Just a general question to throw out to the forum. I know many of you rely on your cars to always be up to travel when you need them, especially someone like me who drives a lot. My car, at 108K miles has given me absolutely no indications that it will cause me any trouble any time soon. I take good care of it and keep on top of everything. (Yes I will eventually change my timing belt lol) I am just wanting to get some general opinions of when people think a car has too many miles on it to be a reliable driver that won't let you down. 150K? 200K? I don't plan on getting rid of the Cruze when I retire it to weekend duty, it will be with me for a long time since it is such a cool, unique car. What do y'all think on this topic?
Reliability and high miles
- Tags
- high miles reliability
diesel
1 - 20 of 25 Posts
Just a general question to throw out to the forum. I know many of you rely on your cars to always be up to travel when you need them, especially someone like me who drives a lot. My car, at 108K miles has given me absolutely no indications that it will cause me any trouble any time soon. I take good care of it and keep on top of everything. (Yes I will eventually change my timing belt lol) I am just wanting to get some general opinions of when people think a car has too many miles on it to be a reliable driver that won't let you down. 150K? 200K? I don't plan on getting rid of the Cruze when I retire it to weekend duty, it will be with me for a long time since it is such a cool, unique car. What do y'all think on this topic?
Joined
·
144 Posts
There are some members on the forum that have double your amount of miles and haven't had any issues. There are also other members who have half or less than what you have and are visiting the service center every few weeks (myself included). I think it's just a hit or miss and if you're car has been good to you so far, then it'll probably be good for more miles to come.
Joined
·
130 Posts
I think maintenance and how a car is driven (e.g. city vs highway) is more important than actual mileage. If properly maintained, a lot of today's cars can easily go 150K, 200K or more miles with relatively few problems. There's always the chance of getting a dud or lemon, though.
Most people drive less than 15K miles/year so most cars don't reach those 150K+ levels until at least 10 years and probably after multiple owners.
Most people drive less than 15K miles/year so most cars don't reach those 150K+ levels until at least 10 years and probably after multiple owners.
Joined
·
246 Posts
I have found that as you approach 200k, it is a lot of little things that start taking swipes at reliability. Electrical gremlins start to pop up in higher mileage cars, accessories start to fail, leaks become more of the norm. I think transmissions past 150k are living on borrowed time.
Joined
·
817 Posts
I got rid of a 98 Camry V6 when it had around 240k on it. Still ran great, everything worked, A/C was cold, and the best part, silent inside.
It really depends on the car I think. My diesel is almost to 50k and the trunk button quit working and the blower motor makes noise. It's the little things that begin to annoy me.
It really depends on the car I think. My diesel is almost to 50k and the trunk button quit working and the blower motor makes noise. It's the little things that begin to annoy me.
Joined
·
14,823 Posts
There is some truth to higher mileage causing more issues. Among the components on a car that are not rated for life are:
Shocks/struts and their mounts
Ball joints
Tie rods
Engine mounts
Alternators
Coil assemblies
Water pumps
Radiators and their hoses
A/C compressors, hoses, and evaporators
Timing chains/belts
Oil pan gaskets/seals
Valve cover gaskets/seals
Water pumps
Weather seals
Steering racks
Wheel hubs/bearings
Wheel speed sensors
Clutches
Brake calipers
Windshield wiper motors/transmissions
Gasoline fuel injectors
Diesel injectors ($$$$)
That's just off the top of my head. Depending on the quality, those components can last a long time. At 247k miles, my 1995 Regal's rear wheel hubs were still doing just fine. My front driver brake caliper was original and seized up at 230k. My front wheel bearings were replaced once. Just a few off the top of my head for that car.
The longer you keep the car, the more you find out where the manufacturer skimped on reliability. Not all of these are critical to replace, and some may in fact last you the life of the car, but that isn't always the case. In my experience, you start to discover what those are once you creep past 150k miles. How the vehicle is driven and how the vehicle is maintained is very important. 100k miles of driving at 100 miles per day to work and back is a lot different than 100k miles of short trips under 10 miles in city traffic.
Shocks/struts and their mounts
Ball joints
Tie rods
Engine mounts
Alternators
Coil assemblies
Water pumps
Radiators and their hoses
A/C compressors, hoses, and evaporators
Timing chains/belts
Oil pan gaskets/seals
Valve cover gaskets/seals
Water pumps
Weather seals
Steering racks
Wheel hubs/bearings
Wheel speed sensors
Clutches
Brake calipers
Windshield wiper motors/transmissions
Gasoline fuel injectors
Diesel injectors ($$$$)
That's just off the top of my head. Depending on the quality, those components can last a long time. At 247k miles, my 1995 Regal's rear wheel hubs were still doing just fine. My front driver brake caliper was original and seized up at 230k. My front wheel bearings were replaced once. Just a few off the top of my head for that car.
The longer you keep the car, the more you find out where the manufacturer skimped on reliability. Not all of these are critical to replace, and some may in fact last you the life of the car, but that isn't always the case. In my experience, you start to discover what those are once you creep past 150k miles. How the vehicle is driven and how the vehicle is maintained is very important. 100k miles of driving at 100 miles per day to work and back is a lot different than 100k miles of short trips under 10 miles in city traffic.
