Is highway driving better than city driving for car?

[mineroller]

I see many used car advertises that says a car "has such and such mileage on odometer and they are mostly highway kilometres" with emphasis on highway kilometres..
Is highway driving any "better" than the usual city stop-and-go driving for the engine? (or for the car in general)
For example, is 30,000 km put on highway better than 30,000 km put on city streets?

I am asking this because my dad does a LOT of highway driving with his 96 Dodge Caravan (a lot means Halifax-Toronto highway trip - 4000km(2500miles) round trip - at least twice, sometimes 3 or 4 times a month. He bought the car only last winter, and i think already put more than 35,000kms(22,000 miles) on odometer).
he seems to think his engine or tranny will explode sooner or later..and thinking of selling it before getting too much mileage on it..

what should i tell him?

[jersey_emt]

Yes, it's a lot less wear and tear on the drivetrain on the highway.

The Chrysler auto transmissions from that year aren't all that great, and don't last all that long. It's the 4-speed auto right?

I owned a 1996 chrysler cirrus which uses the same tranny (if it's the 4-speed auto), had 105,000 miles on it, but I've heard a lot of people having tranny problems with much less mileage.

Keep it maintainted well and it should last though.

[mineroller]

Yes..4-speed auto...
If he keeps on driving highways like that..how long would it last?
What kind of maintenance do you need for auto tranny though? aside from fluid changes..?

[osudewd]

Is highway driving better than city driving for car?

On a related note, is drinking gas better than water?

[MotegiMazdA]

LOW carb yo!

(friday)

[ZoomZoomH]

Yes..4-speed auto...
If he keeps on driving highways like that..how long would it last?
What kind of maintenance do you need for auto tranny though? aside from fluid changes..?
it will last as long as the engine/tranny can hold up. which is A LONG TIME for most newer cars. my dad's 1990 Plymouth Voyager has 160k+ miles on it, had to change the the head once, other than that it's held up to the beating.

fluid change will help A LOT with life of the auto transmission. same applies to engine oil (read: change it regularly if the car builds up a lot of mileage!)

[ZoomZoomH]

on another note, this thread has NOTHING to do with 3rd gen Proteges, can a mod move this to off topic or general automotive section or something

[hi-perf]

it will last as long as the engine/tranny can hold up. which is A LONG TIME for most newer cars. my dad's 1990 Plymouth Voyager has 160k+ miles on it, had to change the the head once, other than that it's held up to the beating.

fluid change will help A LOT with life of the auto transmission. same applies to engine oil (read: change it regularly if the car builds up a lot of mileage!)
your dad probably had one with a 3 speed auto.

those are actually ok. its the 90's chrysler 4 speed autos on V6's is what you have to worry about. those things grenade all the time, 3 times for my family's vehicle.

[Shades]

Well, they've proven recently that highway vs. city miles isn't as important as it's made out to be. It's all just a hopeful gauge of RPM's. How many of those have been run are wwwaaaaaaayyyyyyy more important than how many miles, but since cars don't bother keeping track of those, ur stuck with a guessing game.

[ES2k3]

Its obvious, yes... highway is better for the car than city driving.

City: accelerate, brake, turn, accelerate, brake, horn, brake, accelerate, turn, brake, nids-de-poule, brake, turn, accelerate, yadda, yadda, yadda....

Highway: get up to speed and turn slighly every once in a while. Sometimes need some coasting....

yes, highway driving is better for the car. The only problem I can see with 100% highway mileage is if the drive always keep the very same speed all the fuckin' time all the fuckin' way. It ask for some speed variation from times to times. thats about it (silly)

[Astral]

he seems to think his engine or tranny will explode sooner or later..and thinking of selling it before getting too much mileage on it..

what should i tell him?

tell him that nothing is going to explode. as long as he regularly changes the oil, his engine will be okay until 100K+.... the tranny really should last until at least 60K.... if you change tranny fluid regularly (every 30K, if you put in synthetic ATF, you'll have to change only every 60K), then that should definitely prolong the life of the automatic tranny

[jersey_emt]

I would change the ATF more frequently than recommended, even with synthetic.

[dmitrik4]

hwy driving is a lot less taxing on your car than city driving.

ES2k3's answer is spot on. hwy driving puts almost no wear on the car. what kills a car is turning on/off, accelerating, turning, braking, constant temp changes, etc. by contrast, hwy cruising is basically a steady-state operation.