The Innevitable has happened

[garvice]

The monumentous day has happened.

Last Tuesday at 4:58 pm, the corolla hit the magical 300 km mark.

No, not 300km/hr. 300 000 kms.

 

Yes, that is right.

The corolla has done 300 000 kms.

Proof, and to show that it wasn't photoshoped, multiple photos.

 

Now, some of you might be saying "but it’s a corolla, we all knew it would make it". And for the benefit of those people I want to give you a bit of a history lesson, just to show you that this milestone is pretty damn impressive.

 

My folks bought the corolla when it had 50 000 kms on it.

I learnt to drive on it,

My wife learnt to drive on it (yeah it copped a lot of abuse then)

A bunch of my mates learnt to drive in it, picture 17 year old boys at 1 am on a Friday night, they weren't learning how to reverse park!

 

I delivered pizzas in the corolla for a period of 18 months (Around 35000 kms of sitting on the redline, leaning on two wheels and smoking the clutch).

P.S. If you have never worked as a delivery driver, you would be impressed at what a pizza can go through and still look half decent. Just make sure you don't order a pizza without cheese, doesn't corner real well.

P.S.S, I was the highest paid delivery driver, because I always delivered the most pizzas in a shift. Best Shift I ever did, I made 39 deliveries in a 4 hour shift, and it was a night that it was bucketing down with rain, even flooded bracken ridge road. Just realised, none of you will know what road that is.

 

In the last 100 000 kms it has had an oil change, yes you read correctly. No plurals here, just one at 245 000kms. The one before that was around the 200 000 mark.

Can't recal draining/flushing the coolant in the last 150 000 kms.

For the last couple of years it has been my wife's daily driver (now that says it all, doesn’t it) as well as the weekend hack.

It has kissed other cars on a few occasions.

It has lost ~20 license points (starting to get the picture on how it is driven, no they weren't all for speeding?)

It lives between 5000 rpm and redline for roughly 50% of it's life.

It has reached 180+ km/hr (Let me tell you, a shopping cart starts to get pretty scary at those speeds).

It has taught me that a front wheel drive car, CAN, oversteer, WITHOUT, the use of the handbrake.

It has gone through, 1st, 2nd and third gear without moving.

The following parts are still original

• Water pump
  
• Oil pump
  
• Powersteering pump
  
• All non consumable motor parts
  
• Gearbox
  
• Brake cylinders
  
• Clutch cylinders
  

The following parts have been changed (some will give you an idea as to how it has been driven)

• It is on it's third clutch (this one has been on its way out for the last 20 000 kms. Yes, the clutch gets abused)
  
• It had new brake rotors fitted around the 245 000 mark, the originals, which are meant to be machinable were too thin to machine when they were replaced.
  
• All the usual consumable items, brake pads, belts, shocks, drive shafts (they lasted well, 250 000 kms out of them) etc.
  

 

So, with that sort of history lesson, do you now understand why I am exstatic that my Corolla made the 300 000 km mark?

 

I finally understand the slogan "Oh what a feeling".

[Lukaniuk]

oh wow! Congrats

[m4xwellmurd3r]

I love Google maps.

And I can see why you'd be crazy driving on Bracken Ridge Road when it floods. From the looks of it, there's a NICE big section that looks like it'll flood during heavy rains next to Brighton Park's Third lagoon XP

Also, that bridge on the OTHER end looks like it'll flood too.

Funny, according to maps.google.com there is only ONE Bracken Ridge Road in the world. Made it easy to find.

 

Congrats on the big 300

[garvice]

I love Google maps.

 

I don't know why I am still impressed with the amount of effort people on this forum will go to learn more. I should know you guys and girls are a motivated bunch by now. Yeah it is actually the other end with the small bridge that always use to flood.

 

Cheers guys.

[Guest 280ZForce]

congrats on the abuse your Corolla has taken over your 300,000 km journey. Good feeling to know what it can take over the years.

 

For us USA drivers, that's around 186,000 miles, which is like nothing for us since we are always driving long distances, well those of us living in heavy populated states atleast and drive long distances to and from work, etc (CA, NY, TX, etc).

