Hitting high mileages in a car isn’t necessarily a difficult feat; it just involves buying something sensible – like a Volvo or Toyota – and driving it a lot, while keeping a strict maintenance regime. However, the challenge gets a little more, well, challenging, when the car in question sports a gargantuan 12-cylinder engine, as the costs involved with keeping it alive for so long quickly multiply.
Nevertheless, here are three cars that prove moon-and-back miles can be covered by even the unlikeliest of candidates…
The Highest-Mileage V12 Isn’t What You Think It Is
2008-2012 Audi Q7 V12 TDI Bronze Front Angled ViewAudi
It’s an Audi Q7, which boasts the wonderfully unusual 6.0-liter V12 TDI engine – the only diesel V12 engine ever to grace a production car’s engine bay – making it a real unicorn of the modern motoring world. The journey is being documented on the @bennyandthev12 Instagram page, with regular updates provided as the owner and his dog, Benny, journey toward the magical million-kilometer marker.
As things currently stand, the Q7’s last update saw the odometer sitting at 934,444 kilometers, or 580,636 miles. The vehicle was purchased by its current owner with roughly 566,000 miles on the clock, and they say the secret to its longevity is a strict maintenance regime, plus long and leisurely trips, rather than short, exuberant drives.
Why Audi’s V12 TDI Is The Perfect High-Mileage Candidate
2008-2012 Audi Q7 V12 TDI 5.9L Twin-turbo V12 TDI EngineAudi
In a petrol V12, those same highway miles would demand constant revving and frequent gear changes. In this diesel, the engine barely breaks a sweat. Peak power is delivered at a very reasonable 3,750 rpm, while that mountain of torque kicks in between 1,750 and 3,250 rpm.
That early arrival of oomph means the Q7 can cruise at highway speeds with ultra-low rpm, prioritizing efficiency and drivability over long distances. That torque also reduces mechanical stress on the transmission; it won’t need to make as many gear changes as a lower-torque engine, which would need to hunt through gears more frequently.
The Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive system will surely prove useful, too, in delivering power to the road effectively, regardless of surface and weather conditions.
Audi Q7 V12 TDI detailsAudi
Diesel engines are also built tougher as a general rule, in order to withstand higher compression ratios, and that innate strength will serve as an asset when attempting to cover such significant distances.
And then there are the benefits of the Audi Q7 in general, as a comfortable, well-engineered, and capable platform, equipped with a spacious and well-trimmed cabin, plus a welcome smattering of comfort-oriented amenities.But comfort and engineering only take you so far — the real question is what it actually costs to keep a V12 diesel alive for half a million miles.
The Real Cost: A $94k Engine, $10k Brake Rotors, And Six-Figure Fuel Bills
Audi Q7 V12 TDI detailsAudi
- Its original engine was replaced at 394,570 miles, most likely due to overheating concerns, according to the current owner, who notes that a replacement engine costs €83,000 ($94,300) in today’s money.
- The Q7 is also on its third set of brake rotors. That sounds reasonable for a 580,000-mile Q7, but it’s wearing carbon-ceramic units, and they don’t come cheap. New front rotors typically command north of $10,000.
- An oil service is carried out every 10,000 kilometers, or 6,213 miles. The Q7 V12 TDI has a maximum oil capacity of 17.44 US quarts and requires high-performance fully synthetic oil, so a $99 quick-lube service is not an option.
- The injectors are checked routinely by the current owner, and with replacement units generally commanding around $500 each, it’s well worth keeping an eye on their condition.
- Original estimates claim the Q7 should be able to achieve a combined 20 MPG (US), and it sports a 26.4 gallon fuel tank. Taking those figures, we can estimate the car to have worked through around 1,100 tanks of diesel in its life. Using an estimated $3.50 per gallon – roughly the average gallon price of diesel over the last 15 years in the US – that gives us a total fuel bill ever-so-slightly north of $100,000.
It’s worth noting that this Q7 is in Europe, and that the V12 model was never sold new in the US, but those figures still give an idea of the level of commitment required to keep this vehicle running for 580,000+ miles. Then there’s also the initial purchase price to think about, which was the equivalent to roughly $175,000 in 2008 – before options.
This Ex-Rental Lamborghini Deserves An Honorable Mention
2002-2006 Lamborghini Murcielago Front Angle ViewLamborghini
The plan worked well, until one such pilot ran out of luck in 2012, and crashed Simon’s Lambo. Rather than write it off and take an insurance payout, Simon had the Murcielago repaired over four years, investing six-figure sums into the process. Once back on the road, Simon opted not to pamper and preserve his pride and joy, but to use it extensively.
2003 Lamborghini Murciélago manual shifterBring A Trailer
Despite the ludicrous running costs, including clutch replacements roughly every 30,000 miles (this is a proper six-speed Murciélago), Simon piled on the miles with daily driving and bucket-list road trips, eventually crossing the 300,000-mile barrier in 2024. It might not match the impressive odometer figure of the aforementioned Q7, but this is a crash-damaged 205-mph Lamborghini with a 572-hp V12 under the hood that has covered 300,000 miles. That makes it the highest-mileage supercar in existence, and that’s a feat worth celebrating.
Is There A Half-Million-Mile Toyota Century Wandering The Streets?
Toyota Century auction reportMileage Impossible – Facebook
- It’s a 2001 Toyota Century
- The chassis number GZG50-005250 rings true, with GZG50 indicating it runs a 5.0-liter 1GZ-FE V12 engine
- It’s an “R” grade, denoting it’s had some historical structural repairs (perhaps in line with a very high-mileage vehicle)
- Handwriting in the condition section notes wear to the seats and steering wheel, plus scratches to the alloy wheels and paintwork – again, what anyone would expect to see from a 567,000-mile Toyota
- It was lot number 86,175, and sold through a USS Auto auction, reportedly on June 8th, 2023
Details of the exact auction and this specific lot number are not easily found online, and its whereabouts and any further information currently elude us. Is the mileage correct? Does the car still exist? Has it remained in Japan, or has it been exported elsewhere? These are questions we’d love to answer, especially as the car sat just roughly 12,500 miles shy of the Q7’s current mileage – and that was over three years ago.
Sources: @bennyandthev12 Instagram, Mileage Impossible Facebook Page, Hagerty, Lamborghini, Audi, Toyota.
