200,000 mile club

[Scott Weberpal]

My 99 Pontiac Bonneville has about 195k on it now. For the most part, it's been a pretty good car, though a broken starter and a melted hole in the upper intake (near the EGR "port" where, incidentally, GM opted to pipe through coolant, which resulted in coolant flooding the cylinders and rendering the engine unusable)

The intake manifold gasket is a problem with virtually every GM 3.8L V6 Series II, when I bought my Lumina LTZ a few years back, it was the first (and only) think I replaced. Cost me $50 and about 4 or so hours of my time, but definitely worth not having to replace the motor because a leaky gasket was allowing coolant into the cylinders.

Otherwise, the GM 3.8L V6 Series II will run forever. I had well over 250k on my Lumina when I sold it with no signs of the engine running rough or weaker than when I bought it. I loved getting 200+ HP and 30mph on the highway - it's probably the best power/mpg combination you'll find in any used vehicle.

My current car, a 1994 Honda Civic has about 220k on it now, and I fully plan on running it well over 300k miles.

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

208,000 on my 2003 Mazda6. Bought it used with a lot of highway miles already on it, so it has always been happy to be driven plenty during the chase season. In fact, it gets pretty pissed when it isn't driven for a couple days. They did some general maintenance before I bought it, and since then I've only had to replace a belt on the coolant system.

 

[Keith Wilson]

I had a Chevy Blazer with the 3.8L V6 that racked up 298,000+ miles and was still going strong until my stepson decided to try mowing down a pine forest at 70 mph with it. Didn't work, of course.

I bought my 96 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4 in 99 with 40,000 on it. It now has 185,000, has been pretty much worry free, and has never gotten me stuck (you have to be realistic with where you try to go). I have changed rubber boots, A-frame bushings, grease fittings, u-joints, and kept the bearings checked, clean, and packed.

I have a decision to make soon as the clutch is in need of replacing and the slave cylinder is leaking. I don't have the time or place to do it myself and I am being quoted $1000+ since the transfer case has to be dropped to get to everything. For a V6 the thing sucks gas on a good day and I could get better mileage from a later model full size truck, but it has been super reliable and still looks great

 

[Carey Walton]

My '98 Ford F150 has 495,000 miles on it now and most of that is chasing. I bought it new in '97 and initially racked some miles working on cell sites, but after the first couple of years, the rest is mostly chasing. Never had any problems with the engine or transmission, but the fuel pump did fail at about 225,000 on a lonely road in Nebraska. A few other parts have failed along the way, but all in all has been very reliable. I replaced the heater core a few weeks ago (rough job to do yourself) and it should be good to go for a few more chase seasons. It still runs good but I know I'll have to think about replacing it sometime down the road.

 

[Darrin Rasberry]

My 98 Civ is on the way to 200k with little issues except for the typical upholstry and the biggest catch of all - no AC. I bought the car as-is at 50k and three days later, the AC unit caught fire. At this point, a repair (i.e. reinstallation) would cost more than the car is worth. We will be shopping for a new car in May, and I will inherit the fiance's 2007 Civ and start over at 25k!