200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

this morning, I finally hit 200,000 miles. it is the most mileage I have ever had on a vehicle. I have had the vehicle since 95,000 which was 6+ years ago.

my hope is that the next owner of my vehicle will either be a junk yard or a recycling facility.

I just got my taxes yesterday and the assesed value according to the state of NC is $574

https://i46.tinypic.com/f50dz.jpg

Didn't think a cavalier would last that long ;) Do you still plan on keeping this car? Because I remember you complaining about it (which is definitely warranted) and just seeing this post kind of says otherwise.

I had over 300,000 miles on my 74 Chevy C-10 when I sold it, and it ran flawlessly.

I had issues with the EGR for a time and finally bit the bullet and spent the $160 for a new one.

my hope is to keep it until it is more expensive to fix than get rid of.

Did you throw a party?

-BC

no, it's kind of like when you turn 30. no more parties. if you are lucky, you go out to eat with the family (hopefully somewhere other than mickey-Ds or chucky cheese)

Congrats! Prove everyone wrong...get 500,000 miles out of it!

took it 13 years to get to 200,000.

at that rate, it would have to be 32.5 years old...or the middle of 2030 (or something like that)

I can't touch ford man. I just enjoy my small victories.

You really get to know your vehicle after driving that far.
And, ain't it neat the way things like licensing and insurance get so cheap?

Nice. I bought a Mercedes with 275K, and sold it woth almost 400K. They're made to last, though. Congrats getting that mileage out of the Cavalier!

shatto,

my (personal) property taxes came in at just under $5 (for this car)

fowljess,

my goal when I first got the car was to keep it long enough to get something that would last me a while. I was hoping to get 120k-130k out of it. several people I work with have been suprised by this little car.

In California, my Tundra license is......a bit higher.

Does your state have income tax?

most seem to focus on miles, and what we often forget is the cost/mile. you likely spent a great deal less than a honda owner did over those miles. IF a honda or toyota lasts longer, cost/year might factor in. who knows, for the $$ saved, you might be able to buy another car to get to the miles reached by an import.

congrats!

shatto,

my state does have income tax. I was hoping that when we got the lottery, they would do away with it or at least lower it but I have also heard that states that don't have income taxes kill you with property taxes and other such taxes. in the end, they will definitely get their money.

bowtie,

though I would agree with you on this car as being a very good CPM (cost per mile) car, most cavaliers I have seen for sale have had major repairs done. new engines, transmission work, etc... I am thinking that my car is the exception to the rule. I will admit that I got a good deal because the guy didn't want to deal with leaky injectors and I think his wife thought I was cute. I probably have less than $3500 in the car over the years including purchase price. obviously, that doesn't include gas.

I think the main problem is that many people treat Cavaliers like disposable cars. I believe if proper maintenance is done they will probably run relatively trouble free for several hundred thousand miles. By the time they hit 100,000 miles people don't want to pay to have services done like fluid flushes and such, then declare the car is a POS when they have tranny problems at 150,000 miles.

I will agree with that. many times, cars are deemed POS cars and neglected to the point of no return.

I have several friends that get rid of cars and the list of stuff that just flat out doesn't work goes on for miles. my comment is usually, all that stuff didn't happen all at one time. they usually let it go to the point where they can't take it anymore.

I have let the A/C go on this one but that was years ago and I am sure that is an expensive one to fix. I can stand to not have that. the window motors both work as does the heater, wipers, breaks, etc, etc. many times these small things (not small to me) are let go of and neglected.

a little money now saves loads later. I think around here, we already know that

Yep... no sweat off my back to do my own brakes, routine oil changes, suspension work, etc. Just saving money, prolonging the life of a decent car returning fuel economy equal or most times BETTER to those paying a monthly payment for something that might shine a little brighter and ride a little smoother.

