Cue the theme music, because it is time for another round of Who Wants to be a Mileage Millionaire!
In these virtual pages we’ve seen our share of diesel duallys and high mileage Benzes, but perhaps like me, you crave something different. A little art-house cinema to counter the wave of superhero movies. Therefore, I submit for your consideration some of the most interesting or unique high mileage vehicles for sale in the US.
A quick refresher on the rules: All vehicles must have over 300,000 miles, as verified by either an odometer photo or CarFAX report, and be currently for sale in the US (we’ll take a look at other countries in future installments). As always, I am including a link to the original listing for the purposes of further research or, should you be so inclined, to adopt one of these poor animals for yourself.
2006 Kia Spectra EX – 303,749 Miles (488,837 km) – $2,500
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/775733914/overview/
At 303,749 miles, this Kia Spectra just makes the mileage cut, but really, good luck finding one with higher mileage. There is a reason you don’t see many entry-level econoboxes in the Mileage Millionaire club, and it is not hard to figure out why. These cars were cheap to begin with (sticker price for 2006 Spectra EX: $15,695), and by the time they get to this mileage level, even a modest repair can end up costing more than the car is worth. This car is just a timing belt or head gasket away from being featured in one of Jim Klein’s junkyard posts, with the usual comments wondering why someone would scrap a car in such good shape.
Luckily for all of us, this Spectra seems to have escaped the fate that most of its siblings have surely suffered by now. Study it well, as could very well be the first and last time we see a Kia Spectra with this kind of mileage.
In any case, cheap to buy apparently doesn’t mean cheap. It seems to have held up reasonably well: Other than some cushion collapse, I don’t really see any tears or pulled seams on the seats.
2007 Toyota Prius – 306,354 Miles (493,029 km) – $3,998
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/781508652/overview/
Holy crap! I did a triple-take when I saw this: A Toyota Prius with over 300,000 miles? I guess concerns about the long term durability of hybrid cars may be a little overblown after all.
It is a little difficult to see in this shot, but the trip computer is reporting an average of 44.8 mpg. One has to wonder over how many hundreds of thousands of miles that average represents.
The question that sprang to my mind right away (and probably yours, too): Is this still rolling on the original battery? I pored over the CarFax, and while there were lots of dealer service records, nothing explicitly indicated that the battery was ever replaced, so we may never know for sure.
2007 Toyota Camry Solara SLE – 320,515 miles (515,819 km) – $3,695
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/786303360/overview/
This marks the first convertible to be featured in a Millionaire post. To turn a phrase from Doc Brown in Back to the Future, if you are going to drive a lot of miles, you might as well do it in style! There is no odometer shot for this car, but I did confirm the mileage on the CarFAX.
The CarFAX revealed a few other interesting tidbits: For starters, that this car was owned by a single owner for its entire twelve years. But even more interesting is where it spent those twelve years: One would expect a high mileage convertible to come from California, Florida, or some other climate conducive to year-round open top motoring. But no, the original owner lived in the central Ohio hamlet of Mansfield, only about an hour or so away from my residence in Cleveland, where I can assure you that top-down motoring is out of the question for about five or six months out of the year. Clearly many of these miles were earned with the top in the raised position.
2007 Volvo XC70 2.5T – 318,880 Miles (513,188 km) – $3,995
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/767156209/overview/
While Volvos have a well-deserved reputation for durability, they seldom turn up in my searches for high-mileage vehicles. Are they done in early by high repair costs? I will leave it to commenters to speculate.
No interior shots are available, but the picture of the odometer confirms the stated mileage.
Of course these are some boring-ass cars. I am amazed that the interiors looks so good (especially the seats). And that many miles on a freakin Kia Spectre?!! Usually the type of people who bought these were generally not too knowledgeable on cars or how to look after them.
They may not have all been knowledgeable on cars, but some, like this one, may have followed the helpful advice of their dealer’s service department, or a trusted relative.
I vaguely recall reading once that, even on the most carely maintained and driven vehicles, it’s the seats that eventually give out and the reason they ultimately succumb to the ravages of time.
