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000 miles

Will Your Car Last 200,000 Miles?

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2015 Honda Accord

This used to be a fairly common rule regarding car ownership:

Get rid of it before it hits 100,000 miles.

In fact, I once knew people who firmly believed in trading in their cars before the 60,000-mile mark. They were a strict Chevy family, and experience told them that anything over 60K meant trouble.

Of course, that’s just silly today. Cars at 60,000 miles, regardless of the make, are barely broken in and can easily pass 100,000 miles and even hit 200,000 or more.

A recent list from Consumer Reports rubbed me wrong, because it announced the 10 cars most likely to make it to 200,000 miles. They all had one disturbing thing in common:

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Cars That Won’t Die: Do You Have One?

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2003 Ford Ranger
Over 400,000 miles and still going

My car turned past the 100,000-mile mark this weekend. I’d been fretting over that number as it approached, wondering if things would suddenly start falling apart.

I’ve never had a problem with the car. It’s always started on the first try and always purred along without trouble, and it doesn’t seem to have lost anything in the way of performance or power. Still, it’s not a car exactly known for its longevity, so I’m nervous. My nerves weren’t calmed when I started my car for the first time since I crossed that magic number. Rain fell from the dark sky, and I flipped on the headlights in the parking lot at Fantastic Sam’s. The reflection in the building’s window told me only one headlamp illuminated.

Great. While a headlamp isn’t a big deal, I wondered what other problems were programmed to start now that I was into 6 digits. So far, nothing. But I’m still nervous.

Then I read stories about vehicles that are still going strong after trudging over 400,000 miles without much more than a battery change.

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