Thread: 2,000,000km on the clock

This article about a ‘93 Corolla with 2 million km on the clock caught my eye…



https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui...3Y3UQEJWWNX74/

Ultra high kilometre passenger cars is always been something that has interested me. In various places around the world I have been in taxis that have had really high mileage - 800,000km+ Ford Falcons in Aus, million km+ Mercs in Europe. From memory, my record was 1.3 million km on a Peugeot 504 estate in Cairo. That car was pimped with burgundy velvet throughout…. As a way to pass the time it was a question I used to ask the taxi driver if I thought a car looked well worn.

When I was a youngster I used to drive a cab in our local town for beer and trips money, Vauxhall Cavaliers, the worst shit heaps imaginable, which thinking back was remarkable for a supposedly onto it country like the UK. Pretty sure the owner used to do his own MOTs… Those cabs were worse than the ones in Egypt! The backseats were mostly made of dried vomit. The closing time run on a Friday and Saturday was messy…. Anyway they were nowhere near 1 million km.

When I lived in outback Australia there were a few Land Cruisers kicking around that had done over 1 million. 80 and 100 series. From what I remember talking to the owners most of those had as a minimum rebuilt the gearbox.

But I’ve never come across one that’s done two mil and rising! And the incredible thing is this Corolla still has the original motor and gearbox.

Can anyone beat that? Trucks don’t count!

I think the last time I posted about this was the Hilux driving postie in Otago, whose car went over 1 million.

I can’t get my head around how you could enjoy driving from Wellington to New Plymouth and back again every day, 6 days a week. That’s, er, repetitive.

Curious to what they mean when they say it's both never been worked but is regularly serviced. 2,000,000kms is impressive regardless but I don't see regularly services just being an oil change once a week.

Seems highly unlikely that the brakes or any suspension components have never been replaced. It mentions wheel bearings and camel but doesn't say anything about batteries or alternator.

Would also like to see what the drivers seat looks like as I imagine the foam and trim has had a very hard life.

Originally Posted by Beetroot

Curious to what they mean when they say it's both never been worked but is regularly serviced. 2,000,000kms is impressive regardless but I don't see regularly services just being an oil change once a week.

Seems highly unlikely that the brakes or any suspension components have never been replaced. It mentions wheel bearings and camel but doesn't say anything about batteries or alternator.

Would also like to see what the drivers seat looks like as I imagine the foam and trim has had a very hard life.

Typical Land Rover owner envy!

Originally Posted by Mohawk .308

Serviced every two weeks…

yup, that was every 10,000km from what I heard.
My 1992 van gets that treatment. Hope it lasts even half that many kms!

Thats an expressive innings for sure!
Article was a little vague but surely there was at least a rings and bearings "rebuild" or some shocks or brake pads or disks or a clutch or 3 etc.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Typical Land Rover owner envy!

Yeah, Yeah I know all Land Rovers are shit. Did stumble across this article a few months ago.
https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/4x4s...-540-000-miles


I just would like to know what counts and regular servicing and what is component failure.

Spark plugs and leads: Service items
Shocks: Somewhat service items
Suspension ball joints: Questionable service items
Alternator: Not a service item
Water pump: Service item

2,000,000kms is impressive regardless, and I fully appreciate it's outside of the scope of the article to go to this level of detail, but I'd be interested to know what people consider component failure vs service items.

The above website has a few Japanese 4x4s with impressively high mileage but all have had some degree of compent failure but nothing that would be considered unreasonable for age and KMs.
https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/farm...ock-1-3m-miles

I did 810000km in my Mitzi L300, got a bit sluggish on the hills but mechanically best vehicle I’ve ever owned. Oil and filter every 10000, fuel filter and air filter every 50000 and all the belts and water pump every 100000. Still see it around it will probably be the only thing that outlives Keith Richards

An electric vehicle would pay for its self in his use case pretty quickly. Problem being would be charge times. There is a couple of vans available now that have the room and okay range. But Tesla has better range and much faster charging times.

The only servicing would be brake, gearbox and power steering fluids. Then the normal drive train consumables.
The downside would be added 45 mins to a hour each day
Charging. But easy enough to stop at charging stations during breaks and lunch.
Probably doesnt want to wait.

I hope its had bushes and shocks replaced more than once. Otherwise it would probably drive as well as a drunk trying to make their way down the hall to the toilet.

Ive had 2 Hiace diesel shuttles that did over a million k before I sold them at 10 years old. Original motors. Another running on LPG over a million k. When we pulled it down had 3thou wear in the bore. Ive had several recently that had done 800000 k before I sold them and I have currently got 2 diesel hiaces with 653000 and 655000. The secret is to service (oil and filters including fuel filters0 every 7 to 10000k.

My old man had a Corolla the same as in the Herald article, it only lasted to 960,000km though when cylinder #3 let go. It was on it's 2nd gearbox but original clutch. Window wiper linkage destroyed itself at 800K km odd, can't remember hearing about much else going wrong. He swore by Repco brand oil, something about the molybdenum disulfide.

Yeah, can't see the economics working out on an EV doing those sorts of km. Early Tesla models have been around for a decade or so now, and I'm sure if they were doing a million km, their praises would be being sung from the rooftops...but no...crickets.

I had a look at the Tesla site - 40 miles per hour charge time.

A vehicle that had travelled one million kilometres would have spent 14,204 hours on charge. That's about 18 months 24/7.

That is for wall charging. Super chargers can supply ~275km per hour. 1000+ on the next generation that are not installed in nz
https://www.tesla.com/en_nz/supercharger

Originally Posted by Kopua Cowboy

My old man had a Corolla the same as in the Herald article, it only lasted to 960,000km though when cylinder #3 let go. It was on it's 2nd gearbox but original clutch. Window wiper linkage destroyed itself at 800K km odd, can't remember hearing about much else going wrong. He swore by Repco brand oil, something about the molybdenum disulfide.

repco oil was/is penrite oil