Are you driving your car, or are you saving it for the next owner?

Photography Credit: Chris Tropea

Do you drive your cars or are you keeping the miles in check? And if the latter, why?

We’ve been just as guilty: Don’t drive the car too much, we’ve often thought, or the mileage will get too high.

[How I learned to stop worrying and love my BMW M3]

But a second, related thought: So what if the mileage gets too high? Didn’t we buy these cars to drive and enjoy? Why should they sit so much? Why save the car for the next owner?

We do realize that risk and wear often rise in tandem with mileage. But then back to a question we have asked ourselves more than a few times lately: Did we not buy these cars to drive–sun, rain and everything in between?

Discuss.

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Comments
Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
11/30/23 10:41 a.m.

I feel like there's a middle ground somewhere in there–I'm not too concerned with who gets my car next, but I'd also like to have something to bargain with, if that makes sense.

rluciano
rluciano New Reader
11/30/23 11:32 a.m.

Or just have too many cars; that way you can't put too much mileage on any of them. I own 10 cars, 9 street legal. This way my five year old daily driver still only has 20,000 miles. They all have to be driven; unless they are inoperable in which case they need to be repaired.

GrizwoldsZ
GrizwoldsZ New Reader
11/30/23 11:37 a.m.

I've averaged about a thousand miles a year on my 240Z, even though I'd like to drive it more often the roads where I live are just not good. 

300zxfreak
300zxfreak Reader
11/30/23 11:51 a.m.

I drive my current Z as often as I can, weather permitting, don't like extremely wet roads when turbos kick in. Recently took it on road trip from southern Ohio to South Carolina just for the hell of it, great trip. Drove it in a manner befitting it's intent. As mentioned previously, these things are designed and built to be driven...not stared at, although doing that in the evening with a cold beverage in hand is not too shabby.

wspohn
wspohn UltraDork
11/30/23 12:15 p.m.

I swap back and forth among 2-4 cars in summer and drive My DD in winter, or my wife's car. 

As for 'saving' a car, I'm with Louis XV who said "Après moi, le déluge" (which means once I am gone who gives a crap what happens, or words to that effect).

I do wish I could put more miles on some of the cars, but other things (life) get in the way of just getting out and driving them all the time.

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
11/30/23 12:35 p.m.

I was driving my e30 325iX one day last winter and some guy in another car yelled and called me names for driving it in the snow.  I yelled back that was what it was made for.

enderby
enderby New Reader
11/30/23 12:41 p.m.

I drive my cars with the goal of having the highest mileage Ferraris.  For my road cars they also have deades of doing track duty.  With a high of 25 track days a year and a single day of 250 miles on track in a single day.  They are also concours cars, with one likely being the only 200,000 mile concours Ferrari.  The other two road cars are close to that and each need about 2,500 miles to cross that mark.  I got a proper Ferrari track car a few years back and get to the track about once a month now.  But that car only has about 11,000 kms on it.  To quote a famous man, "Ferraris are meant to be driven".

dyerhaus
dyerhaus New Reader
11/30/23 1:12 p.m.

I don't care how high the miles get on my car, I just care about keeping my car in good running condition. Because I drive a vintage Dino, it's not a daily driver as subecting it to that much wear and tear invites a higher probability of parts breaking or wearing out faster (and parts are getting harder and harder to find). I do drive it as much as I can, and that amounts to almost every weekend. When I drive it, it's usually on a nice long tour. I'm certain when I retire, I'll drive it more than just on the weekends.

1975 Dino 308 GT4

MGWrench
MGWrench New Reader
11/30/23 3:25 p.m.

I think your thought processes change as you mature from a 30-something person with kids wanting to keep all capital available for whatever happens, to a 70-something person with the kids grown and grandkids in high school and college.  I'm in the latter group now, so I drive my cars as much as I can to enjoy them while I am able to do so.  I really don't care so much about the value of the car, getting rid of them will be my kids' problem, not mine.

Rookie13
Rookie13 New Reader
11/30/23 6:06 p.m.

I love driving them. My only hesitation is I paid probably more than I should have to get the perfect cars and I feel once they hit 100,000 miles they are just another used car.  I passed on buying the perfect specimen car a few months ago because I would have been starting out my journey with 107,000 miles. I ended up buying a lessor car in the same pristine condition because it only had 57,000 miles.

Here was my scenario, I would love to hear what you think....

1990 Porsche 928 GT manual with 107,000 miles absolutely gorgeous with massive service records.   

Or

1989 Porsche 928 S4 manual with 57,000 miles absolutely gorgeous with massive service records including ceramic coated and dry iced.

 

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