[Sankar]

1984 Maruti 800 (SS80, KBT registration) multiple trips between tvm and blore in mid 2000's on the then unfinished golden quadrilateral via tamilnadu. Once took the tvm wayanad mysore mandya blore route and had a breakdown somewhere near mandya at 8.30pm. Talked to my blore mech on the phone and diagnosed it to a failed fuel pump; the mechanical fuel pump's lever that rides the cam broke. Nothing to be done at night so moved the vehicle to a lorry weigh bridge compound and slept in the car, scouted for a local workshop next morning found one and he welded the broken lever and I gently nursed the vehicle back to blore by evening. Later changed the pump fixed an aux electric fuel pump which can be switched on if something like this happened again.

[IshaanIan]

Have travelled twice between Bangalore and Hyderabad in my WagonR after it crossed 15 years and 2 lac kms. Have also done Pune to Hyderabad in a used 15+ year old Forester with shot suspension and shot gearbox mounts leading to us only having the availability of 3rd and 5th gear.

[parsh]

My trusted sweet 17 2005 Toyota Innova usually does family touring runs and very little of in-Mumbai city travels. Quite often sees 1500+/2500+ drives to hometowns and other touring places. Recently did Pratapgad-Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani-Wai tour in Sep 2022 Ganeshotsav with drive of approx 700 kms, still love it when she takes on the ghat roads without hickups, in fact Engine feels ripened smoother with age, old wine. Last long tour of approx 2500 kms done about a year back.

Feels at home in its space being itself Light Green Metallic.

[rajeevsulu]

My good old 2005 Hyundai Accent GLE. I do Erode Bangalore runs very frequently. Even now, I am in Bangalore and heading back to Erode the day after. I do the 288 km run is 4 hours with out any trouble.

[EV NXT]

Age of the car is never a criterion. Its your trust in the car, the way you maintain it and your knowledge of its strengths and ability to leverage those accordingly is what counts.

The Elantra you have is a very good car - with 4 wheel independent suspension it is more stable than all the models that came after it including the current Elantra.

[Jeroen]

I really don’t see why a 15 year+ car should be a problem going on long drives. Providing of course, it has been well maintained.

Contrary to popular belief, a car and its engine and all of its component are much happier driving 100 km/ h on a motorway than your typical busy town traffic, starting stopping etc.

As all of my cars are 15+ years old I drive each of them on the motorway on a regular basis, all over Europe. I have written about some of my trips.

Earlier this year I took my 40 year old Mercedes W123 to Fredrikshaven. Two day trip about 1400 km. Almost all motorway.

Also earlier this year spanner mate Peter and I took our two classic Alfa Romeo Spiders to a classic car event in Italy. Our 42 and 36 year old Spiders did well over 3000 km in just six days.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ent-italy.html (Alfa Romeo: Mega-drive through Europe to participate in unique 12in12 event in Italy)

Some years ago, Peter and I also participated in a drive to the North Pole, in our Spider, in the winter, -27oC. There were two other Spider participating as well. At the time the Spiders were well over 25 years old.

On snowy motorways, -27oC, top down we drove well over 5500km in nine days.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...th-pole-2.html (Three Classic Alfa Spiders make it to the North Pole!)

My 20 year old classic Jaguar X308 is our luxury car for long trips. Last September we took the ferry to the UK and drove 1250km in five days.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post5409803 (England in a nutshell | Rolling hills, castles and helicopters!)

For next year I have already two trips planned. I will be going to Hamburg in May to participate in the annual Harbour festival. It’s a 1200 km round trip, all motorway. Most likely I will be taking the W123.

Peter and I have two Spider trips lined up. Our regular trip to see our mutual friend in France. Usually we clock between 1500-2000km in 4-5 days. In September Peter and I are planning to tour Scotland in our Spiders. We will clock another 2000-2500 km in five/six days as well.

So, really, with a properly maintained car there is really no problem, even if it is forty years old!

Jeroen

[alpha1]

This year has been lack-luster with only one Mumbai-Pune trip, but otherwise I have driven my 2001 Honda city to various places from Pune like Daman, Murud, Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Satara, Mahabaleshwar etc without any issues.

[shantanumishra]

Are 14+ Years Car also eligible or shall I wait 1 more year,


My 2008 Corolla Altis was driven from New Delhi to Lucknow to Bangalore over a period of 3 days, roughly 2500 KMs, It had done 1.38L Kms when we did this trip.

