How do you guys clock up the miles?

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alan s
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How do you guys clock up the miles?

Post by alan s »

I live in a country so big that the UK & Europe could almost disappear in it; when I say this, I'm not being disrespectful or trying to sound like the old stories of the Texas cowboys but Australia is a big place. Fly over any section & you'll soon see what I mean.
Out here, the average mileage for a car is around 20,000 klms a year, in fact most would be lucky to get that far, hence a car advertised for sale, say a 10 year old car with 180 - 220,000 klms would be considered "average mileage" whilst a car with say, 300,000 would be "above average" one with 400,000 "high mileage."
My last 2 cars I've bought have come from Sydney, which is about 1500klms by road, and over a couple of sections you drive for about 2 hours without seeing a house or sometimes a car even.
When I take my kids to school, it's a 20 klms round trip and when I go to the "big smoke" I can count on travelling around 800 to 1000 klms for the day depending on what I have to do whilst there, which begs the question, how do some of you guys get these stellar mileages you do confined to a country that isn't much longer than a trip to the shop for some of our outback dwellers?
Is it that we have such restricted speed limits so hence it takes forever to get anywhere (100 - 110 kph open road...50 - 60 kph in suburban areas) is it the crappy roads that don't encourage too much travelling, is it that we tend to have attractions that we tend to visit closer to home than over there or is it that time spent driving is time lost drinking & hence considered non productive?[:p][:p][:D]
I've seen lots of big miles quoted on this board including a BX with 900,000 miles which would have to be multiples of what a Taxi would do in Australia.
Anybody got any clues?
Alan S
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Post by Linegeist »

I find that, living in France, most of my mileage is done trying to find either:
1. Somewhere useful that's not on holiday - fat chance then!!
2. Somewhere that actually HAS the part I need - you have to ORDER an alternator drivebelt from a Citroen MAIN DEALER for Pierre's sake!!!
3. Somewhere that is actually where these blasted French maps says it really is......!! (I think it's a Napoleonic disinformation system in case the English invaded - that was never repealed)
France is also a big country - especially to the French!! You can drive alot of miles trying to find exotic stuff like - a rheostat, or, erm - a set of metric combination spanners!!!!!! They don't like DIY very much - and if you fix your own car over here, mechanics spit at you...... [:D][:D][:D]
Any Vacancies, Alan????
ralph
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Post by ralph »

My Xsara TD lives a life of luxury - 100 miles to work and back each day, 80 miles of that on a quiet stretch of the M62 out into East Yorkshire.
Brake pads and disks seem to last forever, because setting of to work at 5.30am, the middle pedal barely gets pressed.
My girlfriend's 205 diesel on the other hand is lucky to do 10 miles a day, and her mileage is all urban, crawling along in second gear.
Despite this, there's no sign of the engine coking up, and the 1.7XUD is far happier being revved hard than my 1.9, which struggles past 4,000 rpm.
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

My own opinions of living in France do not bear this out. Tools are readily available, if expensive and there are plenty of breakers' yards. Spare parts are readily available, go to a large town 'cos every village has a citroen dealership. As for the mechanics spitting at you, just explain that in England, Citroen mechanics are so bad that the only way to keep one working properly is to repair it yourself.
alan s
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Post by alan s »

Here's a good example that has been posted on an Aussie Cit Board today.
The mileage shown is Kilometres and the engine was reconsitioned just on 3 years ago; he doesn't quote the date but instead the mileage when it was done.
I saw this car when I bought my 16V 3 years ago last June. It was only an average car conditionwise.
"1989 red BX 16 Valve for sale. 160k. Full engine overhaul and new clutch 5k ago. Flow divider o'haul one month ago. Needs work on power steering, otherwise goes like a bullet. Interior v good. Exterior just good. Sunroof drain needs unblocking. Registered, drives fine except for heavy steer. Surplus to requirements. Xantia VSX now meets family needs better! Offers please."
See what I mean??
Alan S
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Volvo V60 D4 180

Previous:
BX16RS (two of),
BX19TZI,
Xantia 2.0i saloon,
Xantia 2.0 Exclusive CT turbo Break,
Peugeot 807 2.0 HDi 110,
Renault Grand Scenic, 2.0 diesel (150bhp)
C5 X7 2.0 HDi 160 which put me off French cars possibly forever
x 16

Post by Homer »

I've just taken what would, by UK standards, be a long trip. About 450 miles for a family holiday in Scotland.
The trip took us just 10 hours (6am to 4pm), including a couple of long stops - one of those included a pub meal. And a couple of short ones for the adults to dash for the loo. Probably about 8 hours actual driving.
Linegeist
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Post by Linegeist »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tomsheppard</i>

