How many miles are on your vehicle?
I had a 7 mile round trip commute for over 14 years and if the weather was nice I'd park my car and take the bike or the Spree. There was a stretch in the mid-2000s where I didn't take my commuter out of the garage for a few weeks. It took almost 12 years to hit 90,000 miles on the vehicle that I purchased new in 1998.
Well, things have changed. I purchased my current vehicle from another community blogger in late 2010 with roughly 40,000 miles and yesterday the 2008 Saturn hit 85,000 miles…almost a full 5 years on the road and I'm close to the 90,000 mark that took 12 years to log on my last vehicle. Wow! While the commute to work hasn't been a bad one, the miles are racking up. In fact, I took a look at the tires last week and it 'was time'. The purchase of new tires didn't happen until much later into the purchase of my last vehicle but the miles heading east and back each day, along with my normal 'running' after work in Janesville are building.
One bright spot is I have a vehicle with 85,000 miles on it and I'm looking at 60,000 mile warranty tires. 30 years ago, a car with 85,000 miles logged would be ready for a trade and the car lot would auction the 'heap' off to the scrapyard. Now, 85,000 miles is early in the life span of most cars.
While I'd love my 7 mile round trip ride back I'm thankful for what I have. The commute isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm not thrilled that my car needs new rubber already because it's darn expensive but I'm glad that I don't HAVE to search for a new vehicle like commuters of another generation had to do.
How old is your vehicle and how many miles have you logged?
Steve Knox was born, raised and landed back in Janesville. He encourages you to participate as he writes on Janesville and beyond as this Generation X guy supports his Janesville mission, global vision. Steve is a community blogger and is not a part of The Gazette staff. His opinion is not necessarily that of the The Gazette staff or management.

Nov 5, 2012 at 2:13 p.m.
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2003 Chevy Cavalier... 240,000+ and still counting along with 5 sets of tires. Round trip to work Janesville to Sun Prairie.
Oct 24, 2012 at 9:21 a.m.
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My 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix has 77,500.
Oct 24, 2012 at 6:07 a.m.
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Yesterday I glanced at the odometer on my 1997 Miata and noticed the reading was 123456.
Oct 23, 2012 at 2:29 p.m.
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'05 GMC Sierra 189K runs like new, prior to that I had a '91 GMC Suburban that had 212k on it when I sold it.
Oct 23, 2012 at 2:17 p.m.
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I do not have a odometer on my bike or tractor...
Oct 23, 2012 at 9:48 a.m.
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I traded my '99 sable in about 2½ years ago; drove it for 10 years, it had about 250,000 miles on it (still ran good but the floor board was rusting through so I thought it was time). My current Jeep Compass had just over 28,000 miles on it when I bought it. It now has just under 89,000. I work in Elkhorn; my commute is just under 30 miles one way.
Oct 23, 2012 at 9:33 a.m.
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we bought our '94 Chevy Astro van for $500 in 2006, and it had about 139,000 miles on it then...there was only one owner prior to us, who serviced it with GM parts by GM mechanics, but when they went to trade in the van for another car, they would only give them $500 trade in value...that's how we got it so cheap...
currently, the van has roughly 261,000+ miles on it, and we get 20-24 mpg most everywhere we travel...as the life of the van increases, we've had to repair it a bit, but it starts in the coldest of winters, has a great heater, and runs like a top...
eventually we'll have to get a newer car that gets better mileage, but we'll never get rid of the van unless we absolutely have to...
Oct 23, 2012 at 9:17 a.m.
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I bought my Toyota Tercel used with 86,000 miles on it. I had never bought such a high mileage car before and was leery, but I needed a vehicle fast and the price was right. It now has 289,000 miles, has had few repairs, and still runs like a champion. Oh, and still gets 42 MPG highway.
Oct 23, 2012 at 8:54 a.m.
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100000 miles/ 10 years old
Oct 23, 2012 at 8:51 a.m.
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2001 GMC Pick up...bought in late 2001 with 6K miles on it.
Now have 155K miles.
Oct 23, 2012 at 8:17 a.m.
