I’ve owned a load of Saabs and here is a 9000, which covered a substantial mileage back in the early 2000s.
Putting a million miles under your tyres is easy, as long as you are kind to your car and most important of all, you own the right car. A few years back traveling salesman, Peter Gilbert was able to put 1,001,385 miles in his 1989 Saab 900. He then donated it to the Wisconsin Automotive Museum after Saab verified the mileage. All he did was regularly service the car, change the tyres every 45,000 miles and rebuild the gearbox at 200,000 miles. The Saab even survived eight head on collisions with errant Deers. Not surprisingly Gilbert replace his faithful old Saab, with another, one that had rather less than 1m miles on the clock.
This got me thinking, just what cars could you buy and be around when they click onto 1,000,000? It took Peter Gilbert seventeen years to pile on those miles, so which cars could we be driving in 2033?
Toyota Landcruiser
If it came down to the survival of the fittest, then you can’t buy better than the utterly indestructible Landcruiser. When the going gets rough over the coming decades, as it certainly will, with road repair budgets cut to the absolute minimum then the Cruiser can certainly cope. Plus there is bags of room inside for the whole family and the dogs and all their rubbish. Here is an off roader which can cope with the very long haul.
Lexus LS430
If a Landcruiser is a tad too agricultural for your automotive sensibilities, then don’t worry because those nice people at Toyota have their top of range limo to get you comfortably through the next decade. That huge V8 is under stressed and whisper quiet and is unlikely to need anything more than the odd oil change. There is lots of electronics on board, but Toyota’s is made from sterner stuff. Don’t worry you are being wafted around in a Lexus.
Mazda MX-5
Any Mazda would do really, but an MX-5 is not just huge fun to drive and will never bore you in the coming decades, it also won’t break down. A non-contact engine means that even if the worst happens then all you have to do is buy a new rubber cambelt. If only British sports cars had been built to this standard. You won’t find any Lotus Elans or MGBs with a million miles, but an MX-5 is a dead cert.
Morgan 4/4
The tragedy of all Morgans is that they don’t get used enough, but we think that rather than covering a few summer miles each year, it could easily cope with the daily grind. After all the mechanicals are modern and should last the course as will the aluminum panels. The wood frame is flexible and with copious amounts of Ronseal should survive. The great thing is though Morgans have a habit of maintaining their value. A million mile Moggie we think could well be worth a million.
Aerial Atom
You really couldn’t find much less of a car and with a reliable Japanese engine singing in your ears, the only question will be whether you as the driver could endure a million miles. Especially as your own body is effectively the bodywork. Otherwise the Atom has the absolute bare essentials and they should be all you need for the next few years.
Land Rover Defender
We are determined to fly the flag here yet we are the first to admit that the Defender is a lot more complicated than it used to be. Our theory is that as bits fail or fall off, we simply replace them with older bits from earlier series models, so that it becomes progressively more basic and durable year by year. Coils replaced by cart springs, electric windows ousted for sliders, that sort of thing so that by 20 it will be Series One in all but name.
Am I mad or do you have any suggestions…