Background: I recently retired my trusty ride, a 1985 Diplomat. At the time of her retirement she had accumulated 203,000 miles on the original [once rebuilt](Mopar 318) engine and was still mechanically sound. My previous vehicle, a '78 Ram Charger, also hit the 200k mark without any sort of major engine trouble. While both of these vehicles were maintained well, they were by no means babied. The Ram Charger, in fact, was known for occasionally completing maneuvers more suited to the monster truck arena than the highway. The question:
Are these lifespans an anomoly, due perhaps to the fact that both of these vehicles were powered by relatively old fashioned, simple and durable Detroit V-8s? It seems to me that few cars today are actually driven until they fail but are instead traded in or sold far short of their mechanical demise.
How many miles is your average 2001 passenger car or truck engineered to go without major mechanical overhaul?
Any answer to this would be a generalisation, of course. Not all cars are built the same, not all cars have the same durability. A Ferrari will need a complete engine overhaul after perhaps 100,000 miles, whereas a well-maintained standard BMW might run for 300,000 miles on regular maintenance alone. Diesel engines are even more durable: They’ll easily run 400,000+ miles if well maintained. A friend of mine used to own a Volvo 244 Diesel that had done over 1 million kilometers, and it was running fine.
Of course, very few first owners will see those numbers, as cars in most Western countries are usually traded in way before their time.
MTBF for a Honda Accord: 250,000 miles.
MTBF for a Chevy Cavalier: 30,000 miles.
hehe… I don’t think that 200k is anything odd. I do think there are few american CARS that can make it that far (on average) without serious work being done. Trucks are a little different. However, Hondas, Toyotas, Volvos, BMWs, Mercedes, Volkswagens, Nissans, Mazdas, etc…they can usually hit 200k with little effort. Not that there aren’t american cars that can last for a million miles…it just doesn’t happen as often. However, since I have no hard data, I’ll simply bow out of the discussion now…
