How high is too high? (Mileage content).

[Largactil]

Currently considering something more modern for daily chod duties - The LNA will still be staying put in the fleet, but I've got huge reservations about exposing it to regular Irish-style driving / parking, as many bits of trim (bumper corners etc) are made of pure unobtainium these days.

 

A mid noughties Avensis dieseasal estate seems dismal enough for running about, and has the added bonus of a big boot for cross border shopping trips oop north - And 50% of the taxi drivers in Dublin can't be wrong.

 

Thing is - Many I see for sale in my cheapskate price range have a six figure mileage beginning with a '2'.

 

They seem to last forever - I was recently in a UK import taxi showing 320k on the clock, and it was fine from the passenger seat.

 

So, autoshite - Provided there was some semblance of a service history accompanying the vehicle, what's the highest mileage you'd buy at?

 

<discuss>

[MrDuke]

For mileages over 150k, divide the mileage by 1000, and subtract the result from 400. The final figure is the maximum amount you should pay (in pounds).

 

The above is most likely balls, but it'll sound good down the pub.

[tooSavvy]

Guy on IMP Forum is @200k......

 

He's a 'tinkerer', mind, so his car is likely a Triggs Broom

 

 

TS

[spike60]

A couple of years ago I sold a BMW 525 Tds that had been in the family for years and had 253,000 on it. Most of the car was fine, it was window motors, wipers, locks etc that were getting to be a pain. It was crank thrust bearings that saw it leave, a legacy of being driven for 80k with the world heaviest clutch. It started spitting the belt off days after doing 3200 miles in 5 weeks, time to go. In my experience Mercs take the mileage better, certainly the fixtures and fittings, CLK with 200k plus still going strong.

[Bren]

No matter how clean the car is, the mileage has to be reflected in the price.

 

Something that has covered 200k will be worth substantially less than something with half the mileage, no matter how good it is.

[UltraWomble]

I've just bought a Citroen with 140K on the odo - ex fleet hire.

WCPGW?

[Squire_Dawson]

At such a high mileage it depends purely on condition and if the price is right. The old, low mileage cars are ones to be wary of.

[sierraman]

Depends what car it is... Fiesta size stuff always used to be ropey at 100k. That said I see loads of mk1 focus with 150-175k on clock engine still going strong. Unless was very cheap I'd be reticent to look at anything over 150k if I was to get some life out of it. It's rarely the engine that sees it off. It's often an aggregate of worn out running gear then a sudden bill for something like a steering rack that only wears out with big miles.

[sierraman]

True about the'low mileage gems' I've driven 15 year old mondeos that had done 50k and felt asthmatic yet the 130k one I had went like a train. Why is this?

[rml2345]

No matter how clean the car is, the mileage has to be reflected in the price.

 

Something that has covered 200k will be worth substantially less than something with half the mileage, no matter how good it is.

Unless it's an old Volvo, Merc or something equally renowned for shrugging off intergalactic mileages.

Then again, I'd probably have the Yaris well over 200k now and it ran like a Swiss watch.

Much better to buy on condition and look for evidence of recent love rather than foosty dealer histories from aeons ago and base your offer on that. Lower mileage cars can be hiding just as many nasties as high mileage ones.

[HH-R]

Highest mileage cars I've had were Metro (88k) and Micra (80k). The Micra's engine was great but the gearbox was knackered. Metro just felt very tired, play in the steering, gearstick wobbling about etc., though the engine performed and sounded great.

 

My current car has 65k on, the gearbox is starting to become reluctant, grauncy and the tappets sound like a skeleton whacking one out in a biscuit tin.

[Pete-M]

I've had a 306k mile BMW 528i. It was fine provided it was warmed up in the morning.

 

Current wheels are a 170k mile Focus and a 182k mile E320 CDi. Both are fine.

[UltraWomble]

88k

80k

65k 

All new and barely run in.

[hairnet]

go off condition always

 

mad miles = knock price by 20%

 

stuff with 200k on - if theyve lasted this long and still in passable nick itll be fine - the important stuff will have been changed in regular use

 

same car low miles - bit like trigs alto press it into service from pootle to full on commute and they shit themselves and die cos it not used to it

 

ex dubh taxi ewwwwwww

[Junkman]

High miles are the cachet of a car. If it wasn't a good car, it would have been scrapped long ago.

Old cars with low miles are the ones to avoid. They aren't any good, so nobody wanted to drive them.

[PiperCub]

I'd consider the overall condition over the milage & buy on that basis. But keep the price as low as possible to minimise risk. Also bear in mind the less switched-on car buyers will run away screaming at anything with much over 100K on the odo - their loss but keeps the appear of high miler down (so we benefit!!).

 

I had a 300k+ H-reg Pug 205 diesel (N/A), drove superbly as it'd been looked after, maintained properly with money spent as and when required - that is the key thing to look for IMO.

