10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
Even trade on a V2.
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
That would be my dream. It may not be that far off from the truth. Hybrid sales have been way down in the last couple years so there will be low inventory when the price spikes. This could be similar to what happened in 2005 when Katrina hit and suddenly everyone wanted efficient cars, but they were nowhere to be found in the used market.kevm14 wrote:Even trade on a V2.
Last edited by Bob on Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
I like this. I think there is an advantage to commuting in something to which you have no emotional attachment. You can feed it cheap parts when it needs it. Instead of saving for the "performance exhaust" or finding the perfect wheels to match the car, you buy the entire aluminized exhaust and slap it on there with a set of long life tires and drive it another 80k. Eventually it has so many miles that it begins to be interesting.Bob wrote:Yeah, I can be there saying something like "I never really loved this car, but the damn thing wouldn't ever die or break down so I had to keep it."
On an unrelated note, the Saturn only has another 7k before it expires, because it's not on this list!!
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
Funny you should mention it that way. I was at Brad's retirement thing last night and I thought I was going to leave a little after 6pm. I ended up talking to Walt W until.....10:30. Lots of great discussion and I have some awesome anecdotes to share. But this is what he does. He's into the 80s body on frame V8 cars. He buys them for $100, gets them going, and puts a ridiculous number of miles on them very inexpensively. Adam resembles that remark.
That said, I'm not sure how I would fit in with the "I don't care about this car but I drive it every day" approach. My Caprice has morphed into a beater somewhere along the way here, but I still have an enthusiast attachment to it because I don't think that really goes away. I agree it would be liberating to not have to obsess over repairs and maintenance and mods, but in the end, I don't know if I would be satisfied. It would be like commuting in the Ranger. After 3 days, it just flat out sucks, with no benefits.
So I don't end on a sour note, let me share one Walt anecdote from last night:
He's been driving an 85 Buick LeSabre (B-body) for the past few months. He's had it for a long time, but tends to favor his Grand Marquis because it gets better fuel economy (he says he gets 24 with it in fact). Anyway, he bought that Buick non-running for $100 like 12 years ago, with a dead 307. His brother in law or something was running a demo derby car either up in Seekonk or Waterford, which was a 78 Olds B-body of some kind. It had an Olds 350. Walt said...hey, when you are done with that demo derby car, I want that engine. Wait, it gets better.
When they were done with the car, he said he pulled the engine and it was smoking (you don't say). He pulled a valve cover and it was just baked under there, not allowing the oil to drain back to the pan. The exhaust manifolds also got so hot from the abuse that they cracked. He cleaned all the junk out, replaced the exhaust manifolds and put the engine in his 85 Buick. That was 12 years ago. Believe it.
Other tidbits about the car: it's got a 200-4R which immediately toasted when he put the Olds 350 in, so he got another one and it's been fine. Has a quadrajet with feedback mixture control, which he has defeated. It also has blow-by issues, but he installed a second, parallel PCV system which solved both the nasty oil situation (by making the PCV functional enough to keep the blow-by gasses out of the crankcase) and the lean mixture situation he had after defeating the mixture control. So it runs well. He said even with the 2.73 gears it will spin tire.
I told him when I head home after the thing, my car will roll 300k and not shockingly, he's seen quite a few cars over that threshold. All carbureted.
One additional short anecdote: he bought a brand new 2004 Toyota Sienna AWD for his wife. It has become a complete rust bucket. More specifically, all of the drivetrain and suspension components have rusted away. Not only is that annoying, but replacement parts are outrageous, as is the diagnostic equipment he had to buy when he started getting ABS and traction control codes up the ass (rusting wheel hubs making for failed wheel speed sensors). Like $400 to replace a rusted off brake rotor dust shield, because it is integral with the spindle. He did say the body and paint is good. And the engine and trans has been fine. He has had other quality issues with it. But it only has like 110k.
That said, I'm not sure how I would fit in with the "I don't care about this car but I drive it every day" approach. My Caprice has morphed into a beater somewhere along the way here, but I still have an enthusiast attachment to it because I don't think that really goes away. I agree it would be liberating to not have to obsess over repairs and maintenance and mods, but in the end, I don't know if I would be satisfied. It would be like commuting in the Ranger. After 3 days, it just flat out sucks, with no benefits.
