15 vehicles that can run forever.

These lists are so stupid. ANY car can go 200k and more with proper maintenance. This list has 4 GMs that are all basically the same vehicle lol and both Ford products are the same too IIRC. I currently own a Saturn Ion with 160k on it and see no end in sight. Ive seen MANY Ions with over 240k. Yet not a single Saturn on the list.
 
It`s gotta be based solely on cars listed for sale on a certain site or something. I like how all it takes it 2 percent of the cars making it above 200k or any tenth of a percent above 300.

254K and counting on my avant...
(Sold my `98 A4 avant with 225K to have back seat space for my Co-pilot of 6 years now)
 
I have a 2006 Volkswagen Diesel Jetta that has 281,000 on it all is I have done is change the timing belt every 100,000 and regular maintenance .
 
That list really has no meaning. A few of them are essentially the same vehicle in different clothes like the GM`s or the Tacoma/4-Runner and the Odyssey/Ridgeline.

Something else they don`t account for are the model years? Most times any vehicle goes through a model re-fresh there are significant changes to the vehicle. Some brands are less aggressive than others, but new engines, frames/unibodies, electronics, suspensions, transmissions, etc can change durability of a vehicle dramatically.

How do they even define "forever"? Not every car passes the 200K mark as gracefully as others. Some like a `93 Pontiac Grand Am I owned were structurally failing (yes the unibody was getting more bendy/flexible) at only 100K miles and the interior was starting to disassemble, while the BMW I traded it in on looked/drove like new at 130K when I sold it. Both might make it to 200K+ miles, but in VASTLY different condition.

Honestly, these days I`d be really disappointed in ANY vehicle not capable of easily hitting 200K miles if properly maintained. Our Highlander just hit 280K miles with very few repairs and is still running like new. My daughter is still driving a 2010 Mazda3 hatchback I bought new with 100K miles and has never had A SINGLE repair.
 
I think that vehicles that are built to a higher quality standard, like Honda`s and Toyota`s, have a MUCH better chance of making it to the 200,000 mile mark WITH proper scheduled maintenance and some detailing car-care.
That said, a vehicle driven year-round in the Upper Midwest where winter salt is used 6 months out of the year and is brutal on exteriors is much different than a vehicle driven in the desert Southwest year round.

I think we Autopians know someone who is OCD about their vehicle and its care and maintenance. Their vehicle is the one we want to buy when they are ready for a new or different one, but most likely it`s going to their children or grandchildren.

My sister has bought both of my high-mileage Subaru`s from me only because she knows how they`ve been cared for. Yes, they were starting to rust from being driven in northeast Wisconsin winters all of their vehicle existence, but she also knew that they got "the full Captain Obvious detail" every year and that the engine was on Mobil1 for its entire life as long as I owned it.
She gave the first Subaru, a `93 Legacy Wagon with a 5-speed manual transmission, away to a next-door dairy farm family with 11 siblings (Hey, they are farmers and they`re not going to be "well-to-do"and there ARE 11 kids). That vehicle was used as a "mule" to hall hay and feed to the cattle and drive the siblings back-and-forth to high school who were participants in after-school activities and could not ride the school bus, not to mention those young people who learned how to drive a manual transmission vehicle in a farm field or down the dirt lane. It has since died (rusted uni-body broke in half), but last she knew it had over 300,000 miles on the odometer.
 
Lonnie said:
I think that vehicles that are built to a higher quality standard, like Honda`s and Toyota`s
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Have you ever been in a 2002-2009 Camry? And pretty much ANY Civic until about 2012? lol. QUALITY? Maybe in the engine but for sure not in the metal body and interior. LOL LOL
 
Humm. Wasn`t the Saturn Redline models built with Toyota engines??

As far as getting a vehicle to run over 200,000 miles, a lot depends on the maintenance and where and how it is driven by the owner, and the design, material quality used, and build/assembly quality by the manufacturer of the vehicle itself.

I would like to know what vehicles some of you Autopians have personally owned and driven more than 200,000 miles with the original engine and transmission. Heck even 150,000 miles is a lot. That is the "the list" I would give more credence to. Thanks to those who have already mentioned a few makes and models.
My addition to that list: a 2003 Subaru Outback with 186,000 miles. That was the second Subaru I sold to my sister in my post above. She still drives it after fixing some of the things it badly needed. Yes, I kinda miss the car. I just did not want to spend almost as much on parts and labor repairs as the car was worth if it was in good running shape.

I do go and "kick tires" at used car lots. It is not unusual to see vehicles being sold with 130,000 miles or more on the odometer. Then I look at the asking price. Apparently high miles do not detrack as much as it should from the "value" of such a vehicle. I make that statement because Toyota`s and Honda`s seem to hold their value and demand a higher asking price than their Ford, GM, Fiat/Chrysler counterparts with comparable miles.
You may argue about "what is quality" and how it is perceived. Vehicle market price and supply-and-demand economics are good indicators of that.
 
My 2012 Odyssey still looks new with 256k miles. I had two Mercury Villagers prior, that I put 300k on each.
 
