Cars and Mileage

[BxPrince24]

Ok, so I'm new to the whole cars thing. I know how to drive one and all but what exactly is good mileage and bad mileage? can it be reset? what makes the car die if the mileage is high?

 

[chili kat]

People will tell you that highway miles are better than miles put on in local traffic. The reasoning is that on a highway mile for mile there is much less stopping and going, which equals less mechanical stress. But the real indicator is driving habit.

If you're the sort to slowly accelerate from a dead stop until you are up to speed, you'll put less stress on an engine than if you're the type to accelerate much faster from a dead stop. If you're the type to burn rubber everytime you accelerate, you've got a good chance at eventually ovaling out the bores in the engine block for power loss, start burning a sh!t load of oil, carbon build up, maybe a snapped valve or a bent rod if you're really persistant, ect.

So basically, if you're buying a car from a punk who brags about bad ass rims and laying rubber like no tomorrow, you've got an engine that more than likely isn't going to last as long.

Then you've got the people who will tell you an old lady has always driven the car....just to the supermarket and back for cat food. Whatever. Don't believe it.

And no, you can't reset the engine milage unless you completely rebuild. The registry of motor vehicles will have a sh!t fit.

Everything mechanical wears down eventually. Engines are machined within very tight specs in the factory, often within hundredths or thousandths of an inch and everything has to seal properly in a very high heat environment to be able to efficiently process fuel into power. After a while of use these specs will begin to wear out of tolerance and that's when you get a car that burns oil quickly, loses power, ect.

Sometimes you just need overhaul an old engine withnew piston rings, gaskets and things of that nature. Sometimes you need to rebore the engine block and change to larger pistons. (That's another thing. "Rebuild" is a word often abused. It's more than just a few new gaskets).

All engines can be rebuilt several times to last several generations, but eventually you'll machine the metal down too much to be useful anymore. Most people rather not rebuild, so they let them "die" and just buy new.

Of course, how fast they die depends on how well the car is maintained. I know of people that seized engines on newer cars because they never checked the oil. Then there are 20 year old cars out there with 200,000+ miles on it and still going.

 

[BxPrince24]

I kind of get it now. What is the range of good mileage though? I might have my father buy me a car soon (he knows all about this but I don't live with him so it's not like I can go and ask him about this stuff) but I want to know for myself.

 

[Bible_Belt]

It's the size that counts (mostly). If you are ok with a little car, you can get 30 miles per gallon or more. Bigger cars generally get worse mileage, but are often safer in the event of a collision, especially a collision with a full-size car or truck.

I have seen accident aftermath pictures of a head-on collision between a Porshe and a full-size Chevy pick-up truck. The truck had a large dent in the bumper. The Porsche was not recognizeable as something that was once a car.

 

[HateOnMe]

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
You can check out the mpg for whatever car your looking at to see if it gets good miles per gallons.

 

[spider_007]

don't buy anything above 100 000 km. This seems to be the mark at which everything starts breaking down for no reason.

 

[OzyBoy]

Originally posted by spider_007
don't buy anything above 100 000 km. This seems to be the mark at which everything starts breaking down for no reason.

I don't think it matters too much if there is more than 100,000 kilometres. I think if you drive sensibly, regularly get it serviced it will last you a long time. I recently just got rid of my car which had nearly 500,000 on the odometer and it was still going alright when i sold it to a work collegue and this was because i looked after it but i thought it was getting too old that why i got rid of it. I'm getting another car next weekend which has a little over 200 on it but i probably won't get anywhere near 500 this time.

 

[MetalFortress]

I had an 87 Honda Civic with 169k and a 90 Honda Civic with somewhere betwen 190 and 200. I now have an 86 Ford Ranger with 161k. The 90 Civic is the only one that gave me trouble, and that's because it burned almost as much oil as gas. Other than that, it ran fairly well.

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

When I worked at a honda dealership, it was common to see civics from the late 70's with 400k miles still running strong. I would buy a used honda in avg shape.

