Highest mileage car you've owned
Discussion
I recently changed my daily for a car only 2 years younger, but with half the mileage. It cost a fortune to change (Mrs Banana says) but there you go. It got me thinking about high mileage cars.
I was 18 years in the trade, so I recognise that a well-engineered, well-maintained car with higher mileage is generally better than a low mileage one that's maybe only done local journeys, never getting up to temperature etc.
In a work capacity (ie never owned by me), we had a Peugeot 405 Diesel Estate that had 360,000 miles on it last time I saw it. A few years ago in Rome I had a ride in a Mercedes C Class taxi with 408,000km. But neither of these were mine.
In 1996, I bought a mint, 10 year old SAAB 900i 2 door to treat the future Mrs Banana to a holiday to the south of France. It was red, had been with the same owner from new and had 72,000 miles on it. I loved that car and it never let me down. However...
...one day the sales manager excitedly reported that he'd taken in a 900 turbo with high mileage and did I want it?
It turned out to be a 7 year old, black, 900 T16S 3 door with near-mint beige leather, 1 owner from new and an absolutely full main dealer history. It was bought new by an engineering company director and spent its days beating up and down the country winning contracts. I sold the 900i for £1000 profit, borrowed £700 from my nan and bought the Turbo. It had 210,000 miles on it.
The week before it was traded in, there was a grizzly event in the Thetford Forest where a young child had been murdered. The prime suspect was a single man driving a black SAAB, according to witnesses. The police swept the area for black SAABs and the owner of mine was interviewed because he drove past the very location of the murder every day on his commute. He was eliminated from enquiries because he was able to prove he was not passing at the right time of day, but I nevertheless asked the police to confirm in writing that my soon-to-be new car was not of interest to them
I kept the car for 4 years, during which time it was often my only working car and required nothing more than routine servicing, new tyres and a clutch master cylinder. I drove it to Paris for the millennium and it was at Millbrook the day Tommi Makkinen nearly lost the WRC to a Hillman Imp (Google it if you don't know).
Due to life pressures it eventually got parked on my in-laws' drive and was later sold, just to get it out of the way. It got to 246,000 miles in my tenure, so that's my record. A later Audi A6 tdi estate got closest at 192,000 miles, but was literally falling apart at that stage whereas the SAAB still drove like it had 50,000 miles on it.
Can you do better? Are you the "I don't care about the mileage" type? Or are you someone who wouldn't touch anything over 100,000 miles with a barge pole?
All stories and mileages welcome.
I was 18 years in the trade, so I recognise that a well-engineered, well-maintained car with higher mileage is generally better than a low mileage one that's maybe only done local journeys, never getting up to temperature etc.
In a work capacity (ie never owned by me), we had a Peugeot 405 Diesel Estate that had 360,000 miles on it last time I saw it. A few years ago in Rome I had a ride in a Mercedes C Class taxi with 408,000km. But neither of these were mine.
In 1996, I bought a mint, 10 year old SAAB 900i 2 door to treat the future Mrs Banana to a holiday to the south of France. It was red, had been with the same owner from new and had 72,000 miles on it. I loved that car and it never let me down. However...
...one day the sales manager excitedly reported that he'd taken in a 900 turbo with high mileage and did I want it?
It turned out to be a 7 year old, black, 900 T16S 3 door with near-mint beige leather, 1 owner from new and an absolutely full main dealer history. It was bought new by an engineering company director and spent its days beating up and down the country winning contracts. I sold the 900i for £1000 profit, borrowed £700 from my nan and bought the Turbo. It had 210,000 miles on it.
The week before it was traded in, there was a grizzly event in the Thetford Forest where a young child had been murdered. The prime suspect was a single man driving a black SAAB, according to witnesses. The police swept the area for black SAABs and the owner of mine was interviewed because he drove past the very location of the murder every day on his commute. He was eliminated from enquiries because he was able to prove he was not passing at the right time of day, but I nevertheless asked the police to confirm in writing that my soon-to-be new car was not of interest to them
I kept the car for 4 years, during which time it was often my only working car and required nothing more than routine servicing, new tyres and a clutch master cylinder. I drove it to Paris for the millennium and it was at Millbrook the day Tommi Makkinen nearly lost the WRC to a Hillman Imp (Google it if you don't know).
Due to life pressures it eventually got parked on my in-laws' drive and was later sold, just to get it out of the way. It got to 246,000 miles in my tenure, so that's my record. A later Audi A6 tdi estate got closest at 192,000 miles, but was literally falling apart at that stage whereas the SAAB still drove like it had 50,000 miles on it.
Can you do better? Are you the "I don't care about the mileage" type? Or are you someone who wouldn't touch anything over 100,000 miles with a barge pole?
All stories and mileages welcome.
Back in 1996 my 1966 Cortina Mk1 4-door Super GT (export model) was on around 250k. It was a real triggers broom of a car but still looked decent and went well. Was on at least it's third engine (either rebuild or replacement) and most of the mechanics had been replaced at some point. I bought it off of a panel beater/paint sprayer who had restored the body years earlier but had to have the passenger side sill replaced again. It's the only car I said I would never sell and still miss, but it was stolen from Brighton Station Car Park in broad daylight to never be seen again.....
Not that high milage but our Yaris hybrid is on 137k now, makes it one of the higher mileage examples and means I've spent too long on motorways in a small city car.
It has required normal servicing, including only a single set of discs and pads in that time and nothing else. Yet.