[doobietoo]

If you buy high mileage make sure it has a full and complete history, I once bought a 91 Pissrat with 240,000 on it but it came with two box files full of receipts for everything it had ever had done to it. It looked and drove like brand new, yes really and did not have a scratch or dent on it. Unfortunately this didnt stop a local muppet teenager writing it off during a showing off session with his mates while it was parked outside my house. Even then the clio he was driving came off far worse than the VW. 

[vulgalour]

low mileage  - things haven't gone wrong yet but will

high mileage - things have just gone wrong and not been fixed, things are about to go wrong spectacularly

moon mileage - everything that could ever go wrong has

[Pete-M]

Mechanic máte of mine had an 03 Passat with 450k on the clock. It drove well. Everything that needed doing always got done before other things had the chance to snowball.

 

That's the secret. Fix things before they break other things. If wheels are out of balance next thing you know is track rod ends, bearings, rack ends etc will all be knackered. If a high mileage car has been looked after properly it'll go on forever near enough. I've driven a 740k mile Octavia that genuinely drove like a well looked after 80k miler. I've also driven 80k mile ones that felt like they'd done 740k..

[Squire_Dawson]

It's a world away from what it was, i.e. over 100k miles avoid avoid avoid. This thinking lingers on from the days when cars had odometers which only read up to 99,999 miles and were shite. Engines and gearboxes were frequently knackered at 40,000 miles!

Cars are much better now (!) in this respect so the old argument loses its weight, but it's a fact that all things wear out eventually. As many people have said here and will continue to say, the Golden Rule of car buying is that if you like it and it feels right, buy it. Simples.

[PiperCub]

^^ Reckon that was pretty much the score with my old Pug - careful & considered maintenance (not just fiddling).

 

(Plus 740K Octavia? - bloody hell, that's impressive!)

[meggersdog]

My current Discovery is now on 218k. I paid £300 for it 18 months ago with 203k miles and sold the old 200TDi to Avenger for parts for £300 so this one basically owes me nothing.

[sierraman]

Oil changes are key I think together with regular servicing if brakes etc i.e changing pads before they are fucked and ruin the discs

[fordperv]

Mileage should be a badge of honour to reflect good maintenance, i love the look of disbelief on people's faces when they say "you can really see its only done 60,000 miles by the condition" and you correct them by saying no its actually 160,000 I look after it

[forddeliveryboy]

What Pete says rings true - fix things before they break other things. Stuff really does snowball. But you need a decent mechanic too, otherwise more stuff can be broken removing things.

 

I've driven a Citroën DS with a known 620,000 miles under its belt, it felt little different from one with 50k. Smoother in many respects, the engine was on its original pistons and liners, the valves had been lapped in when the HG was replaced at around 400, according to the owner. It was on its third clutch, which had been in since about 550k. All the suspension cylinders were original, as well as the steering and brake doseur valve. It was brought to me with intermittently failing brakes on the first pedal squeeze, the HP pump was leaking air into the hydraulics. A quick call to Pleiades and a recon unit arrived a couple of days later.

 

As far as I know the car's still in regular use. Audi C4 A6s seem to last well, they're tough and simple.

[HMC]

I must admit I do take mileage into consideration but not as much as most do, and only as part of the overall feel of the car and its history. Id rather have a well maintained  very high miler with a wad of paperwork than something lower milage with patchy documentation. its all about the people really, a long term owner thats been vigilant is for me the most reassuring person to buy off (step forward my 244k audi) playing catch up with maintenence at repair is ok as long as thats what your expecting and youve paid suitably less for the car in the first place. Its always a more expensive game to play than you think though.

[HillmanImp]

I am not sure why but I have always been wary of small cars with small engines and high mileages as my brain thinks that they have been worked much more if they are getting thrashed up and down a motorway like their larger counterparts. The same goes for the rest of the car as my thinking says that small cars are generally built  for school runs and trips to the shops etc not constant use racking up a squzzillion miles. Parts will be built to take bumps/bashes into kerbs etc but not 6hrs of constant use up the m1. 

[Pete-M]

That 305k E39 of mine had receipts for £16500 of maintenance over its life.

 

Which is probably why it drove better than most low mileage ones.

[HillmanImp]

I am also wary of cars with low mileages as others have said. I always remember a lad in East Preston who had a fucking mint red Stiletto with only about 15k on the clock as it had been laid up for most of its life. 

 

He paid what was then a fortune for it (peanuts compared to these days probably) but then spent the same again, if not more mending everything that went wrong with it as cars just don't like being laid up. 

 

Meg had been laid up when I got her and there were all sorts of things wrong which gradually went away with regular use.

[mrbenn]

When browsing for a Focus I was looking at one that had 165k on the clock. Looked in good nick, plenty of MOT etc. Didn't persue cos couldn't get hold of the seller. The one I bought had (at the time) 61k on the clock. At 78k it dropped a valve. Bet the 165k one wouldn't have done