7 ms·

That car has been driven 30,000 miles in ONE year. How would a gas car do with that kind of non-stop driving?

by ck2 12y ago

cheald 12y ago
Ask anyone that runs a rental car fleet.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Rental car fleets usually dump their cars between 30K-40K miles, depending on the brand. Its cheaper to just buy new cars and sell the used ones.
Spooky23 12y ago
Fine. My dad used to put 150k miles on a mid 90s Ford Escort annually. The car was taken out by a deer at 480k and totaled.
- Hytosys 12y ago
  Something tells me that the deer's representative would object that it was actually the deer who got taken out by a car.
- codezero 12y ago
  That almost sounds impossible. Do you mind me asking what he did, driving for so many hours a day? At 150k a year, that amounts to over 410 miles a day, which is 6-10 hours of driving at normal speeds, quite a feat!
  - ufmace 12y ago
    Assuming that the car was driven that much every single day of the year, including weekends, holidays, vacations, family emergencies, etc.
    - codezero 12y ago
      Yeah. I was giving the benefit of the doubt. The numbers look better if you assume every day. If it's not, then it's nearly superhuman :)
  - prawn 12y ago
    Courier of some sort? Seven days a week, 80 km/h still makes for 8+ hours/day which is pretty insane. Or a 4-hour each way commute for a Mon-Fri work week. Or 3 hours each way for seven days a week at 110km. That'd be soul destroying.
    - ghshephard 12y ago
      I have a co-worker who has a 4 day a week - 112 mile commute into work (Sacramento into Redwood City) - by avoiding rush hour he does it in a little over 2 hours each way, he puts almost 50,000 miles/year onto his vehicle. I thought that was the most insane soul crushing thing I had ever heard of.
      - codezero 12y ago
        Why does your co-worker do that? Redwood City, or even areas in the south bay are reasonably affordable, especially if you adjust for the cost of fuel and attrition from that commute.
        prawn 12y ago
        I'm guessing family ties in the current location and then the abstraction of fuel use from fuel costs? I complain about my 6km (4 mile) commute which takes about 10-15 minutes. Cannot fathom driving hours daily to do work. Even with ridesharing or podcasts or whatever else, that strikes me as a huge waste of life time.
        ghshephard 12y ago
        He owns a house there, has family ties there, etc... One thing I've noticed about many of my colleagues in California - when they get a new job, they don't move. Indeed, I've actually had colleagues who've changed the company they work at to reduce their commute, rather than just moving.
        mdo2 12y ago
        Unintended consequences of prop 13
  - Spooky23 12y ago
    You're right! He commuted about 150 miles each day for a few years. I actually got the number wrong -- it was more like 75k miles a year. (I called him and asked, I thought he had that car for a shorter time than he actually did) We moved after my dad and my mom got jobs, but he basically got laid off due to a restructuring on his first day. Due to some complications with pension/benefits, it was very expensive for him to go somewhere else, so he ended up going back to his old job. I did know a few people who had extreme driving conditions. Our neighbor was an RFD postal carrier who had to drive a personal vehicle for delivery. His mileage wasn't extreme, but he replaced his brake pads monthly.
- ck2 12y ago
  That is 400 miles a day and 7 hours of driving @ 60mph. It is actually more miles than you can get on one tank of gas in an Escort. I owned one, decent car but it needs a lot of maintenance.
schwap 12y ago
Not that badly, really: 8x oil change 4x inspect brakes & rotate tires (tesla would need this, too) 2x inspect axle boots and axle shaft joints, inspect clutch operation, inspect steering and suspension (tesla, too) and 1x (right at 30k): inspect drive belts inspect timing belt replace automatic transmission fluid replace brake fluid (tesla, too) replace engine air filter replace engine coolant (tesla, although different) replace front/rear diff fluid replace manual transmission fluid
- gambiting 12y ago
  >> 8x oil change what? Are you changing your oil every 3.5k miles?
  - ansible 12y ago
    Recommendations for some brand new cars is an oil change once every 10k miles. This is because of the design of the newer engines, the synthetic oil, etc..
    - gambiting 12y ago
      Mine says in the warranty booklet that I should change oil once a year or every 18,000 miles, whichever comes first. I've just done my first 10k miles and I rang the official Nissan garage asking if I need to do an oil change - they said that if I haven't done the mileage indicated in the warranty booklet yet then there is no need to change oil yet. That's why I am surprised that OP suggests 8 oil changes for 30k miles driven.
      - TwiztidK 12y ago
        The "rule of thumb" I was told when I got my first car was to change the oil every 3 months or every 3000 miles, whichever came first. My current vehicle requires oil changes at 7.5k miles or 7.5 months, sooner under "severe" driving, so that rule has definitely changed.
  - chiph 12y ago
akgerber 12y ago
Taxis do it a lot. There are plenty of Prius taxis out there, and they seem to do pretty well too.
sliverstorm 12y ago
Ask just about anybody with a 1-hour (freeway) commute. For example, anybody who lives in SF and commutes by car to Cupertino.
- johnward 12y ago
  Hours don't really matter though. I have a 2 hour commute one way but it's only about 55 miles. That's about 38k miles commuting to work if I drive every day, which I don't. Getting to 150k in a year could be a challenge. edit: I thought you were replying to the guy that said he did 150k per year. Tons of people do 30k per year with basic maintenance.
sz4kerto 12y ago
I have a Citroen (the brand does not have too good reputation for reliability), and obviously it's anecdotal, but in 30k miles (in 1.5 years) nothing happened (except oil/filter changes). I expect that to continue for the next 100k miles.
mikeash 12y ago
As long as the actual driving is normal, it shouldn't matter. Cars don't need rest and time isn't kind to them. Continuous driving is the ideal state for the longevity (in terms of miles) of a car. 30,000 miles in one year should be better, not worse, than 30,000 miles spaced out over 2-3 years as would be more typical. A modern, reliable car is virtually good as new at 30,000 miles with routine maintenance. Doing it all in one year wouldn't change that.
lttlrck 12y ago
30,000 miles a year is really not that much if you are a taxi driver or traveling salesperson/rep. A friend put 180,000km on MB C240 in two years. No issues.