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214000 on my '03 TrailBralzer, went from "Hockey Hauler" to "Grocery Getter" to local rides only... (less than 75 mile trips).. still get about 22 hwy,, been to Florida and Colorado ( a few times).. but still gets me from Point A to point B
Oct 23, 2012 at 3:07 a.m.
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1990 Oldsmobile 88 Royale sedan. 104,000 miles. "Don't get around much anymore".
Oct 23, 2012 at 1:58 a.m.
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120000 miles on my 2008 Impala. Drive 100/day for work and work a fair share of overtime.
Oct 23, 2012 at 1:25 a.m.
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193,000+ on "Gracie" the Toyota Tacoma 4 wheeler
Oct 23, 2012 at 12:32 a.m.
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2006 sonata with 101,000 miles.
Oct 22, 2012 at 11:51 p.m.
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I drive ~35,000 a year. Looking at the odometer is just too depressing.
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:44 p.m.
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There are 2 miles on my vehicle. (Darn my typing! I meant to write…Too Many miles.) lol
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:30 p.m.
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A co-worker has a Dodge caravan with just over 395,000 miles on it. They still drive it.
I know of a Dodge (Cummins) diesel pickup that recently turned over 1,000,000 miles on the meter.
Oct 22, 2012 at 7:51 p.m.
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1993 Geo Prizm 5 speed/manual, 36 mpg, 256,000 miles on it. Still runs to Rockford to work everyday. Bought it new and have changed oil every 3000 miles since the beginning. It has been such a part of our family, I'm going to cry when it dies!!
Oct 22, 2012 at 6:59 p.m.
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Am noticing lots of people with lots of miles, myself included. We will be hurting when they add to the gas tax or start installing GPS units or making us come in periodically to get odometers read to tax us per mile driven. Ah yes, the law of unintended consequences. Force higher epa mpg standards, higher gas prices, higher unemployment .... all leads to less gas being used causing a shortfall in gas taxes for transportation funds. Sometimes it seems like we are in a perennial Catch 22.
Oct 22, 2012 at 6:55 p.m.
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2009 Silverado with 19,000 miles on it. I'm going to see about trading it in on a new one. I started feeling like getting a new truck recently, but I might have to wait one year, I will see how the numbers look.
Oct 22, 2012 at 6:11 p.m.
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My wife and I have two vehicles. our 2003 Buick has 100,000 miles on it. Our 2004 Chevy Tahoe has just turned over 100,000.
Oct 22, 2012 at 6:05 p.m.
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2008 Dodge Avenger bought new. Has just over 162,000 miles!
Oct 22, 2012 at 5:17 p.m.
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2001 Celica - 260,000
Oct 22, 2012 at 3:53 p.m.
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I have a 1996 GMC Jimmy with 205,671 that has had a few bumps in the road. But running great now. I also Have a 1995 GMC Safari with 159,700, motor had the radiator leak (beginner driver) and burned the motor out. Put in a used motor from one that had only 70,000 mile on it and it runs great too! Another one I have is a 1997 Dodge Caravan with 135,000 mile on it. Runs awesome, Family good car. Also Have a 1987 GMC Sierra with 97,600 miles. Runs great with a little rust starting. Don't like new car payments and love how they made the old ones. That's a little over 500,000 miles and I just now have one that I don't need anymore. Kids grow up and get there own car. Good American made cars!
Oct 22, 2012 at 3:29 p.m.
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HG, we too have a Honda Goldwing (92) not sure at this moment how many miles are on it, but we also had to put an alternator & new back tire on this year, all while we were on vacation with it.
Oct 22, 2012 at 2:47 p.m.
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Got a '05 Chevy 2500 HD with the 6.6L Duramax. 139K on it atm. Been down in texas its whole life, besides a few trips here and there. Drove it home about 2 months ago, added like 3K to it round trip.
Oct 22, 2012 at 2:44 p.m.
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2007 Chrysler Sebring
172,000 miles, and counting
I drive every day from Delavan to Madison
Oct 22, 2012 at 2:06 p.m.
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Just turned 695K on my 2000 VW. Bought it new with 8 miles in Oct 1999
Oct 22, 2012 at 12:50 p.m.
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When I did commute 40 minutes. I still only put 12k on a year. I did all my errands on the way home vs making extra trips.
