A Big Milestone

 How many miles will one engine and transmission drive if taken care of?  

I'm not sure.  But I'm on a mission to find out!

It started innocently enough, with our trusty rusty Suburban, which was not rusty at all back in 2005 when we bought it.  We needed a spacious vehicle we could fit our four growing children in (one of whom was all ready over 6 foot tall).  Something that also had four wheel drive, and the capability of towing a heavy trailer or big camper.  So we bought the Suburban, with about 5,000 miles on it, company used (a term that meant it was a vehicle driven for several months by an employee that had reached a certain level, but was never officially owned by anyone other than the company that had manufactured it).  And we drove it.  And drove it.  And drove it.

By the time the second child was in his senior year of high school (2010/2011), we had accumulated 150,000 miles on it.  And DH said that engine and transmission combo should be able to go 250,000 miles no problem (we had already owned 3 other GM vehicles--all of which were bought at 40,000+ miles--and driven each of them over 200,000 miles before a major repair forced the decision to sell them).  

So my goal became to drive my Suburban for 250,000 miles.  Through those miles, and years, it did get a few new parts, such as a water pump, a U-joint, an idler arm, new shocks, a couple rear wiper motors and door latches. . . but it ran.  Boy did it run.  Started up every single time I turned the key, without fail.  It went to Canada and back.  It went to Oregon and back.  It went to Florida and South Carolina and Arkansas (all separate trips, not one consecutive one).  It went to Pennsylvania.  It dropped one kid at the Marine Corps recruiting station to ship out to boot camp in California, and it took three other kids to their freshman college dorms.

It went through FOUR teenage drivers, and it looks like it!  It has rather a few dents and scuffs.  

At 245,000 miles, the tires on it were getting bald and one sprang a leak on the way to the tailor where DD1 was having her final dress fitting before her wedding.  So close to that 250,000 mile goal! We couldn't give up on it just because the tires needed replacing.   We'd averaged 70,000-80,000 miles per set of tires with that vehicle (always using the exact same brand and model of tire), so we knew by putting brand new tires on it we were going to have to extend our mileage goal out past 250,000.

My new goal (set in 2018): 300,000 miles.  Unless the engine blew or the transmission went out, there was no way I was not driving the trusty rusty Suburban an entire 300,000 miles.  A rusted through gas tank support bracket didn't stop us.  A blown brake line didn't stop us (the suburban is on it's third set of brake lines).  A leaky fuel line didn't stop us (possibly the third fuel line, I don't remember for sure but I think we replaced one a decade ago too??)  The check engine light that's been on since about mile 150k didn't stop us.  DD2 sliding off the road and into a bunch of trees during a snow storm in early 2022 didn't stop us.

Even needing yet another set of tires near the end of this past May didn't stop us.  Although we did go with a different brand of tires, lightly used, that DH picked up at an auction for $20 each.

Guess what finally happened earlier this month?!?

Trusty Rusty Suburban and I hit the big 300,000!

I knew we could do it.  We've been a good pair for the past nearly 19 years.

So is she off to the scrap yard now?

Oh heck no!  I've jokingly referred to her as my rolling science experiment for at least five years now.  Now that our mileage goal has been met, and she still starts the first time, every time, we are on a mission to see just how far she'll go.  Long distance driving has been off the table for several years all ready, but a short hop daily driver is still a good job for her.  

Although she is semi-retired. Due to the Swiss-cheese like state of her undercarriage (a lifetime of Michigan winters, you know), towing anything is out of the question, so no more hauling any type of trailer. This summer, she officially became my 'winter beater', parked during the good weather months and only called into duty late Fall through Spring when road conditions might be dicey and I could be in need of her four wheel drive.

But we're going to see how many more miles I can drive her.  Can I still be in her driver's seat in March of 2025, 20 years after we bought her?  That would be kind of a cool accomplishment.

Meanwhile, circumstances with DH's job have led us to obtaining a new vehicle for me to drive in the summer months.  Back in the summer of 2022 he got a promotion.  As part of the promotion, he gets a company car to drive.  But, as a condition of having that company car, we must purchase a brand new GM vehicle every four years or less.  The blue truck we own is a 2017 model, so that meant we needed to buy something within the time limit given after he was issued a company car.

Since we knew the Suburban was getting way into unknown mileage territory, the obvious answer to this requirement was to purchase a vehicle to be my daily driver once the Suburban was retired.  Now, looking at the financial side of things (car loan) and how much I hate having loans and paying interest, it made sense to me to look at the cheaper vehicle models.  We didn't need two pickup trucks (and the cost of a new one that would meet our needs--mainly half-ton minimum with crew cab and 4wd--would be over $800 a month in payments).  I honestly hate all the current SUVs (sorry if you love them, I would rather walk than  have one as my personal vehicle.  Have driven a few and don't like the feel or the utility aspect; it's not truck enough, but yet not a car either, LOL).  I don't need to haul a bunch of kids anymore on a daily basis, also a reason not to get an SUV, so a car seemed to be the logical choice.

