Consumer Reports Finds Maintaining Cars For 200,000 Miles Can Save Owners Thousands of Dollars

CR Reliability Data Reveals Good Bets to make the '200K Club'

YONKERS, N.Y., Aug. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With proper care,
many of today's cars can last 200,000 miles or more, and owners seeking to
limit repair costs by trading in their vehicle every three to five years
may lose out on thousands of savings, says Consumer Reports October issue.

Consumer Reports 2007 Annual Auto Online Survey identified 6,769
readers with 200,000 miles or more on their vehicles' odometers. The report
featured accounts that ran the gamut of make and model, including a '95
Honda Civic with 227,000 miles, a '90 Lexus LS400 with 332,000 miles and a
West Virginia family's 1994 Ford Ranger pickup with an impressive 488,000
miles.

When comparing the costs of buying and keeping a car for 225,000 miles
over 15 years to buying and financing an identical model every five years,
CR found the savings could be more than the original purchase price of the
vehicle--and even greater if the savings were invested.

For example, Consumer Reports estimated the popular Honda Civic EX,
with an automatic transmission, could potentially save its owner as much as
$20,500 if properly maintained over 15 years -- $1,500 more than its
purchase price.

In its analysis, CR calculated the costs of purchase price including
destination fees, depreciation, maintenance and repairs, finance and
interest, fees and taxes, and insurance for 15 years against the same
factors for purchasing a new model every five years.

Factoring in three percent inflation and an annual five percent
interest rate, Consumer Reports estimated an additional $10,300 in
investment savings. As a result, maintaining the Civic EX over 15 years
would be approximately $30,800 less than the cost of buying a new Civic EX
every five years. Consumer Reports found similar savings with other models.

Consumer Reports Names Good and Bad Bets:
Buying a car with a good track record is important in reaching the 200K
Club. Consumer Reports identifies Good and Bad Bets for those shooting for
200,000 miles.

Good Bets have performed well in Consumer Reports tests and have
better-than-average reliability scores for several model years. Bad Bets
have multiple years of much worse than average reliability and more
problems than other models overall. Reliability is based on the results of
Consumer Reports Reliability Survey, and all have three or more model years
of data.

Good Bets: Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda Element, Lexus ES, Lexus LS,
Toyota 4Runner, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Prius,
Toyota RAV4

Bad Bets: BMW 7-Series, Infiniti QX56, Jaguar S-Type, Jaguar X-Type,
Mercedes-Benz M-Class (V8), Mercedes-Benz SL, Nissan Armada, Nissan Titan,
Volkswagen Touareg, Volvo XC90 (6-cyl.)

Get Your Car To Go the Distance:

For motorists looking to make their car reach 200,000 miles, the
October issue of Consumer Reports offers complete advice on how to do it.
Here are some of the highlights:

-- Go by the book. Follow the maintenance schedule in the vehicle
owner's manual and make necessary repairs promptly. If you think you're
saving money by skipping an oil change, think again. Missing even one oil
change can accelerate premature engine wear and cause engine damage. The
manual contains a maintenance schedule.

-- Use the right stuff. When it's time for maintenance or repairs, use
only parts and fluids meeting manufacturer specifications. Using the wrong
type of oil or transmission fluid, for example, could result in damage
leading to expensive repairs.

-- Know what to look for. Problems can arise at any time and for
inexplicable reasons. So it helps to get in the habit of opening the hood
and looking, listening, and smelling what's happening in your engine bay.
Look for fraying or cracks in belts, and cracks or bulges in hoses.
Investing in a vehicle service manual, available at car dealerships and
most auto-parts stores, will help show you what to look for and assist you
with minor repairs.

-- Keep it clean. Get out the cleaning products periodically. Regular
cleaning inside and out can make the car a more pleasant place to be as you
roll up the miles, and washing and waxing can help preserve the paint and
keep the sheet metal below it from rusting. Vacuuming sand and dirt out of
carpets and seats can minimize premature wear that leads to tears and
holes.