BEEF - look into your A/C. I charged mine this year with $15 worth of refrigerant and so far so good. Was blowing 41*F last week when it was 90*F+ here in KY. I went w/o it for 2 years then finally decided to buy a guage and a few cans and give it a shot. $15 a year, supposing it leaks out over winter, isn't a bad price to pay for comfort and arrivnig to destinations in dry clothes instead of sweaty nasty ones. :)

over the past 5ish years, I have tried to recharge it about 3 or 4 times. several people have told me that the dryer may need to be replaced and it may fix it. the clutch pulley is actually spinning so nothing is locked up.

a buddy of mine just put $400 into a compressor for his van. that motivates me more into not fixing it.

I feel that this is something I would have to take to someone in order to figure it out so even more motivation not to fix it.

I will admit that I am fairly mechanically inclined but I lack experience with certain things. I am slowly building my experience base with doing things as I go.

one thing I will say though is with all the motivation against fixing it, the triple digit temps of this past week is a big motivation to rethink my position.

****edit****

the sweaty nasty clothes are usually on my way home as I get to work around 7 in the morning. not that it is a whole lot better but my family is kind of used to me being a little nasty anyway. lol

How far are you from Winston Salem?

They have a pull-a-part there: https://www.pullapart.com/Inventory/Main.aspx

Looks like you could get a compressor for around $25 and a dryer for around $8.

The closest thing to checking it out before you buy it would be to pull one that still had freon in it under pressure (verify it by pushing in the shrader valve).

You don't have to replace the drier, if you have a friend in the a/c service industry just borrow a vacuum pump overnight. Let it run all night. What will happen is it will create a vacuum in the system, and will cause the water to boil off, where it will be evacuated by the pump.

You shouldn't find a car in a u-pull-it yard with Freon still in it. I'm sure they're probably required to remove the Freon before they put it in the yard. Its too dangerous to have people just hacking parts out of the cars with charged refrigerant lines.

at this point, I have too many projects on my plate for anything else.

thanks for the advice from the pull-a-part. I have been there several times. a buddy of mine lives less than 5 minutes from there. still a good 45 minute drive for me. that is where my bumper came from when I redid it. I actually had more time back then.

You don't want to know how they evacuate AC systems at a lot of yards then.

If you keep the oil changed and repairs made you can compete with me especially if you can do most of your own repairs. My first goal on the '88 Escort Pony was 250K miles and as you know now it's over 509K and the new goal is 600K.

You can buy a vaccum pump at Harbor Freight that you can hook up to any air compressor to pull vacuum on the a/c system for about $10-$15. I have one and just used it for the first time about a week ago and it worked fine.

ford man,

my most mileage before this car was on a geo metro that was around 116k so for me, this really is an accomplishment. I do plan to keep it for a while.

I was planning the replacement to this car a while back and decided to replace my wifes vehicle (in a way) instead. we bought a van and now have 3 vehicles. the idea is that if my car ever really bites it, I will get my wife's element and the van will be her sole vehicle. the good thing is that if my car goes out of comission for a week or so, I can leave it sitting until I can get parts so the van is actually going to make my car last that much longer.

I gave up on goals for this car. when I first got it, my goal was 130k (if I remember right) and I was going to save up for a car that would actually last me. I was thinking a honda or the likes. every goal that I have set for myself, I have surpassed. most of what needed to be done to this car, I have done myself (sometimes with help from a friend).

you have accomplished an astounding feat by anyones standards. the only place I can think of where half a million miles is common is maybe transfer trucks or commercial air planes. it has been done before but not by many.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

Cost per mile is what I go by. Let's take my current fleet:

2000 Dodge Durango

purchase price $1700 (with bad engine)
engine replacement $1100 (with used engine, part and labor)
sales tax, title fee, 2 years' worth inspection and registration $268.35
radiator (twice), water pump, AC service (repairs since 2/09) $453.32
full coverage insurance at $85.12/month for 18 months so far $1532.16
miles driven 172468 to 201350 = 28882 miles
estimated fuel used in that time $4070.09 (that is for 1565.42 gallons at avg 2.60/gal)

