by "Wagon Guy drives a Boostang" (gimmeboost)
Published 11/05/2017 at 23:31
by "Wagon Guy drives a Boostang" (gimmeboost)
Published 11/05/2017 at 23:31
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STARS: 0
At dinner tonight we were having an automotive discussion with my father, my sister, her boyfriend, and me. Dad was complaining about having taken his 2009 Lincoln MKZ in for the 75,000 mile service and leaving only to find a broken door handle when he tried to get out of the car. For a long time when he traveled for business he would rent a car before driving to the client site, so his car didn’t rack up a lot of miles, but he’s always driven it locally. My sister is complaining because her 2010 VW Golf has lit up the check engine light. The last time it happened she took it to the dealer for diagnosis and there are two sensors that need to be replaced. She’s only got 45,000 miles on it.
So my comment was, “Sitting in your driveway is part of the problem, it wants to be driven. These deposits are building up on the sensors because it sits.” Her boyfriend backed me up on this, and my sister’s only response was memory of a lemon of a Dodge van we had in the early 80's that would die at any opportunity. It had electrical issues and would die if you used a turn signal while the A/C was on.
I told her I would rather have her Golf with 80,000 miles on it than her low mileage example, but she can’t see my point of view.
She does oil changes based on mileage, and has always had it dealer maintained until now. All other things being equal, I would rather have a car with some miles on it, than a low mileage one. What say you Oppo?
"DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-)
11/05/2017 at 23:42, STARS: 1
All else being equal. Low miles. But if the low miles car was mostly driven in city stuff and the high miles car was driven on the high way. Then I’ll take the high miles one. Because that seems to put less stress on stuff than stop and go traffic.
"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
11/05/2017 at 23:49, STARS: 1
I’m of the mind that the vehicle should be driven often , but not excessively (in terms of miles). I only drive my car on weekends, but I always makes sure I give it a good long drive. Ultimately I agree that modern cars are not meant to sit for weeks between drives, and no cars are meant to only be driven 5 miles a day where they don’t get to experience all gears or hit a healthy operating temperature.
"Wagon Guy drives a Boostang" (gimmeboost)
11/05/2017 at 23:54, STARS: 0
Yeah, her car only sees city duty. When she does drive its just to the store or a short trip.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/05/2017 at 23:57, STARS: 1
Absolutely — in modern cars, age is more the enemy than miles. I can’t say I’d be interested in anything that averaged less than 5k/year on average. Too many red flags.
"ranwhenparked" (ranwhenparked)
11/05/2017 at 23:57, STARS: 0
I would be somewhat suspicious of a low mileage car. I bought a 31 year old car in 2015 with 89,000 miles that had been essentially sitting for 8 years other than a few round the block trips. It drove fine on the 1200 mile trip home, but in the first year with it, almost every problem I dealt with involved seals and gaskets that could be explained as being from excessive sitting. I believe I have finally gotten past all that, though, and have moved on to brittle engine bay plastic issues.
However, a very high mileage car is a concern as well. I mean, if you know the history of it and can tell that it has been meticulously maintained, I might take the plunge, but I’d have reservations.
"Wagon Guy drives a Boostang" (gimmeboost)
11/05/2017 at 23:58, STARS: 0
Exactly. I actually don’t drive my car daily. I have a weird work schedule with days off mid-week often, but when I do drive somewhere the shortest trip is 15 miles. If I need to do shorter trips for errands or whatever I combine them.
Of course I also still managed to put 11,000 miles on in a year.
"Wagon Guy drives a Boostang" (gimmeboost)
11/06/2017 at 00:03, STARS: 0
I’ve found that there are two kinds of “very high mileage” cars. Those that have been used and abused as taxis/ubers/delivery cars and those that were used on long highway commutes. The latter category are almost always in better shape overall.
"Wagon Guy drives a Boostang" (gimmeboost)
11/06/2017 at 00:04, STARS: 1
The family found it odd that my sister’s one year newer German car with fewer miles was having more problems than my dad’s American made Lincoln...
"gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
11/06/2017 at 00:16, STARS: 0
The agency I work for, I got a bit of a hand-me down truck. The campground had replaced their old work truck, ~2000 Silverado 1/2 ton with a new Colorado. The Silverado was “old, problematic, unreliable”, and the plan was to get rid of it, but my office needed a truck so we ended up with it. Sure it ran a little rough and had creaks and groans, but mostly was okay. After a couple weeks, it was behaving normally again. The difference? It spent its time puttering around a campground at 10mph. The suspension barely moved because it didn’t hit many bumps and never at any speed. It barely got above idle. It almost never warmed up on a trip. With our office, it was making 120-mile highway trips once a week, being driven in more regular conditions. Even though it was driven every day in the campground, it barely counted for anything, and frankly idling around was probably worse than just sitting.
Sadly my 330,000-mile MJ is probably going to end up sitting for a while. One of the problems with moving between is that I have to get it inspected, and I know it won’t pass with rockers made out of air. But I can’t really afford to put new rockers into it right now, so it’s going to end up sitting. Again. Hopefully not the 16 months it sat a couple years ago, but I guess we’ll see what’s in the cards. I feel bad for it. I probably should go take the battery out, too.
"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
11/06/2017 at 00:44, STARS: 0
I’m fine with either... I tend to prefer lower mileage cars due to resale value though... My Rx7 is 33 years old and only has 86000 kilometers on it... Yes, kilometers. My Corvette had 286000 kilometers when I sold it though. Both were great and reliable.
"SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media" (silentbutnotreallydeadly)
11/06/2017 at 05:23, STARS: 1
Age does not weary them. Nor the years condemn. Unless you leave them in the garage.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/06/2017 at 08:10, STARS: 0
Further, like you said — if she drives like a granny, things like O2 sensors can get fouled quicker because the car doesn’t spend enough time at operating temps to clear the cats of the rich fuel residue (among other things). Been there, done that.