My own opinions of living in France do not bear this out. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yes, Tom. But then, you're living in a posh bit - I'm right up Norf' where them Parisians live............. [:p][:0]
My Citroen dealer made it quite clear that he didn't want anything to do with supplying me parts if he didn't get to fit them! As for scrapyards - by the time French owners scrap their cars (and given the apparent laxity of the Controle Technique test) I've found there's not too much that's usable/worth the hassle of dismantling for - especially gien Andyspares' prices and helpfulness.
Sorry, just my perspective. [:)]
mbunting
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Post by mbunting »

I put about 500 miles per week on my Xantia TD, I bought it in Nov 01 at 108,000 miles, and it's now done 162,000 miles. Only major things in that time are a new pump, arm bearings, radiator, and shortly after, the head gasket !
Spends approx 70% of it's time at 60 - 80mph on the motorway for 80 miles per day ( depending on the vapour light being on ), the rest pottering around town country lanes.
Interwired

Post by Interwired »

20,000 klms a year - 12,000 miles per year..thats average for UK cars too, despite the high mileage claims you have heard. One thing to bear in mind is that members of this forum and on other forums are car enthusiasts, so it would make sense that perhaps due to their love of cars and driving they knock up higher mileage than the average punter.
My 12 year old car is on 140,000 miles so technically slightly below average for its age, although saying that Im averaging 20,000 a year, despite working from home. (hmmm...is somebody taking my car out for long drives late at night, and returning it before I wake up each morning)
The Wifes 1990 Citroen AX GT is on 90,000, so a fair bit below average. (p.s Car is for sale if anyone interested).
David
91 Bmw 535i Sport
97 VW Golf Gti 8v (project car)
90 Citroen AX GT (For sale)
B_Draper
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Post by B_Draper »

My '94 ZX 1.9 TD has just clocked over at 156,000 miles (250K Kilometers) which averages out to approx 17,300 miles per year so slightly above the average.
This is due to a combination of driving 36 miles round trips daily to work, 3 long trips around a variety of Western European countries, several scotland trips (900 miles round trips) motorway driving to and from Uni (300 mile round trips) and umpteen journeys to the local shops!
I should point out the motor had a new engine, tubby and clutch (and just about everything else bar the bodywork ;-) ) at 100,000 miles due to water entering the engine (extreme floods in the area at the time!) but the gearbox is 100% original and the engine get seviced without fail every 5000 miles. Due to this I am expecting trouble free motoring for at least another 150,000 miles!
Ben
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Post by ghostrider »

Perhaps my experience this week shows how to do it! Monday 5.30am start drive from N Yorks to London for 6hrs work 220 miles 4.5 hrs, Monday night drive to digs 10 miles 1 hr, tuesday 5.30am start drive 124 Miles to UEA Norwich 2 hrs work, pm drive 238 miles home, this morning 4.30 am start drive 112 mile to BBC Manchester 1.5 hrs work, lunchtime 112 miles back home again, pm 35 mile round trip to Scarborough. Tomorrow.... easy day! 70 mile round trip to Hull for 10hrs work. Friday oh my God 108 miles each way to Cleckhuddersfax to be on site for 7.45am.
Do I enjoy driving yes and no, yes I like the idea no I dont like the fact that at 5.30 am the roads are already clogged with what they call "Waggins" up here and even if you could make "progress" you are likely to have lost your licence to speed cameras by the time you get back:-)))
Thank heaven for Andyspares and Simpsons salvage postal services, the thought of adding to this just to get bits leaves me cold.... I used to go for a "ride out " on a Sunday just for the hell of it, but I haven't done that for some time. Equally I share the driving with my mate who has a Mondeo, its Ok but you certainly know you've done the miles, fortunately this week its been the trusty BX.
Pete
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Last edited by ghostrider on 22 Feb 2011, 05:41, edited 1 time in total.
Tepi
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Post by Tepi »

I used to have about 180km commute to work (5-6 times per week), but after 14 months, I managed to move closer to my job. So I did keep Xantia on move! Add to that my holiday/fun trips... Did about 52 thousand km's in the past 12 months. Xantia has now about 220 kkm on the clock.
I must say that every trip was a joy with Xantia, it is truly amazing how it treats you with silky gloves and makes you feel that Finnish roads are rather nice conditions. Which they are not. :)
BX on the other hand is taken out for shorter joyment, and I think it´s mileage is going to be in range of 10-20 thousand km's per year. I´ve had it just from the spring, so it's hard to tell how actively it is going to be driven at winter.
cheesesliceking

Post by cheesesliceking »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Interwired</i>


The Wifes 1990 Citroen AX GT is on 90,000, so a fair bit below average. (p.s Car is for sale if anyone interested).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Hello,
I'm interested in a couple of parts off the GT if your wife decides to break it?
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