Million Mile Chevrolet

The most dependable, longest lasting.

I remember when this happened a couple of years ago, and they talked about selling it to Shell, but never heard anything else of it. Anyone know what happened to it? Did big oil buy it? Was is turned into a museum piece like the unstoppable Top Gear Toyota pickup?

See kids? K&N's really are worth it! That guy actually got close to his million mile warranty.

naaa..

Cause there are plenty of other million mile full size domestics out there... Cummins dodge's and such...

Then there's this guy with a million Ford who did it in 4 years.. http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2010/10/ford-f-250-reaches-a-million-miles-in-just-four-years.html

Wake me up when they get close to that nutter with the 2 million mile oops nearly 3 million mile.. volvo.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/01/irv-gordons-volvo-p1800-closing-in-on-3-million-miles/

Yawn. http://www.dieselpowermag.com/tech/0907dp_2001_dodge_ram_3500/index.html

Yawn again.. http://www.allpar.com/old/photo/edelman/index.php

Having driven1800 Volvos, I can't imagine a less comfortable Volvo to do that in. He's got to be a different shape than me.

I have seen a number of Jeeps with 4.0L go an million miles.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Having driven1800 Volvos, I can't imagine a less comfortable Volvo to do that in. He's got to be a different shape than me.

I've met Irv - about 5' 8"... with a typical middle-age build.

I love driving our 1800ES, but the seats are not my favorites either.

Ignorant wrote: Then there's this guy with a million Ford who did it in 4 years.. http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2010/10/ford-f-250-reaches-a-million-miles-in-just-four-years.html

I call BS on this guy.
He claims to put on 7,000 to 10,000 per week.
At 7k that is 1k miles per day. At 60mph average that is 16.66 hrs of drving per day.
At 10k miles, 1,428.5 miles per day. At 60mph average = 23.8 hrs per day for 7 days straight
Also keep in mind he is doing this commercially so right there he is in violation of the law.
BS

Ian F wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: Having driven1800 Volvos, I can't imagine a less comfortable Volvo to do that in. He's got to be a different shape than me.

I've met Irv - about 5' 8"... with a typical middle-age build. I love driving our 1800ES, but the seats are not my favorites either.

And the ES seats are an improvement over the S seats, which are better than the P seats.

The best reality check for these eternal vehicles was in an ad years ago for an old guy with an ancient Datsun (I think it was) pickup. His advice to people who wanted to duplicate his feat: "Make sure you like the colour."

I don't think I'm missing anything here, but maybe I am. Except for the Volvo, aren't all of these vehicles trucks? Are cars just not built to the same standards? or are they abused more? I notice most of them are diesel. no surprise there. That's a heck of a great job with that Volvo. I just passed 176k with the corolla, runs great. will do 300k no problem, but I doubt I keep it that long. One thing I would like to know, at a million miles, are they working with anything broken? like power windows, door locks, heated seats, anything taped together to work? or are all accessories in great shape.

jrw1621 wrote:

Ignorant wrote: Then there's this guy with a million Ford who did it in 4 years.. http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2010/10/ford-f-250-reaches-a-million-miles-in-just-four-years.html

I call BS on this guy. He claims to put on 7,000 to 10,000 per week. At 7k that is 1k miles per day. At 60mph average that is 16.66 hrs of drving per day. At 10k miles, 1,428.5 miles per day. At 60mph average = 23.8 hrs per day for 7 days straight Also keep in mind he is doing this commercially so right there he is in violation of the law. BS

Maybe multiple drivers if it is commercial.

That is also 3+ oil changes a week at 7-10k a week.

1,000,000/ 14 years he has had truck = 71,429 per year/ 52 weeks a year = 1,373 Miles a Week. I did a 1200 mile week 2 weeks ago. It was an 80 hour work week as I actually had to do work on top of driving that much.

It is possible, but not much of a life.

gunner wrote: I don't think I'm missing anything here, but maybe I am. Except for the Volvo, aren't all of these vehicles trucks? Are cars just not built to the same standards? or are they abused more? I notice most of them are diesel. no surprise there. That's a heck of a great job with that Volvo. I just passed 176k with the corolla, runs great. will do 300k no problem, but I doubt I keep it that long. One thing I would like to know, at a million miles, are they working with anything broken? like power windows, door locks, heated seats, anything taped together to work? or are all accessories in great shape.

