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Average Car Life?

Old 07-21-04, 09:40 AM
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daryll40
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Default Average Car Life?

Anyone know the average age of vehicles from showroom to junkyard? Somewhere I think I heard about 15 years, but am curious the actual. And the average miles to junk. I wonder if anyone has ever broken this down by manufacturer.
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Old 07-21-04, 10:27 AM
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mmarshall
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Of course, it is a very inexact science, but from what I've seen the AVERAGE life of most Honda / Acura, Toyota / Lexus, Subaru, and Nissan / Infiniti products ( if properly cared for ) is around 200,000 miles, around 160,000-180,000 for Japanese-designed Mazdas, around 150,000 for the majority of the other manufacturers. Mercedes, years ago, was far by far the longest-lived but has slipped badly in recent years...as has BMW. Volvo, too, has slipped somewhat. Hyundai and Kia were jokes not long ago but have improved tremendously in the last few years...it is too early, of course, to tell just how long the new ones will last, but they would be a good bet, in my opinion, for at least 150,000 miles.
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Old 07-21-04, 11:25 AM
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Average car life depends on the owner's wallet and boredom. There's no exact # b/c the oldest thing I've seen is a 79 corolla nasty yellow/orange and still driveable, last week. A friend of mine also had one back in '91 and he said the odo rolled over 2x and he was the 2nd owner. First owner was a family member.
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Old 07-21-04, 11:41 AM
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Originally posted by GS3Tek
Average car life depends on the owner's wallet and boredom. There's no exact # b/c the oldest thing I've seen is a 79 corolla nasty yellow/orange and still driveable, last week. A friend of mine also had one back in '91 and he said the odo rolled over 2x and he was the 2nd owner. First owner was a family member.
Well, you just proved part of what I just said. This Corolla has at least 200K on the clock and is still going. I pointed out that the AVERAGE life of a well-maintained Toyota is 200K...some, of course, go even further.
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Old 07-21-04, 11:49 AM
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There's a Toyota Tacoma pickup rolling around my area that has the following on this rear window:

300,000 miles. Oh, What a Feeling. Toyota.
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Old 07-21-04, 12:01 PM
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Originally posted by wantAnewLex
There's a Toyota Tacoma pickup rolling around my area that has the following on this rear window:

300,000 miles. Oh, What a Feeling. Toyota.
Many of the older Toyota pickups....those built before 1990....racked up 200-300K on them but were preventing from going any further by the chronically rusting beds and rear ends. The whole truck literally rusted away aft of the cab.
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Old 07-21-04, 06:18 PM
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My friend late 80s Toyo truck is around 400K. My 90 Integra is at 257K and should be at 300K in ~3-4 yrs.

Both our cars are still going strong and still has a long ways to go. It's amazing that its keeps going because we both abuse and neglect these cars. But, these things just keep going and going...
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Old 07-21-04, 07:06 PM
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Originally posted by ntran18
My friend late 80s Toyo truck is around 400K. My 90 Integra is at 257K and should be at 300K in ~3-4 yrs.

Both our cars are still going strong and still has a long ways to go. It's amazing that its keeps going because we both abuse and neglect these cars. But, these things just keep going and going...
Ha - if you've got to hold on to the car for another 3-4 years and 50k miles, I'd stop beating it!

257k is amazing for a high output 4-cyl engine.
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Old 07-22-04, 01:16 PM
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I will let you guys know when I hit 300K. It's my daily beater/work car. The other amazing thing is engine still getting 30 mpg. Aiming for 400K before I consider retiring it.
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Old 07-24-04, 03:01 PM
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i also think it has to do with luck~ for my 92 LS 400 it only has 90k miles on it *don't drive too far out with it* it's 13 yrs and it's barely working anymore... Engine stutters...multiple malfunctional equip.. I treat it with great care also with check ups but it's eating at my wallet like crazy~ it's pretty old 13 yrs but low mileage but it still doesn't seem to want to live much longer
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