I don't know why I didn't initially mention my first car, a 1982 mini. Bought with 54k on it, then I worked and lived in Shetland and visited friends in Brighton quite a bit so mileage grew promptly to 165k (around the clock). Thinking about it, the Yaris is luxury on the motorway. And it did need more than a set of discs and pads in that time...
It has required normal servicing, including only a single set of discs and pads in that time and nothing else. Yet.
I don't know why I didn't initially mention my first car, a 1982 mini. Bought with 54k on it, then I worked and lived in Shetland and visited friends in Brighton quite a bit so mileage grew promptly to 165k (around the clock). Thinking about it, the Yaris is luxury on the motorway. And it did need more than a set of discs and pads in that time...
Edited by cml24 on Thursday 15th October 16:33
My current daily Fabia has 251k on the clock and still going fine, could do with suspension refresh again (first at 135k) but other than that it keeps on going.
Have had an Audi 80 as a winter beater that was 19 years old at the time with the odometer stuck on 191k, came with all the old paper MOTs and it had been that reading for the last 7 years so I have no idea how many it had actually done! Drove fine considering I paid £52.12 for it for the 2 years it survived.
Also had a Volvo 240 estate with 285k on the clock as a festival beater, paid £20 for that.
So not immune to a high mileage car but it has to be the right one at the right price. I wouldn't buy my Fabia for example if I saw it for sale but as I know everything that has happened to it as I bought it new I'm happy to keep it ticking along.
Highest I've seen is a Volvo 760 with over 800,000 on it and still going strong.
Have had an Audi 80 as a winter beater that was 19 years old at the time with the odometer stuck on 191k, came with all the old paper MOTs and it had been that reading for the last 7 years so I have no idea how many it had actually done! Drove fine considering I paid £52.12 for it for the 2 years it survived.
Also had a Volvo 240 estate with 285k on the clock as a festival beater, paid £20 for that.
So not immune to a high mileage car but it has to be the right one at the right price. I wouldn't buy my Fabia for example if I saw it for sale but as I know everything that has happened to it as I bought it new I'm happy to keep it ticking along.
Highest I've seen is a Volvo 760 with over 800,000 on it and still going strong.
I had a fairly low mileage E46 320d Touring for a while (a 2002 ES in white with pensioner grey cloth interior).
That got sold at 100k miles but after a couple of months I realised I missed having an estate. I hesitate to say practical because E46s aren't massive.
Anyway a work colleague was selling his 2005 E46 320d Touring. It had been his brother's company car originally and had a leather interior and the fancy satnav/TV headunit - the TV still worked!
I bought it for £500 and it had 210k miles and was still on the original clutch.
It only lasted for 3 months as one of the front shocks was needing replaced and Mrs Row decided it was an unsafe car so it got traded against a 2013 320d Touring (there's a pattern in my car ownership) and they gave me £1,250 for it.
I think I only managed to add 4k miles to the total sadly.
That got sold at 100k miles but after a couple of months I realised I missed having an estate. I hesitate to say practical because E46s aren't massive.
Anyway a work colleague was selling his 2005 E46 320d Touring. It had been his brother's company car originally and had a leather interior and the fancy satnav/TV headunit - the TV still worked!
I bought it for £500 and it had 210k miles and was still on the original clutch.
It only lasted for 3 months as one of the front shocks was needing replaced and Mrs Row decided it was an unsafe car so it got traded against a 2013 320d Touring (there's a pattern in my car ownership) and they gave me £1,250 for it.
I think I only managed to add 4k miles to the total sadly.
cml24 said:
Not that high milage but our Yaris hybrid is on 137k now, makes it one of the higher mileage examples and means I've spent too long on motorways in a small city car.
A friend has a 15 plate Yaris Hybrid. She chases horses all over the country and hers is approaching 200,000 miles. It's just developed its first problem: the TPMS sensor batteries are failing...167k miles in a BMW E39 M5. I bought it on 122k. It was 10 years old when I bought it (for £6400). Owned it for about 3 years. Averaged 22.4mpg of Shell's finest V-Power in that time.
Generally very reliable, but threw a couple of fairly big bills in quick succession & I got cold feet & sold it. Went to a chap in Ireland, so completely lost track of what happened to it.
Generally very reliable, but threw a couple of fairly big bills in quick succession & I got cold feet & sold it. Went to a chap in Ireland, so completely lost track of what happened to it.
Although it's not a classic, 2009 Mercedes C220 CDI sold it on 430k miles in 2018, the new owner clocked it back to 146k on the next mot!
Amazingly it still drove really well, the only fault I had in the year I owned it was a leaking injector.
And it's still going today!
Amazingly it still drove really well, the only fault I had in the year I owned it was a leaking injector.
And it's still going today!
Edited by NicheMonkey on Thursday 15th October 19:00
1992 Acura (Honda outside of the US) Integra GS. Traded at 418 k miles. Valve guide seals replaced at 300 k miles. First clutch replacement at 390 k miles, done because the rear main seal needed to be replaced and since the gearbox had to come off why not? Traded because starting to rust at the top of the windscreen. In addition, the valve guide seals were starting to leak again.
Not mine and not really a classic but good mileage
https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/nissan-q...
https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/nissan-q...
My 2017 Cayenne Diesel has 206k miles on it…by far the highest mileage car I have owned. It’s just been replaced but I haven’t got round to selling it yet. If I could have found another in the spec I had I’d have bought another. Great cars, the V8 diesel is an absolutely fantastic engine.
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