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.
Old rides
1. 265k miles est… 84 VW MkI rabbit GTI bought with what my mechanic thinks was 220k miles, drove it another 45k miles and sold to a neighbor
2. 298k miles… 90 Jetta GLI, bought at 180k miles, drove it another 120k miles & sold it to my vw mechanic for parts, lots of stuff was worn out, engine, suspension (again), power steering, ac all.were on their way out. Funny story the night I bought this car is the night I met my wife. And the last time it drove was when I went back home to pick out her wedding ring. After picking it out the car would not start and I took it as a poetic sign to retire the ol’girl (the car that is 🙂 )
3. 265k miles… 98 Jetta TDI, bought with 106 lk miles, drove it another 159k miles, sold it to a scrap yard bc the body was toast and suspension warn out and due to the body condition it wouldn’t have been worth it to rebuild the suspension again, engine and transmission were both still strong (turbo was replaced at about 210k miles)
Current DDs…
1. 227k miles… 04 Sienna XLS, bought with 98k miles, we’ve adsed the other 129k miles
2. 229k miles… 12 PHEV Prius, bought also w/98k miles, we’ve added the other 131k miles
Well, it would have to be my ’51 Ford van. I have no idea just how many miles it has because it only has 5 digit odometer and its a 73 year old multi-stop van… That worked for a bread company… So 300,000+ miles.
The Sentra had 242k or 243k when it quit enough that I was sick of fixing it.
Ran a 2002 Buick Regal and both a 2002 and 2004 Chrysler Sebring to about 325000 kms (just over 200000 miles) – the Regal was sold and eventually the transmission died from what I know, the 2004 Sebring needed a bunch of non-drivetrain mechanical work (the 2.7 and transmission were fine) and ended up as a (winning!) derby car. The 2002 blew a head gasket, limped 15 minutes home, and then limped itself onto the tow truck to the scrap yard.
Out of all the cars I own currently, my 99 Tahoe is the highest mileage at 280k, I have an 03 Park Ave Ultra with 214k, 5 of the others are all between 125k-200k, and my 92 Bonneville is at 77k, being the lowest mileage car I have. I’m not sure I could own a car and not drive it, except for the times where it’s a non-running project.
My 2006 ram had 177k on it when I sold it last year. I have no doubt the drivetrain had another 100k in it with decent maitenance. My YJ has 160k and gets about 3-4k a year, it’s pretty unlikely I will ever sell it, so it’ll probably overtake the dodge in another 4-5 years.
Bought a ’97 Daktoa new, traded it with 182,000+ on it in 2005. I took care of it. No wear on the seats, no rust. Aside from having to change the water pump on the V-6 Magnum every 40,000 miles, it was a good truck. When I traded it in, the dealer actually apologized for what he could give me for it.
2012 Honda Pilot passed it to daughter last year with 293,000. Not sure if it hit 300 yet but she’s still driving it.
My mileage champs were in the 215,000 mile range. My 81 Scirocco had around that mileage, and also had an 87 16V engine, transaxle and seats. I forget the exact mileage since that was in 1989.
Currently our 2003 Buick LeSabre has 214,000 on the clock and will keep going until something major fails.
If your LeSabre is like mine, you’ll end up giving it to the boneyard because of rust, but you’ll drive it there.
We live in Central Oregon so no road salt and a dry climate. The 3800 or the transaxle may blow up before the car rusts.
130k on an 83 Toyota celica st. Normally indestructible. However, I hit an unmarked trench in a road hard enough to Crack the water pump casing. Local guy that my dad always used clogged the radiator with silicone while replacing. Even after getting the radiator completely redone never got it right. Kept over heating and it died. Now, my wife and I drive less than 7k a year between the two of us. 50k could be stretch before I get bored and want a new toy.
My BMW Z3 currently has 290,000 miles on it. Still runs strong and slowly fixing what is broken on it. I hope to have it for a long long time.
I’m not sure of the exact mileage of my ’77 F250, but the previous owner thought the odometer rolled over at least 3 times. If that is true, it would have around 325,000 miles. Of course, the engine, transmission, and most other mechanical parts have been replaced, so it is only the body and frame that have that number of miles.
My other high mileage vehicle was my $1.00 Suburban that had around 265,000 miles when I sent it to the scrap yard.
For the f250 f the odo rolled over 3 times and it is sitting at X25xxx miles then the 1st X should be a 4, so 425k miles
1st rollover would be 100-199k
2nd 200-299k miles
3rd 300 -399k miles
Of course given even modern cars are in the single % digits getting past 200k miles, anything past 300k miles is impressive!
