There's a no nonsense guy on youtube (whose channel name escapes me right now) that ran a long term experiment with his own car, using a block heater and temperature sensors and maintaining strict driving habits to make sure his engine was never started at ambient temp, always preheated, then had the oil analyzed as a measure of engine wear. It's absolutely far and away the most important contributing factor for engine wear. A few seconds of cold oil do more wear to your engine than hours of driving at operating temp.
What'd he do, carry around a generator to run a block heater in the parking lot before heading home after work? I get doing something like that an experiment, but the outcome is simply useless.
I knew a guy who did this back when they had mechanical odometers that rolled over. The new owner didn't even know, and you could not tell, it had an extra 100k miles on it.
I agree, because saying "change the fluid when the book tells you to" isn't good enough.
Change the fluids *when necessary,* not necessarily when the manual tells you to. Get UOA to make sure the engine's working correctly and there's no internal leaks or abnormal wear. Change some parts before they break, such as cooling hoses, belts, and brake hoses. Change other parts as they begin to wear, but not before they begin to stress other parts, such as shocks and struts. Look for leaks and other failing parts every so often. Get an alignment performed when you get new tires. Don't forget the PCV valve. Don't buy the cheapest parts.
I have a late Saab with 310K miles. While it doesn’t say “Chevy,” it’s a GM.
I also had a C10 with x80K miles. Not sure what “x” was, but I think it was 2 or maybe 3 based on age and wear. Bulletproof, heavy, stupid hunk of steel with a 700 lb inline 6 engine and 150 lb cast iron four on the floor.
Maintenance. Always change fluids and filters. Use top quality lubricants. My 2003 Forester XS that I bought new, got sideswiped by a huge dump truck and totaled had 502,000 miles on the replacement engine that was installed at 65,000 miles after a catastrophic failure. I used amsoil fluids in the engine, trans axle and all 3 differentials (front, center, rear) power steering.
I have had a few “unreliable” brands / model that lasted over 300k and a few models/brands that are deemed very reliable fail completely before 100k (including a rav4 that had to have 2 new engines before 50k)
Yeah that whole thing about some brands or car models being “unreliable” isn’t always accurate. I saw a video of a mechanic saying that every car has the ability to reach high miles as long as regular maintenance is done, it just so happens that the cars that are often deemed “unreliable” are driven and owned by people who don’t regularly maintain their car.
Sometimes some people just get a bad batch of the car they drive, can’t always expect every car coming out of a factory to be perfect. Take 100 RAV4’s coming out of a factory, guarantee a few of them will have issues and it just so happens some people get those
People have little perspective on what an "unreliable" brand is too.
The Nissan CVTs that everyone loves to hate on and swear they'd never let anyone they care about buy a Nissan with a CVT? Those had a six percent failure rate during the warranty period. Which is of course only part of the picture, and six percent ain't great, but there are way more people who bought, drove and eventually traded in those cars without ever having a transmission issue, and a good chunk of those people probably still look back and go "man I loved that Altima, that car was great."
*Car I didn't have any problems with was still statistically more likely to have had a problem, but in my case it didn't* doesn't really factor into people's post-hoc feelings about a car.
You are bringing up a car that will likely never even get close to 300k. I loved my Altima, it was great. You're right. But it also should have made it to 250k the way I treated it. It made it to 165k. That was one of the biggest disappointments of my life. Nissan CVTs are definitely unreliable once they hit 100k, possibly leaving you stranded. That's the definition of a throwaway car.
It's never a whole brand that's a dud, only certain models and for certain years. And it will be due to 1 or 2 very specific issues. Sometimes those can be addressed reasonably.
I honestly don’t think what happened with my RAV4 was a manufacturing issue, it was the only new car I had bought at the time and it was the first car I ever owned that I didn’t do the scheduled maintenance on myself. I think it was an issue with the dealers service department. Only other car I have not none scheduled maintenance on myself is my EV and only because I don’t have the tools needed for that.
