After 1 million kilometres on country roads, a western Victorian stock agent has finally parked his faithful four-wheel drive for good.<\/p>\n
Nhill local Gary Driscoll averaged more than 180 kilometres a day in his 2009 Toyota LandCruiser, travelling to properties across the Wimmera to inspect livestock.<\/p>\n
“It’s sometimes 3 to 4 hours a day in the car, but then there are days where you might be in the car for up to 14 hours,” Mr Driscoll said.<\/p>\n
“That’s why we call it the mobile office.”<\/p>\n
The odometer of his LandCruiser, which is now on display in the Horsham Toyota dealership, actually reads 999,999 kilometres. The decision was made not to click it over to 1 million kilometres, as that would reset the odometer to zero.<\/p>\n
Mr Driscoll began his career driving a HZ Holden Kingswood between Stawell and the Newmarket Saleyards in Melbourne’s inner north-west.<\/p>\n
Over the years he has traversed Victoria’s country roads in a range of Holden, Mitsubishi and Ford sedans \u2014 a far cry from the larger vehicles now more commonly used in agricultural professions.<\/p>\n
He said he preferred the higher, smoother drive of a four-wheel drive, especially when navigating potholes.<\/p>\n
“There are plenty of those around our roads today, and when you get a smaller vehicle, wow, they’re rough.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The odometer showing 999,999 kilometres on Gary Driscoll’s LandCruiser. (ABC News: Rebekah Lowe)<\/p>\n
In good nick<\/p>\n
Mr Driscoll kept his milestone car regularly serviced at the Horsham dealership where he bought it in 2009.<\/p>\n
Service manager Tim Barnett said the vehicle had been serviced almost 100 times and that it was the most travelled he had seen.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been here at the dealership for 15 years and in automotive for over 20 years.<\/p>\n
“This is the first time I’ve seen one hit a million, particularly with the original engine and driveline,” Mr Barnett said.<\/p>\n
Mr Driscoll’s car will be displayed at his local dealership for the next two months according to Toyota Australia.<\/p>\n
The manufacturer was unable to confirm the highest mileage Toyota vehicle in Australia.<\/p>\n
“However, we are aware of several customers whose Toyota vehicles have passed the million-kilometre mark,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gary Driscoll’s 2009 LandCruiser in full work mode. (Supplied: Gary Driscoll)<\/p>\n
Cars lasting longer<\/p>\n
Automotive journalist Toby Hagon said it was rare to find a car with more than 1 million kilometres on the odometer.<\/p>\n
“I had a look online to see how many cars were being sold with more than 1 million kilometres. There were 41 listings, but I couldn’t see one that was genuine.”<\/p>\n
He said rising prices in both new and used car markets meant owners were increasingly keeping vehicles longer.<\/p>\n
“In Australia, the cars on our roads tend to be pretty old, so I think as a nation we’re pretty good at stretching it out.”<\/p>\n
Mr Hagon said popular models were easier to maintain because parts were readily available.<\/p>\n
“If the manufacturer doesn’t have those parts anymore, the aftermarket suppliers will step in for things like headlights and major mechanical components.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 1 million kilometres on country roads, a western Victorian stock agent has finally parked his faithful four-wheel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[196859,58077,64,63,99,144010,130336,196861,196860,917,93757],"class_list":["post-361248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-2009-toyota-landcruiser-200-series","tag-4wd","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-landcruiser","tag-odometer","tag-one-million-kilometres","tag-stock-agent","tag-toyota","tag-wimmera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}