How many kilometres do you think your car clocks in five years?
With an average home-office-home distance of, say, 30km in Singapore, some back of the napkin math equates that to 36,000km.
To be generous, let’s double that number to factor in some weekend driving.
As long a distance you may think that is, you have nothing on a delivery driver from the US state of Kansas, who clocked a whopping one million miles (1.6 million km) on her 2013 Hyundai Elantra on its original powertrain – over just five years.
Farrah Haines achieved that mind-boggling number driving nearly 200,000 miles (322,000km) a year delivering auto parts and products.
To put that in perspective, that’s 26,833km a month – an average of 894km a day.
Putting it in context, that’s the equivalent of driving from Singapore to Penang every single day for a month.
Impossible, you say? To verify that figure’s authenticity, Hyundai engineers ran multiple tests to validate her odometer reading, which checked out.
Bet you don’t see this very often in your car.
To glean the most out of Ms Haines’ extra long-legged Elantra, the company’s product engineers also inspected engine casting numbers, service records, wire harnesses and engine mounts.
For Ms Haines, simple maintenance was key to the car’s long lifespan.
“I love to drive and have made a successful career out of it, so it was no surprise that I was able to get to a million miles. The key is to prioritise regular maintenance and to have a quality vehicle,” she said, adding that she changed engine oil once every two weeks.
To recognise this driving feat, Hyundai Motor America presented Ms Haines with a brand new 2019 Hyundai Elantra to mark the occasion, together with a first-ever 1 Million Mile Emblem.
“This is not only a milestone for Farrah, but also for Hyundai and the quality of our vehicles,” said Hyundai Motor America’s chief marketing officer Dean Evans.
“Reaching one million miles with the original powertrain in just five years is an extremely rare and incredible achievement.”
Watch the video of Ms Haines’ achievement here:
