cars that it is hardly ever a reasonable option to buy used compared to other trucks.

There are definitely cases where buying new and taking great care of a vehicle for many years is the most efficient way to go. It helps to start by buying a solid vehicle.

I have one of those 1st gen Tacomas.   I bought it new 19 years ago and it has 290,000 km.    It's been pretty reliable, but corrosion's a bit of a problem in eastern Ontario.   I'm debating replacing it though.

[JAYSLOL]

This story is courtesy of Mr. Dicey. One of his buddies had a 2001 Toyota Tacoma. He passed it on to his son. The truck now has 495k miles on it. The son took post-college job in Florida. He packed his stuff in the truck and drove from the Bay Area. He and his dog arrived safely and he started the new job. A few days later, the truck broke down on his way to work. He found a nearby shop and they replaced the ORIGINAL fuel pump for him in a couple of hours and got him on his way. He would have fixed it himself, but he didn't have any tools with him.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that young man sees this post one day.

PS - That is not a typo. Four hundred and ninety five thousand miles on the original fuel pump.

I honestly believe it Tacoma's run FOREVER and most Toyotas in general. The only knock is how high the cost is for a used one in British Columbia its commonly referred to as the "tacoma tax" because people ask so much for used cars that it is hardly ever a reasonable option to buy used compared to other trucks.

There are definitely cases where buying new and taking great care of a vehicle for many years is the most efficient way to go. It helps to start by buying a solid vehicle.

I have one of those 1st gen Tacomas.   I bought it new 19 years ago and it has 290,000 km.    It's been pretty reliable, but corrosion's a bit of a problem in eastern Ontario.   I'm debating replacing it though.

Corrosion and Collision are by far the top two killers of Toyotas.  I often see Tacoma trucks around here with 300-400k on them being advertised still in the 5 figures.  Toyotas are just unbelievably reliable when taken care of, and even when something goes wrong, it’s hard to mechanically total a vehicle when it retains so much value. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We have a 1999 Lexus SUV, with about 300k miles on it. The thing is a tank. My husband takes exceptionally good care of it.

[JLee]

This story is courtesy of Mr. Dicey. One of his buddies had a 2001 Toyota Tacoma. He passed it on to his son. The truck now has 495k miles on it. The son took post-college job in Florida. He packed his stuff in the truck and drove from the Bay Area. He and his dog arrived safely and he started the new job. A few days later, the truck broke down on his way to work. He found a nearby shop and they replaced the ORIGINAL fuel pump for him in a couple of hours and got him on his way. He would have fixed it himself, but he didn't have any tools with him.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that young man sees this post one day.

PS - That is not a typo. Four hundred and ninety five thousand miles on the original fuel pump.

That's impressive. My '99 Tacoma lost its fuel pump around 280k miles - thankfully it was polite enough to do it while in my driveway.

[chowdan]

Last car was a 1996 Toyota 4Runner - bought it for $7,000 in 2017 with 210,000 miles on it. Zero leaks, zero issues with it. It had bit tires, and a lift kit. Great for what we were planning to do.

2017 i put roughly 50,000 miles on it with my wife while we lived out of it traveling through US and Mexico. Got back to Seattle and put an additional 8k-10k miles on it roughly. It was right around the 260-270k mile marker when a spark plug blew out of the cylinder head(with such force it dented the hood). Completely stripped the threads. Had a helicoil put in and traded the vehicle(due to not being able to utilize the vehicle for what it should be used for) to a friend who had a 2003(or maybe its a 06) Toyota Camry - base model - hand crank windows. It was a direct swap so i didn't pay squat for it and it was claimed as a "gift" so no taxes due. The Camry had 205,000 miles on it and since the swap in 2020 we have just rolled over 245,000 miles. It needs some work - struts and shocks, rear brakes are coming due, new fuel injectors, catalytic converter is possibly going bad(zero symptoms of one that is bad other than fault code that is generalized and its the last thing i haven't replaced) but overall the vehicle has been running great gets great gas mileage and is damn reliable.

