Breaking the 125,000 mile curse

I am, in my own words, a 125,000 mile curse.  Cars don't seem to stay with me longer than that.  They break down irreparably, or get totalled, or, in rare cases, are traded in.  But I'm about to break this losing streak:  I've committed to driving my current car, which has 125,000 miles on it, for another three years.

1993 Civic, T-boned at 125,000 miles by a little old lady

The Truth About Cars recently posted that the average car on American roads is 10.8 years old.  That's a 2001 model year car.  I was taken aback - I knew reliability had improved since my mother's cars were only designed to last 75,000 miles, but I assumed that most modern cars still weren't making it to their potential quarter million mile mark.  My car is a well maintained 2004--younger than average--so I guess I have no excuse for giving up on it.

1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88, transmission failed at 125,000 miles.  And, uh, me.

I like my car well enough, but trouble arrived.  Late last year it began making a deep throbbing rattle and vibration at certain times.  I have enough of a "feel" for mechanical things that I could tell it was bad news.  My fear was that it was the transmission or an axle.  I mentally capped the acceptable cost of repair at $2000 and took the car in.  Luckily, it only needed about $1000 worth of work, most of which was actually other repairs like brakes - the vibration was a failed motor mount which was easy to fix.  So I got my car back in good enough condition to put another three years of miles on it.

2002 BMW 3 series, traded in at 125,000 miles due to repair costs

I decided to reward myself by upgrading the stereo.  I just wasn't using it much.  It was too much of a pain to fool around with the FM transmitter to play music from my phone.  So I found an auxiliary input with a headphone plug on the end, and I had Tim Fulgham at Auto Sound & Security in Willoughby install it.  The hardware and installation together cost a little over $100 and it's made a world of difference.  I listen to music more, I don't have to deal with the roar of FM static I used to get when the transmitter was off, and it just plain sounds better.

2004 Mazda3, still running

So here's to making things last.  Cheers!