Trama

When Marshall's car doesn't quite make it to 200,000 miles without dying completely, everybody reminisces about their greatest memories with the car.

Marshall loves his car, a Fiero, which he got when he was sixteen. The car represents his youth, which he is slowly losing to being a suit wearing corporate lawyer. So he plans on celebrating when the Fiero hits its 200,000th mile. With less than a mile to go with Ted already breaking out the cigars, the car dies. While the gang waits at the mechanic's shop to see if the Fiero will survive, they reminisce about memorable incidents that have happened in the car, in particular ones that bonded certain friendships. When Marshall learns that the car is repairable but will cost more than it's really worth, Marshall has to decide if the money is worth holding onto his past.—Huggo

Ted and Marshall begin the story in Marshall's Pontiac Fiero. The car is about to hit 200,000 miles on the odometer, and Marshall is excited, since the Fiero has served him well. He even has cigars in the glove box ready for the occasion. Although, upon looking, Ted can only find two sets of chopsticks. However, Marshall hits a pothole, and the Fiero quits running just before it hit 200,000 miles. In the shop, Marshall is saddened (since the car represented who he was and he wanted to hold on dearly to that.. his brothers had given the car to him when he turned 16), and everyone begins sharing stories about the Fiero.

Marshall tells the story of how he had to prove himself worthy, of the car (which had 72108 miles on it by that time), in the eyes of his brothers by ordering 12 cups of coffee at the drive-thru while sitting naked in the front seat (his brothers had already gone ahead and bought out all the trays and lids. Then they jumped out and surprised him, causing him to jerk the car and make the hot coffee spill all over him). He also uses this to tell why he has never allowed food or drink in the Fiero (not even groceries).

Ted then tells his memorable moment with the Fiero, known as both "Fieroasco" and the "100k Fiasco" (the Fiero was approaching 100,000 miles at that time), which began during their freshman year of college (Marshall and Ted weren't really good friends yet), when Marshall offered to drop Ted off at his parents' house in Ohio (and split the gas money) on his way home to Minnesota for Christmas break. They had started to bond on trip, while a cassette was stuck in the player so they could only hear one song over and over. Ted starts to play Zich-dog (you have to yell "Zich do" first, every time you see a dog), but Marshall wins every time 82-0. Ted tells of how they got lost on a back road (Ted wanted to take a short cut as he was bored on the highway. Plus they had no food or water, due to Marshall's no food in the Fiero rule), had to cuddle together to stay warm when a snowstorm hit (soon, their battery died and they had no choice.. Marshall admits that he loves Lily and someday he is going to marry her) - and found out they were parked in front of a small bed-and-breakfast with a man and his dog staring at them the next morning.

The mechanic tells Marshall that the car is not worth saving and will cost $3000 to fix. Lily and Robin feel the need to come clean about something, and they tell Marshall about the time they took the Fiero to get Thai food but spilled it in the passenger compartment. They carefully cleaned it up, smoked the cigars that Marshall had been saving for the passing of 200,000 miles, and wrapped two chopsticks in napkins, hoping Marshall would never discover what they did.

Finally, Barney says that he doesn't understand any of their feelings for the car. Ted then tells of Barney's only memory with the Fiero, which was the time Ted taught Barney how to drive in it (189441 miles), and Barney was scared of driving ever again (even though he never left the parking lot or went much above 10 mph). Barney panicked when a dog came in front of the car, even though it was more than 50 feet away and the car had a few minutes before it ever came close to harming it. Barney calls the Fiero a death trap. That was the moment when he decided never to drive again.

Marshall accepts that the car has had a great life and deserves to move on. He agrees to give up the car for scrap. He is OK with the car not completing 200,000 miles, as none of them have achieved their life goals either. He wants to get a new car for his new memories with Lily. Their first house, the first car their 2 kids remember and so on. Ted says that the car has done a lot for them and convinces the gang to push it the last 0.7 miles to get it to the landmark. Although all five of them attempt to push the car to 200,000 miles, they give up (the back wheels were on blocks), and say goodbye to the car. Future Ted states the remains of the car were sold for enough money to help pay the gang's bar tab for the next 2 days.

Marshall had put the cassette into the Fiero when it had 66334 miles on it. It was the last thing it gave back to Marshall (it came unstuck) before it headed for scrap.