I think it was the explanation given for the longevity of that million-mile Volvo.
Ive parted with many a car because the seats became rough on my back. Another reason is rust. And then there is electrical problems. Chasing electrical problems can easily exceed the value of the car. Very rarely does a reputable car die nowdays because the engine legitimately wore out. If it is shot its probably due to an oil leak the owner didn’t stay on top of.
Plenty of all V70s with high mileage available in Denmark. Cars over here are so expensive that the repair would have to be substantial to scrap a Volvo. This car was north of 100.000usd new in Denmark.
The difference with the more modern Volvo and the older ones is that someone moderately skilled in auto wrenching can bring a pre-FWD model back to life. And get cheap upgrades: my 240 wagon had wider wheels, stronger alternator, etc from 7-series junkyard finds.
By 2007 Volvo was not only charging for software upgrades during PM’s, some dealers were adding an additional charge just for downloading the update from Volvo. At a certain point repairs were held out of reach for people without a dealer account.
No wonder they discontinued their mileage badges at a certain point, they became very well built disposable luxury cars.
Really happy to see the high-mileage Prius. I like that design, it wouldn’t look so out of place to have chevrons for manufacturer badge on those.
Can we say; “Bosch Motronic”?
Nice try!
I’ll agree the RWD Volvos are easier and cheaper to wrench on, but the early FWD P80s aren’t too bad. It’s the P2s that get dicey in the reliability department. My 98 V70 had 282,000 miles on it on the original engine, trans, and turbo, and it was still running when I sold it.
Now I’m going to have to look inside every junked Spectra I see for evidence of higher mileage, be it an oil change sticker or paperwork in the glovebox since the odo is digital….
It’s amazing what proper maintenance and upkeep can accomplish. Combine that with good driving practices and careful driving. Most modern cars can easily top 200,000 miles with normal care. While prolonged warm ups are no longer necessary or desirable, it makes good sense to let the motor idle for a bit before engaging gear in the morning and taking it easy on acceleration until the mechanicals have warmed up. Some people have awful driving habits. I know people that will be backing up, then engage forward drive before the car has come to a complete stop. Then they wonder why they develop transmission problems.
To obtain over 200,000 (300,000 kms plus) is an achievement, to say the least, in the rust belt. If the mechanicals hold up, the body and underside parts are likely to succumb to corrosion before their end of life.
Don’t you rustproof them? That is what many do in Northern Europe and many cars survive well past 300.000 miles. There aught to be a market for a business like that if it’s not a thing.
As I’ve said before, it is often the care of the owner that lets a car get to ultra mileage, as much as the car’s reputation.
I always find it amusing (and sad) when you’d see two very similar examples of a specific car model driven by two different owners over the course of a few years. One may still look brand new after five years. While the other is already showing dents and rust, and other signs of general neglect. Even if the owners have accumulated similar mileage.
A few ways I’ve managed to keep interiors looking very good, is to not leave stuff sitting around inside to collect dust or dirt. While removing papers, stuff from under seats, etc., each time I leave the car. And to vacuum, and wash it at least once a season. Usually a few times.
Another biggie is buying oversized winter floor mats with deep troughs, for holding and channelling melted salt water. So, the carpets stay dry. And draining and washing the mats regularly at the self serve car washes in winter. Your carpets can continue to look great for years, even in salt country.
Priuses really are tough bastards. I remember reading a Polish Motor magazine article about used Priuses, and they featured a case study of a working 900k km (~560k mi) ex-taxi one.
The kicker? It still had original batteries.
Yep. I have a friend with a Prius of this generation, bought new, that she utterly neglects the hell out of (she can barely remember to put gas in it, much less change the oil on schedule) and hers crossed 200k miles a while ago with zero issues so far…
For that generation of Prius I’d give it at least a 75% chance that it has a completely original untouched battery. Lots of Escape Hybrids used in taxi service did 300k, 400k or more on their completely untouched, original batteries.
I’d think with a hybrid if the battery gets weak the gas engine can take up the slack. Not sure about if it goes dead completely – not long ago on one of the judge shows (either Judge Judy or Hot Bench) someone was suing over a late model hybrid that wouldn’t run because the battery had completely died.
