If you drove your car until it died

[Anonymous]

2000 Jeep Wrangler, at 175k miles. Frame rust, from driving through lots of creeks, mud, winter road salt and being used to launch boat trailers in sea water. It was so rusty it started to break in half as it was being winched up the deck of the flatbed tow truck. Sad. Had a ton of fun in that Jeep. Definitely got my money’s worth out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a Dodge minivan with 196K on it. Bad cats, burns oil, notorious 3.6L ticking. Just running it til it dies. Expecting cam wear/misfiring to commence anytime given the ticking but its not worth fixing imo. Last 2 times had to waiver through emissions. Getting tiresome but no way I'm putting 3000$ in cats on a car worth 3000$, never mind the cam/lifter issues ($1500+), so...here we are

Too bad because it still drives great and is very comfortable.

Yeah I’m dreading the 3.6L pentastar tick myself. Gotta be any day now. Still, been a good vehicle. Will drive it until the valves start smacking the pistons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a Dodge minivan with 196K on it. Bad cats, burns oil, notorious 3.6L ticking. Just running it til it dies. Expecting cam wear/misfiring to commence anytime given the ticking but its not worth fixing imo. Last 2 times had to waiver through emissions. Getting tiresome but no way I'm putting 3000$ in cats on a car worth 3000$, never mind the cam/lifter issues ($1500+), so...here we are

Too bad because it still drives great and is very comfortable.

Yeah I’m dreading the 3.6L pentastar tick myself. Gotta be any day now. Still, been a good vehicle. Will drive it until the valves start smacking the pistons.

It worth fixing if there are no other major issues (like cats..)

[Anonymous]

My car is 21 years old. A Hyundai. Never have needed any major repair- just the occasional replacement parts. Still runs, no rust, a little over 150 miles on it. Mechanic says it good for about 2 more years, and then the front end will need major work but not now. I'm good with that. The only reason to buy a new one for me now is the improved technology- cameras, lane assist, etc. Still love my car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At what mileage is it considered too risky to be reliable? Mine at 200K now. Last one made it to 300K. I got rid of the one before that at 170K. I’m making long drives at all hours and getting nervous but would love to get a couple more years from it.

It depends on the car. Does it still drive well and sound fine? Does it still get a clean bill of health?

[Anonymous]

It’s not always cut and dry whether to pay more in repairs than the car is worth. If the repair will make the car safe and reliable for some time, that’s generally going to be far cheaper than another used car.

[Anonymous]

The replacement part new was not in stock at that time and there was no specified time when it would be and the garage couldn't find anyone with the part used. So even though I was willing to pay for the brand new part, it wasn't available and there was no answer for when it would be. So it was the end of the line for that car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of a car because it cost too much to fix is different than keeping it until it died.

It's technically the same. A car never really dies. Failures even in the engine can always be fixed. It's when it will cost to much to fix it that people give up and consider the car dead.

[Anonymous]

No regrets for saving money. Toyota and Honda 200k+. Still running with emissions issues, traded in with no regrets.

[Anonymous]

Ford Fusion, 170k miles. It simply would not start one day. It tried to turn over, but wouldn't. Two garages and a dealership threw up their hands and said they didn't know what was wrong and quoted us thousands of dollars for "further diagnostic work." We sold it for cheap to a gear-head kid in the neighborhood who had the time to figure it out. He fixed it and sold it.

[Anonymous]

2006 Acura 240K. Not perfect but still runs. Just pay for gas and oil changes. New tires once in awhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What ultimately killed it? (Engine blew, cost too much to fix? Etc..)

Any regrets on keeping it as long as you did?

What kind of car and how many miles?

Old age? It just never started back up and it was obviously not worth repairing.

Nope. Needed a junker, used a junker to its very last legs. Didn't even buy another car until we had a kid - made do with Cars 2 Go and ZipCar whenever necessary.

2000 Ford Focus, probably 130,000 miles, died on Inauguration Day 2016 (just like America, womp womp).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At what mileage is it considered too risky to be reliable? Mine at 200K now. Last one made it to 300K. I got rid of the one before that at 170K. I’m making long drives at all hours and getting nervous but would love to get a couple more years from it.

Worry less about mileage and more about how the vehicle was maintained and what condition it's currently in, There are cars with 1 million+ miles on the road that are still reliable.

[Anonymous]

Honda accord over 300k highway miles when involved in an accident, totaled car.
Acura sedan over 350k miles when blew timing belt, mechanic fixed and now a HS commute car.
Was expecting to read stories of vehicles with way more miles what are you all doing to your cars!?!??!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honda accord over 300k highway miles when involved in an accident, totaled car.
Acura sedan over 350k miles when blew timing belt, mechanic fixed and now a HS commute car.
Was expecting to read stories of vehicles with way more miles what are you all doing to your cars!?!??!

What was your oil-change interval? Did you do a lot of preventive maintenance? I guess not w the timing belt, at least.