It was a 2020 RAV4 LE trim non hybrid. 2.5 AWD, (the Corolla was late 80’s and issues were electrical 2 minor fires until the 3rd fire burnt the car to nothing
Yeah I hope my 2011 Cruze makes it past 150k, atm I really don't think it will, I'll probably end up dragging it to the scrap yard with my 500k miles 92 Silverado.
I know several Cruze w 200k on them. My cousin has one and it's just a back up car that he likes to zip around town in lol. It was the first model year too when the Cruze was considered "hot". The transmission was replaced shortly after they bought it new and it's been chugging along since then lol
Most of these economy cars are not meant to last more than 150k anyways. Even Toyota and Honda. They are supposed to be cheap junk that gets a 20 year old into the brand. Then blow up on the 2nd or 3rd owner.
I'm still waiting on my Ford Fiesta to die. Currently at 244k and plugging along.
I owned a 2001 Honda Civic once, figured I'd get something 'reliable' since I drive so much. One of the biggest piles of shit I've ever owned. Figures. Lmao
Other than that Civic I've almost exclusively owned Fords. They've basically all been great, with few exceptions, and for the most part all of them still ran and drove fine when they were killed by rust or accidents. Everyone on Reddit loves to shit on Ford cars but I'm still patiently waiting to find a bad one.
My family had an 03 Taurus that just kept on going. Sold it after 16 years. It had a few electrical issues towards the end (i.e. electric windows sometimes wouldn't roll down for about a minute after starting the car), but it kept running just fine. I know there's definitely a few bad Ford models to stay away from, but they seem to be the exception to the rule. If I was forced to buy one of the Big 3 Detroit brands, my ass is 100% getting a Ford.
\^ this, I've owned several cars that any car guy or mechanic would tell you are terrible unreliable pieces of shit and guess what... if you fix the known problems and keep them serviced & maintained they are great and just as good as any other car.
It is not just maintenance it is taking care of the car in general (not racing it, overworking the engine, the way it sounds and drives to catch potential problems early)
You can race it if you treat it right - I run old Land Rovers and I can take my 40+ year old one and beat the piss out of it off-road on a weekend and know it will be fine because I do the maintenance every time and fix any problems.
Makes me laugh when CarBros bolt mods to their junk "because racecar" but then totally ignore the fact that race cars get torn apart, inspected, licked clean, and rebuilt every 5 minutes of their lives.
Longer drives staying at speed the whole time. If you take care of two cars identically, and assume that both were exactly the same down to the atom from the manufacturer (which is impossible but this is a hypothetical) the car that drives 100 miles in a single shot down the freeway once a week will outlive the car that does 5 miles 20 times a week
That really depends on the car and how its used. But big on maintenance. Change oil consistently along with fluid services. Don't let little things add up. Fix them as they appear
I mean the #1 is maintenance. You aren't going to get very far if you try to go 300k miles on the oil that originally came in the car.
#2 is what brand/model you bought.
It starts on the drawing table at the manufacturer. There are some cars that will never make it to 300k even if you took it the dealer for scheduled maintenance. Look at all the GM SUV's with the 6.2L V8's. Some of those vehicles have had 1 or 2 new engines and they're still failing even on their 2026 models.
There's no such thought as a reliable brand. There are specific drivetrains that are reliable and sometimes those get used in everything the brand makes so they are a "reliable brand" for an era
I have had a 'no turbo' and 'no CVT' rule my whole life. I almost have a 'no automatic transmission' rule, I try like hell to not buy them but sometimes when shopping used and I find a deal on an automatic I've bought it. Usually regret that decision though.
Mechanical sympathy doesn't matter that much [imo.One](http://imo.One) of my cars was beat on by my mom who speed like a lunatic and always had to get in front of everyone(and got multiple speeding tickets for this reason).That same car eventually was driven by teenage me who proceeded to do the same with additional brake stand launching and constant daily 0-100+mph runs with a cold engine and it still made it over 300K miles.
