These guys should have come here before they made thir list

[Citoriplus]

Just though you guys with high mileage trucks (like me) would find this amusing.

http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/103446/drive-your-car-to-death-save-31,000

Boobs should have visited here and seen how many of our trucks have passed the 200,000 mile mark before they wrote that article.

 

[RobbieD]

Hey Citoriplus! Long time no see.

You must still have your old truck; how's the new one doing for you?

Cool article; especially the " . . and a 1994 Ford Ranger pick-up that had gone 488,000 miles" part. My '94 has 352,796.6 miles as I write this. I fully expect to get 500,000, at least, or Ford will get a nasty letter.

 

[MAKG]

Citoriplus, we're not at all a random sample.

It's not at all unusual to find Corollas over 200K. Rangers aren't THAT unusual, but they are still somewhat surprising to see. Even around where I live where older vehicles are everywhere. Not unicorns. More like mountain lions. Definitely not 'possums.

 

[Citoriplus]

You must still have your old truck; how's the new one doing for you?

Nope don't have "Lil Red" anymore, I donated it to the Kidney fund after the town got mad at me for having an unlicensed vehicle in the driveway.
Too bad too, I had some interesting ideas for it. They wanted me to keep it in the garage, but that's where the Harley and Yamaha bikes live so it had to go.
It had 302,853 miles on the clock when it was towed away, but would have driven itself away if I had left the battery in. It was starting to slow down going up long steep hills, but down the other side wasn't bad at all. Gas mileage was starting to take a dive too. I think it had dropped to about 19 or 20 mpg when I stopped driving it.
The "new" truck, the "Gray Ghost", I have to say is a better truck. Its faster, gets better mileage, 27/28 mpg, and with the fancy interior is much more comfortable on the longer rides I have to do.
But all things considered I miss "Lil Red" it was a good truck that owed me nothing. Just too bad I couldn't have kept it longer, though the wife wasn't too unhappy about it going. She likes the new one a lot better. She can't drive it, I won't let her, clutches are a mystery to her, but she does like the interior better. Decent seats can make a world of difference.
Let's see its about 7 months old now, and has a bit over 25,000 miles on it. Guess I'm not driving it as much as the old one. If I had kept driving the old one at the same rate I had been. It would be closing in on the 350,000 mile mark about now.

Citoriplus, we're not at all a random sample.

True enough, but they were not telling you that the vehicles they said could last 200,000 were bulletproof and you didn't have to do anything to help them get there. They did say that you needed to do regular maintenance and pay attention to the details.
Around here that's the norm, not the exception.
So any vehicle that could last over 200,000 is far more likely to be found hanging around here than to some random slob around the corner who never figured out where the hood latch is on his car.

 

[RobbieD]

Nope don't have "Lil Red" anymore, I donated it to the Kidney fund

That's a noble use for a good old truck. I hope that it ends up with somebody that treats it well.

Glad to hear that the Gray Ghost is doing you good.

 

[JohnnyO]

Therefore I have personally seen one Ranger with 230k, belongs to a friend, and two with over 300k, Citoriplus's and TireIron's.

 

[dogboy]

My Ranger has 147,000 I think. My mom had a '94 Carolla before the Miata we traded for a Mazda 3 that had close to 400,000 and was in GOOD condition for that milage.

I like how almost all of the 200,000+ cars are Toyotas, . I personally, like Toyota better that Ford ( I knwo there are going to eb alot of people that hate me for saying that), but a Ranger fit my needs/ price range better than a Toyota pickup, so I got a Ranger (didn't even really look at S-10's, haha).

 

[samsonitesamsonite]

my ranger has almost 200k on it, my father inlaws grand prix has 240k and still runs strong

 

[Dave R]

Citoriplus, we're not at all a random sample.

Nor would the readers of 'consumer Reports' who bothered to write in for the survey be considered a remotely random sample. Let's see, 6,769 vehicles (presuming 1 per person) vs. X number of MILLION cars on the road. Maybe the guy who wrote in about his Ranger was the only person who subscribed to 'Consumer Reports' that actually owned a Ranger. Their samples are always biased as you have to be a subscriber to be invited to report on how well your vehicle has done.

 

[Simple_serf]

I am not a big fan of CR.....In fact I am surprised to see that they actually published a Ranger as being that reliable, considering some of the bashings that they have given our rangers/BII's/explorers through the years. Not to mention pretty much ruining Suzuki NA.

Around here 200 K is kind of unusual because of the salt. We now have car bodies that hold together, but the frames still start to get bad around there. between 15 to 20 years is generally it for most cars around here. One of my Co workers has a 94 and was told that it won't pass inspection next year due to frame corrosion.... So who knows, i might get a 94 4.0 4wd here sometime for very little $$$.

 

[2manyfords]

There is plenty of domestic built vehicles that will easily go 200 000+ miles and there are plenty of Toyotas that won't... I know of two Toyotas both owned by friends that needed major work before 80 000km(50 000 Miles).
It really gets my goat how bias Consumer Reports can be.

Don't get me wrong, Toyota and Honda built exellent quality vehicles but they still break down and have major failures.They are not THAT much better than domestic.

 

[martin]

I find it interesting that nobody ever mentions the incredible amount of polution that is created just to manufacture a new vehicle. We're helping to save the planet by keeping our vehicles twenty years or more.

 

[Will]

I dunno, Martin. That's catchy, but I'll need references.

 

[Turbo-T]

My current DD is an '88 Buick Lesabre with 160,000 miles on the clock. It has the original exhaust and all the original hoses. I've replaced the alt. twice and the water pump twice. I've replaced the brake pads and shoes 3 times and it still has the original drums and rotors. Oh, and the AC has never been serviced and still works. Get it on the interstate and set the cruise control on 80 and it'll do that all day long. We bought the car new and it has never failed to get us home.

 

[JohnnyO]

Nor would the readers of 'consumer Reports' who bothered to write in for the survey be considered a remotely random sample. Let's see, 6,769 vehicles (presuming 1 per person) vs. X number of MILLION cars on the road. Maybe the guy who wrote in about his Ranger was the only person who subscribed to 'Consumer Reports' that actually owned a Ranger. Their samples are always biased as you have to be a subscriber to be invited to report on how well your vehicle has done.

Just got my issue of CR yesterday. Lessee, the guy from WVa with the 1994 Ranger has 488,000 and other than foggy headlights and a dull front bumper it looks pretty good. That said, every other vehicle featured and every one on their "Good Bets" list is from a Japanese manufacturer. No surprise there.

The article does say to check in if you have over 200,000.
So let's get some Ranger owners checking in.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/tire-care/making-your-car-last-10-07/overview/200k-ov.htm

I remember about 25 years ago sending to Shell for a free pamphlet on how to get 100,000 out of your car. At the time that was considered magical.
Back in the 60's and 70's my dad always took decent, but not fanatical, care of his cars and by the time they had 60 or 70k on them, they were shot. Rust, engines rattled and smoked, but that was what you expected then. The quality just wasn't there and cars were built in the first place with the idea that they'd last 5 to 7 years max.

My wife's '03 Taurus has 90k on it and other than some road rash on the front bumper you can't tell it from new, either in, out, or under.