“given even modern cars are in the single % digits getting past 200k miles”
I’m genuinely curious, is this based on data?
The average age of cars on the road is a record high 12.5 years old and this value is only increasing. This means that cars are being used longer, and are lasting longer than they ever have, which must mean more miles.
Given an average driving of about 15k per year, getting to 200k miles will take 13.3 years.
What are you basing this statement of single digits for modern cars?
Logically, cars less than 13 years old just haven’t had time to get over 200k miles!
Remember that about HALF of people drive more than average. It’s very common for work vehicles, especially doing things like hotshot trucking, to rack up 200k in a couple years.
Two things, can’t actually say that half the people drive more than average, but that’s a statistical wormhole. But I will add that the people who drive a lot, tend to drive A LOT. Two examples I have seen recently. an Uber driver I talked to in Baltimore had logged more than 70K in the last year on his Camry Hybrid. And there is local guy I know who drives a Hyundai Santa Fe who has over 240K on a 2022!! He regularly drives the entire east coast in his sales role. He refuses to get on an airplane since 9/11, and he has somehow made this work.
Half of people drive more than the median, you can say that. 🙂
Yes I’ve seen many articles that claim…
“research shows that only 1% of all cars overall make it past 200k miles”…
The latest one (that I could find in a quick search) points to this study from ISeeCars that lists the top 20 makes/models that it says all have at least 2.5% of that make/model making it past 200k miles and the average total milage achieved for each of the top 20 makes/models
No study is perfect, in this case I think they capped the vehicle participants at 10 years old and of course that Is now younger tha. The average age in time of a vehicle in the US
Link for ref: https://www.iseecars.com/car-lifespan-study
Thanks. That’s an interesting study.
I would be interested in how those number have changed with time.
That is, over different eras.
i.e. 1970-1990, 1980-2000, 1990-2010, 2000-2020, with the percentages data point taken at the last year of the period. It would show the trend in overall durability of cars.
I doubt the data exists for that.
I think you if you spend some time searching you can find an answer to that question with data dating back at least from approx. 1980 till now.
You’ll likely need to reference multiple studies that were like this one asking the same make/model/year vehicle lifespan question as this study, just from different time periods.
I agree I think you’ll find cars average lifespan (in total miles driven for given year/make/models) has in general improved through the years.
Of course averaging anything, by definition there will be those consistently above average (like Toyota and Honda) and there will be those consistently below average lifespan, like what are now Stalantis products + zee Germans
And then you’ll have specific year/make/model true outliers on both ends, coming to mind on the high side are 250/2500 trucks, bof cars like panther platform, and ironically for how (average shit) lifespans of mercedes (and german cars are now…) 80s Mercedes and Volvo red blocks were legendary for their longevity etc…
That’s a good point. I always interpreted what he said as 300,000+ miles, but I never thought about it much. I wasn’t too concerned about mileage since the truck was over 30 years old when I bought it and almost nothing was original. It could have 425,000 miles.
My 1992 1.6L Spec Miata race car has 287,000 miles. 12,000 of those are race miles.
Apropos of today’s question, how easy would it be to determine who was the first to achieve a million miles on the original engine? As a young teenager I was already interested in high mileage for cars and would read about such cars in the Guinness Book of World Records (when they still used tiny print and b/w pictures so some people would have to break out the magnifying glass to read these editions) & various automotive periodicals. I remember that Guinness used to list a sports writer (I don’t recall his name though he was fairly well-known) as having driven a million miles on his Ford Model T but apparently that was later debunked or amended as either not being accurate or involving several replacement engines; Guinness then awarded the honor to an early 60s VW Beetle which was apparently and unfortunately totalled by a rear-ender circa 1976 just weeks after achieving a million miles on its original engine (the driver would change the oil every few days!) And in the early 80s some automotive periodicals wrote up either a 1959 Cadillac being used as a taxi (in Minneapolis, IIRC) or a late 50s/early 60s Mercedes Benz Ponton diesel still being driven by its original owner as being the first million-miler; this was before Irv Gordon became so famous with his Volvo 1800 so it’s possible that Gordon was actually the first one.
Yeah, you’d pretty much have to change the oil on an air-cooled VW engine that often to keep it going that long. Mine had a little over 200k on the original engine when I rebuilt it, and was still running fine. But enough things needed looking at that I went ahead and tore it all down. But a lot of VW people were surprised at the mileage on the original engine. Since they don’t have oil filters, just a colander-like screen before the oil pickup, 150k is up there for longevity. I need to get the oil filter kit for my engine, which should help extend its life considerably.