That car has been driven 30,000 miles in ONE year. How would a gas car do with that kind of non-stop driving?

by ck2 12y ago

That car has been driven 30,000 miles in ONE year. How would a gas car do with that kind of non-stop driving?

cheald 12y ago

Ask anyone that runs a rental car fleet.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
Rental car fleets usually dump their cars between 30K-40K miles, depending on the brand. Its cheaper to just buy new cars and sell the used ones.

Spooky23 12y ago

Fine. My dad used to put 150k miles on a mid 90s Ford Escort annually. The car was taken out by a deer at 480k and totaled.

Hytosys 12y ago
Something tells me that the deer's representative would object that it was actually the deer who got taken out by a car.
codezero 12y ago
That almost sounds impossible. Do you mind me asking what he did, driving for so many hours a day? At 150k a year, that amounts to over 410 miles a day, which is 6-10 hours of driving at normal speeds, quite a feat!
- ufmace 12y ago
  Assuming that the car was driven that much every single day of the year, including weekends, holidays, vacations, family emergencies, etc.
  - codezero 12y ago
    Yeah. I was giving the benefit of the doubt. The numbers look better if you assume every day. If it's not, then it's nearly superhuman :)
- prawn 12y ago
  Courier of some sort? Seven days a week, 80 km/h still makes for 8+ hours/day which is pretty insane. Or a 4-hour each way commute for a Mon-Fri work week. Or 3 hours each way for seven days a week at 110km. That'd be soul destroying.
  - ghshephard 12y ago
    I have a co-worker who has a 4 day a week - 112 mile commute into work (Sacramento into Redwood City) - by avoiding rush hour he does it in a little over 2 hours each way, he puts almost 50,000 miles/year onto his vehicle. I thought that was the most insane soul crushing thing I had ever heard of.
    - codezero 12y ago
      Why does your co-worker do that? Redwood City, or even areas in the south bay are reasonably affordable, especially if you adjust for the cost of fuel and attrition from that commute.
      - prawn 12y ago
        I'm guessing family ties in the current location and then the abstraction of fuel use from fuel costs? I complain about my 6km (4 mile) commute which takes about 10-15 minutes. Cannot fathom driving hours daily to do work. Even with ridesharing or podcasts or whatever else, that strikes me as a huge waste of life time.
      - ghshephard 12y ago
        He owns a house there, has family ties there, etc... One thing I've noticed about many of my colleagues in California - when they get a new job, they don't move. Indeed, I've actually had colleagues who've changed the company they work at to reduce their commute, rather than just moving.
        mdo2 12y ago
        Unintended consequences of prop 13
- Spooky23 12y ago
  You're right! He commuted about 150 miles each day for a few years. I actually got the number wrong -- it was more like 75k miles a year. (I called him and asked, I thought he had that car for a shorter time than he actually did) We moved after my dad and my mom got jobs, but he basically got laid off due to a restructuring on his first day. Due to some complications with pension/benefits, it was very expensive for him to go somewhere else, so he ended up going back to his old job. I did know a few people who had extreme driving conditions. Our neighbor was an RFD postal carrier who had to drive a personal vehicle for delivery. His mileage wasn't extreme, but he replaced his brake pads monthly.
ck2 12y ago
That is 400 miles a day and 7 hours of driving @ 60mph. It is actually more miles than you can get on one tank of gas in an Escort. I owned one, decent car but it needs a lot of maintenance.