Post that, I have done 2 more trips, each with close to 800 Kms,

1. BLR - Dharamsthala - Udupi - Mangalore - Dharamsthala - Kukke - BLR

2. BLR - Mysore - Ooty - Coimbatore - Salem - BLR


Now, its mainly used for Highway Runs and inside the city, I use my other cars.

Currently, its done 1.47L and another upcoming trip (700 odd Kms) is coming soon.


Drives like a charm

[balenoed_]

Until last year, my Suzuki Baleno (17 years, 1.7L on ODO) was the work horse for the frequent trips between Bangalore and Kerala (~400Kms one way), atleast one trip a month. And other long drives on holidays, to a max of 650 kms one way, that I have been to. In the whole of 17 years, it was only on one instance it broke down on the highway and that was for a leaking radiator which was fixed and we moved on.

I still own the car and does the day to day short sprint duties within city.

[K a s h]

Did a 1500 km trip (Bangalore -> Madurai -> Poovar -> Tiruchy -> Bangalore) in my 2005 Hyundai Tucson (2L kms+).
I also do frequent Bangalore -> Chennai (660 kms) and Bangalore -Coimbatore (720 kms) round trips with full load all the time.
Last major work was done for a turbo rebuild and suspension replacement in 2013. I have not spent on anything other than consumables for the past 9 years. I do oil changes every 5k km and I can literally take it anywhere.
BTW this is also running a Code6 remap and a Boost controller mod from 2013.

[Dr.AD]

I am not sure if this thread is specific to India or not, but sharing my experiences anyways.

Not in India, but in the US, when I was a student, I have done plenty of long cross-country drives in old beater cars (typically known as "student cars") which were often more than 15 years old. And those drives were amazing fun! Much more fun that the drives in new cars today.

For example, once in 1999, when I was still a student, I drove my 1982 Honda Accord (which was 17 years old that time with about 120,000 miles or about 192,000km on the odo) from Boulder, Colorado to Chicago IL. This was about a 1000 miles drive, or about 1600km. This drive was done solo.

I purchased my first ever mobile phone that time, specifically as a safety measure in this long solo drive in the old car. The mobile network was extremely limited in the US that time, and most of the road was out of coverage. That was my first drive with a mobile phone. Before that, I did plenty of drives where we did not even have a phone to call for help if required. And I used to drive in pretty remote areas in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico etc.

I have done plenty of cross-country drives more than 1000 miles long, sometimes solo, and sometimes with my friends, from 1997 to 2002 time period, in cars belonging to 1980s!

[condor]

Wish I had pics to share, because I dont remember the model itself !

Sometime in late 2004 or so, when I was working in the US, a colleague had her eye on a pretty old car - I think a late 70's model or early 80's at best. She didnt want to let it go, but she wasnt able to go herself to get the car. So she had me pick it up while she came back to take it home. It was such an old car that I was not completely sure if I can drive that 200 km approx from upstate New York. Gingerly got it to my place, and was relieved at the end of the drive.

It was a 1989 Plymouth Horizon, a look-alike of the old Golf. A 5 door hatch, with a 2.2 litre engine and 3 speed Auto.

I have driven an 80's Honda Accord too - the car about 20 years old. It was a childhood friend's car and the first car I drove in the US. Cant forget the teething into driving in the US, with him riding shotgun and guiding me.

[GTO]

Even when my '97 Classic was 15 years old, I'd take her a lot to Deolali (~400 - 500 km round trip including all the local running there), Pawna etc. But all close to Mumbai. Now that she is 25 years old, the only highway running she does is to Nashik for her RC renewal & fitness test (every 5 years).

From one such trip in the Deolali market area. Even if there was an air-conditioned sedan accompanying us, Dad would ride with me in the Jeep .

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Not in India, but in the US, when I was a student, I have done plenty of long cross-country drives in old beater cars (typically known as "student cars") which were often more than 15 years old.

Not just students, but even adults use those in the US. My colleague uses his dad's old Honda as a beater car to park at the airport for days, etc. That car is older than me and still had more safety and useable features than what we get here today.

[rsidd]

I think a highway drive, on a good highway and at reasonable steady speeds, would be much less of a stress on the car than city driving. So if you drive 500-1000km a month in the city without issue, there should be no issue taking it out on the highway. Breakdowns can happen even to a brand-new car. I would actually feel much more confident and comfortable in my 12-year-old car (> 1 lakh km on odo) than in a random rental car. I once faced a situation of a taxi (a new-looking Dzire) breaking down irreparably on a highway near Kharagpur; luckily the mechanic whom the driver called gave me a lift to the nearest railway station. My own car has never broken down on the road, whether in the city or the highway. It can happen one day of course, but it can happen to any car.