These Are The Cars That Lasted Longer Than You Ever Expected

I purchased a used (26K miles) 2002 Olds Intrigue that had been sitting on the dealer’s lot for several months...

Fast forward 10 years and 200K miles, the car has been paid off for five years and except for general maintenance items (and window regulators) I haven’t put any major work into the car...

The Intrigue is still running well, but is starting to show its age (faded paint, worn interior, etc) and I am getting the bug for a new car. I eventually sell the Olds to a friend’s son who was just starting college.

He drove the car another two years and 30K miles before it got rammed in the side one day while he was at class.

Submitted by: Earthbound Misfit I

I heard this early in life and have generally found it to be true:

A Chevrolet will run bad longer than most vehicles will run.

Which was followed up by this beautiful reply:

The cavalier seems to be the cockroach of chevy

Submitted by: RedLeader289 & ArrestMeRed (in successive order)

FORD RANGER! Seriously, I figured that would be at the top of the list here. The 4-cylinder Lima engine Ford Ranger is a beast. My 1997 manual trans had almost 400K miles on it when I sold it three years ago. I checked in with the buyer a few months back and he had sold it on to another owner...

Submitted by: AQI-anon

Back in 2004 I (somehow) cooked the I6 out of my Cherokee, and the wife and I drained our meager house savings for a down payment on a brand new ‘05 Scion tC. We were going to pay off the loan in 4 years, and we agreed to own it for a year with no car payments before buying another vehicle.

Then we paid off the tC, and instead of $50/month more, it would have been like $350/month more than the $0 we were paying. Suddenly it wasn’t so appealing anymore, and so I kept driving the tC.

And driving it...

Submitted by: Kumicho

My B5(2000) VW passat. It went nearly 20yrs and 220,000mi before I traded it in running perfectly. The body had some dings but the interior was still in awesome shape. Over the life of the car I only had to replace the clutch($1000), 1 caliper($80), and 2 window regulators($100 total).

Submitted by: ArrestMeRed

Salesguy at work had a Pontiac Vibe 400K miles on it, new motor, trans etc etc. He put at least 1K per year in it in consumables. They finally bought him a company car just so he would look better with the customers.

Submitted by: Bob

My ‘98 Dodge Neon. Bought in 2003 for $2,000 with around 80K miles if I remember right. Nothing was wrong with it save for a missing radio. Even the dreaded head gasket had been replaced. I actually wanted a Neon because I had heard that they took well to performance mods, handled great, and were cheap to maintain even if reliability was average...

I managed to keep her going over the 300K mile mark (not sure of the final figure because the speedometer/odo stopped working for a time).

Submitted by: dbeach84

1993 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4. . .I got it with 55K in 1996, and finally sold it in 2006 with 266K. It survived every bad decision an undergrad, then grad student, then young professor could make, including, but not limited to: taking a T-Bone hit that could have totaled it with the right insurance adjustor; a vindictive ex with sharp heels and ridiculous leg strength; and a surprise 1.5 mile rallying stage when a semi ran me off the road and into the trees. It just kept going with maintenance and general upkeep. I loved it so much that I’m afraid to drive one now; I just don’t want to know how poorly it compares to modern cars.

Submitted by: Ed

The RallyMetro. It was a ‘98 Chevy (Geo) Metro that I bought for $140. It had 266k miles on it, some rust, and a bit of crash damage. I rallycrossed it for two years, and ran the inaugural Gambler 500-Illinois on it. Towards the end of it’s life, it would burn through a full oil change+ during a day’s rallycrossing, but it just refused to die. Finally the motor started knocking and pushing oil back thought he fill cap, and I decided it was time for it to be retired. It drove itself into the junkyard. What a beast that car was!

Submitted by: shop-teacher

My wife’s 2000 Honda Insight lasted about 18 years and had over 270k miles before we had stopped using it regularly and ended up selling it to dude who wanted to rebuild it and get it back up to spec.

She bought it new right out of college and was super excited. I was excited, but also nervous because of the whole idea of not buying a new first year car, and especially one with a new technology. But it thankfully proved me wrong and never had any major issues during its working life...

Submitted by: Mr. Blandings