How Many Miles Do You Rack Up On A Car?

By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That's compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles.

In its annual national auto survey, the magazine found 6,769 readers who had logged more than 200,000 miles on their cars. Their cars included a 1990 Lexus LS400 with 332,000 miles and a 1994 Ford Ranger pick-up that had gone 488,000 miles.

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Agent009 - 9/7/2007 3:02:24 PM

+2 Boost

I put a MINIMUM of 100,000 miles on each of my personal vehicles.

My current daily driver has over 162,000 and will easily hit 200,000.

The wife is about 36,000 miles before retirement.

EnnNorak - 9/7/2007 7:25:13 PM

+1 Boost

Xdrive, I feel exactly that way about German cars and therefore lease my A6 Quattro but I feel confident that a Mercedes diesel engine gan go for several hundred throusand miles without major incident.

Airliner - 9/8/2007 2:44:03 PM

+1 Boost

Agent009, if you dont mind my asking... What do you drive "daily?"

w209w114 - 9/7/2007 2:30:40 PM

+6 Boost

Well..

1973 Mercedes 280: +/- 75,000 Miles (2,143/ year avg)
2006 Mercedes CLK: +/- 26,000 Miles (16,000/ year avg)

Thats what happens when you live in Miami. The classic only gets driven a couple times a month weather permiting.

Star - 9/7/2007 3:12:00 PM

+5 Boost

Yeah, it shows that Lexus is almost as reliable as a Ford Ranger. Great news.

Agent009 - 9/7/2007 3:36:27 PM

+3 Boost

Don't confuse longevity with reliability. They are not related.

Star - 9/7/2007 10:12:59 PM

+2 Boost

My mistake...(revised version) It shows that Lexus lasts almost as long as a Ford Ranger. Is that better Agent 009?

S4cabriofoxone - 9/8/2007 12:35:32 AM

+2 Boost

The rubber lining on the inside of the left rear door of the RX330 came off today. Very high-quality stuff there.

Kinger - 9/10/2007 8:30:43 AM

+1 Boost

In many countries in Europe there's Mercedes taxi's going around with well over 500,000 miles on the clock, so it isn't "only a Lexus", Mercedes were building cars that can rack up rediculously high mileages before Lexus even existed.

david989 - 9/7/2007 2:44:22 PM

-8 Boost

I have a 1975 Lexus LS400 that has 54,000,000 miles on it and still runs like new. Such quality is unheard off.

david989 - 9/7/2007 2:44:37 PM

-7 Boost

Sorry, 1995 Lexus LS400.

Star - 9/7/2007 3:08:43 PM

+7 Boost

It's okay, nobody believes a word you say anyway.

Agent009 - 9/7/2007 3:46:04 PM

+5 Boost

So 4.5 million miles a year?

That means if you drove 24 hours a day with no stops your avg speed is about 42mph. That is pretty amazing. I bet you got 50 mpg doing that too?

Airliner - 9/8/2007 2:57:19 PM

+3 Boost

‘david989’ Um, did you skip math in school?? 54,000,000 on a car? Perhaps we should be reading about you on the Guinness Book of World Records and not here @ AutoSpies. 2.5 million miles is the current World Record and that was accomplished by a Volvo!!

JUGNU - 9/7/2007 4:33:32 PM

-2 Boost

I never kept a car for more than 6 months.

BTW in 2003 when new BMW 7 series came out i liked it so much and bought a brand new 745Li.
I kept it for more than a year and putted roughly 60K KM

JUGNU

tundraboy - 9/9/2007 1:09:57 AM

+1 Boost

Wow you putted for 60K KM? That's a lot of golf. Need to work on your short game though.

JUGNU - 9/7/2007 4:34:41 PM

-4 Boost

Typing error

I never kept a car for more than 6 months.Except 2 or 3

JUGNU

Star - 9/7/2007 10:13:41 PM

0 Boost

Same here.

vdiv - 9/7/2007 9:04:14 PM

+3 Boost

Sometimes people are stuck with a car due to a "series of unfortunate events" or poor planning of life's priorities (life is too short to drive a crappy car :)

I've done both, and I've kept a cost per mile on all four of the cars/trucks I had (yeah, I am a geek and I have no life). It generally supports the conclusion that financially it is worth driving a beater...

speedmaster - 9/7/2007 9:07:05 PM

+1 Boost

I change every 30,000 miles.
Yep, thats right. I get bored quick. The only exception is my FJ40 which has 60K miles.

TauronB2G - 9/7/2007 9:56:40 PM

+2 Boost

07' CLK 550 with 14000 miles on it. Got it in January. 01 Honda Civic with 107,000 and pushin...my work car.
I drive the hell out of them. When I traded my 02 CLK 320 Cab it had 94,000 and I got it with 9 miles on the odo.
T

Jonathan - 9/8/2007 12:12:01 AM

-1 Boost

Most people realize that keeping a car for a long, long time gives you the best bang for the buck (even better if you bought it used). But... many car enthusiasts (myself included) are always thinking about their "next car".

Let's not forget about the constant bombardment from the advertisements... faster, sleeker, prettier, greener, safer... and all at a fabulous lease rate!

You can almost see the Homer Simpson cloud above your head... "Must... get.... new.... car...."

S4cabriofoxone - 9/8/2007 12:37:33 AM

0 Boost

S4 has 26,000mi on it. April 2005.

A3 has around 13,000. January 2006.

SO, between my two cars I've put on a bout 40,000 miles in a year and a half. Not bad!

S4cabriofoxone - 9/8/2007 12:37:51 AM

-1 Boost

*About should be one word, obviously.

BMW4me4ever - 9/8/2007 11:45:43 AM

+1 Boost

I had a 1988 BMW 528e that had 186,000 miles on it when I resided in texas a couple years ago. It was a great car, til I got t-boned. It was reliable and good gas mileage ... I really liked that car. Currently have a 2006 330xi with 31k miles on it & a 2008 535i with 3k miles on it...

vdiv - 9/8/2007 12:58:45 PM

+2 Boost

So do you plan on keeping them or tossing them for new ones?

BMW4me4ever - 9/8/2007 2:05:09 PM

+2 Boost

I lease my cars. I enjoy having a new car every 3 years. If I could lease my Custom Chopper, I would have.

DiamondJim - 9/9/2007 12:03:42 PM

+1 Boost

do thoe dealers try to charge you for a ding here and a nick there when you return the car?Have you believed you were jipped on something when you returned the car?

DaHarder - 9/9/2007 12:59:46 PM

+1 Boost

2005 BMW X5 4.8is - 19,234 miles

2004 BMW M3 - 13,470 miles

2002 Jaguar XJ8/VP - 57,876 miles

toolatetorace - 9/9/2007 4:52:31 PM

+2 Boost

If you lived in the rust belt and a large percentage of country's population do and drove your car as far as consumer reports recomends it would be so rusty that it's structual integrity would be reduced to a point that it would be unsafe in a moderate to severe collision. Newer cars rust out around the strut towers and the lower cowl area and many times this goes unoticed. I noticed this when I visited a salvage yard one time and saw a car that had a fender removed and saw all the rust eating away at the inner fender support and aother areas . These are areas that provide a crumple zone that protects the driver and the occupants in a crash . Consumer Reports always seems to be slightly out of realities on many things and this just adds another one to the list