Cars that last a million miles!

Yes, it's still rare to see a million miles on an odometer, but it happens. And while in decades past automobiles were often junkyard-bound at 100,000 miles, today's cars can easily run 200,000 miles or more with minimal maintenance.
Automaker Saab announced recently that it would give a free car to any original U.S. Saab owner who drives the car 1 million miles or more. Spurring the challenge were Wisconsin insurance salesman Peter Gilbert and his 1989 Edwardian Gray Saab 900 SPG, whose odometer not long ago clicked over to six zeros.

His car, now in a museum, still has its original engine and turbocharger.

That's impressive, but he can't touch retired New York schoolteacher Irv Gordon, who's in Guinness World Records for having driven more than 2.5 million miles in his cherry-red 1966 Volvo P1800.

Though stories such as Gilbert's and Gordon's happen once in a blue moon, people who drive their cars for several hundred thousand miles today aren't so unusual. And they're not all devotees of Swedish iron.

Virtually every marque -- Chrysler, Honda, Chevrolet, even Miata -- has a not-so-underground community that's just as proud of the car at 500,000 miles as when it was new, maybe even more. (Mercedes and Volvo hand out grille badges and window stickers.) And their secrets range from the mundane to the downright mystic.

How long should a car last?

"Days past, 100,000 miles was usually the average life of a car," says John Ibbotson, a workshop supervisor who's in charge of vehicles that are tested for Consumer Reports' Auto Test Center in Connecticut, referring to vehicles from the 1950s to 1970s.

"At 100,000 miles, we were into major engine and transmission rebuilding," Ibbotson says. "Cars in the '90s, it was 140,000, 150,000 miles."

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports the average life span of a vehicle is 12 years, or about 128,500 miles. But that could be low simply because people don't maintain them, Ibbotson says. "If you bought a car today, there shouldn't be any problem with that car going 200,000 miles," he says.

Ibbotson's tips:

Read the book. "The biggest key is doing the maintenance that's in the owner's manual," he says. Simply stick to that schedule. But amazingly, he says, "very few people read the owner's manual."

Clean me. Don't let road salt build up on a car if you're in a state where you have to worry about that. It'll rust the car's body. Money isn't the answer. Not every service will prolong your car's life. "Some dealers offer fuel-injection cleaning (for example). It's not necessary," Ibbotson says.

Pray for luck. "There is some level of luck" whether you get a car that lasts forever, Ibbotson says. He recalls his father recently sold a 1995 truck with 200,000 miles, and it was in good shape even though he had done almost "absolutely nothing" to it. Meanwhile, a friend has a newer truck of the same model, same body style, with only 65,000 miles, "and that vehicle has had much more maintenance done."

A fascination with Festivas

Suzanne Mitchell and her tiny 1992 Ford Festiva L have had quite the love affair. "We bought it when we left (New York City) and moved to the suburbs," says Mitchell, who lives in Rockland County, N.Y. She started using the Festiva to commute to her job as a TV producer. The years, and the miles, rolled by.

Today the Festiva has about 250,000 miles -- not bad for a car that cost her $5,600 new.

So much does Mitchell love this car that when the odometer approached 200,000 miles she threw a "Fiesta for the Festiva," complete with margaritas, Mexican food and a piñata filled with toy cars. About 10 people jammed into the Festiva -- including a cameraman -- to watch the odometer turn over.

Why does Mitchell adore it so? It isn't because it's beautiful. In fact, it's runty, stripped-down and tinny. But others love the Festiva, too: "I could be driving in a Bentley Continental GT, and nobody would care where I got it," Mitchell says. Yet several times each year people leave notes on the Festiva asking if she wants to sell it. "Not only notes -- but people will signal me or give me the thumbs up," she says.

"It's just incredibly, highly efficient," Mitchell says, explaining that a fill-up costs only about $15 and that the car still gets in the "high 30s" for gas mileage. "It's perfect for the city" -- shorter than her family's Mini Cooper by 4 inches, she says, yet there's more interior room than the Mini.

What has she done to keep it going? "Nothing. We repair a little rust. And I swear I've only done oil changes. And we recently put a strut in. But anybody would have to do that for a car that old." The car has never been garaged, either. It helps that the car gets mostly highway miles, Mitchell adds.

