High Mileage Cars.
- Thread starter LiE
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Soldato
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Was in a 330d the other day and when I first glanced over I wondered why the car had only covered 8000 in 2 years. Then I looked again, 80'000. Couldn't believe it. Seem to take the miles pretty well.....
Soldato
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I still maintain that cars that should be fitted with engine hour counters like boats and planes. So much more relevant than miles covered. So if the average speed on a motorway was 60 mph, average speed on a car only driven around town would probably be about 20, 90k might be like a 30k town car. You get a lot less suspension wear on the motorway.
Deleted member 66701
Deleted member 66701
That's high mileage?
Used to be.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
A cars condition is dictated by what the owner does with it, where he drives it and how he looks after it and not the number on the dashboard.
I covered 1000 miles in the last week. Normally, I cover 50 miles a week around town.
Did I just put 20 weeks of wear on my car?
High mileage does, however, tend to go in hand with age and owners. Most 150k mile cars are about 10-15 years old and on their 7th owner. They will probably die soon. But because of 150k or because it's had 7 less sympathetic owners over 15 years..
I covered 1000 miles in the last week. Normally, I cover 50 miles a week around town.
Did I just put 20 weeks of wear on my car?
High mileage does, however, tend to go in hand with age and owners. Most 150k mile cars are about 10-15 years old and on their 7th owner. They will probably die soon. But because of 150k or because it's had 7 less sympathetic owners over 15 years..
Deleted member 66701
Deleted member 66701
Which I why when you buy a 125k mileage Cosworth for £900 that's only ever been owned by a Ford Director at Dagenham you're pretty much onto a winner 
As Fox said - buy a car on condition, not mileage.
FSH is nice but that's no guaruntee that the "during the service we noticed your brakes and shocks are fubbared" have actually been replaced
As Fox said - buy a car on condition, not mileage.
FSH is nice but that's no guaruntee that the "during the service we noticed your brakes and shocks are fubbared" have actually been replaced
Really? How much clutch wear did my car encounter over 170 miles of the M5/A38 on the way back from Worcester last Wednesday, and how much did it encounter on my 5 mile drive to a lecture this morning?
[TW]Fox;13462398 said:
Thats a stupid thing to say, yes your car will be wearing but it will be by such a small % it would be impossible to measure.
Why do most manufacturers recommend new timing belts @60k, because they wear.
New tyres every 20k, again wear.
Its fairly straight forward that mileage equals wear, its just that all components wear at different rates.
Exactly, and manufacturers have to set intervals which will catch all belts BEFORE they fail - so it needs to be in interval before the most abused cars will fail, as well.
And this is a particularly bad example which highlights my point perfectly. Tyre wear can SIGNIFICANTLY vary depending on the sort of driving you do. Somebody who drives hard around town might see 5k out of a set of tyres. Somebody who does huge distances in the same car could eek over 20k out of a set of tyres. In this instance, mileage tells you nothing - two cars of the same mileage, one could have had one new set of tyres the other could be on its 6th!
Making mileage NOT the be all and end all people think it is.
But I could wear those same tyres out in 5k by hooning the balls off the car.
Or make them last 20k on the motorway.
So in the same 20k, I could have abuse the hell out of the car and knackered the clutch/tyres/brakes/engine mounts.
Or sat on the motorway and worn almost nothing.
[TW]Fox;13462617 said:
My S-class is a perfect example of a car which hasnt worn anything at all out over big mileage. My front tyres now need doing, after 40,000 miles, my rears were only recently changed after around 35,000 miles of use. My front pads were changed around 25,000 miles ago and still have visually a massive amount of tread left, the rears are around 15,000 miles old and look brand new still. My discs are 120,000 miles old and are still absolutely fine, and my interior still looks great at 120,000 miles. My last MOT was at around 100,000 miles, and the car received no advisories, nothing, no play at all in anything.
Ranger07 - my car sees 2000rpm max, it gets driven over speed bumps at 5mph max and after that only see's perfectly flat roads with no pot holes as it doesnt get used on anything less than an A-road for any length of time, it barely ever changes gear as it sits at a constant speed all day, the engine doesnt change rpm much, it gets one cold start per day the same as every other car including low usage ones, yet it used for around 800-1000 miles per week. It shows huge numbers on the odometer, but doesnt get worn out at all.
Soldato
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My 167k mile Corvette had only had general yearly servicing (oil, filters, pads, discs etc) up until Penski cursed me, the transmission fell out of it and the brake master cylinder went 
Both were very simple to get sorted but obviously one was quite costly.....
Stuff like that tends to have timing chains instead of belts though and those, for the most part, tend to go on indefinitely unless they start getting noisy. A car that's designed for motorway use or is well/over built will stand the test of time well.........
........assuming it's looked after properly.
Any smallblock Chevy engine will go on for hundreds of thousands of miles, even if neglected
Both were very simple to get sorted but obviously one was quite costly.....
Stuff like that tends to have timing chains instead of belts though and those, for the most part, tend to go on indefinitely unless they start getting noisy. A car that's designed for motorway use or is well/over built will stand the test of time well.........
........assuming it's looked after properly.
Any smallblock Chevy engine will go on for hundreds of thousands of miles, even if neglected
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I'd say it depends on the car as some take the miles brilliantly where as others fail come 100k.
I've had motors up to 360k & my current motor has 108k up it, My Saab feels like new to me but I have just got out of an old jeep I've had for 14 months so I am not the best judge
I've had motors up to 360k & my current motor has 108k up it, My Saab feels like new to me but I have just got out of an old jeep I've had for 14 months so I am not the best judge
And our point is that you cannot look at a cars mileage and judge whether its worn or not from that information alone.