My fun car I put on about 1000 a year. Hubby does about 5-6k a year. I usually don't keep a car more than 3 years. I usually lease. I did buy a used car last year for my fun car because at 1000k miles a year in this case it was cheaper to buy used vs lease. Not much maintence at this mileage but I did put extended warranty on it.
Maynard- good warranty but read the tiny, tiny print- unless the repair costs more than the vehicle is worth. For example if 20 years down the road the engine breaks and the car is only worth $1000 it wont be covered. Still a nice engine and transmission warranty. You can get a "wrap" on that too. I don't know if it is too late to do this yet. Wrap/lifetime. Good deal.
badgerville- people who look at KBB trade will be offened at trade allownace values because if a dealership already has a discount they will show you wholesale value for their car. KBB cannot tell what wholesale is on a car. They have retail info and they have what is left- trade difference info. Therefore it is called "trade allownace" IF you take your discount-given to you by the dealer- and add it to wholesale amount given to you by the dealer you will then get the total "trade allownace". Trade allownace is NOT sale price for their car minus kbb trade allownace. Trade allownace is taken off of "retail" price not sale price. HOpe this helps clear up things. People get so angry about KBB- "trade in value" it is very deceiving to people.
also if 10 people plug in their car into KBB all 10 of these cars will NOT be the same in condition, been maintained the same, dirty or not,dents or not,transmission slipping etc car- fax, etc. You can only put in so much info on KBB. If car is in fair condiotion but it needs brakes and tires, transmission slips, has dents etc all these are deductions from the wholesale value. So what you thought was a KBB trade allownace of lets say $5000 becomes Actual cash value of $2000 or less. 1 because they didn't give you actual cash value(wholesale info) and you need brakes and tires- prob at least $500 to do this. of transmission is slipping it makes the car worth not much at all.
Oct 22, 2012 at 12:16 p.m.
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I have a 94 Ford Explorer with 198,000 miles on it. I do all the maintenance and repairs (which have been very very little) myself and I expect to get another 100,000 out of it easy. A little minor cosmetic issues to deal with and it will still look as good as a newer one. I think I will keep it a while longer. Its cheap transportaion.
Also have a 1994 Honda Goldwing motorcycle with 76,000 miles. Besides normal maintenance and an alternator this summer it has been trouble free for years.
Last but not least, I have a 1994 150CC scooter to play with. It has 10,000 miles on it and still going strong. I have even rode it as far as Marshfield and back in one trip.
I guess 1994 was a good year for all vehicles.
Oct 22, 2012 at 12:05 p.m.
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My spouse has an '08 Camry with 107,000K. We went to Hesser recently to trade but were insulted at the trade-in offered. We're going to put new tires on it and drive it until the wheels fall off. We're getting between 33-38mpg. on a regular basis. I doubt a new Camry could match that.
Oct 22, 2012 at 12:02 p.m.
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2005 Pontiac Grand Prix with 134,000 miles. Runs and drives like brand new - we are meticulous with the maintenance on it (Synthetic oil, etc). I am so bummed that they don't make Pontiacs anymore that I can't imagine getting rid of it yet because I don't know what I would want to replace it with. I haven't had to really replace anything on my 05' besides the tires. Still love it!
Oct 22, 2012 at 11:53 a.m.
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2000 Ford Explorer purchased in 2004 with 42K miles. Currently 224K miles, runs well. A little less than a year's worth of payments on my wife's car then I'll consider replacing mine though, assuming it's still operational, I'll probably keep it because I can pull my trailer with it.
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:55 a.m.
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'Million Mile Joe' drives a Honda!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF0L1YmcZ...
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:29 a.m.
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2009 smart car. I had about 15k miles on it when I moved in January (2012). I just hit 33,333 miles last Wednesday. 5 year 60,000 mile warranty... At first, I thought I would run out of time long before miles. I don't think so, anymore.
On another note, I have logged about 20,000 miles of fill-ups. My average fuel economy is 43.5 mpg. The high-low is a bit skewed due to what I have determined to be a technical issue with how pumps auto shut off. My high is 68.5 mpg and low is 32.7 mpg.
