Member's, do you plan on keeping your Monte Carlo 4-Ever ?

Please add your advise/comments/ & how you are maintaining your Monte Carlo...Thanks
How to live past 150,000 (miles, that is)

Twelve tips to help you keep your car running forever

By Aaron Gold, About.com Guide

• Buy a good car to begin with- Like a Chevrolet Monte Carlo : ). Though Japanese cars are generally the most reliable, don't dismiss American cars -- their quality is improving and they are often less expensive to repair. European cars are generally the most expensive to fix. If you're shopping, talk to owners of similar cars about their experiences.
• Follow the maintenance schedule in your owner's manual. If your car has a "maintenance minder", use that as a guideline for service, but be sure to double-check your owner's manual as some items need to be replaced based on time rather than mileage. Don't forget the timing belt! Most cars need to have the timing belt replaced every 60,000 to 90,000 miles. It's not cheap, but it’s far less expensive than the damage it causes if it breaks.
• Keep a repair fund. Cars do break, and there's nothing like a $1,500 repair bill to scare an old-car owner into the new-car showroom. Remember, your car would have to generate repair bills of around $5,000 per year for at least four years in a row to even approach the cost of a new car. In place of your payment, try putting $100 or $200 per month into an interest-bearing car-repair account. That way an unexpected repair or major maintenance won't disrupt your normal cash flow.
• Do your homework. Many cars have known problems that tend to pop up under certain circumstances or after enough mileage/time. Most makes and models have Web sites and forums devoted to them; they can be a gold mine of information. Knowing your car is prone to a given problem isn't necessarily cause to get rid of it; it just allows you to be prepared.
• Be aware. Be on the lookout for new noises, strange smells or anything that just doesn’t feel right. If something seems amiss, talk to your mechanic or dealership. Don't let them tell you "that's normal" -- if you've been driving your car long enough, you know best what normal is.
• Ask a friend to drive. Every two or three months, ask a friend to take you for a drive in your own car. Some problems appear or increase so gradually that you may not even notice them, but they'll stick out like a sore thumb to someone less familiar. And by riding along in the passenger's seat, you may spot something you missed while preoccupied with driving.
• Fix everything as soon as it breaks. If you're going to keep your car as long as possible, you have to want to keep it as long as possible. Don't ignore seemingly unimportant problems like broken trim bits, torn upholstery, or electrical glitches. Little annoyances tend to add up and can begin to erode your love affair with your old car.
• Use quality replacement parts. Whether or not to use genuine manufacturer parts is open to debate, but don't just opt for the least expensive parts you can find. Discuss options with your mechanic or parts store. If a non-wearing part is damaged, consider buying a used replacement -- you'll get manufacturer quality at a more affordable price.
• Keep it clean. Paint does more than make your car look good; it protects the materials underneath. Wash your car regularly. When water no longer beads on the paint, wax it.
• Fight rust. If you live where it snows, be sure to wash the car regularly -- but only if the temperature is above freezing. (Below freezing the salt stays in solution and won't harm the car.) Don't park in a heated garage; melting snow allows embedded salt to attack. Make sure your car wash does not recycle their water -- otherwise they're just spraying your car with salt from other people's vehicles.
• Drive gently. There's no need to baby your car; in fact, a little foot-to-the-floor acceleration every once in a while is a good thing, but driving like a wannabe Michael Schumaker in his Formula 1 Ferrari isn't good for your car (or your nerves).
• Gloat! If you enjoy the surprised looks people give you when you tell them your car has 150,000 miles on it, wait until you see their faces at 200,000. If people chide you about your old wheels, chide them about their car payments and higher insurance rates. Keeping your car as long as possible saves you hundreds of dollars per month; keeping it in good repair minimizes the environmental impact by ensuring that it runs cleanly and efficiently as possible. Feel free to gloat -- you and your car have earned it!

 

I'll be keeping mine. I've gone too far with it to just give up on it later. Besides, Monte's are cool.

 

Cars that last a million miles


Yes, it's still rare to see a million miles on an odometer, but it happens. And while in decades past automobiles were often junkyard-bound at 100,000 miles, today's cars can easily run 200,000 miles or more with minimal maintenance.

By Christopher Solomon MSN Money
Automaker Saab announced recently that it would give a free car to any original U.S. Saab owner who drives the car 1 million miles or more. Spurring the challenge were Wisconsin insurance salesman Peter Gilbert and his 1989 Edwardian Gray Saab 900 SPG, whose odometer not long ago clicked over to six zeros.
His car, now in a museum, still has its original engine and turbocharger.


