Old car not driven much. How often should I take it out for a longer trip on the highway?

[Anonymous]

Our 2005 Honda Accord mostly stays parked on the street. It used to get a lot more use, and may again, but is now driven in the city about 3 miles a week. I understand it's good to take an underused car out for a high-speed, longer-distance drive once in a while but I don't know how far or how often. What would you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our 2005 Honda Accord mostly stays parked on the street. It used to get a lot more use, and may again, but is now driven in the city about 3 miles a week. I understand it's good to take an underused car out for a high-speed, longer-distance drive once in a while but I don't know how far or how often. What would you do?

Once a month is fine, for 30 min.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest every week or so just so the battery stays properly charged + functional.

Maybe thirty minutes each trip.

[Anonymous]

It would help to hook your battery up to a battery maintainer once in a while but you would need to park next to an outlet for at least a few hours. Once or twice a month at the very least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our 2005 Honda Accord mostly stays parked on the street. It used to get a lot more use, and may again, but is now driven in the city about 3 miles a week. I understand it's good to take an underused car out for a high-speed, longer-distance drive once in a while but I don't know how far or how often. What would you do?

Once a month is fine, for 30 min.

This seems too infrequent in the winter, but fine in the summer.

But maybe that's not based on facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our 2005 Honda Accord mostly stays parked on the street. It used to get a lot more use, and may again, but is now driven in the city about 3 miles a week. I understand it's good to take an underused car out for a high-speed, longer-distance drive once in a while but I don't know how far or how often. What would you do?

Once a month is fine, for 30 min.

This seems too infrequent in the winter, but fine in the summer.

But maybe that's not based on facts.

Yeah, if the battery is old you may need to jump it after sitting for a month in winter. It is probably better to disconnect the battery and not drive at all in winter than drive 3 miles per week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our 2005 Honda Accord mostly stays parked on the street. It used to get a lot more use, and may again, but is now driven in the city about 3 miles a week. I understand it's good to take an underused car out for a high-speed, longer-distance drive once in a while but I don't know how far or how often. What would you do?

Once a month is fine, for 30 min.

This seems too infrequent in the winter, but fine in the summer.

But maybe that's not based on facts.

Yeah, if the battery is old you may need to jump it after sitting for a month in winter. It is probably better to disconnect the battery and not drive at all in winter than drive 3 miles per week

Completely agree. The most important thing to do when taking a seldom-used car out for a longer drive is to get the oil up to operating temperature (200+ *F would be ideal to drive off any condensation).

[Anonymous]

We had a similar situation during the pandemic, and I found taking the car out once a week for about 30 minutes kept the battery from dying and kept it running smoothly. (Side benefit: it was nice to have an excuse to just drive around once in awhile.)

[Anonymous]

It's not just the battery, you want lubricants to circulate. Gaskets drying out and parts seizing become an issue