I know this is a topic that our own David Tracy is sort of obsessed with: he adores high-mileage vehicles. Any excuse to feature something about a high-mileage vehicle, David will take. If we let him, David would happily have a car show that’s just wildly high-mileage vehicles, and people would walk around, poking their heads into windows to ooh and ahh at the numbers on the odometer. Actually, he might demand that the milage be painted on the windshields, used-car-lot style. Unsurprisingly, he came up with this question.
And, it’s a good one – there definitely is an allure to a high-mileage survivor! Look at that famous Volvo P1800, for example. A guy named Irv Gordon put over three million miles on that thing! So it’s worth asking, what is your highest-mileage car?
For me, this is a tricky answer, because I don’t really know for sure. I have a suspicion, though. You see, my 1973 Volkswagen Beetle had a buttocks-load of miles when I got it at 18, over 200,000 I was told, and I drove it pretty much nonstop throughout college, post-college, a move to Los Angeles, all over LA and California, including multiple trips to the Bay Area, Yosemite, and the desert, so I think it has well over 300,000 miles or so, but I really have no idea, because the person I got it from said the odometer quit and was changed out in the late Carter Administration.
And then I ran it for years with no speedo/odometer because the cable was so noisy. So I really have no clue. I think my Scion xB had about 275,000 or more, as well. It’s probably one of those two.
But you, all of you, you probably keep better records than I do, so I bet there’s some real high-mileage heroes out there! Now’s your chance to brag! Show us odometer pictures, tell us big numbers, and hell, maybe lie a little! It’ll be fun!
Any million+ mile cars out there? That’d be exciting.
My 325k+ 1998 Honda Civic EX I bought from a guy for 600$, because he didn’t want to redo the brake lines. 😛
Hmmm… had a 330,000 mile Volkswagen Dasher and a 370,000 mile 2002 protege sedan. Wrecked the dasher after 6 months but the protege I moved on from and sold still running (though leaking oil) to a guy as a beater . Currently have a 92 Camry V6 that’s just about to hit 300,000 mi. On the other side of the coin, the lowest mileage car I currently own is 112,000 mile 2002 Chrysler Concord limited.
415k (2004 Accord, I4, 5MT)
330k (1994 Accord, I4, 5MT)
270k (1992 Accord, I4, 5MT)
Currently at 190k on my 2014 Accord (I4, 6MT)
Spouse had a Sentra with 183k on it. Ran like a boss.
My dad got 450k on his first engine in his navy blue 1992 t-100, and then got another 250k out of it before passing it on as a still-running-fine survivor. Local delivery guy and keyboard player.
The family hand-me-down coffee-brown ’79 Coupe de Ville with just north of 250K. Now I have a 2004 V70 that’s just crossed 200K.
I was knocking on 400k with my first XJ before my parents decided it was too rusty…
Did they sell it to David?
I wish they would have, then I could’ve bought it back! (I’m still salty about it)
I’ve never owned a car below around 110K, the highest was 220K and still going (87 Accord) but growing up 1 of our family cars was a 91 Accord my Dad got in 91 (cheaper since it was a test model or something w/ 1K miles) and we had it til 230K, then my sister got it and drove til 240K (even got stolen and returned at 1 point) and then sold it
Purchased a 1986 Mercedes 300SDL in 1998 with 246,000 miles on it. It needed some minor cosmetics which I took care of myself, and the mechanical bits were done by the local third-party Mercedes specialist. Kept it a few years, and suddenly didn’t need a car, but did need cash for a down payment on a house. Sold it with 276,000 miles looking and running perfectly.
1978 Chevy Blazer Cheyanne package 227,000 on the original 305ci engine until I swapped it for a 350 because 15 psi oil pressure is not enough.
Golf Diesel with 220k miles
Volvo 940 with 170k miles
The highest I’ve ever owned was my 2003 Mini which I had from mile 2 to somewhere north of 146,000. So both most milage on the odometer and most miles driven in my ownership. I had about 140,000+ on my Mazda B2200 when it died in a crash. So amateur numbers by the standards of this crew, I expect.
Now the Volvo 240 my parents had was still running when we traded it back in 1993 after 10 years and 220,000+. I think that’s the record. The Mazda B2600 that replaced it also went over 200K before leaving our care.
That would be the one I drove to work today…1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee, somewhere around 251,300 miles. (I would go look, but that would mean walking through the cloud of air freshener I just heard someone spraying.)
330K on my wife’s ’97 Nissan Maxima with the manual tranny. (We were told that the automatics had issues but the MTs would go forever, and this turned out to be correct.) It finally had some sort of major engine issue and we ended up selling it off the street in front of our house to some guy who left a note on it for $800.
1995 xj cherokee, 402k adding 132 miles a day, 6 days a week.
My 1990 Jeep Comanche Eliminator, currently has 267k miles on it.
Gave up on my ’97 Econoline-150 around 163,000 miles. My 2012 Prius v is currently sitting at 150,000.
Most any “family” car got growing up was our ’99 E-150 which made it to about 240,000 before we sold it for scrap. I think it needed new “coil-on plugs”? Something that would’ve involved opening the doghouse, I think, and it was having enough other problems that it wasn’t worth it, I guess. It was a 5.4 Triton.
First car was a 1989 Volvo 240DL. Got it with 210k miles on it. Drove it for 1 year, added 10k, wrecked it once, fixed it twice, hit a giant chunk of ice on I95 coming home from college, gone forever. I miss that old tank.
385k on my old Mercedes 300CD, then traded it in for a 4 door (kid on the way). I bet it is still going strong somewhere out there……
How about a side game?
Total miles of hoarder fleet…
04 – Miata – 60k
08 Accord – 190k
11 Pilot – 185k
17 F-150 – 98k
21 X5 (wife’s car) – 56k
Thats’ 589k
I like this approach:
1960 190sl – 104k
1990 Miata- 34k
1991 Lotus Elan -45k
2006 Navigator – 153k
2005 Elise – 12k
2018 Morgan 3 wheeler – 5k
2004 Lexus es330 -85k
1990 F250 -104k
1006 Saab 93 – 154k
2020 Teala 3 performance- 68k
2023 Rivian R1S – 12k
Winning with 776k
Yeah so I can’t spell Tesla and I forgot the 2005 Mazda 3 with 154k and
Counting so 920k!
> 1960 190sl
Hang on for a second. WHERE ARE THE PICTURES??
My 2007 Prius with 465k. All original. Need to get to 500 for some reason before i upgrade.
I’ve had a W210 E-Class with over 600k kilometres and a W124 250D with over 500k kilometres. But the 200D W124 which I once owned must have travelled 1,6 million kilometres (1 million miles) considering it had wear and tear in such amount in places it shouldn’t have had with mere 600k kilometres it had in it’s odometer.
Not my own cars, but I’ve driven a W124 250D with over 800k kilometres (half a million miles in freedom units) and a W202 C-Class 250 turbodiesel with over 1 million kilometres.