The 200,000 Mile Debate

[Titan_Bow]

Did you ever have issues with the D44 rearend? Been looking at them, always been a fan of those trucks.

I never had issues with the rear end. Granted I never used to regularly tow or anything, it was just a daily driver and hunting rig. It was a good truck, my only complaints with those older Nissans are that the interior components are CHEAP! Mine looked way older than it was; hole in the seat where my wallet always was in my back pocket, hole in the arm rest where I always rested my elbow, color worn off all the knobs, steering wheel peeling, etc. it just looked bad on the inside and I took pretty good care of it. The other complaint was the radiator. I ended up busting mine on a rock once, which was quite an adventure in and of itself. But the radiator bottom end is cheap plastic, fitted to the metal fins, and there’s really no protection or anything for it. Maybe the higher end models have more skid plates it something. Not a huge deal, as it’s not something I ever would have likely known had I not hit that rock!


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[Idaho4x4Bronco]

I never had issues with the rear end. Granted I never used to regularly tow or anything, it was just a daily driver and hunting rig. It was a good truck, my only complaints with those older Nissans are that the interior components are CHEAP! Mine looked way older than it was; hole in the seat where my wallet always was in my back pocket, hole in the arm rest where I always rested my elbow, color worn off all the knobs, steering wheel peeling, etc. it just looked bad on the inside and I took pretty good care of it. The other complaint was the radiator. I ended up busting mine on a rock once, which was quite an adventure in and of itself. But the radiator bottom end is cheap plastic, fitted to the metal fins, and there’s really no protection or anything for it. Maybe the higher end models have more skid plates it something. Not a huge deal, as it’s not something I ever would have likely known had I not hit that rock!


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Gotcha. I've always been a fan of those trucks, almost bought one before my previous F250 after driving it, but really wanted the crew cab. What was your MPG avg?

 

[Titan_Bow]

Gotcha. I've always been a fan of those trucks, almost bought one before my previous F250 after driving it, but really wanted the crew cab. What was your MPG avg?

I probably averaged 15-17mpg. If you really babied the throttle, you could definitely do better. Also, on long flat highway drives, it would get 20 or so. They had such a hot rod exhaust note though, it was hard to not be a bit of a lead foot

 

[sneaky]

Meh, my 06 Tacoma has 270k on it, bought it with 35,385 on it. My work car has 415k on it, got it with 239k on it. Last work car I had went belly up with 572k on it, timing belt broke. Highway miles are easy to rack up.

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[Anglo-American]

It seems the age old thought process has always been that once a vehicle hits 200k, it's done. My commuter car has almost 300k, runs pretty good and it's beyond abused.
My F-250 with the V10 had 248k when I sold it, work truck, lifted, used in Idaho it's whole life, ran real strong when I sold it.

The debate also would tend to sway towards people saying well it's the more modern, newer vehicles that go past 200k reliably. My argument would be, how new is modern and new? My truck was a 2003, my commuter is a 1996.

So as I shop around for another truck and begin to retire my commuter, I see all these vehicles for 10-17k in price with 170-200k miles, and I kept thinking there's not much life left in those vehicles for that purchase price. So, is that actually true or are these vehicles good to 300k on average in this day in age?

For the sake of argument, let's assume nice condition and well maintained.

Your opinion?

Depends, are the engines diesel? A diesel engine will usually out live the vehicle, easily. They go for ever.

 

[Wrench]

I've got 489k on my 06 Dodge 2500 with a Cummins, it has 17k hours on it. Put 8k miles on it last month and have never driven it out of state. I do all the work on it so I know who to blame when it breaks. I bought the truck the last week of 2010 with 103k on the clock. I also have an 03 Dodge that I bought with 105k on it and it now has 245k.

I had a crane that we sold with 38k hours on it.....never been apart. Cummins powered.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Depends, are the engines diesel? A diesel engine will usually out live the vehicle, easily. They go for ever.

Pre-EPA ERG yes, Not any more.

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

Pre-EPA ERG yes, Not any more.

Agreed.

 

[hodgeman]

It wasn't that long ago that 200k was the end of the road for most vehicles, and not long before that it was 100k.

Not anymore. Modern rigs are going the distance...which is a good thing given their cost.

I bought a 2015 Tundra that now has 80k on it...and it still drives like a brand new truck. The paint is soft and it will likely need a paint job long before the drivetrain gives up. Getting another 15 years out of that truck isn't a stretch to my imagination at all and with some maintenance dollars.. more isn't unreasonable. The last rig I bought my wife was a 4Runner...since it's garage kept and well maintained I expect it to go 300k. At our driving rate that'll take more than 20 years.

For all I know, gasoline might be illegal by then.

If there is a fault with modern vehicles, it's that modern drivers don't have any mechanical sympathy and use them like a soulless appliance to be discarded at the first major service interval.

 

[Trial153]

I am sick of a truck well before 200k, the one I have now has 240 k on it, bought it new 10 years go…. Been reliable till the last few months. That said the last three years I use our new truck for road trips and my wife SUV for family stuff.

Buying something new this fall or winter and it will most likely be the last time I keep truck this long.

