Between hubby and me, we have four vehicles (truck, motorcycle, small station wagon, hatchback). My car is the hatchback - a 1992 Nissan – and has over 100,000 miles on it. We used to live in suburban D.C., and I worked outside the home, so I had a commute, plus errands and socializing which took me all over the D. C area.
We are now in northeast Florida on an island. I am “just” a homemaker. Practically everything I need I can get within a couple miles. Our friends live within a few miles, and usually my husband drives one of his vehicles when we socialize. So, bottom line is, my faithful little car doesn’t get driven much now; no more than 5 miles a week, if that. I prefer using my car to any of the other vehicles – I’m quite attached to it – and want to keep it going until it’s beyond repair. Should it be driven more? I can, of course, take it out for a long drive if it will prolong it’s life. If so, how long a drive, or how many miles a week should I try to put on it?
I think it will be fine as long as it gets driven now and then. If a single tank of gasoline sits too long it can go bad. And you may get animals nesting in it, but that can happen anyway I suppose. The battery can go dead too if you’re making only short trips, so it may not be a bad idea to take it out on the highway just to make sure the battery is getting a full charge.
I would pay absolutely no mind to anyone who tells you that you should get your oil changed every three months despite how many miles you’ve driven it. That may have been more or less true in the 1950’s. Not so much today.
One reason I love this car is that it has been very dependable despite my procrastination about basic maintenance, such as oil changes, which I do now about every six months or so. If it sits for a few days, I at least get in and start it and let it idle for a few minutes and rev it. I’m glad you mentioned animals nesting in it – I hadn’t even thought about that and I should, because we have snakes and lots of other critters in the area. (I like snakes, but I don’t want to be surprised one day to find one in my car! :eek: ) Thanks for the encouraging words.
In addition to what has already been mentioned, water tends to condense out of the air and gets into the oil and your exhaust system. On most cars, this doesn’t cause a problem, since when you run the car and get the engine nice and hot, it boils off the water and ejects it as water vapor. Cars that run infrequently (like yours) don’t get hot enough, and end up with water mixed in with the oil, and they end up with horribly rusted exhaust systems. Run the car for at least 15 minutes at least once a week and you’ll do a lot better.
The rubber seals and gaskets and such in the car also tend to dry out and fail if the car isn’t driven regularly.
I don’t know what Florida is like, but around here, any car that sits a lot tends to become a bees nest.
Not driving it often is a minor concern. Not driving it more than a few miles/minutes per day is a major concern. That water in the oil can form acids which significantly shorten the life of the engine. Better to run it once every couple weeks for 20 minutes than once every few days for only 5 minutes.
For the record. Doing this would be under the heading of extreme driving in your manual. If your gonna run the car, at least either leave it one for a while (20 minutes?) or take it out for a couple of miles. You need to make sure any water from the engine exhaust that condenstates before it makes it out of the system has time to heat up an evaporate.
Bascially, if you’re going to use the car, make sure the entire system get’s warmed up.