That's impressive, but he can't touch retired New York schoolteacher Irv Gordon, who's in Guinness World Records for having driven more than 2.5 million miles in his cherry-red 1966 Volvo P1800.
Though stories such as Gilbert's and Gordon's happen once in a blue moon, people who drive their cars for several hundred thousand miles today aren't so unusual. And they're not all devotees of Swedish iron.
Auto brands to watch



Virtually every marque -- Chrysler, Honda, Chevrolet, even Miata -- has a not-so-underground community that's just as proud of the car at 500,000 miles as when it was new, maybe even more. (Mercedes and Volvo hand out grille badges and window stickers.) And their secrets range from the mundane to the downright mystic.
"Days past, 100,000 miles was usually the average life of a car," says John Ibbotson, a workshop supervisor who's in charge of vehicles that are tested for Consumer Reports' Auto Test Center in Connecticut, referring to vehicles from the 1950s to 1970s.
"At 100,000 miles, we were into major engine and transmission rebuilding," Ibbotson says. "Cars in the '90s, it was 140,000, 150,000 miles."
The U.S. Department of Transportation reports the average life span of a vehicle is 12 years, or about 128,500 miles. But that could be low simply because people don't maintain them, Ibbotson says. "If you bought a car today, there shouldn't be any problem with that car going 200,000 miles," he says.



Ibbotson's tips:

• 1">Read the book. "The biggest key is doing the maintenance that's in the owner's manual," he says. Simply stick to that schedule. But amazingly, he says, "very few people read the owner's manual."
• "1">Clean me. Don't let road salt build up on a car if you're in a state where you have to worry about that. It'll rust the car's body.
• >Money isn't the answer. Not every service will prolong your car's life. "Some dealers offer fuel-injection cleaning (for example). It's not necessary," Ibbotson says.
• Pray for luck. "There is some level of luck" whether you get a car that lasts forever, Ibbotson says. He recalls his father recently sold a 1995 truck with 200,000 miles, and it was in good shape even though he had done almost "absolutely nothing" to it. Meanwhile, a friend has a newer truck of the same model, same body style, with only 65,000 miles, "and that vehicle has had much more maintenance done."

Continued: Watch the odometer turn over

 

I have to much time and money put into mine.... so therefore it will always have a spot in the garage :-) No amount of money would replace the memories, events, and good times I have had and am going to have with that car.... As for keeping it running and in good shape, my best advice is to not drive it! :-P Too many stupid drivers on the road that can change everything in a split second! That is all lol

 

I would love to say I would keep it forever but if the right deal came along I would let it go it just would have to be a deal I could not refuse

 

So sad, but `true...To me it would be difficult to have a award winning Monte Carlo like yours....There's a big price to pay to have a super show/street ride in 2day's world...

I viewed the awesome Pictures that Mel just posted from his World of Wheels event, and I would not want to drive any of them on the roads today...I would not want to make my Monte or car so nice that it just becomes a `art object......I like my art to roll down the highways & enjoy my investment...

I do admire you & other member's that put a lot of time/money and dedication in2 their Monte Carlo's, and it shows for sure, but I would be a nervous `Wreck if I owned yours or other member's show Monte Carlo's....


Thanks for your words, and all your great contributions to the MCF....We Enjoy & I hope that you keep your Monte 4-ever & wish you very safe miles when you are out on the highways of your Life....

Maybe someone will create a AutoBodyGuard service to
drive in front, behind & to the sides of your Monte when you take it `out LOL

Thanks everyone 4 voting in this poll, and sharing your auto experiences.....Wish everyone a Million + Happy/Safe miles in your AweSome Chevrolet Monte Carlo

OK, whose next to fill up some empty spaces on the MCF ?

 

hopefully once mine is paid off (many years down the road) I can buy a new daily driver and the monte will get weekend warrior status.

 

I'm hoping to keep my Pace Car forever. I doubt I'll drive it over 10,000 miles per year, probably closer to 5000 miles (sitting on 68,000 currently). I love the car, but sometimes I wonder if I should have purchased a non-Limited Edition Monte so I would drive it more. I find myself being overly protective with it. I won't rule out adding a '98-'99 Z34 or a regular 2000+ SS in the future, especially if I sell one or all of my Daytonas.

 

my dads mercury has high miles and still runs like it is new my silverado has high miles and still runs like new. my mustang still runs like new even though it has the same miles as my monte. i refuse on useing cheaper parts as well as oils as others on any my vehicles. i rather spend more time and the funds on higher quality parts to keep them in running and looking like there new.

 

I'd say I will not get rid of my 03 cause I special ordered it. The 05 will be replaced in a couple of years.