Highest Mileage on a normal car

[Gunk]

Back in 1996 I had a brand new BMW 325TDS touring as a company car, I did 120000 miles in three years and my parents bought it off my company, although the mileage was high the car was immaculate.

They kept it for about another 5 years and sold it with 290000 miles on the clock, it still had its original clutch. I drove it again just before they sold it, it was a bit worn out cosmetically but everything worked and it drove surprisingly well.

Our current 2015 Golf GTD, which we have owned from new, has now done 125000 miles but looks and drives like a car with less than half the mileage. The most troublesome cars I’ve had over the years are older cars with low mileages, they’re often not serviced properly because of the lack of use.

 

[Gunk]

I think many cars now are capable of serious mileage but I'd be more interested in how much it cost in repairs and long term maintenance to get it there.

Thats what many are not prepared to do, if you run older cars you save with a very shallow depreciation curve but you do need to spend on keeping them up together and some years it can be a bit painful.

 

[Drago]

Back in 1996 I had a brand new BMW 325TDS touring as a company car, I did 120000 miles in three years and my parents bought it off my company, although the mileage was high the car was immaculate.

They kept it for about another 5 years and sold it with 290000 miles on the clock, it still had its original clutch. I drove it again just before they sold it, it was a bit worn out cosmetically but everything worked and it drove surprisingly well.

Our current 2015 Golf GTD, which we have owned from new, has now done 125000 miles but looks and drives like a car with less than half the mileage. The most troublesome cars I’ve had over the years are older cars with low mileages, they’re often not serviced properly because of the lack of use.

Aye lad, low mileage is fine if a car has been maintained and stored properly, but it can also bring all sorts of grief if it hasn't.

In and of itself it isn't an automatic sign of good things, yet folk get strangely excited about it.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I’m going for the opposite extreme. My Aygo will be 3 on the 20th and is only just over 6,000 miles.

Our 'free Corsa' is on a '62 plate & has under 23,500 showing (its longest journey since the MoT test last year was me bringing home!)
In fact, 23, 469 having just looked at it

 

[sleuthey]

Had 130 odd K out of a mondeo 2L petrol. It was 140hp but felt like 100hp had escaped from it. Burnt oil.

 

[Mike_P]

i thought i was bad , my car is 10 years old and has about 40,000 miles on .

Mines nearly 11 and also c 40,000. Under the former employer we were encouraged to use the pool cars for visits so the car got little use in fine weather. Now being told to use a pool car only if a journey is 100 miles+ so its annual mileage has rocketed.

 

[Jameshow]

Not that much in comparison to some for my (previous) Octavia estate (1.6TDI)
Owned March 2012 (bought at 6 months old & 7,000 miles), sold in May 2021, with 160,000+ miles registered

A friend of mine is a taxi driver (‘black & whites’)
Back in the day, he bought a new Astra estate (mk3, with the 1.7 turbo-diesel, an Isuzu engine l believe?)
He run that for 370,000 miles before selling it on to a mini-cabber
He once told me that it got to about 500,000 before involvement in a RTC killed it

Much loved on canal boats I believe.
A right chugger!!

 

[KneesUp]

My car (191k) has needed new shocks all round, and a new a/c condenser (although I suppose that wasn’t strictly necessary, the a/c packed up before we went to France, and I was very glad I got it fixed even though it was a few hundred quid because it was 38 degrees the day we drove it from Paris to Bordeaux)

Apart from that it‘s just been routine servicing - tyres, brakes, oil, filters and so on.

 

[gbb]

Back in 1996 I had a brand new BMW 325TDS touring as a company car, I did 120000 miles in three years and my parents bought it off my company, although the mileage was high the car was immaculate.

They kept it for about another 5 years and sold it with 290000 miles on the clock, it still had its original clutch. I drove it again just before they sold it, it was a bit worn out cosmetically but everything worked and it drove surprisingly well.

Our current 2015 Golf GTD, which we have owned from new, has now done 125000 miles but looks and drives like a car with less than half the mileage. The most troublesome cars I’ve had over the years are older cars with low mileages, they’re often not serviced properly because of the lack of use.

When I worked abroad regularly I always got transport to and fro the airports by a guy with a BMW 5 series Touring can't remember the engine type but it had over 300k on it iirc.

Very regular and proper maintenance was what kept it running properly. Even down to putting higher octane petrol in it it was spared nothing it was his business.

But of course...it costs heavily but still worth it if it remains dependable I guess.

 

[Bazzer]

Last but one car, a Golf, had 250,000 on the clock when I sold it. I had put over 240,000 of those miles on it. IIRC other than service items and one cambelt, the only things changed were tyres.
My last car, also a Golf had 180,000 on the clock, of which I had put around 140,000 miles. As with its predecessor, one cambelt, service items and tyres were the only changes*
My current Golf has a lot to live up to.....
*Edit: also one front door lock and one rear lock.

 

[Salty seadog]

Had a 2002 Corolla 2.0l turbo diesel that i had for just short of 20 years. I gave it to my cousin on 186,000 miles, other than the usual consumables the only mechanical part I replaced was the starter motor and a brake caliper and ball joints.

I did a back of a fag packet calculation and estimated it cost me around £230-£250 per month all in over my ownership including purchase price (£10,500 at 18 months old) fuel, insurance, services, mot's, tyres, brake components etc.

It was probably a little more than that as I probably forgot a couple of things but I think that's bloody good value for money.

 

[DRM]

206,000 Miles on our old Discovery when it was traded in, works van 3years old today just shy of 90.000 miles

 

[HLaB]

Fortunately I don't know what my Yaris has done and I'm too lazy to look. It was just under 40k miles when I bought it 2nd hand (3 years old) it did a small mileage for a year than a half then up to 100+ a day for 5 years when I moved jobs then 50 miles a day for 2 years up to lock down but thankfully its back since then to be doing a couple of 100 miles or less a month. As long as its done less than the 174k miles I've done on bikes

 

[Alex321]

i thought i was bad , my car is 10 years old and has about 40,000 miles on it.Most of that mrs ck pootling around school runs etc and i occasionally drive it to places shes not happy to drive eg day out trips holidays etc .

My wife's micra is 9 years old, with 30K miles on it.

3 of the four tyres currently on it now need replacing, not because of wear, but from perishing (one is still original from 2015, the other two were fitted in 2018 and 2019, the one fitted in 2021 is still OK).

 

[Hicky]

XC70 here, purchase price of 1k, I’ve spent that easily on maintenance in the 7 years I’ve owned it and put 55k onto it. E3 163 engine.
We’re now at 225k miles. It’s tired and full of dents but gets the family around in comfort and safety. I’m happy enough.