An owner that understands what "responsible owner" means.
That means following the maintenance schedule. Reading the owners manual to understand proper operation and active monitoring.
Cold starts cause most wear
Service often with good oil
Don't idle when cold
[*A warm spring breeze causes the cherry blossoms to drift through the air with a sad melancholy as a single tear travels down my cheek, as I read that my lover is gone forever]
Two things.
1) regular oil changes
2) After starting the engine, begin driving immediately (gently) to warm the engine. Idling a cold engine causes wear, proven by oil analysis.
To a lesser extent, you truly can skip every other filter change. If you cut open an old used filter, It will be nowhere near clogged at 5,000 miles. So...change oil at 5,000 and filters at 10,000
Maintenance. Currently at 342,000 and change on my '04 V6 Accord. I bought it from the original owner in 2011 and he had all the maintenance and service records. I've continued changing the oil with synthetic oil regularly, drain and fill on the transmission (although it was rebuilt at 219,000 miles), I get wear items taken care of quickly, etc. And no rust in Texas.
Proper maintenance. This matters far more than whart the brand is BTW. I've seen plenty of "unreliable" cars with over 200 without major issues.
Had multiple customers with Nissans equipped with the Hatch CVT with over 200k. No tranny problems to report either. How? They changed the fluid every 30k with the OE fluid (Nissan NS-2 or NS-3, IDR which).
A master tech I used to work with had a Chrysler Sebring with the 2.7 that also had about 200k on it. He removed the timing cover one day to replace the water pump (at 200k I'm not counting the original water pump dying against it). Had no sludge inside it. How? He changed the oil every 5k miles or less. Had another customer with a 1st gen LX Charger with the 2.7 that had almost 200k. Also no sludge since he did the same.
People shit on BMWs in general, but I know a few people with E90s with over 250k on them. Same deal, regular maintenance.
Pretty much the only time make and model matters more for the sake of longevity than maintenance is if there's an inherent design flaw that causes common failure points, but that will never apply to an entire company, only certain models and years. Like the Ford EcoSport has those wet timing belts (and 3 cylinder Fiestas, which also usually have the MoneyShift dual clutch), but my 09 F-150 isn't tainted by those failures (especially since it has over 440k miles).
Now that I’ve reached an age where I can afford to maintain my cars, they seem to last longer.
In my youth I had a 1982 Sentra that was “indifferently” maintained that seemed to thrive on neglect. I drove it for ten or twelve years.
After I sold it, it was found on the side of the road a couple of years later and the salvage yard called me, as the people I sold it to, never registered it.
I’ve got a Mazda6 out front that was bought new in 2008. It’s now an in town commuter for one of my sons. It rarely goes farther than a long walk from the house. But it starts every day.
Mazda head checking in
If that first gen 6 is anything like my 2003 Protege5, and if you're anything like me. You'll take that vehicle to your grave, I certainly intend to. I didn't buy mine new, but it's not once let me down, or left me stranded. Anything that might have kept those two things from happening was myself and my mechanic brain knowing anything that might keep it from starting or taking me hundreds of miles on a whim i could just fix, and continue on with my day. May the zoom zoom be ever eternal and the Mazda gods smile upon your family.
And for all yall that 💩 on Ford, know that the base engine in the Mazda6 is the same 2.3 that’s been in everything from the Pinto, Mustang ll, FFR, and more.
Income level matters because nothing gets put off, somewhat minor repairs aren't neglected until they become fatal repairs. For example, a small transmission pan leak is $100 max, a gasket and fluid. But ignore that to keep moving along and a brand new transmission may cost more than the car is worth.
Fluid changes on time. The right oil at manufacturer intervals. ATF every 30k-50k, MTF every 50k, diff fluid every 30k-50k, brake/clutch fluid every~3 or so years, transfercase/PTU fluid every 30k-50k.