Usage, maintenance and build quality...and sometimes a little luck can lead to a long life for these cars. My 350,000 mile Ford escort gets good maintenance to overcome its pizza delivery usage. Add a lot of luck in the original engine as I am not nice to this little car. Most moving parts have been replaced at least once.

Niece overcame the build quality of her 2003 Honda Accord with horrible usage and lack of maintenance to kill this car.

Brother has the best of the first three but rotten luck on his Dodge diesel truck. He may be in a good zone at 450,000 miles while he still need to fix a glitchy power window and a broken cup holder.

Bruce

I know its not a huge accomplishment, but on my daily driver 1996 Dodge Ram Cummins Turbo Diesel with 254k miles, all the accessories work like the day it was new except for the outside temperature sensor that reads out in the overhead console. Ice cold A/C, hot heat, power windows and locks all work fine, door handles and tailgate open like they should, all the lights, blinkers, switchgear, OEM radio with CD player, etc all work like new. Its not a stripper model either, its an SLT Laramie.

It's all about caring for the car. My 2000 Oddesy just turned 254K. Original driveline (including the transmission!) w/out having to rebuild anything. AC died this summer, and the light in the dash clock and engine temp gauge doesn't work. Otherwise no big problems.

Biggest complaint - the stupid power doors. I have spent more money fixing those doors than anyother part of the car (including the timing belt/water pump change). A/C is threatening to take the prize from the doors, at about $1000 for parts alone.

Mark

now how would you guys determine the tipping point? The point at which it is cheaper to purchase a new vehicle rather than continue on fixing the old.

For example, the 4 year old million mile truck guy said he spent $67k on maintenance.. That's nearly 2 brand new F250's..

93gsxturbo wrote: I know its not a huge accomplishment, but on my daily driver 1996 Dodge Ram Cummins Turbo Diesel with 254k miles, all the accessories work like the day it was new except for the outside temperature sensor that reads out in the overhead console. Ice cold A/C, hot heat, power windows and locks all work fine, door handles and tailgate open like they should, all the lights, blinkers, switchgear, OEM radio with CD player, etc all work like new. Its not a stripper model either, its an SLT Laramie.

I have to admit I'm somewhat surprised at how much still works on my 262K mile Cummins as well (titled as a '95 w/ engine and dash, but installed in a '96 chassis/cab). Most of what doesn't work I think is due to the Frankenstein-build. The a/c doesn't work, but I'm guessing it was never evacuated and charged. The OE Infinity stereo didn't work but I think it's because it had the incompatible head-unit from the non-Infinity '95 dash. The power windows work, if a bid slow. The self-dimming rear view mirror works, as does the overhead temp/compass.

Unfortunately, just before the east coast blizzard, the 4WD decided to stop working...

With the A/C repair approaching half the value of the mini-van, I actually think I am at the tipping point with my Odessey, but more because I want a new car than anything else. With over 250K on the clock, I worry about wear out modes starting to affect reliability. No big deal if I am driving to or from work - very big deal if my wife is driving without me in the car.

When you include new car insurance rates, and interest on a new car loan vs. a less than $2000 repair bill that will be the only thing the car needs other than oil/gas for the next 6 months (I hope), it gets hard to say a new vehicle is a positive cost return.

Mark

I had an 87 sable with the 3.0 v6 purchased for $500 but needed alot of "minor work" That included replacement of most of the cooling system soft parts plus a rad and a heater core. It also need new axles, shocks, struts, ball joints, front bushings, motor mounts, interior light switch was junk. Rear bearings brake pads There was more but I dont remember.

At the time the local parts store had a lifetime warranty on everything it sold (even ware items like brake pads and wipers) and even better they keep records on there system of what you purchased. I got the car with a tad over 80K and it managed to go more than 300K. BUT I ended up replacing drive shafts, hubs brake pads rear bearings the radiator and many other bits 2, 3 or even 4x but since they were free with the lifetime replacement warranty I really did not care.

Eventually it got to the point that you had to fill the trans fluid and the oil and check the gas. I stopped doing oil changes and just kept adding it as I was putting in some where around 4-6 quarts every 2K. Looking back on this I think it was the reason the car did not have much (if any) rust. At about 250K the parts store owner started offering to by the car from me every time I went in.