schwap 12y ago

Not that badly, really: 8x oil change 4x inspect brakes & rotate tires (tesla would need this, too) 2x inspect axle boots and axle shaft joints, inspect clutch operation, inspect steering and suspension (tesla, too) and 1x (right at 30k): inspect drive belts inspect timing belt replace automatic transmission fluid replace brake fluid (tesla, too) replace engine air filter replace engine coolant (tesla, although different) replace front/rear diff fluid replace manual transmission fluid

gambiting 12y ago
>> 8x oil change what? Are you changing your oil every 3.5k miles?
- ansible 12y ago
  Recommendations for some brand new cars is an oil change once every 10k miles. This is because of the design of the newer engines, the synthetic oil, etc..
  - gambiting 12y ago
    Mine says in the warranty booklet that I should change oil once a year or every 18,000 miles, whichever comes first. I've just done my first 10k miles and I rang the official Nissan garage asking if I need to do an oil change - they said that if I haven't done the mileage indicated in the warranty booklet yet then there is no need to change oil yet. That's why I am surprised that OP suggests 8 oil changes for 30k miles driven.
    - TwiztidK 12y ago
      The "rule of thumb" I was told when I got my first car was to change the oil every 3 months or every 3000 miles, whichever came first. My current vehicle requires oil changes at 7.5k miles or 7.5 months, sooner under "severe" driving, so that rule has definitely changed.
- chiph 12y ago

akgerber 12y ago

Taxis do it a lot. There are plenty of Prius taxis out there, and they seem to do pretty well too.

sliverstorm 12y ago

Ask just about anybody with a 1-hour (freeway) commute. For example, anybody who lives in SF and commutes by car to Cupertino.

johnward 12y ago
Hours don't really matter though. I have a 2 hour commute one way but it's only about 55 miles. That's about 38k miles commuting to work if I drive every day, which I don't. Getting to 150k in a year could be a challenge. edit: I thought you were replying to the guy that said he did 150k per year. Tons of people do 30k per year with basic maintenance.

sz4kerto 12y ago

I have a Citroen (the brand does not have too good reputation for reliability), and obviously it's anecdotal, but in 30k miles (in 1.5 years) nothing happened (except oil/filter changes). I expect that to continue for the next 100k miles.

mikeash 12y ago

As long as the actual driving is normal, it shouldn't matter. Cars don't need rest and time isn't kind to them. Continuous driving is the ideal state for the longevity (in terms of miles) of a car. 30,000 miles in one year should be better, not worse, than 30,000 miles spaced out over 2-3 years as would be more typical. A modern, reliable car is virtually good as new at 30,000 miles with routine maintenance. Doing it all in one year wouldn't change that.

lttlrck 12y ago

30,000 miles a year is really not that much if you are a taxi driver or traveling salesperson/rep. A friend put 180,000km on MB C240 in two years. No issues.