Yeah, I think that VW Beetle driver actually changed the oil like every three days? Possible that he might have had an oil filter kit from Okrasa, Denzel, or EMPI (or used an oil filter assembly from Porsche) as those kits were available as far back as the 50s. And, IIRC, that driver would put the appropriate digit in Dynomat tape beside the five-figure odometer. My 1969 VW bus currently has 99,577 miles (so close to 100k!!) on the original engine without a rebuild and it was still pulling strong when I sidelined it a few years ago due to a sudden and massive oil leak from the pushrod tube seals which had dried out during an unfortunately long lull during an unusually hot summer (I’d been DD’ing it for many years but I was also driving a Mk4 Golf TDI with air-conditioning which my kids much preferred, especially during the aforementioned hot summer.) I’ll have to take the heads off to replace the pushrod tube seals so I might as well go ahead and rebuild the engine even though part of me is curious about how much longer the engine can go before it actually needs a rebuild; for sure I’ll be getting an oil filter kit whether I rebuild the engine or not.
I feel you on being torn between a rebuild and just fixing the bare minimum to see how long it lasts. About seven years ago the Beetle blew a huge hole in the muffler I had fitted when I was like 15…the muffler which was halfway held on there by lots of high temp silicone sealant, since I broke some exhaust studs when replacing the original. Surprised that repair held up for the 10 years that it did, honestly. But it was also missing the thermostat and flaps, leaked just a little bit but from everywhere, and was absolutely filthy. Once I had the engine out I just kept pulling more apart until I figured, fuck it, I’ll just rebuild the whole damn thing. For yours, I guess you could measure the crankshaft end play to see how the bottom end is holding up? I don’t think I did that at all, but having a confirmed 200k miles on the original engine, I didn’t think it would be in spec anyway. And it is definitely the original engine, VW stampings on bearings when I tore it down and my car’s Birth Certificate matches the engine number.
I didn’t own it, but I had a 2005 Escape hybrid that I put 356,000 miles on before it went away for a new service vehicle. Had 3 of them in the fleet, and all 3 went well over 300k, with the original never serviced engine (other than synthetic oil changes every 10k) and planetary gearset.
2005 Honda Civic had >275,000 when we sold it. My wife still misses it.
I have sold my last 2 ( Mazda Miata, and Mini Cooper) at the 165K mark, both manuals with the original clutch. Currenty own an Audi A3 TDI, which should last me that long, assuming I want to pay 3K for the Timing belt change.
That would be my current 2003 S2000. Sitting at about 88,9XX. It is also the oldest car i’ve owned, and my favorite car i’ve owned.
It’s my current ’04 LeSabre, just passed 281k. Never been towed or even jumped!
My kid has my FIL’s old ’92 Camry, which just passed 380k. I’m totally pumped by the fact that the LeSabre has closed to within 100k, and will continue to close as it drives 400 miles a week.
When I was young and worked at a quick-lube, there was an old guy with a ’67 Mercedes diesel. It had 1.1 million miles back around 1990, with the grille badges to prove it. I often wonder how high it got and what happened to it.
Yeah, the 3800 was the standard rebuttal whenever anyone complained about domestic automakers not being able to make anything as good as Toyota, well, GM did, but then replaced it with the 3.6, which was, to put it mildly, a downgrade in durability
My co-worker just had the 3.6 on his Traverse rebuilt… at 130k.
I don’t totally understand the decision, the fuel economy difference was maybe 1mpg between the 3.8 and 3.6 in the vehicles where they were both used, which is in the margin of error for variable driving styles and conditions, but fuel economy was allegedly the reason for discontinuation.
The HFV6 does have a power advantage in naturally aspirated form, but that’s kind of a pointless peeing race, the 3800 was 200hp in naturally aspirated form and 300 supercharged, I really don’t see why that isn’t sufficient for a family crossover or sedan puttering along on public roads at legal speeds
What killed the 3800 wasn’t power or fuel economy- it was emissions.
No two-valve motor can generate the combustion temperatures you need to meet modern emission standards.
Quite a few two valve engines currently meet emissions standards and disagree with that assertion of yours. Including every LS/LT family engine, Ford’s 7.3 gasser, and the various Dodge Hemis(which, to be fair, are now discontinued, but very recently).
But all of those are used in trucks (looser standards) or are low-volume (muscle cars).
True, I don’t think there are any particularly normal sedans in production with
two valve engines anymore. But you did quite absolutely say that there were no engines that could meet emissions with two valves.
I’m also not sure that four valves per cylinder necessarily makes for better emissions or higher combustion temperatures, or even majorly better flow. The highest horsepower engines in the world are all two valve, and they seem to flow fine and produce very high combustion temperatures.