 

[5MilesBack]

I need to find a newer truck and sedan with real manual transmissions to last us for the next 30 years........or just be prepared to rebuild what I already have. But my current pickups are 33 and 21 years old, and the sedan is 22 years old. But I haven't had a vehicle payment since 1991, and these three vehicles combined have cost me only $25k purchase cost. I've had the Toyota all 33 years, the F-350 for 13 years, and the Maxima now for 6 years. The pickups are well over 200k, and I'm sure the Maxima will surpass that as well.

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

I need to find a newer truck and sedan with real manual transmissions to last us for the next 30 years........or just be prepared to rebuild what I already have. But my current pickups are 33 and 21 years old, and the sedan is 22 years old. But I haven't had a vehicle payment since 1991, and these three vehicles combined have cost me only $25k purchase cost. I've had the Toyota all 33 years, the F-350 for 13 years, and the Maxima now for 6 years. The pickups are well over 200k, and I'm sure the Maxima will surpass that as well.

Yeah, I miss my 6 speed manual greatly in my truck. Especially for the mountains. I'm going to give the bank a call next week and see about a pre approval and go from there, for a used rig. Would really like a 05+ F-250 gasser with a 6 speed.

 

[Blockcaver]

I had a 2004 Nissan Titan I bought new in CO. It was excellent the first 8 years and 150,000 miles. The last 3 years I owned it...50,000 miles it was a POS. Cost me over $5,000 per year in maintenance. Rear end, front diff, exhaust manifolds, rear door wiring (extended cab with the 180* open doors), interior falling apart etc. That said, the engine and tranny gave me no trouble and had good power. I would not touch another one with a 10' pole. And I was coming from having driven 2 F150's to 200,000 trouble-free miles before the Titan.

Bought a new F150 V8 in 2015 and have had zero non-routine maintenance to-date but it is only at 107,000 km...less than 65,000 miles. The F150 gets >20 mpg (US) unless towing the cargo trailer. Great that I have a 1200 km cruising range on the highway too. The Titan got about 16.5 mpg when not towing so there is a large gas cost savings with the F150 at todays prices.

 

[Kimber7man]

just bought my son a 2016 Camry with 145k on it. Gave $5700. pretty much all highway miles. It should last him a while.

 

[Silveroddo]

There seems to be a tipping point where long term reliability and cost of component replacement is making it dicey to own higher mileage stuff. If you can find a proven platform and know the nuances that go with it, its one thing, but a guy really has to be on top of it. Spoke with 2 acquaintances on separate days last week that had blown motors on a '14 and a '16 Silverado at 80k and 73k to the tune of $9500 and $8500. I knew those trucks could have issues at 160ish, but had never heard of such a thing at those low of miles, both trucks were one owner dealer serviced tar queens.
I think one of the issues that's made for these crazy prices on high mileage stuff are the financing games. People are financing the new stuff at a rate that doesn't keep up with what the depreciation should be and dealers and finance company's are keeping the ball rolling by doing these crazy deals as long as people sign the dotted line the can keeps getting kicked down the street. I know at different points in recent time GM financial and the big auto finance company's were getting compared to banks in the housing bubble. My point in all of this is, if you look at cost per mile, its starting to tip back to ownership of new in some cases due to the inflation in used purchase price v.s. life left in the vehicle.

 

[willidru]

I find that it’s the interiors, paint and other aesthetic components that seem to fall apart around the engine that make me want to spring for a new vehicle. They get 10+ years old an 200,000 miles and seats get rips, knobs start breaking ….

Not an issue if it was strictly for hunting, but when it’s also the daily driver it’s a different story for me

 

[Mt Al]

I have a 10 year old GMC w/200,000-ish that I really like but knew it had a bad transfer case, some leaking hoses and other issues. Looked at used, new, etc, etc, and then decided to put about $6,500 into it in the hopes that it will work for a few more years.

For me, I don't like paying depreciation, insurance, licensing and payments for something new. Just a priority thing.

Like willidru mentioned just above, my concern has been seats, electrical, trim pieces. I've had to do quite a bit of that and keeping track of time and cost to see when it's the same as a payment. I'm going to have to deal with the seats soon, in tact but a bit faded.

 

[WRM]

THEY don't WANT you to keep a vehicle that long, so why would THEY build it to a quality to last "forever"?

 

[5MilesBack]

THEY don't WANT you to keep a vehicle that long, so why would THEY build it to a quality to last "forever"?

Sadly, that has become the business model for everything these days it seems. I laugh at the CFL lightbulbs that they say last 7000 hours. Ya right, more like somewhere in the range of 7-50 hours. I replaced my old yellow headlights in my F-350 that wouldn't light up much of anything, with LED's. I'm wondering if I should have backups with me for when they fail.

 

[WRM]

And everything is run by a computer panel/module of some sort these days--one of the first things the mfr stops making! Once that is toast, you aren't fixing it period if that is no longer available. My truck is 25 years old, and I already know that when the EMC fails, that's it. When they were last made (years ago), they were nearly $5k. "Rebuilding" just is no longer an option a lot of the time now. Even if you can, you rebuild your motor and then your discontinued EMC shats the bed! At some point, vehicles, like everything else we make now, are disposable.