 

[Wyldfire]

I just receently bought a 1994 Toyota Camry LE with only 46,000 miles on it. A little old lady near Dartmouth college owned it. She was the only owner and only drove it about 4000 miles a year. I paid $3000 for it. It gets really good gas mileage, too...and is in brand new condition.

I also have a 1993 Chevy Lumina EuroSport with over 200K miles that I paid $500 over 4 years ago. The engine is still running well but the suspension is all screwed up.

 

[SAYNO]

Originally posted by mizter6
100 000 km comes out to 60,000 miles and that is SMALL. 100,000 miles i would understand more but every manufacture has different miliage ablitities. toyota and honday can easiey past 100,000 with major problems maybe appearing at 150,000 miles.

I have over 160,000 on my toyota and no problems yet.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Nissan truck
260K
Like a Wok

 

[AC/DC]

On european cars such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and VOlkswagen, you can expect upwards of 150,000 and still run well.

Same with Honda and Toyota.

American cars don't run well past 100,000 at all, unless they're really old.

I have a VW Jetta, I have 163,000, and it has a few problems, but hey, whatever. Great daily driver.

 

[Brian20o2]

toyota, honda, mercedes, bmw
all those run forever. the eingins in em will go 300,000 miles till they die

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

toyotas and honda engines never die They just get swapped for b16a's, b18c5's, h22a's, and anything else jdm... I would suggest any H-car because you can always find a d-series motor for cheap.

American car sound like sh? after 60k, they seem to have this weird whistling sound...

 

[Bible_Belt]

Everything steel in my Nissan is virtually inbreakable. The Japanese make excellent steel. However, everything plastic has fallen apart. The Japanese don't make plastic nearly as well as the Americans, because plastic is made from oil.

Whatever vehicle you buy, if you want to keep it long-term, change the oil about every 3,000 miles. A Jiffy-Lube-type place is better than nothing, but doing it yourself allows you more choice of what oil to use and more importantly, you can take the time to let all of the old oil drain out - something they don't do when they are in a hurry. After the drip has slowed, pour an extra 1/2 quart of oil through the engine to flush out the old stuff. I have put 200k of my truck's 260k on it myself. The internal engine parts look virtually unworn - I got to look at them when the timing chain was changed. Clean oil is very important.

The trend of autos seems to be toward the disposable car, the 100K Hundai/Kia. The only maintenance people do is what is required to keep the warranty, and as soon as the warranty expires, the car becomes essentially worthless.

 

[MetalFortress]

Originally posted by AC/DC
On european cars such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and VOlkswagen, you can expect upwards of 150,000 and still run well.

Same with Honda and Toyota.

American cars don't run well past 100,000 at all, unless they're really old.

I have a VW Jetta, I have 163,000, and it has a few problems, but hey, whatever. Great daily driver.

The fact is, any car that's been well taken car of and not abused will run practically forever, except for ridiculous crap like yugos. Any car that's been abused and neglected, even Hondas and Toyotas, will break down faster. Please stop repeating import-lover myths. Even Fords, known pieces of crap compared to GMs, will run for a long time if they are well taken care of.

 

[undesputable]

yea any car will run 300000k plus miles if you take care of them...the thing is finding a car that can go that many miles without spending a small fortune mantaining the car to do it....hondas in my opinon do it with the least maintence.

 

[Jake-inator]

My old pontiac died at 100 000 miles.
(the coolant started leaking into the engine, untill it overheated and started burning oil... then it all went up in a plume of white smoke.)
It would have probably lasted longer, if not for the constant redlining.

I'm one of those people that loves to burn rubber at every stop light...

 

[brucevangeorge]

It breaks because they use crappy parts. The alloys and all the fittings are made just a little crappy so they last just long enough.

Think about it. If you could make the best car that lasted 20years out of quality, high grade parts, would you do it? The consumer would buy it and be like "**** it I dont need another car again" But what if you lowered the quality? Used cheaper plastic, cheaper steel. Lower manufacturing cost and the consumer has to buy another one very soon. which means $$$$$$.