True, but this is in the context of high-volume boring cars. GM tried to make the 3900 work with VVT and even that failed.
4 valves and interference configuration is the standard now.
I used to drive a cab in the pre-Uber late 90s while in college. The chariot I was given was a ’90 Bonneville with 300K on it that leaked every fluid possible.
Oil, antifreeze, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, brake fluid and washer fluid. You had to refill every fluid (including gas) on the entire car after each shift.
After being dispatched to a sketchy (seemingly drug-related; passenger comes running out of the single-wide trailer screaming “GOOOOO, DRIVE!!”) in a bad part of town, I promptly quit for personal safety reasons and moved on to the good life of delivering pizza until graduation.
Aw, when I read the first few words of your post my brain went to a Checker Marathon.
Dude, I’m old but not that old.
but old enough to know what it is…
Okay Stephen, I’m just going to ask, how old are you?
44yrs as of last Saturday!
Happy Belated Birthday ⊂(▀¯▀⊂ )
Thanks Shooting Brake! I ave a feeling this will be the best trio around the sun yet. Cheers, my friend.
Whoa happy birthday+6!
Are you saying that SWG has a Checkered past? 😉
Well, he did buy that PA that was checkered with mold.
Hmmm.. you have a point there….(◔ૂ◔)
…and I still have it! I just ordered the 1994 Park Avenue GM Electrical Shop Manual and hope ton finally have it running this summer. At least well enough to cu the roof off of it.
That car has been on the back burner long enough that Patrick George edited my piece on it before moving over as the EIC of InsideEVs! It certainly has been a hot min.
https://www.theautopian.com/i-bought-a-29-year-old-buick-with-68000-miles-on-it-to-prove-the-haters-wrong/
Bishop’s El Camino piece on it was the ultimate, hands down.
https://www.theautopian.com/why-i-think-we-should-turn-our-moldy-buick-park-avenue-into-an-el-camino/
My biggest worry about the Buick is the invasive candidiasis risk if/when you start driving it.
If I spoke about it, DT would surely purge me from the writing rolls. Jason would probably be empathetic.
Late 90s, he says. But you should all know that 100% of the times I have seen SWG, he was delivering pizza, and this was in 2024. Hmm.
…and a bad tipper at that!
206K miles and counting on the Lancer. Had since new.
We have a 2001 Toyota Echo sitting at 365k miles. Runs great, but after the A/C crapped out the second time we gave up on trying to fix it and just deal with it. It’s been demoted to “extra car” duty, and I really only drive it when it’s crappy outside and I don’t want to risk the El Camino. The EC…honestly I have no idea. I know for sure it’s over 100k, but for all I know it could be over 200k. It had rolled at least once before I got it.
My Prius is currently around 177500. My truck is around 138k. Corvette is somewhere in the mid-80s I think (it’s been in storage for the past six months and I rarely look at the odometer anyway because of the way the digital dash works).
Each one of them surpasses the mileage of anything I owned before by a lot, due to a combination of high car prices the past few years and lack of interest in the new “features” they’re introducing. As you may have noticed from my comment history, I’m really not looking forward to my next car purchase in this era of touch-everything and unhooded reflective gauge clusters. :-/
TL;DR: 2007 Chevy Silverado with 406k miles, but I didn’t know that when I bought it.
***
The highest mileage car I have ever owned is a 2007 Chevy Silverado. It was a proper work truck with single cab with long box, 2wd, vinyl floors, and the 5.3L V8. When I bought it, the odometer said it had 189k miles. Wound up wanting a 4×4 pickup after a few months of getting this thing stuck in the mud, so I went to see what I would get on a trade in before I messed around with listing it myself. The sales guy sheepishly returned with a Carfax that had the last reported mileage of around 406k miles a few days before I bought it. Obviously the seller did not disclose this discrepancy. Yay odometer fraud!! I just laughed about it and asked the sales guy if I could keep the Carfax so I could make sure the next owner knew the truth, and he obliged. I labelled the truck with one of those odometer repair labels and did my best guess on calculating the exact mileage, and disclosed it all to the next guy when I listed it for sale. He loved all the work I did to it (new driver door handle, all new headlight housings & led taillight housings, fixed the tailgate, new full size spare and wheel center caps, and an oil change) and I at least got my money back on the truck but not the parts. Some deals are too good to be true lol
My 1972 Super Beetle, was told by previous owners that the odometer rolled twice. Which tracks, since it was a daily driver from 1972 till the early 90s. I got it when I was 11 and it had around 203k on it then. It’s got 214k on it now (20 years later). It’s mostly a weekend/around town car so it only sees around 500 miles a year these days. Still, the highest mileage car I’ve ever owned.