What is the longest time you've kept your car?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I owned a Toyota CRV for 9 years. Then I hit a bear. Now, I have a Hyundai Elantra I bought in 2009. I only have 30,000 miles on it. I'm going to keep it till it stops driving, or I do.
So, what is the longest time you've kept your car ( truck, etc)?
 

A Ciroen ZX from new for 12 years .. head gasket went on it, so I bought Skoda..*errrk* terrible car, had it for 18 months then sold it... now I've had a Ford Fusion for about 3 or 4 years
 
When the wife and I were working, I had a 1985 Toyota Tercel that I drove for 13 years. I had over 200,000 miles on it and if it hadn’t rusted away on me, I swear it would have gone another 100,000.
 

I've got a 1997 Dodge Dakota SLT V8 4WD....bought it new in early 1997. I have about 95,000 miles on it, and it still looks and runs like new....always garaged. I keep it in case we need to get out in bad snowy weather. I change the oil and filter and grease it every year...usually at about the 2,000 mile mark. It's on it's second set of tires, and I probably haven't had to put more than a couple hundred dollars in it for needed repairs. Every now and then, I look at new trucks, and their $45K to $70K price, and then I pat the old Dodge on the fender, and put it back in the garage. About the only downside is the fuel mileage...13 city/17 highway....but no more than we use it, it would take me a dozen lifetimes to break even on gas savings.
 
I have a 2008 Toyota Corolla with 26,000 actual miles on it. Will probably never buy another car. I bought it as a demo with 5000 miles on it. I worked at car dealerships most of my life and the Toyotas are the best I have ever had.
 
3 days.

... oh, wait, sorry. I thought the question was " What is the longest time you've slept in your car?"

I tended to change cars with the same frequency I change socks, so about once a year.
 
Had my first car, a 1975 Chevy nova for about 7 years. That is probably the longest.
Now we lease both our vehicles. 3 years and out. When the lease on my car is up next year, we will turn it in and go down to one car.
 
Bought a red '63 Corvette split window coupe in 1965. Had it for 13 years, selling it in 1978. Great car. I forget the mileage but did rebuild the engine once. pulled it with a Case bucket loader that belonged to a friend.

I keep most of my cars for a decent number of years but that was the longest.
 
My '99 Honda Accord that my wife had an accident in about 10 days ago (no one injured). With 145,000 miles it was the best car we ever had. We bought it in 2001 and had it ever since.

Now I am looking for another car.
 
The car I drive now is by far the longest. I`ve had it 13+ years,it`s an `04 Chevy Tahoe. It has 255,000 miles on it and have never had a single problem with it (gosh,I hate saying that...).It`s been hit a few times-head on on the mountain when the guy coming at me couldn`t stop in the snow,a speeder in the parking lot and me when I backed into a humongous rock wall that was covered in bushes. So 3,300,4,400 and 3,200 dollar repairs. It honestly still looks brand new. Oh wait-I forgot about when hubby slammed on the brakes and put the boat through the tailgate,and when he put a trailer through it as well. I don`t know the dollar amount on those two because I just rolled my eyes and had him fix it in our body shop. I would really like a more gas efficient car now but doing foster care,I really need the bigger car. And it runs so darn good....
 
We had one,its a Toyota Tercel?
The rust was holding it together,we lived on top of a hellacious to drive hill,never got stuck...
Hubs paid 100 bucks for it:)
 