It depends on the type of system. With the Ford fwd and Toyota systems if the battery has a bad cell or other problem it can prevent the car from running. On the other hand systems like the original Insight you can actually disconnect the HV battery and still operate the car, with of course lower fuel economy. In fact you were supposed to turn off the battery at every service and start the car to operate the traditional “emergency” starter to keep it working.
There are MANY 300K plus mile Prius out there. The infrastructure is so robust and easy to work on that even if an expensive item turns up its a snap to drop in the new part, and cheaper to do so than buying a new car. Mine has 221,000 miles and climbing fast, the interior looks like maybe 40,000 miles of wear. I just spent 400 on new KYB strut assemblies front and rear and can’t wait to install them. And yes, the original battery is still chugging along.
That sure is a lot of unpainted Rubbermaid™ plastic on that Volvo. I thought that was considered kind of a premium vehicle. It just looks so cheap like that.
Or was the bumper replaced and not painted?
I’m being serious. My friend bought a new 2001 base-model Caravan and it had the gray unpainted bumpers so I thought that was a cheap car thing.
Except for the Honda Element, which somehow pushed off the plastic-tote look as something to be proud of. Nice try, Honda. Paint the whole car, please.
“Don’t con me, Biff.”
Is it like eyeglasses, where what used to be the cheapest plastic 1950s look is now sold as the high-end stuff?
Forgive my ignorance on Volvos. Around me they are all but nonexistent.
My rant kinda came out of nowhere. But I kept it in here anyway.
Yeah, a Prius with 300k isn’t that big a deal. It’s become the go-to taxi/rideshare car for a reason. That one looks really nice for a 300k car but it could just be a combination of professional dealer detailing and Barcelona Red Pearl.
A high mileage Prius isnt a surprise as others have noted they are popular as taxi cabs and certainly pile on the kilometers in that role, and you dont see dead ones being towed away either, I’m on night shift and crossing our largest city Auckland regularly I see quite a few of them out and about, Ubers quite possibly Wellington has a large fleet painted or more likely wrapped glo green as taxis, As for high Km hyundais i saw a post somewhere could have been jalopnick of a woman who delivers car parts for a living who had racked up one million miles in a Hyundai Lantra, Hyundai swapped her a new one for and took it away, there wasnt anything wrong with it yet, Kia is made by the same company so that one is nearly broken in.
Yes, these are not the “usual suspects” for super high mile cars. Someone certainly got his/her money out of that Kia. Actually, the Kia may be the one that is the fewest miles over the warranty limit. 🙂
The Spectra is the big surprise in this bunch but shows that with care and attention even the least “desirable” cars can be quite long-lasting. The interior, at least in the pictures, looks to be in excellent condition as well. At around 25,000 miles per year this may just have been someone’s 50mile each way commuter car; if that commute didn’t have much traffic or weather then an hour in the car each way is probably quite doable for most people for a long time. If nothing serious went wrong in the original 100k mile warranty period, then yeah keep driving it, at that point a 4year old Spectra with 100k miles was already quite depreciated. Someone surely got their money’s worth and most likely purchased it for well below the sticker price to begin with.
When I look at the photographs it looks like that 2006 Kia Spectra EX does not have cruise control! I cannot imagine driving a car for over 300K Miles with no cruise control since driving 40K Miles in my Caravan with no cruise control was torture at times.
Do not underestimate the Spectra. My wife had an 06 bought off the back row at the buy here/pay here of choice. We kept it for two years, got over 150k, and is the reason our current Sedona is in the driveway. Actually, after those two experiences Kia’s are very high on our list for future transportation.
I’m surprised the Prius hasn’t burned out its instrument cluster at that mileage. Taxi fleets in my area usually burn out the instrument cluster at about 400,000 km (250,000 miles) and fit replacement clusters that don’t show the original mileage. Perhaps this car wasn’t run 24/7 and its instrument cluster actually got to cool down from time to time.
You can easily replace one yourself with a professionally rebuilt one flashed to your VIN for $150 US. It as quite a relief when I did mine!