Mark Frank
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2001
- Messages
- 109
Chris - I was going to post the same thing, LOL.
hopefully you're not in a hurryNope...never in that much of a hurry to part with more than 15K.
I think I may switch over to the GM camp because the Venture is more in my price point and I have more choice with lower K. Montana has WAY TOO MUCH body cladding for my tastes and it's pricer than the Chev for the same thing. Obviously brand loyalty means very little to me. Have to admit I've never liked Ford that much (that's me personally...all you Ford lovers, don't get your panties in a knot)...so the Windstar is not high on my list.
Moms '92 Chev Lumina mini-van purchased 4 or 5 years old with approx 250,000km on itYour Mom's Chevy dustbuster...errr, I mean Lumina van probably had the 3.8L V6 (or maybe the 3.1L). GM's most reliable and long-lasting V6 engines (especially the 3800). I drove a Chevy dustbuster (3.8L) that had over 280,000 miles on it for the auto auction I used to work for. The van ran great!
Anyone that has ever owned a GM 3.8 for a long time will probably tell you how long lasting they are. However, most other van engines are not quite in the same league (and many vans have transmission problems at higher miles).
Highway miles are definitely better to have on a car than the same number of city miles.Yeah, I think the original reason for this statement was when people would hear about a car with 80,000, they'd immediately think of an OLD beat-up car, but when we say "it was all highway mileage", we then think of a nice/new car. It's definitely a bit psychological.
The "Highway Mileage" routine may also give you a better idea of how much the engine has been used...
Example: (Sorry Canadians, but I can't use metric)
Let's take 2 cars that are both year 2000 models (exactly the same make and model) and they both have 60,000 miles on them (approx. 20,000/year):
If you average 60 mph for highway driving, that's 1 mile per hour. This means the car has been on the road for 60,000 hours whereas the car that has city mileage (let's average 30mph) would have to have been on the road for 120,000 hours.
Does this mean much? Who knows...But there has to be some merit in the fact that the engine in one car ran for 120,000 hours where the other has only run for 60,000. Considering most engines are built to handle highway driving, I think it's fair to assume that the car with the highway mileage is probably in better condition.
But these statistics never account for how well the owner took care of the car, so you're kinda back to square one. :frowning:
If you average 60 mph for highway driving, that's 1 mile per hour. This means the car has been on the road for 60,000 hours whereas the car that has city mileage (let's average 30mph) would have to have been on the road for 120,000 hours.Mark, I had never thought of it that way. I know highway miles are better, but I never really thought of why too much (besides less steering/brakes/suspension wear). I am going to remember that!
If you average 60 mph for highway driving, that's 1 mile per hour.It's actually 1 mile per minute (my mistake). That's where I goofed in my math.
But hopefully the point about the engine running (on the highway mileage car) is half that of the city mileage car was made clear (even if my numbers were off)
So, 2 cars with 60,000 miles on them:
City mileage (averaging 30mph) = 2,000 hours engine running time
Highway Mileage (averaging 60mph) = 1,000 hours engine running time