AVOID LIFETIME FLUIDS LIKE THE FUCKING PLAGUE. THEY ARE A JOKE!!!!!
Cars have a time and use aspect to their longevity. Most cars will not make 300k miles because they aren't used enough. It'll take you 60 years to drive 300k if you are only driving 5,000 miles a year. You probably need to garage keep a car to get it to last 60 years, and I doubt any car with a computer will last that long.
So in order to hit 300k miles you probably need to drive more than 20k per year while changing fluids one time.
Being nice/expensive/rare enough that the owner deems it worth repairing instead of just replacing. That is really the *only* factor, unless we're talking about a taxi or something, which just racks up a massive mileage very quickly.
Service.
Look at what your owners manual says the service interval is for everything and do it. Religiously.
If it says oil changes every 10k do them every 10k, yes the bottle of oil says 20k… do them every 10k. Use good quality oil, doesn’t have to be crazy. I use Penzoil euro 5w40, yes there is better, but there is a lot worse and it meets spec fit my vehicle. I use wix filters, they are good quality filters. Fram is terrible. Look it up.
Tip: if a fluid is listed as lifetime. Then replace the word lifetime with the length of your warranty. If the warranty is 100k mechanical then replace that fluid every 100k
Regular maintence with good quality fluids. While all oils have to pass a minimum standard to be sold, often spending a little bit of extra money is worth it.,
and driven at a nice highway cruise, pushing the revs on the on-ramp. short drives & stop and go driving will tear that shit down faster than just letting it sit idle (unless u really shorten the oil change intervals, oil dilution is no joke).
Oil, raditor, transmission fluid should be changed on a regular basis. I change the engine oil every 5k. I use Costco oil, full syn. Any cheap full synthetic will do, just change it regularly. My old Toyota has 312k and is my daily driver.
Someone researched this and the key was warm engine temps. Engines fail due to loss of compression and loss of compression is caused by excess wear in the cylinder, wear is caused by not having proper oil coverage. You don’t get proper oil coverage if the oil is too thick, which happens when it’s cold. For the experiment they gathered oil and compared normal driving to prewarmed oil. For the prewarmed oil, they installed an engine block to make sure the oil was always warm before starting.
However cars are more than their engines and there are many more parts that can fail.
People say 7 series is a disaster but I’ve seen a 730d auctioned with 730T km. Young, driven always warm 24/7 (hotel VIP shuttle car doing airport runs I guess). Good service and if something breaks they just fix it - it’s a tool of trade and money doesn’t really matter to them. So #1 is do immense mileage per year. If that’s highway, all the better.
Obviously replace all the serviceable items frequently - best practice intervals, not “manufacturers lying to EPA” intervals or lifetime fluids. If it’s a liquid or a filter, change it. When something has a problem, address it.
MAINTENANCE. PROPER AND ON TIME MAINTENANCE. Which basically boils down to one factor….the OWNER. The Owner is THE single most important factor. Are they maintaining, can they afford it, etc. If the owner is not doing what they are supposed to in order to protect the car’s components then no company reputation will save that car.
Oil changes by far. Sure you could go overboard with every other little fluid at every single interval but I mean in the grand scheme of things if you change your transmission fluid at least once or twice in the life of the car it should be fine if you have no leaks. My bmw diff with 315k miles on it and original fluid still looked brand new even after drifting and daily driving around. I’m still not gonna change it, yet, lol
Buying the right diesel.
97 F350 7.3Powerstroke, with 285k on it, driven weekly. Its not fast, pretty, small, or quiet, but Navistar detuned these engines so much for Ford, you really have to try to destroy a stock one.
Luck. You can change fluids every 10km and still have a catastrophic failure somewhere else that means that the car is dead. But doing mostly motorway miles outside of rush hour puts the least stress on vehicles, then keep on top of maintenance.
The other secret is that most high mileage cars have had a lot of stuff replaced, so you have Trigger's cars.
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