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just want to see what each person thinks/votes. 6 hours/360 miles or more road trip, where if something happens, your totally screwed.
I have personally drove cross country (3000 miles) on a car that has close to 200k, and yes, at some point i was scared that i might break down, and there is no reception, total darkness.
me personally right now, i would not drive 6 hours one way if the car had more than 175k.
To me it comes down to how it was maintained. I’ll jump in my 160,000 and 180,000 mile diesels without batting a eye and drive 12/1500 miles. Towing.
But I maintain my vehicles. Can I break down? Sure anything is possible. There are enthusiast forums which can recommend auto mechanics, AAA, yelp and credit card
It all depends on the car. If I had owned it since new and knew it was well maintained, I wouldn't hesitate to take a 300,000 mile vehicle on a road trip.
Now, if I just bought it yesterday and had no maintenance records, that's a different story. Then again, I wouldn't buy a car without maintenance records, especially one with extremely high mileage.
If you trust the vehicle, I say go for it. I had a 2002 Saturn SL1 and it just was unreliable. It had transmission issues every four years and they were major. I wouldn't drive that car out of town, because I didn't have any faith that the car could handle a long car trips without breaking down. We kept the car for several years, but finally traded it in for a 2013 Honda Civic.
On the flip side we have a 2006 Honda Ridgeline with 200,000 plus miles on it. We just drove it 1,000 miles from Wyoming to California and back in May, from Wyoming to Southern Utah and back pulling a trailer in June, and from Wyoming to South Dakota and back pulling a trailer in July, and we had zero issues at all. The truck is well maintained and very reliable.
So if you trust the vehicle I say go for it, and maybe you do break down, you'll figure it out and get it towed someplace where they can fix it. Chances are you're not going to be stranded for very long
If its your own car, and you know you have took care of it well, mileage is not as important as comfort. A high mileage Lincoln town car, well maintained, can do a 20 hour road trip if need be.
I prefer my 2011 Impala with almost 200k on it to my 2017 Jeep any day for a road trip. A few years ago I took a Subaru B9 Tribeca with 160k on it on a 2500 mile trip and had no issues at all. I've only been stranded once on a road trip and it was in a rental 2015 Chrysler 200 with 800 MILES on it.
Certainly your likelihood of breaking down in a car with > 200K miles is going to be more than in one with 30K miles. But if it's a car that I have owned and maintained myself for years, and it's been reliable for the past couple of years, I wouldn't be unduly concerned about taking a 500 miles trip. You don't want to do that in a used car you just bought, or in your own car if you are the sort who tries to save money on fluid changes and only replaces items after they fail - in a car with over 200K, that method of maintenance definitely leaves open questions.
that sounds normal. my toyota corolla auto trans failed at 125k. I have a friend that owns a transmission shop and he tells me many auto transmissions fail between 90 and 140, toyota and honda included.
Usually due to lack of maintenance. I have 160-185,000 miles on original transmissions. I have well over 250,000 on a GM rebuilt transmission. That’s why I laugh at the sealed for life transmission bs manufacturers are peddling now.
And I had work vehicles where the transmissions failed as your transmission buddy said. The difference was I did my fluid changes every 30,000 miles. And the shops I worked at barely did any maintenance.
And there is the occasional just crappy design transmission.
My long distance vehicle has 165,000 miles. My other long distance truck has 180,000 miles. I wouldnt hesitate to take either one on a long trip.
The wife and I took two trips in my 01 Nissan Xterra with over 200k on it from Michigan to Mississippi, and back, and from Michigan to North Carolina and back. The only problem I had was that I developed a hairline crack on the top of the radiator housing which didn't really effect anything.
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