When I came in for the forth set of axles, hubs, tie rod ends (these cars seemed to eat tie rod ends every 15-20K) and assorted other front end parts and a radiator he offered me 1,000 for the car saying that he just wanted to stop the bleeding LOL. I sold it to him on the spot. He ended up giving it to his daughter who drive it for several more years (3 I think). For what it was worth he did have a complete history of all the repairs/maintenance. I enquired about the car 4 or 5 years after selling it and he told me that his daughter had neglected to fill the oil one night coming back form school and killed it. I was kind of sad but he told me it had close to 350K by then. Not a bad run for an 87 sable!

The real key to that was the 3.0 V6 dead nuts reliable motor. I think the only thing I replaced on it was the distributor / ignition module thing. It failed on night while driving home. It was the only time the car left me stranded. I had that car for 5 or 6 years. At the time I was putting between 40 and 45K a year on my car due to my job.

Donebrokeit wrote: I have seen a number of Jeeps with 4.0L go an million miles.

I am working on it with mine, currently at 155k miles but since it's basically a foul weather vehicle and I only put on about 5k miles a year it's going to take a really long while.

Ignorant wrote: naaa.. Cause there are plenty of other million mile full size domestics out there... Cummins dodge's and such... Then there's this guy with a million Ford who did it in 4 years.. http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2010/10/ford-f-250-reaches-a-million-miles-in-just-four-years.html Wake me up when they get close to that nutter with the 2 million mile oops nearly 3 million mile.. volvo. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/01/irv-gordons-volvo-p1800-closing-in-on-3-million-miles/ Yawn. http://www.dieselpowermag.com/tech/0907dp_2001_dodge_ram_3500/index.html Yawn again.. http://www.allpar.com/old/photo/edelman/index.php

The story on the Volvo is true, however if you read some of the other stories on it, the engine has been re-built 4 times if I remember correctly.

famous wrote: It's all about caring for the car. My 2000 Oddesy just turned 254K. Original driveline (including the transmission!) w/out having to rebuild anything. AC died this summer, and the light in the dash clock and engine temp gauge doesn't work. Otherwise no big problems. Biggest complaint - the stupid power doors. I have spent more money fixing those doors than anyother part of the car (including the timing belt/water pump change). A/C is threatening to take the prize from the doors, at about $1000 for parts alone. Mark

That was the only weak point on my wife's 99 CR-V. Door locks/handles. Got rid of it at 215k--owed us nothing.

Hoping the Fit does 200k in a similarly un-dramatic manner.

Donebrokeit wrote: I have seen a number of Jeeps with 4.0L go an million miles.

I'm really happy to hear this. Mine has 172k miles. I figure if it goes a million miles, it'll be around until i'm 60 or so.

egnorant wrote:

gunner wrote: I don't think I'm missing anything here, but maybe I am. Except for the Volvo, aren't all of these vehicles trucks? Are cars just not built to the same standards? or are they abused more? I notice most of them are diesel. no surprise there. That's a heck of a great job with that Volvo. I just passed 176k with the corolla, runs great. will do 300k no problem, but I doubt I keep it that long. One thing I would like to know, at a million miles, are they working with anything broken? like power windows, door locks, heated seats, anything taped together to work? or are all accessories in great shape.

Usage, maintenance and build quality...and sometimes a little luck can lead to a long life for these cars. My 350,000 mile Ford escort gets good maintenance to overcome its pizza delivery usage. Add a lot of luck in the original engine as I am not nice to this little car. Most moving parts have been replaced at least once. Niece overcame the build quality of her 2003 Honda Accord with horrible usage and lack of maintenance to kill this car. Brother has the best of the first three but rotten luck on his Dodge diesel truck. He may be in a good zone at 450,000 miles while he still need to fix a glitchy power window and a broken cup holder. Bruce

The Escorts are surprisingly long-lasting for a "disposable car." Ours has just about 288k miles on it, and yes it needs some work, but it still gets from point A to point B every day without fail, and even still enjoys being spanked to 7000+rpms every morning at 5am. Even the interior is still pretty presentable.

NGTD wrote: The story on the Volvo is true, however if you read some of the other stories on it, the engine has been re-built 4 times if I remember correctly.

See, that doens't impress me. Yeah it can go forever, but its only original once. How long something can go without overhaul is what's really impressive. I remember reading about that diesel a few months back, didn't suprise me one bit, but the amount of original stuff still attached does.

98 Neon R/T is at 450,000 miles. Except for headgasket under warranty at about 36,000 miles the engine has never been apart. Did the clutch at 350,000. Won the 2007 SF class Rallycross National Championship at 390,000 miles