Lonnie said:
I would like to know what vehicles some of you Autopians have personally owned and driven more than 200,000 miles with the original engine and transmission. Heck even 150,000 miles is a lot
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I wouldn`t buy a car with 150K miles, but owning one with that kind of mileage doesn`t bother me a bit. We`ve had several which were over that amount or close enough to see it and all had their original engines and transmissions and never had any major repairs of either or any indications any major repair was coming. I used to worry about 200K miles, but now that our Highlander is approaching 300K with no real repairs, that doesn`t bother me either.

ALL of the higher mileage vehicles we`ve owned were still on their original engines and transmissions and were/are still going strong.
- Wife`s 1993(?) XJ Jeep Cherokee, 180K miles. The thing was a piece of junk with issues, but the engine and transmission were original when we gave it away
- 1999 Toyota Sequoia, 190K miles. Traded for the Highlander.
- 2013 Toyota Highlander, 275K miles and still going strong. It still looks/runs like new. No real major repairs or even parts wearing out besides tires, shocks, and brake pads. My wife wants to hit 400K before getting rid of it. We`re well on our way.
- 2010 Mazda3, 101K miles and still running stong handed it down to my daughter. Thing still looks and runs like new. Never had a single repair, I have no reason to expect it won`t hit 200K easily and then some.
- `99 BMW, 130K miles and was running strong when I sold it due to an overseas move. It ran better with 100K miles than it did with 50K, and was actually more reliable.

The only car I`ve lost to an engine failure was a `99 Subaru Legacy Outback wagon. I had the timing belt and water pump replaced at 120K miles, but the mechanic failed to replace the belt tensioner like I asked and not long after than it failed and the engine ate itself. Had the mechanic done what he was supposed to (and charged me for) the engine would easily have run 200K miles.
 
Lonnie said:
Humm. Wasn`t the Saturn Redline models built with Toyota engines??.
Click to expand...

Not as far as I know...
LK9 is a turbocharged 2.0 L (1,998 cc) version of the L850 (86 mm bore) series Ecotec utilizing an all-new reinforced sand cast aluminum cylinder head and upgraded internal components. The engine features a five-bearing forged steel crankshaft, strengthened connecting rods, redesigned pistons, piston oil cooling jets, reprofiled camshafts and an integrated oil cooler.[SUP][3][/SUP] The exhaust valves are liquid sodium-cooled. All vehicles using this engine feature Saab`s Trionic 8 (T8) engine management system as well as a revised valve train. The timing chain and timing gears are also new, along with Saab`s Direct Ignition system. The reinforcements, turbocharging, intercooling, internals, dual overhead camshaft, and such were developed by GM Powertrain Sweden (Saab Automobile Powertrain). It features an 86 mm (3.4 in) bore and stroke and a 9.5:1 compression ratio. Maximum power is 210 hp (160 kW) at 5300 rpm and 221 ft⋅lb (300 N⋅m) of torque at 2500 rpm

Derived from the L850 which says:The GM Ecotec engine, also known by its codename L850, is a family of all-aluminium inline-four engines, displacing between 1.4 and 2.5 litres. While these engines were based on the GM Family II engine, the architecture was substantially re-engineered for the new Ecotec application produced since 2000. This engine family replaced the GM Family II engine, the GM 122 engine, the Saab H engine, and the Quad 4 engine. It is manufactured in multiple locations, to include Spring Hill Manufacturing, in Spring Hill, Tennessee while the engine block and cylinder heads are cast at Saginaw Metal Casting Operations in Saginaw, Michigan


Even if they were Toyota engines I never said that Toyota engines were bad I specifically said "QUALITY? Maybe in the engine" so maybe this statement wasnt for me.
 
As far as cars I have owned with over 150k miles.

1989 Pontiac 6000STE AWD
1990 Pontiac 6000 LE
1987 Toyota Camry
2002 Pontiac Bonneville SE
1993 Plymouth Colt Vista
2004 Saturn Ion (Currently at 161k)
2008 Pontiac Grand Prix (Currently at 150k)
2008 Pontiac Vibe (Currently at 208k)
My 1989 Formula has 139,220 on it right now and it only drives about 2k a year.
 
My wife`s 2004 Toyota 4Runner V8 was defiantly a vehicle that could gone over 500K easy. We sold it when it was 8 years old and had 230k miles on it and it still drove like it was brand new. Also it had no body or frame rust , brake lines looked brand new as did the fluid, there were no clues that it was 8 years old and had been driven in New England winters and on the beach in the summer. Best made vehicle we have ever owned.
 
We tend to keep our cars much longer than most in this country. However, I`m confident that no car `runs forever` and any car can be made to appear to `run forever` when enough money is applied.
 
After some of the comments about higher mileage vehicles I did a quick search. The average age of vehicles on US roads today is 11.9 years. If we look at the average annual mileage being about 12K a year, that puts the average mileage on cars to be about 144K!

My family "fleet" of cars is a bit below the average age, but we seem to travel above the average mileage. My wife`s 30K a year is REALLY over...

All that said, any car with only basic maintenance and following the recommended service schedule should easily hit 150K miles without any serious financial investment.
 
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