Pointless thread about cars

[KG]

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.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

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.

 

[funky_mountain]

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?

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

I wanted to buy a 4-runner a few years ago. My broker talked me out of it.

Apparently, they are beloved by the overseas car thieves.

Broker told me about one guy he warned never to leave it in his driveway. The guy forgot to put it in his garage one night, remembered his wife was coming home soon, called her and told her to park right behind him.

Next day, the 4-runner was gone, the wife's car was on the street. Turns out thieves had brought a tow truck, removed the wife's car from the driveway and towed away his beast.

Let that be a lesson to you, Kathy.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

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?

 

[KG]

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?

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.

 

[Ace]

I wanted to buy a 4-runner a few years ago. My broker talked me out of it.

Apparently, they are beloved by the overseas car thieves.

Broker told me about one guy he warned never to leave it in his driveway. The guy forgot to put it in his garage one night, remembered his wife was coming home soon, called her and told her to park right behind him.

Next day, the 4-runner was gone, the wife's car was on the street. Turns out thieves had brought a tow truck, removed the wife's car from the driveway and towed away his beast.

Let that be a lesson to you, Kathy.

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.

 

[KG]

I wanted to buy a 4-runner a few years ago. My broker talked me out of it.

Apparently, they are beloved by the overseas car thieves.

Broker told me about one guy he warned never to leave it in his driveway. The guy forgot to put it in his garage one night, remembered his wife was coming home soon, called her and told her to park right behind him.

Next day, the 4-runner was gone, the wife's car was on the street. Turns out thieves had brought a tow truck, removed the wife's car from the driveway and towed away his beast.

Let that be a lesson to you, Kathy.

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.

 

[jgmacg]

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?

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.

 

[KG]

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

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.

 

[JR]

'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.

 

[Cansportschick]

I wanted to buy a 4-runner a few years ago. My broker talked me out of it.

Apparently, they are beloved by the overseas car thieves.

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.

 

[OTD]

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?

Get it done as soon as possible. A Sube ought to last quite a while, but if the timing belt snaps, your engine is toast. While that's being done, your mechanic will probably recommend that you have the water pump and the other belts and hoses replaced. This is a great time to do this because the thing's all apart anyway. Unless you replaced your water pump within the past 6 months, do this now.

And I don't think anything will outlast a Toyota.

 

[KG]

Aww Ace I'm crushed. The last two vehicles I've owned were 4Runners. But I agree with you on the cost. The price has skyrocketed with their popularity. There's no way in hell I'm going to buy a new 4Runner now when I can get my beloved Super Duty for the same price.

 

[Ace]

Aww Ace I'm crushed. The last two vehicles I've owned were 4Runners. But I agree with you on the cost. The price has skyrocketed with their popularity. There's no way in hell I'm going to buy a new 4Runner now when I can get my beloved Super Duty for the same price.

They seem fine. I was just shocked at the price.

 

[KG]

Aww Ace I'm crushed. The last two vehicles I've owned were 4Runners. But I agree with you on the cost. The price has skyrocketed with their popularity. There's no way in hell I'm going to buy a new 4Runner now when I can get my beloved Super Duty for the same price.

They seem fine. I was just shocked at the price.

By the time I got my second one, the prices were already going up quite a bit. I can't believe how much they've gone up now. I mean being a Toyota, you'll get your monies worth, but if I'm buying a new vehicle, I'm looking for instant gratification too.

 

[User 1019]

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

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.

Gotcha beat. I inherited my step-father's work car, a 1984 Cavalier with 150,000 on it. I rode it over 200,000. It still sits in the yard -- almost redneck style -- with no battery. The battery was robbed for the tractor some time ago. However, if a battery was installed, the oil changed and tires re-inflated, she'd go anywhere.

 

[KG]

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

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.

Gotcha beat. I inherited my step-father's work car, a 1984 Cavalier with 150,000 on it. I rode it over 200,000. It still sits in the yard -- almost redneck style -- with no battery. The battery was robbed for the tractor some time ago. However, if a battery was installed, the oil changed and tires re-inflated, she'd go anywhere.

Well at least I've got you beat dork style. Mine was navy, I had limo tint put on the windows and called her the Midnight Rider (after the song).

 

[BTExpress]

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?

I trust mine 100 percent.

A few years ago dealer warns me that "we need to replace those brake pads. you're down to about 10 percent."

I said "next time" and immediately went to my trusty mechanic.

"Nah, you've got about 30 percent. We'll let you know when they need to be replaced."

I basically gave him a blank check to replace the brake pads and was told . . . "Nah, maybe later."

My car is at 201,500 miles, by the way. Japanese, of course.

You buy shoes for style. Unless you have money to burn, you buy a car for reliability.

And that new Lexus ES350 looks pretty stylish, too. But I think I'll wait until the current car drops dead.

 

[KYSportsWriter]

My 93 Chevy Lumina had 193K on it when I got it for my 16th birthday. By the time I got rid of it two years later, it had almost 205K on it.