does babying a car mean driving it mostly in the city or on the highway or not accelerating very fast?
Means drive conservatively. Doesn’t mean too slow. In normal situation, Do not accelerate and brake hard.
@yaser
sounds like somthing i could do if i owned a chrysler minivan. Thanks
It also means proper maintenance, keeping it away from winter salt, and in general avoiding anything that will cause excessive deterioration.
@chucktobias
so keep it out of the rain as much as possible
Winter salt is the biggest killer of old cars, unless you're fortunate enough to live in an area where that's not a problem.
@chucktobias
well i live in florida so i guess im good
Yeah, Florida should be good but if you live near the beach salt spray will make the car rust from the top down rather than the bottom up. (Sometimes you just can't win!)
@chucktobias
huh ok im gonna get a sienna untill i get more room to work on the chrysler vans
@chucktobias
Florida does rubber no good. Excessive heat and ruff roads and with two driving conditions of city or highway. So the heat, stop-n-go, highway mix can be hard and makes fluid/lubrication maintenance more important. Our current car needs wiper blades because old ones turned to crap from heat in less than a year. China sells by looks and not quality, I guess.
My mother, in Miami, gave me a old Chevy. Most exposed rubber, hoses/belts/gaskets, had to eventually be replaced and she only drove about ten miles a day. The car had emotional connection or I would have dumped it.
Highway miles cause about a quarter the amount of wear as stop and go in the city. All of the other answers are true as well.
Even living in Fla will not completely protect you. If you live near the beach there is enough salt in the air to cause problems. I used to work in a paint and body shop in the 70s in Daytona Beach, and we saw a lot of rusty cars. The ones where people lived close to the beach were the worst. Of course, you could drive on the beach there, so folks that did a lot of that had problems as well.
@clovishound
the nearest beatch being daytona is about a 2hr drive so i think im good
the main reason i want one is cuz their cheep to own and if your willing to take care of them to the point the transmission doesn't crap out and replace the gaskets every 5 years and fluid changes every 3 months i should get a lot of life out of one for the money
@clovishound
oh and my family got 200k city miles out of the van barley ever was on the highway