-- Buy a reliable, safe car. Buy a car with a good track record.
Consumer Reports offers comprehensive reliability ratings in every April
Autos issue and to ConsumerReports.org subscribers. Buy a car that has
performed well in government and insurance-industry safety tests and has
the latest safety equipment, like electronic stability control and curtain
air bags. If you're going to live with a vehicle for a long time, you will
want it to provide maximum safety protection.

For more Consumer Reports advice and insights from car owners on how to
make a car last 200,000 miles, check out the Consumer Reports October
issue, on sale September 4, or visit http://www.ConsumerReports.org.

 

Very interesting write up.. Thanks

 

Great article. Makes me feel real good knowing I saved good money taking my ES to over 300,000 miles...

 

More new car owners should read this. I see cars come in with 10K, (I love the ones "Oil change?????") The car looks like a pig pin. KO'ed front and read bumpers and "rash damage" on the body.......

 

CR's "Good bets" once again are ridiculously limited and basically unrelated to the thrust of the story. 2 Hondas and a bunch of Toyotas. All great cars to be sure, but how do they know that such vehicles are better at 200K than other models? My experience with people I know (not myself - I'd go nuts owning a car for 200K) is that usually once most vehicles have 100k+, IF they have been well maintained, they'll go on for a long time with few headaches. O.L.T. just posted about his BMW with 200K that seems to be in great shape. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=301940

 

This is interesting but as Bit said, to elude to Bit's comment, how many people really want to have a car long enough to rack up 200k on it? I know there are some, but come on, that is pretty basic logic - keep you car twice as long as you would normally and you'll save money because you didnt buy a new one...

 

I would agree that keeping the same car for well over 200K miles or 15 years surely will save you a lot of money. That makes absolute sense. However, one has be be content with owning such a car for that amount of time. Lately, technology is advancing so fast from safety, to fuel economy, to alternative fuel, to hybrid, that if you bought a car today, possibly in 15 years the gas cost might be too high to justify, or the safetly aspect of the car might not warrant you to keep it. Maybe replacement parts will no longer be made or easy to find.

Anyway, I'm the complete opposite. I don't buy cars to save money. I end up dumping a lot of money that I'll never get back into after market modifications

 

There is a 7 series with over 300k in a past issue of BMW magazine (which I have) that is still going strong. CR is FOS as always.

 

The article's recommendations aren't based on if or if not a car can last for 300k miles, it's about how much it costs to maintain a car for that many miles.

It's a pretty reasonable expectation that a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla costs less to own and maintain up to 300k miles than a BMW 7-series.

 

Exactly if you have the dough your Ferrari can last up to 300K miles, I think many are missing the point.

 

Maintenance and repair costs, and of course, the quality of the service received, can vary quite a bit from one shop to the next...and from one dealership to another. For instance, you can take your Lexus to a Lexus dealership and get a $60-70 oil change......or to a Toyota shop and get a $30-35 oil change.....BOTH using the same oil and Toyota factory filters. Lexus does not make its own filters.

And some shops are downright unscrupulous. Not long ago we had some threads on Jiffy-Lube shops that were charging customers and then just running the cars through the shop without doing anything. Sometimes it is just best to change the oil yourself.......but that is not easy to do on some of today's cars. The Subaru boxer engines are pretty easy to do it on, if you get one without the lower-front panel...one more reason why I like them.

 

a ford with 488k? word.

 

That's not for most of us people in CL, who is going to keep a car for 15 yrs and 200K, seriously.
I change my car everything 6 mo or feel like it, that's why I have driven so many Lexuses and other cars. I knwo I lose money, but I have had enjoyment of driving so many different cars, and that's >>>>> money spent.
Plus, I don't buy new, cause they depreciate the most, paid cash for a used one, drive it, sell it later for a little less, so what, I had fun.

 

There's a place for people who try to keep their cars running forever.

Cuba.

 

I have an article in one of my Bimmer mags about a E28 5 Series. I guess it was around 40k new loaded.

The guy has dumped 40k into it to keep it running and looking new.