My $4,800 Accord hit 300,000 miles on the way to a showing and I pulled over just to stare at it

Wade Lewis · 2026-09-16T16:25:06.507536+00:00

I bought this 2003 Accord about 6 years ago for $4,800 cash from a guy in Modesto who was moving to Arizona. It had 190k on it and a small oil leak I never fixed. Last Wednesday I was driving to a showing in Roseville and the odometer rolled over to 300,000 right as I got off the freeway, so I pulled into a gas station and took a picture like a total dork. What got me was the math: that's 110,000 miles I put on it for basically nothing. I've done maybe $1,400 in repairs total, two timing belts, brakes twice, one alternator, and a radiator hose that blew on I-80 in July. The AC still works, the seats are shredded, and there's a rattle somewhere behind the dash that I've given up on. My wife keeps saying it's time for something newer but every car under 5k I look at now seems like a step down. How many of you are still dailying something past 250k, and what finally made you let it go?

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My $4,800 Accord hit 300,000 miles on the way to a showing and I pulled over just to stare at it | Cars Under 5k - Rigidtalk