Joined
·
246 Posts
Totally agree with Xtremerevolution. My son's 2001 S10 has 205K on the clock. Over the winter I rebuilt the front end. Tie rods, ball joints centerlink, idlerarm, new front wheel bearings, and shocks. I pulled the engine and put a new rear main seal, oil pan gasket, timing chain cover, intake manifold gasket, valve cover gaskets. I also put in a new fuel injector spider, water pump, tensioner pulley etc. It also got a new torque converter seal, and output shaft seal. Late last summer the fuel pump died. I did most of the work myself and saved a bunch of $$. Besides normal maintenance this is the only real money I have dumped into it for repairs. It only has to last him another 24 months until he graduates from grad school. My Silverado has 152K on the clock and last fall I put new front hubs, and essentially rebuilt the brake system. All new brake lines, rebuilt all 4 calipers, & new flex hoses. Thanks to GM on using the cheapest non rust resistant brake lines they could find.
Joined
·
14,823 Posts
Funny story. My wife's 2000 Regal GSE is parked because of one rusted brake line. 165k miles. ONE. If I take a picture of the underside of that car, you will find two fuel lines, one evap line, and one other brake line going to the back of the car, and those are all silver in color and have no sign of rust. That one brake line is corroded so badly it ruptured. When I bought my 2000 GMC Sierra with 319k miles, I checked the underside of the truck and found all of the brake lines had been replaced.
As long as my car doesn't rust apart, I can deal with the occasional problems here and there.
Joined
·
18,441 Posts
I had one car literally start falling apart after 150k miles, and another that actually got more reliable after quite a few sensors and doodads went wrong around 150k, and ran well up until 220 with no major drama before the next part replacement saga. Both were bought used, previous service history didn't look too involved, but all basic maintenance and fluid changes had been done.
Ive got to give one thing to Honda, at 19 years/207k miles, the darn interior held up extremely well - NO rattles and hardly any interior wear on that car. Everything under the hood except the motor itself was a different story.
Volvo was the opposite - death by a million small issues. A rattle here, sensor there, electronic issue driving you bonkers, but never had a single bit of powertrain trouble aside from leaks...and its appetite for outer CV joints.
Ive got to give one thing to Honda, at 19 years/207k miles, the darn interior held up extremely well - NO rattles and hardly any interior wear on that car. Everything under the hood except the motor itself was a different story.
Volvo was the opposite - death by a million small issues. A rattle here, sensor there, electronic issue driving you bonkers, but never had a single bit of powertrain trouble aside from leaks...and its appetite for outer CV joints.
I just noticed the other day that my fan blower has started to make a noise on the lowest settings. Not a big deal but it can be a bit annoying. Thanks for the commentary everybody. I have driven cars with well over 300K miles (one in particular, a 1993 300SD Mercedes). It never left me stranded, but it always needed something-or-other. I am very curious to see how well the Cruze diesel will hold up, but at the same time, I don't want to have a reliability issue when I am in the middle of a 500 mile trip on a Sunday evening. That being said, there is nothing to guarantee that if I buy a new car, it would necessarily be more reliable.
Joined
·
70 Posts
Before I bought my Cruze, I was the second owner of a 2002 Monte Carlo. The car had 195,000 plus miles on it. The car ran strong. I sold it because deferred maintenance was gonna be about $2000. I decided to use that for down money. Nothing major wrong, just some squeaks and rattles, and a warped manifold giving me a tap.
Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App
Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App
Joined
·
890 Posts
I have a coworker driving a 04-06 impala with 375k miles on it and shes still driving on the original spark plugs. That vehicle is so neglected she doesnt do any maintenance and that impala is still being driven 350 miles everyday.
Joined
·
14,823 Posts
That's why. 350 miles every day.
Long trips with many miles per hot/cold engine cycle are relatively easy on the engine. Here's a situation that would bring this to light. Our signature series oils (and this isn't an advertisement), is rated for 15k miles...or 1 year...or 600 hours.
This indicates that the conditions that engine experiences in 15,000 miles with respect to engine oil degradation are equivalent to one year's worth of use at any mileage below 15k miles, or 600 hours of use under 1 year or 15k miles.
At that point, we ask, how many hours of use has that impala had as a ratio of hours to miles? This is one of the reasons why time is often more important than mileage.
Based on my average speed of about 55 MPH, I could safely go 33000 miles at the 600 hour interval.
200K if meticulously maintained, no stone unturned, regardless of city/hwy driving. After that you're on borrowed time imo just because if something high dollar does happen it's likely not really justified to do at that point. At least in the rust belt where I'm at and you're likely close to or already rusting a bit at that mileage.
Does anyone else take advantage of the timer on their cruze in between oil changes? I do, it's great to see how long the car has been running as well. I'm at around 4500mi and 165hrs on this interval. As you can tell, quite a bit of city stuff on this run.
1 - 20 of 25 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