So I don't end on a sour note, let me share one Walt anecdote from last night:
He's been driving an 85 Buick LeSabre (B-body) for the past few months. He's had it for a long time, but tends to favor his Grand Marquis because it gets better fuel economy (he says he gets 24 with it in fact). Anyway, he bought that Buick non-running for $100 like 12 years ago, with a dead 307. His brother in law or something was running a demo derby car either up in Seekonk or Waterford, which was a 78 Olds B-body of some kind. It had an Olds 350. Walt said...hey, when you are done with that demo derby car, I want that engine. Wait, it gets better.
When they were done with the car, he said he pulled the engine and it was smoking (you don't say). He pulled a valve cover and it was just baked under there, not allowing the oil to drain back to the pan. The exhaust manifolds also got so hot from the abuse that they cracked. He cleaned all the junk out, replaced the exhaust manifolds and put the engine in his 85 Buick. That was 12 years ago. Believe it.
Other tidbits about the car: it's got a 200-4R which immediately toasted when he put the Olds 350 in, so he got another one and it's been fine. Has a quadrajet with feedback mixture control, which he has defeated. It also has blow-by issues, but he installed a second, parallel PCV system which solved both the nasty oil situation (by making the PCV functional enough to keep the blow-by gasses out of the crankcase) and the lean mixture situation he had after defeating the mixture control. So it runs well. He said even with the 2.73 gears it will spin tire.
I told him when I head home after the thing, my car will roll 300k and not shockingly, he's seen quite a few cars over that threshold. All carbureted.
One additional short anecdote: he bought a brand new 2004 Toyota Sienna AWD for his wife. It has become a complete rust bucket. More specifically, all of the drivetrain and suspension components have rusted away. Not only is that annoying, but replacement parts are outrageous, as is the diagnostic equipment he had to buy when he started getting ABS and traction control codes up the ass (rusting wheel hubs making for failed wheel speed sensors). Like $400 to replace a rusted off brake rotor dust shield, because it is integral with the spindle. He did say the body and paint is good. And the engine and trans has been fine. He has had other quality issues with it. But it only has like 110k.
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
I forgot one hugely important tidbit from our conversation:
Mechanical work is no big deal to him. He's swapped all kinds of stuff all over the place, even in precarious parking lot situations. No problem at all. What he said was the rust is the #1 and really ONLY reason he's ever gotten rid of cars. Something we've all kind of been saying for a while now. At least in this part of the country.
I guess my point is, if you really want to drive a car for 30 years, your longevity concerns probably shouldn't be over interior materials, electronics, engine or transmission, but corrosion.
Mechanical work is no big deal to him. He's swapped all kinds of stuff all over the place, even in precarious parking lot situations. No problem at all. What he said was the rust is the #1 and really ONLY reason he's ever gotten rid of cars. Something we've all kind of been saying for a while now. At least in this part of the country.
I guess my point is, if you really want to drive a car for 30 years, your longevity concerns probably shouldn't be over interior materials, electronics, engine or transmission, but corrosion.
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
It will take some time and money, but I am also having interesting thoughts about my Caprice lasting another 12 years, at which point Ian will be 16.Bob wrote:Three years and 34k miles into the ownership of this car, I am beginning to accept the very real possibility that it could end up being my one year old's first car if it makes it to 250k (as it should).
I need to get on that LS turbo swap so my Caprice in 2028 can be as fast as a stock Civic.
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
This is one reason Fuel injection isn't necessarily a top priority if I get a Monte. I know Fuel Injection is better, but I will have that on the Gen 5 Camaro.I told him when I head home after the thing, my car will roll 300k and not shockingly, he's seen quite a few cars over that threshold. All carbureted.
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
Let's not pretend that cylinder wash and oil dilution isn't still much, much worse on carbureted engines.
Re: 10 Cars That Can Run For Over 250,000 Miles
That is fine, but if you can have an awesome engine that is carbureted, which means less stuff to do on a swap, which means a lot cheaper, and it can go even 200K let alone 300K, who cares about cylinder wash and oil dilution.
I am not saying that I will absolutely not go EFI in the Monte, but I can potentially have a semi done, carbed engine in there and have a lot of fun until I do the full swap. Also, I am only going to drive the thing a little more than half a year, so how many miles am I even going to put on it? 10K per year?
I am not saying that I will absolutely not go EFI in the Monte, but I can potentially have a semi done, carbed engine in there and have a lot of fun until I do the full swap. Also, I am only going to drive the thing a little more than half a year, so how many miles am I even going to put on it? 10K per year?