My former carpool guy just traded in his 6 years old Civic with 290k miles on it. He is not hard on car but not a car guy either. His approach to car ownership is to buy the lowest model with a manual and drive it until a first sign of trouble, then he times the trade in before he ends to put new tires, brakes, etc. Oil changes are always done at Walmart when he remembers, convenient, or special with the whatever Wally needs to put in. I don't know how often it was changed but he average about 50k miles a year doing 60 miles trips commuting to work.
The only problem he had was the timing chain started making noise. The A/C was damaged from road debris 3 miles into ownership and he never fixed it. The dealership gave 2000 dollars for it as the outside looks great but the inside was well worn.
I have always buy Honda when I buy new to keep forever. I am glad they are still well made. My Fit should go 300k miles no problem as I change oil often and do pay attention to the whole car. By the way, he never changed his ATF and the car still shifted smoothly. He doesn't like having car problem so he got a new Honda CRV since he wants more room and comfort to travel. I would have gotten an Accord but maybe he wanted a AWD option. K
The only problem he had was the timing chain started making noise. The A/C was damaged from road debris 3 miles into ownership and he never fixed it. The dealership gave 2000 dollars for it as the outside looks great but the inside was well worn.
I have always buy Honda when I buy new to keep forever. I am glad they are still well made. My Fit should go 300k miles no problem as I change oil often and do pay attention to the whole car. By the way, he never changed his ATF and the car still shifted smoothly. He doesn't like having car problem so he got a new Honda CRV since he wants more room and comfort to travel. I would have gotten an Accord but maybe he wanted a AWD option. K