I will likely always own older cars especially if they are Toyotas - regardless of the fact that buying new and holding on to this age may end up being cheaper. Most of these older cars will get shipped off to 3rd world countries where they roll the odometer anyways so why dont we do it? Just gotta be willing to get your hands dirty to keep costs down.

[Dicey]

From the post above:
"...where they roll the odometer anyways so why dont we do it?"

Because it's the wrong thing to do?

[zolotiyeruki]

From the post above:
"...where they roll the odometer anyways so why dont we do it?"

Because it's the wrong thing to do?

I think they mean that they keep driving it until the odometer rolls over, i.e a million miles

[Dicey]

From the post above:
"...where they roll the odometer anyways so why dont we do it?"

Because it's the wrong thing to do?

I think they mean that they keep driving it until the odometer rolls over, i.e a million miles

That's a very generous interpretation ;-)

[ColoAndy]

We have a 1999 Lexus SUV, with about 300k miles on it. The thing is a tank. My husband takes exceptionally good care of it.

Wow. Talk about getting your moneys worth.

[JAYSLOL]

We have a 1999 Lexus SUV, with about 300k miles on it. The thing is a tank. My husband takes exceptionally good care of it.

Wow. Talk about getting your moneys worth.

Even better when you consider it would probably still sell for excellent money.  I’ve been seeing a lot of Toyota FJ Cruisers that are selling for basically the same money as the same car would have sold for 10 or 12 years ago, but with 100-200k more kms on them, and I’ve seen a lot of older Lexus models, especially the Lexus version of the Land cruiser, going for insane money

[mikefromtheuk]

My "modern" daily driver will turn 23 in April, I've had it just over 20 years and taken it from 28k miles to the current 192k miles, though I don't do as many miles per year now. The previous one had 273k miles on it when it went off the road, but I still have it in the shed, gradually returning it to roadworthy condition. Despite the general hate for cars, they're a passion of mine, I enjoy restoring and repairing them. That's probably a good thing, as I currently have five, six if you include my Dad's old car.

[RetireOrDieTrying]

1995 GMC Yukon, 206k miles. Got it for free several years ago. I drive very little, so it's impossible to make an ROI work to buy anything else. I'm happy driving this thing until it returns to the dust whence it came. I take care of it, and nobody cares what I drive.

[BlueMR2]

Just turned 304,001 miles on the daily driver, but also found serious rust damage hidden behind one of the wheel liners.  During normal times I'd probably be trading it in for another car, but car prices are still way high and selection very poor.  Might be worth another round of sheet metal work to repair it.

[jnw]

225K on Lexus LS400. Paint is like new since it is garaged all the time.  Seats need reupholstered but I am going to look into some fitted seat covers instead -- should look pretty decent.  Drives like a dream.  Umm, I saw a youtube video of one that has lasted 1M miles on same untouched engine.  Originally sold for $65k, I bought for $5k in 2011.  The A/C still works believe it or not -- never been recharged.

[RetireOrDieTrying]

225K on Lexus LS400. Paint is like new since it is garaged all the time.  Seats need reupholstered but I am going to look into some fitted seat covers instead -- should look pretty decent.  Drives like a dream.  Umm, I saw a youtube video of one that has lasted 1M miles on same untouched engine.  Originally sold for $65k, I bought for $5k in 2011.  The A/C still works believe it or not -- never been recharged.

Great find, and great value. Those were incredibly good cars.

[ontheheel]

Having been out of the country for the past seven months, my 1999 Jeep has been sitting in the driveway. It's got about 201k miles on it, and I'm sure every single seal has dried out and leaking. I gave it an oil change before I left, filled the gas tank, and put fuel stabilizer in it. I hooked it up to a trickle charger, and asked my wife to start it up once a week and let it run for about 15 minutes, but it got unplugged almost immediately and never plugged back in, and she never started it once, although a couple of neighbors did borrow it to jump the battery and drive it around on a couple of different occasions, the most recent being just a couple of days ago.

I get home tomorrow, so we'll see what kind of condition it's in.

[ontheheel]

...aaaand that battery is toast. Charged it all night and couldn't get it to turn the starter at all. I don't remember when I bought it, but it might still be under warranty.

