Pointless thread about cars

While waiting for my coffee to kick in my mind is wandering this morning. For some reason I'm currently stuck on the longevity of certain makes.

My 4-Runner has close to 177,000 miles on it. At the risk of jinxing it, I'll go ahead and say that I'm not the least bit concerned about the high mileage. My dad's pickup I learned to drive in was a Toyota and it had over 400,000 miles on it when he sold it. Other than general maintenance (brakes, clutch, tune-ups, etc) he never had to have work done to it. I've known several people who owned a Toyota that had 300,000+ miles on it.

My MR2 (God rest her soul) had 210,000 miles on it before some idiot came off the highway and plowed through my garage with an Excursion (where she was safely parked) and murdered her, ahem, I mean totaled it.

I've heard of a few other makes lasting that long too, but what I never hear about is American makes lasting well over 200,000 miles. While my "heart" lies with the F-350 Super Duty Crew Cab King Ranch 4WD Long Bed Dually (thump thump, thump thump) I strongly believe a Toyota will always outlast it.

Does anyone have any experience with an American made vehicle lasting a long time and if so which one?

I'd like to maybe one day be brave and buy something other than a Toyota and not feel like I'm sacrificing dependability for looks.

 

My uncle drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee from the mid 90's pretty hard and got something like 275,000 miles out of it. That's what I was hoping out of my Jeep, but the wreck killed it at 112,000-ish.

Otherwise, nothing springs to mind.

 

ford pickups. i worked for grandpa in college, and one his work trucks was a ford ranger -- it had about 150,000 on it. i also did some infrequent work on my stepgrandpa's farm, and his f-150s always seemed to have about 170,000-plus on them.

with that said, since you know a lot about cars ... my subaru is at 108,000 miles and my mechanic and all the books say the timing belt should be changed at 105. should i make the appt. asap or do i have a little wiggle room?

 

My parents had a mid-90s Dodge Intrepid with 170,000 miles on it when they sold it. And my first car, a 1986 Chevy Celebrity station wagon, had over 150,000 on it when we sold it.

That could be an interesting car thread that I don't feel like starting because I've started about three car threads in the last three days:

What was your first car, and how many miles did it have when you lost it?

 

See funky, I don't think 150,00 miles is anything to brag about considering the cost of automobiles. That's why I've stuck to Toys for the most part.

How well do you know your mechanic? Well enough to get him to inspect your timing belt and get an honest answer on its current condition?

Glad you brought it up though. I just realized how long it's been since mine was replaced. I realize now that it's why it's starting the way it is. Well, most likely anyway.

 

That's funny because I don't see the appeal of the 4-runners. I think they are too small and skinny and way too expensive -- though I guess if you steal them that's not really an issue.

 

I've had mine for four years and have never had a problem. Before that, I had another 4Runner (that got totalled along with the MR2 when the idiot crashed through the garage) for four years and never had any problems with thieves.

It seems my biggest problem has been parking it safely in the garage.

 

I'd be looking to get it done much sooner rather than later. It's the kind of routine maintenance that can save you thousands of dollars if the belt lets go and frags the rest of the engine. And by the time you dismantle enough of the motor to check it, you've accounted for most of the labor of replacing it - which is why they go by the mileage rather than by visual inspection.

 

My first car was a 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier. I think it had around 140,000 miles on it when I sold it to my dad.

 

'94 Toyota Camry.

280,000 kms--that's about 170,000 miles

If nothing really bad happens we can probably wind it up until 400,000 klicks .

First car was a Swedish built '69 Volvo. Put it out to pasture at 200,000 miles.

 

Overseas car thieves- they are also "beloved" by local thieves. One policeman I know from my area told me that it is popular car and the ones breaking into them are local teens. This is quite frequent here.