Don M. said:
I've got a 1997 Dodge Dakota SLT V8 4WD....bought it new in early 1997. I have about 95,000 miles on it, and it still looks and runs like new....always garaged. I keep it in case we need to get out in bad snowy weather. I change the oil and filter and grease it every year...usually at about the 2,000 mile mark. It's on it's second set of tires, and I probably haven't had to put more than a couple hundred dollars in it for needed repairs. Every now and then, I look at new trucks, and their $45K to $70K price, and then I pat the old Dodge on the fender, and put it back in the garage. About the only downside is the fuel mileage...13 city/17 highway....but no more than we use it, it would take me a dozen lifetimes to break even on gas savings.
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Your 97 Dodge Dakota story sounds a lot like my 1997 Ford Ranger 4X4. I bought it in 1999 as a dealer demo with 8K miles on it. I got a great deal on it because it was a demo, got it almost 4K under Kelly Blue Book at the time. It was fully loaded and even had a nice bed liner. I used it for back n forth to work and hauling any yard debris we had to the compost site and any other jobs that came along. I changed the oil faithfully every 3K miles and always did any other maintenance it needed. Other than regular service and maintenance it had a brake job, exhaust system and a new gas tank cause the old one had rotted at the neck, also replaced the tires twice. I had it until 2016 when I traded it in as a down payment on my wife's new Subaru. It had just turned 90K miles and was still in great shape, no rust and ran great. Subaru gave me 2K for it. I hated parting with it because every day it was money in the bank and it was very handy to have around. I've got a Ford Edge now and it's a great vehicle, but I miss the truck and the convenience of simply throwing anything in the bed and taking off.
 
I bought a 1969 camaro convertible in 1982 and still have it....so 35 years and still going strong, though I rarely drive it anymore except to car shows, etc. We had a 1998 Toyota Rav4 and after 17 years I gave to our daughter with 160,000 miles on it, runs perfect and still looks really good, no rust. Now a 2011 Santa Fe, so far so good and a 2016 GMC.
 
JimW said:
Your 97 Dodge Dakota story sounds a lot like my 1997 Ford Ranger 4X4. I bought it in 1999 as a dealer demo with 8K miles on it. I got a great deal on it because it was a demo, got it almost 4K under Kelly Blue Book at the time. It was fully loaded and even had a nice bed liner. I used it for back n forth to work and hauling any yard debris we had to the compost site and any other jobs that came along. I changed the oil faithfully every 3K miles and always did any other maintenance it needed. Other than regular service and maintenance it had a brake job, exhaust system and a new gas tank cause the old one had rotted at the neck. I had it until 2015 when I traded it in as a down payment on my wife's new Subaru. It had just turned 90K miles and was still in great shape, no rust and ran great. Subaru gave me 2K for it. I hated parting with it because every day it was money in the bank and it was very handy to have around. I've got a Ford Edge now and it's a great vehicle, but I miss the truck and the convenience of simply throwing anything in the bed and taking off.
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I bought this Dakota when I was still working....a great vehicle for work in the Winter, when there was snow and ice on the roads. I probably put half its current mileage on it before I retired, and now we only put about 2500 miles a year on it. I put a fibreglass shell on the bed, and a bed liner when I bought it, and that gives me gobs of space to carry stuff protected from the weather. Given that normal maintenance probably costs me less than $100 a year, it just doesn't make sense to consider a new truck...especially when this one looks and runs almost like new. I like these mid-size trucks as they are easier to drive/park, and fit easily into the garage. I did have a minor oil leak in the engine...probably due to valve cover gaskets drying out...but before I decided to change those, I put a bottle of Bars Leak in with the last oil change, and haven't seen anymore "drips" in the past few months. Overall, this has probably been the best money I've ever spent on a vehicle. We also have a 2006 Impala we bought new in late 2005, and it only has about 60K on it....it's our "going to the city" vehicle, and it is also holding up nicely. I used to trade cars every 3 or 4 years, but anymore I look at new cars/trucks as almost a waste of money. If normal maintenance, an occasional battery/set of tires, etc., keeps them going, and there is no rust or body damage, etc., I really don't care how old they are.
 
I bought a new Chevy Blazer in 2000. It had 116,000 miles on it when it was totaled in 2010. It was the second new car I ever bought.

For 20 years I drove company cars which got replaced every 5,000 miles.
 
My present car is the one I've had the longest. I have had it since 2008 or 9 years. It has 160,000 mi. on it but I didn't put all those miles on it. I still got a good buy as it was a FL car with no rust what so ever.
 

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