Total costs so far $9123.92
Total cost per mile: 31.59 cents per mile

1976 Ford Gran Torino

purchase price including shipping from OKC to here $675
sales tax, title fee, 2 years' worth inspection and 1 years' worth registration (due this month) $156.30
brake parts and MC replacement, parts car for drums and other bits, sales of parts car and parts off it, net credit -$186.00
taillight, bumper, filler panels from accident damage $160.00
AM-FM radio, package shelf, other items bought from eBay/junkyards $115.00
liability insurance at $18.08 a month for 17 months on road so far $307.36
miles driven 87500 to 91430 = 3930 miles
estimated fuel used in that time $729.85 (that is for 280.71 gallons at avg $2.60/gal)
estimated oil used in that time $132.72 (that is for 56 quarts at avg $2.37/qt)

Total costs so far $2090.23
Total cost per mile: 53.18 cents per mile

I do not have specs for the 1990 Cutlass Ciera, in fact, I won't even OWN it for another 3 hours today. The car is costing me $247.50 plus tax/title/tag transfer, inspection is already good to next April, and it is rated 18/25 EPA (although it was originally 20/27 on the sticker) so I expect to get 22mpg or so in mixed driving.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

occupant, cost per mile is a great way to look at it, but for it to be useful you have to compare approximately the same quantity of miles (if you're including capital costs). How much did the Dodge cost per mile after 3930 miles?

Depending on how you operate, you may also want to include resale value in your calculations.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

I've had my car for 6+ years and put over 105,000 of those miles on it with an average somewhere around 30ish (I am guessing)

the purchase price was $2k and there was licinsing fees and what not. the repairs have been pretty minimum with the exception of new fuel injectors at $500 but still isn't that bad. without really crunching any numbers, I think I am doing pretty good.



I will admit, my other two vehicles, not so good (honda element, bought new and the van was expensive....it's a van)

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

My Buick has been pretty low cost over the years. Aside from registration & insurance (which is pretty cheap) here's my major expenses over the past 20 years:

Purchase price: Free

1994 New engine: $1,800
1996 New transmission: $700
1998 New carburetor: $1500 (paid for by insurance company after I was rear ended and the carb was screwed up)
2005 new tires, complete new brake system: $800

That's $3,300 in out of pocket expenses over 20 years, or $165/yr.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

2000 cavalier at 211,700 miles still all original did a 1,550 mile trip and hit 30-31 mpg at avg of 80 mph lots of "wolf pack"

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

update: last week I hit 226,000 miles. a week from now I plan on replacing the radiator as it has a small leak. I bought a new radiator for $95 (including shipping) from rockauto.com.

It feels as if my transmission is getting spongy but I may just be peranoid. that happens from time to time. I doubt I would tackle fixing that if it was actually going out.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

Grats! Gotta love the long lasting cars. Just rolled over 211k two days ago in my Echo.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

Nice going, BEEF.

I have had:

an '88 Accord LX 277,800 (bought with 230K)

a '95 Civic VX with 234,000 (bought with 194,000). My uncle still has this car, which has around 260,000 on it now.

a '96 Chevy C1500 W/T with 270,600 (bought with 267K). I don't think it is the original engine. This one runs like a champ.

I have never bought one new and put all the miles on myself.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

204,000 on my 2002 GMC Sierra. :)

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

The 5.3L in that truck will run forever as long as it is maintained. I know a guy with almost 400K on his company Chevy, and it has spent most of its life towing and hauling. The engine has never been apart.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

Aside from a little piston slap at startup if the ambient temp is below 40F, mine runs flawlessly at 180,000 miles.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

I have piston slap too. I know it's harmless but I idle it for a minute or two until it goes away anyway.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

If there's no piston slap @ startup I only let it run for about 10 seconds to let the oil flow before I go. If there's piston slap, I let it idle about 30 seconds before I leave.

Re: 200,000 a big deal (for me anyway)
 

ahh good ol noisy cold startup chevys haha

s10 2.2L (same exact engine in the cavilers) has 167k on it, sounds like a box of marbles in a blender in the morning but goes away once its warm. i havent had to do anything besides a valve cover gasket engine wise. burns maybe 1/4-1/2 qt of oil in 3K miles so i cant complain.