 

Plenty of cars make that milestone pretty easily... my friends 82 280zx had over 280,000 miles on it w/ all original stuff that's over 450,000 km and that was his daily driver in high school, college, work, etc for years. And yes, it got abused a lot too! it's still on the road today w/ over 340,000 miles on it, but it did receive a slight rebuild around the 300k mile mark after an oil pump failed in which he was pissed cuz he should've caught that.

[m4xwellmurd3r]

I don't know why I am still impressed with the amount of effort people on this forum will go to learn more. I should know you guys and girls are a motivated bunch by now. Yeah it is actually the other end with the small bridge that always use to flood.

 

Cheers guys.

 

Ah, I figured from the satellite map that the bridge end would flood easier.

It really only took me about a minute to find out what road you were talking about XP

But yeah. 3am+ADHD=random searches.

I've spent 6-8 HOURS non-stop on Wikipedia reading up random articles that start from say~ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and end up on the history of the Sega gaming console and gaming history.

Whatever peeks my interest I start searching on.

 

So, think the ol' corolla can pass another 300k?

 

And yeah, a lot of cars do hit that point (My Z is at the 170k mark probably. I doubt it's at 270k)

But with the amount of beating, I'd say 300k is quite a lot haha.

[Shift]

Had a 87 tempo that the milage turn back over ALL zeros. I taped it. was back when I was in high school. Pretty sure that its still on a server somewhere

[Pete84]

Change the fluids more often and you'll got alot more out of it! I'm almost at 245,000 miles, ~390,000 km with a '85 Prelude.

 

On the 2nd motor and transmission! Original owner didn't really do maintenance. Engine died at 100k miles, transmission at 150. But I hardly drive in an urban environment at all, almost entirely highway.

 

Again, congrats!!

[m4xwellmurd3r]

Haha, that really doesn't count if you're on the second engine XP

My dad's 66 impala is over 400k now on the original engine.

His 93 blazer is dead now at about 300k.

At around 285k it started having intermittent oil pressure problems, where it would suddenly drop to zero then jump back up to normal. Really weird for it to do that. It wasn't the sending unit either.

[garvice]

wow guys, some of you have some cars with a lot of kms (miles) on them.

 

So, think the ol' corolla can pass another 300k?

 

I'm going to give it a bit of a birthday now, oil change, timing belt etc.

But the next goal, which I think is easily doable will be 350 000kms.

 

Then it will be time to hand it over to my mate who will just be getting his license. Can't wait to see how much abuse he gives it and how long it goes.

[Nizm0Zed]

yea, those toyotas are bloody robust.

 

There was an article i saw in the local paper once, of a family that owned a corolla from new, one of the old school ones, and passed it down over 3 generations, it clocked up a million kms on the original engine and driveline.

 

I was searching for it, but couldnt find it, but did find this one.

http://www.pressroom.com.au/press_release_detail.asp?clientID=2&prID=742

million kms in a landcruiser

[rudypoochris]

I am at 194,500miles (313km) on my 1992 Explorer. It has been abused plenty, but now a days it is well taken care of - maintenance wise. It is still fun to drive. I really feel like a car is meant to be driven. Kudos to you for giving it a work out.

[woldson]

My frist truck with my company was 82? nissan truck. It had a z engine in it I think. The engine with duel spark plugs 4cly. It finnally gave up the ghost at 380k on it! All original, carb, chain, ect. HEAVLY abused but good maintainence.

[Michael]

My 1990 Corolla made it to 228,000 miles before I killed it. It got stuck in my driveway during a snowstorm, and I literally beat it to death (with a sledgehammer).

 

En route to 228K, the only repair was replacing the starter. Oh, and cheap tires would blow out regularly. Its last oil change was at around 190,000 miles.

 

The point, I think, is that a light car with a lazy engine (even if revved to red line) will live an unstressed life, despite flogging and abuse. This makes it more reliable. A “high performance†engine is a lot more finicky, and is liable to fail much more readily, even if it’s built with better components. It is remarkable how much worse was the reliability on my 1987 Toyota Supra turbo! On the other hand, my other Toyotas – 1983 Celica, and before that, 1977 Corona – were very solid, and weren’t retired until collision damage or excessive rust.