Her advice:

Change that oil. "My husband completely disagrees with me, but I change the oil religiously every 3,000 miles; hey, it works for me." (Other experts say to stick to the oil-change regimen prescribed by the owner's manual, whatever that is.)

Think simple. An inexpensive car like the Festiva has almost no electronics -- and therefore less that can send it to the mechanic, says Mitchell. Unfortunately, they don't make them much like that anymore.

Sticking with his Saturn

Duane Delegan isn't shy about it: He's frugal. Superfrugal. Growing up, when the family was "really, really poor," the Chicago-area man even recalls lending his parents money from his piggy bank.

So when Delegan buys a car, he makes it last. In 1994, Delegan splurged and bought a new four-cylinder Saturn SC2 for $14,000. About 390,000 miles later, the Saturn is still rolling. What's his secret?

Delegan says he once read about a short-haul railroad company that saved huge amounts on maintenance by not pushing its trains beyond 80% of their limits because the top 20% of speed was where of the 80% of the wear and tear occurred.

He took the lesson to heart. He rarely if ever goes faster than 60 mph, instead settling in behind a slow-moving tractor-trailer on the highway. "If you slow down on the expressways, you get in less accidents, you get less speeding tickets. . . . You get better gas mileage," says Delegan, who now lives in a rural area near Chicago but has put both city and country miles on his car. "I just checked it the other day, and I still get 36 miles to the gallon."

The Saturn has required very little: an alternator, some tires. "I think I had to replace the rear wheel bearing once, but other than that it's been OK." Every other time he fuels up, however, Delegan now has to add a quart of oil. The fact that a car like the Saturn has a plastic exterior has saved it from much rust, he adds.

A vehicle will last a long time if you just avoid the temptation to buy another, says Delegan. Buy something you can live with, that has more classic styling and color, he advises. (Alas, he says his gold Saturn looks "kind of like a beached whale" and has teardrop mag wheels, but could look worse for a 12-year-old car.)

"Anytime you want to buy a new car, wait 60 days, then remember each day, you are not making payments, paying sales tax, higher insurance fees, new licensing fees and not worrying about dents," Delegan says.

"The cost of a new car is $20,000 to $30,000. The cost of a high-mileage car without payments? Priceless."

More do's and don'ts from Delegan:

Stick it. Buy a manual transmission vehicle; it will last longer. Keep it to yourself. Never let anyone else drive your car.

Keep it simple. "Always purchase the most basic version of the car model. You will stay out of the dealership service department and save tons of money and frustrations. Power windows or seats and digital gauges always break," says Delegan. Those extras don't add much if at all to the resale value after a few years, but they can add to the headaches, he says.

The obligatory Volvo

Volvos have a reputation for longevity, but Dennis Hatfield's wife wishes his boxy 1985 740 station wagon would give up the ghost.

Fat chance. The wagon, with 473,000 miles, is Hatfield's pride and joy, and he babies it.

The 58-year-old Sacramento notary and his wife bought the Swedish stalwart new. "I used to drive a lot. I was a mortgage broker at the time, and I would drive 50 miles to my job," Hatfield says.

He didn't get really interested in the car, however, until about the time his son rear-ended someone with the Volvo, doing $4,400 in damage. "The insurance company said the car was only worth $1,000, so I bought it back from them" and made it a "daily driver." Around 390,000 miles, he began to modify it.

And how. "I had a turbo engine transplanted in it -- it's probably got 60 more horsepower in it," Hatfield says. It's got bigger pistons. A special air-fuel management system. When the original computer chip couldn't deal with this, Hatfield put in some new electronics. He's even taken it to the track on special Volvo days.

Hatfield takes a different approach than the others. He's spent a lot of money on his ride. "Oh, my goodness, maybe $20,000 -- probably more like $30,000," says Hatfield. "This is my midlife crisis," he says of his major hobby.
"It's got loud exhaust on it, and it rides real rough because of the (racing) suspension, so my wife hates it, which makes me love it" more, he adds.

When asked if it's a stick shift, Hatfield replies: "It's gonna be, but it's not yet."

Hatfield's tip:

Find a good mechanic. Get a mechanic you really trust and who will come to know your car -- someone other than the dealer, who usually charges an arm and a leg and whose work doesn't always reflect that, Hatfield says.