Except that I've never been a car person.  In high school, I drove an early '80s Jeep Wagoneer (much more truck than today's Wagoneers).  The first vehicle I bought (at 18) was a half-ton pickup.  When DH was in college, we bought another '80s Jeep (a Cherokee that time, also very much a truck), and then from 1997 when we found out I was pregnant with our fourth child until 2005 when we bought the Suburban I drove a couple of Chevy Astro vans (built on truck platforms).  The only car we owned in the past 32 years that I actually liked, was our 1989 Bonneville (purchased in late 1993).  That puppy screamed!  I like a responsive car with a tight suspension.

So looking at the piddly Chevy car offerings in late 2022: Malibu, (which I know I don't like driving), and Impala, (which I like only slightly more), or Corvette (too expensive and too low slung for our long dirt farm driveway) or Camaro (hubba hubba!) the only one that even seemed like a viable option was the Camaro. I mean, it has some get up and go, it has a back seat I could put grandkids in if needed, and it has enough ground clearance for our driveway.

But only if I could get it as cheaply as possible, without a bunch of bells and whistles I don't care about, and in a color I liked (I'm super picky about vehicle colors on something I know I'll be owning/driving for a decade or more), and it had to be a manual transmission (because they're way more fun to drive)!

DH and I looked at dealer websites for over a month.  Of course this was prime chip shortage time and nobody had hardly anything anywhere in the entire United States.  We were running out of time before we had to buy that new vehicle.  So we decided maybe the way to do it was to order one custom built--I could pick the colors, choose if it was a base model or the next level up, decide whether it was an automatic or manual transmission.  DH called many dealers inquiring about ordering one.  Orders were being done in allotments (thanks Covid, then chip shortage), you couldn't just order one whenever you wanted.  You had to pick a dealer and wait until they were given a Camaro allotment by GM.  We actually got on the waitlist at two dealers, one of which said they had two people ahead of us waiting for Camaros and the other said we would be top of the list.

Two months went by with no word from either dealer.  When DH called to ask as to our status on the wait list, the one dealer said "you're still number three" and the other dealer said "I don't have any record of you being on a list, and we have no idea when we're getting a Camaro allotment."  Uh-oh.  We were running out of time.

Another month went by.  DH started calling dealers again.  Found one that 'should be' getting an allotment in a few weeks and had no one waiting for a Camaro.  DH jumped on it.  In fact, he and I 'built' my car online, he sent a link for that exact vehicle to the dealer and he went in and put down a deposit for the first Camaro allotment they were given.

Three weeks later, we had an order confirmation.  Two weeks after that, we had a build date.  The time period for us to purchase that required new vehicle was almost expired, but because we actually had an order number, we were given an extension.  About three months after putting down that deposit and sending the link to the exact vehicle I wanted built (exterior color, interior color, engine, transmission, trim package, wheels, and Camaro badges for the sides--can't forget the Camaro badges!) we got a call from the dealership that my Camaro had arrived and was ready for us to come sign the paperwork on.

I can't lie, I haven't been so excited about a vehicle since the day we picked up the Suburban in 2005.  I was walking on air.  And only slightly anxious about adding a car payment to our budget.  But you know, this Camaro was cheaper than a second truck.  Cheaper than a SUV.  Even cheaper than an Impala or a Malibu.  Because she is pretty much base with no frills--except the black stripes up her hood and her Camaro badges!  She's a 4-cylinder six-speed manual.  She's tight, and she's quick.  Everything I like in a car. 

Sweet Madame Blue (yes, that's a play on a Styx song) and I are hopefully going to be a pair for a long, long time.  If it took over 18 years to get 300k miles on the Suburban--of which the first 6 years included driving over 400 miles every week taking kids to and from their parochial K-8 school and to sports practices and games,4 years after that being trips to high school practices and games and long drives to drop off kids at college, plus being our designated long haul trip vehicle for about 14 years, it's going to take forever to hit 300k with Sweet Madame Blue. Now that I'm employed at home (yay horse business!) and only driving Sweet Madame Blue short distances once or twice a week during the good weather months and maybe a road trip every few years, she is probably the car that I'll be driving until I get too old to be behind a steering wheel.

I do have to confess that I've noticed some drawbacks to my sporty little car.  

1.  I can no longer straddle dead things in the road like I'm used to doing in the Suburban or pick-up.  I had to learn to remember to steer around them, not over them.

2.  I can't see cool free things people have set out beside the road, stop and load them up.  They don't fit in her trunk like things fit in the back of the Suburban or pick-up.

3. I might not be outgoing enough to drive her in public.  I'm massively introverted.  It has taken me by surprise (and sometimes uncomfortably so) to have people wave at me while I'm driving her, or even stop and strike up a conversation at the gas station or grocery store parking lot (typically men).

4. I'm deathly afraid of hitting a deer while driving.  With the Suburban I always knew I'd come out unharmed in a car-deer altercation.  With the car, I have no such confidence. I don't want to drive her at dawn, dusk, or at night.

But I still love her.  I think I'll keep her. 😁