1994 323 life expectancy

[dug dog]

Greetings All:

I'm the very satisfied owner of the captioned automobile. She has about 215,000 km, but still runs like a top and doesn't owe me a penny.

With that being said, she IS a 16 year old car and I'm at the point where I'm wondering about her future. I've done some googling, but can't really find any info about what kind of longevity I might expect. In my mind there comes a point in the life cycle of a vehicle where it no longer makes any sense to spend any significant money on repairs and your money is better spent on a newer car. (Unless it's a collector or special to you in some way). However, if I knew, for example, that people were regularly getting 300,000 km out of these machines, then I wouldn't hesitate to spend some money should the need arise.

Any insights would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CorkSport]

Besides wear items and changing the oil the car should make it to 300k.

-Derrick

 

[dug dog]

That's good to hear. Thanks for the response.

I expected to find all kinds of info on this topic somewhere on the net. I have pretty good search skills, but was unable to find much.

 

[EGTT91]

so long as the rear strut towers are rust free, and she runs good, 300k shouldnt be an issue. I have a 96 Protege thats kind of the family beater, everyone @ the house uses it, and it runs like brand new with 289k miles

 

[dug dog]

Well.... had 'er up on the hoist today and, sadly, there are places on the rear suspension where the frame is rusted through. Looks like it's time to find a new ride...

 

[wheresthericego]

why find a new car because of a little rust? Fix it and drive it more

 

[dug dog]

Well, to me, and I'm no expert, "frame rusted through" is not the same thing as "a little rust".

 

[tireboy]

323 life expectancy

i curre and itntly own a 91 323... as of today it has 400,000+km .. its driven daily . take car of it will last .. i do regular maintenance and yeah ..keeps on rockin...(headbang)(headbang)

 

[dug dog]

That's pretty danged impressive.... Congrats on the recent benchmark. I think you rodeo boys must not see as much salt on your roads as we do here in SW Ontario.

 

[tireboy]

hahaha rodeo boys. we do get lots of salt on the roads . keeping the car clean is a big part of keeping the rust at bay ...

 

[viken]

Recently got my '92 323 BG a few weeks ago and its been a hoot to drive in our snowy winter roads.
Aside from cracked windshield and some rusts here and there, the car's got over 600K kms on it!

I agree with the keeping it clean (with lots of chemicals added on top - knowing someone that knows this other guy that knows somebody with a detailing shop helps ;D ) and lubed and general maintenance will prolong its life. Also, not everyone does it but you gotta make it a habit of not driving it right away until the engine gets up to the right temp, let the oil circulate first before you drive the turd out of it.