[JAYSLOL]

...aaaand that battery is toast. Charged it all night and couldn't get it to turn the starter at all. I don't remember when I bought it, but it might still be under warranty.

It might not be toast.  When a car battery gets that low, the charger often can’t get it to take a charge, but if you have another car battery with a good charge you can use, connect it in parallel to the bad battery with a set of jumper cables, and hook the charger to one of them, often it will allow the dead battery to recharge.  I have a 95 Tercel that I drive very infrequently as a backup car, as in I’ll put in on the road for a few months every couple years or so, and I often won’t be able to charge the battery unless I do that trick. 

[ontheheel]

Interesting. How long do you leave it connected to the jumper battery before disconnecting?

[zolotiyeruki]

We now own two 2006 Honda Odysseys, one with 225k miles, the other with about 80k.  Since we live in the midwest and winter can be really rough on bodywork, I bought a Woolwax undercoating kit and spent a couple hours yesterday under the newer one, liberally coating anything that looked slightly rusty (or potentially rusty) with a nice coat of Woolwax.  Here's hoping I can hold the rust off longer this time...

[JAYSLOL]

Interesting. How long do you leave it connected to the jumper battery before disconnecting?

For a full charge, like overnight, with both batteries connected to a 12v car battery charger

[bookish]

Honda Accord: 224,000
Honda Accord2: 180,000
Honda Odyssey: 364,439


Yeah, we love our Hondas.

[RetireOrDieTrying]

Honda Accord: 224,000
Honda Accord2: 180,000
Honda Odyssey: 364,439


Yeah, we love our Hondas.

As well you should. Talk about enduring value.

[BicycleB]

It just dawned on me that the thread title says "or old", not just "high-mileage"!

At thirteen years, my car (VW CC, a sedan) is old by consumerism's standards. It's a youngster on this thread, but age is its only hope to qualify. At 102,000 miles total and with average miles per year dropping, it will never be high mileage by this thread's standards.

Private party market value of $3500 to $4,000 might be high-ish for this thread, but far cheaper than a five year old vehicle. Super high safety record as well, last I checked (fatalities for this model are less than 1/3 of an average sedan's). MMMish, maybe?

Anyway, congrats to the many cool examples on this classic thread.

[dcheesi]

My 2011 RAV4 just crossed 150k mi a week or to ago. Putting new tires on tomorrow.

We've been racking up miles lately, driving to & from the new house on weekends as we continue to fix it up.

[GuitarStv]

We bought our 2005 Corolla new.  Other than a new muffler (thanks Ontario's salty roads in winter) it hasn't really needed any repairs or had any real problems.  (My son broke the rear door handle, but I was able to replace that for 40$ and a few hours of swearing in the garage.)

I'm hoping to get another ten plus years out of it.  :P

[SpareChange]

What the heck happened to this thread? I know all these fine Mustachians didn't run out and trade their beaters in, given the auto pricing I see out there. :)

Still rolling around in my 2007 Focus hatch. Now with 156k miles. Had the alternator replaced last summer. 

[grantmeaname]

Sleepy thread! Hina, our 2012 Honda Fit\, is closing in on 150k. Still incredibly cheap, capacious, and a joy to drive.

[Adventine]

Our 2010 Scion tC, lovingly named El Pollo Negro, is still going strong at 185k. No major issues in the five years we've had him.

[zolotiyeruki]

The 2001 Honda Civic that my son and and I fixed up is going strong, and just passed 200k miles, and 10k since we got it.  It still burns some oil for some reason, but it runs great.

[Bartlebooth]

Update time, huh?

2008 Dodge Dakota, 150,000 miles.  The rear wheel wells are really rusting so I'm not sure how much longer I will feel OK with driving it to work.  I suppose when the outline of the wheel well substantially loses its outline/definition.

It was free from a family member last year so very low price per mile!

We bought a minivan so the pickup has been put into coast-mode.  It is mostly stored at our future hobby farm and used for tree watering, and as an extra vehicle for various family members and ourselves as needed.  That is nice to have in the pocket.  But I know there will someday be repair bills.  "$800 to fix the xxxxxx on this thing we barely use!?"  158,000 miles on it now.