For a while I tried filling frequently to determine if a certain direction of a round trip I take was more fuel efficient. I came to the conclusion that sometimes a pump would put "extra" gas into my car, or "not enough" other times. If I got extra gas, the next time I would fill up the auto shut off on the pump would trigger "early". This made it seem that I used less gas than what I really did use (high fuel efficiency). The other side of the coin is, when I full up and receive extra gas, the shut off was essentially "late". This made it seem like I used more gas than what I really did (low fuel efficiency).
This is important to note. I frequently have people ask what I get for fuel economy. When I say about 43 mpg, some people scoff and boast the best they ever recorded. However, most people do not record their fuel economy nearly every time they fill up. (Those 20k miles I have logged are all consecutive). If I only reported my best, it would not only blow others out of the water, but it would be inaccurate.
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:18 a.m.
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Miles on a vehicle are irrelevant to 95% of what people think they relate to. Engines for example, they dont travel distances they go by RPM's. Most 4cyl econobox cars are geared down because they have no power, the engine runs twice the RPM's of a larger engined vehicle. Climate, driving habbits, how well you care for it... all play a part. A 100k miles put on a vehicle by two different people could mean the complete opposite. Other than tires... miles are meaningless for the most part. One of my cars has 170k on it and it runs and drives like new yet. Ive had some with considerably less miles and had everything going to hell.
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:13 a.m.
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2011 Impala. Purchased early 2011. Almost 50,000 miles already. I drive from Janesville to Madison 5 days a week for work.
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:10 a.m.
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My 05 Equinox has 140k just recently started replacing things like shocks and struts other than that its just been tires, brakes and regular oil changes, runs great, plan on keeping it for at least another 60k. I have only put 17k on it in a little over 2 years prior to that I Was putting on 1000k a week from my commute to work, I prefer this way much better.
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:03 a.m.
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1994 Chrysler Town and Country...Purchased used in 2001 with 96000 miles as we outgrew our car. Now it has 212000.
Oct 22, 2012 at 9:01 a.m.
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2008 Taurus X bought in '09 with about 35K on it, now has 114K. I go from Edgerton to the far west side of Madison for work and back up to Madison's east side for church Saturday and/or Sunday depending on my serving schedule. My wife's car is a 2007 Freestar bought in '08 with about 30K on it, now has 140K. Very similar drive to work, plus she uses for driving FOR her work. Crazy!
Oct 22, 2012 at 8:57 a.m.
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2004 Nissan Frontier, 2wd. I bought it in 2006 with 27K on it, it now has 111K. Hoping for 250.
Oct 22, 2012 at 8:49 a.m.
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2007 Dodge Caravan with 113,000+. Just had the required 5 year checkup and everything fine. Checkup needed because vehicle has a lifetime powertrain warranty on it as one of the sales incentives at the time. So have driven one set of tires off of it and plan on keeping it for many years. It serves my purposes and gets anywhere from 23mpg overall driving to 28 mpg pure highway. A great all around vehicle that is multi-functional. As long as I can get them, at least one of my vehicles will probably be a minivan.
Oct 22, 2012 at 8:27 a.m.
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I have a 2000 Mazda with a little over 44,000 miles. Runs like a charm.
Oct 22, 2012 at 8 a.m.
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Our truck is a 1994 Chevy Silverado and is just under 100,000k, looks like brand new (so many people comment on it) Has been taken care of very well and not driven a whole lot in the winters.
Oct 22, 2012 at 7:40 a.m.
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My 2001 Lexus has 260,000 miles on it and it still runs great.
Oct 22, 2012 at 7:23 a.m.
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I just got my car a little more than a month ago and it's got less then 2000 miles on it.
Zoom-zoom!
Oct 22, 2012 at 7:02 a.m.
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Six years old, 130,000 miles. I have commuted over 300,000 miles in my life. I hope to make 200,000 on this car.
Oct 22, 2012 at 7:01 a.m.
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I've never purchased a brand new car--by choice. Drive it off the lot, and it loses at least 30% of its value. Today's cars are good for 200K--if you don't mind the little things that stop working along the way. Currently, my wife's car has 180K and mine has 160K miles. Our oldest daughter's car has 240K miles. My first brand new car will likely be a Volt.
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