DW got the minivan and I have the 2008 Honda CR-V now.  211,000 miles on that.  It is starting to get some paint issues but otherwise just carrying on.

[JAYSLOL]

We bought a couple vehicles in the last few years, I keep finding deals on solid low-mileage cars, four years ago it was a 2012 Elantra Touring with under 100k miles in perfect condition for $3k, and two years ago it was a 2008 Ranger 4x4 with under 90k miles that needed almost nothing for $5k. Both have been great so far, just basic maintenance and repairs.

[GuitarStv]

We bought our 2005 Corolla new.  Other than a new muffler (thanks Ontario's salty roads in winter) it hasn't really needed any repairs or had any real problems.  (My son broke the rear door handle, but I was able to replace that for 40$ and a few hours of swearing in the garage.)

I'm hoping to get another ten plus years out of it.  :P

Still rockin' the '05 Corolla.

[2KidFIRE]

We bought our 2005 Corolla new.  Other than a new muffler (thanks Ontario's salty roads in winter) it hasn't really needed any repairs or had any real problems.  (My son broke the rear door handle, but I was able to replace that for 40$ and a few hours of swearing in the garage.)

I'm hoping to get another ten plus years out of it.  :P

Still rockin' the '05 Corolla.

2003 Corolla represent!  The paint is trashed and the fabric roof is disintegrating, but it still runs great at 274k+ miles :)

[Dee_the_third]

My 2013 Honda Accord just crossed 66,000 miles. It has served me beautifully across four states, three jobs, and now two kids. Good chance it lasts my family at least another decade, though we might have to figure out how to fit three car seats across in the back sometime in the next two years :p

[middo]

My motorcycle clocked over 130,000 kms recently.  Does that count?

[grantmeaname]

My 2013 Honda Accord just crossed 66,000 miles. It has served me beautifully across four states, three jobs, and now two kids. Good chance it lasts my family at least another decade, though we might have to figure out how to fit three car seats across in the back sometime in the next two years :p

Clek is the way! If three fit in a Fit, I would guess three fit in an Accord.

[Tasse]

Our 2001 Toyota Solara is approaching her 200,000th mile. We may be upgrading soon only because we've been tentatively offered a 2016 Prius for free from family. Solara would be traded to my dad to become a beater car for teenagers.

[Sugaree]

I still have my 2013 Wrangler.  Just crossed 100k miles back around xmas.  It had a couple of expensive-ish repairs back in the fall.  Just a couple of things that were known issues with that model and I'm kind of surprised haven't come up before.  Just wish they'd not have happened back to back.  Still cheaper than a car payment, especially considering that I have a great mechanic who charges less than half of what the dealership does in labor.  Right now, the plan is to drive it another couple of years, give it to the kid when he gets his license, and buy myself a new one.  I've been making a car payment to myself out of every paycheck for a couple of years now and also throwing a little into savings in case I need to buy the kid a beater so I should be in good shape as long as I don't get laid off.  And if I do get laid off, then I won't need a car nearly as much as I do now since my commute constitutes 80% of my driving.

[Smokystache]

2006 Honda CR-V LX. The only car I've ever purchased new because the 2 year old ones were just a couple thousand cheaper. First time buying a vehicle after getting married and decided to do a lot of research on Consumer Reports and regularly looked at the Clark Howard forums. Tried this "new" technique of emailing several Honda dealerships to give me their best price. Took the best offer and made an appointment.

Remembered to negotiate the price of the new car separately from the trade-in (You can't 4-square me). Didn't mention a monthly budget, we're talking about the "full price including everything but tax" says me. Repeat phrase several times. Agree on $19k. Decided to take Honda's 4% financing because we couldn't pay cash at the time. Get dropped off at Finance office. Finance man says, "Here's a couple of extra charges ..."

I say, "I negotiated the full price - talk to the salesperson."

He stared at me.

I stared back.

He dropped the extra charges. I was really proud of myself.

The CR-V ("Certified Racing Vehicle" as my kids like to joke) took all my kids home from the hospital and now my oldest is learning to drive on it. No rust. Has never left me stranded. 212,000 miles and going strong.