Buying a low mileage car

[Jewel25]

Morning all , I thinking of buying a low mileage Rover 45 that has covered 14,000 . It's a 2003 model that has  a FSH. Mot'd every year so has been left standing.   Can buying a low mileage car be a bad idea ? I'm intending on using as a daily driver.   

I bought a 27,000 mile R8 214 once that 13 years old at the time which threw up no issues other than needing a new back box and lamba sensor. 

[Spottedlaurel]

On older low mileage stuff I've had things like radiators, thermostats, clutches and batteries be required when I've put them back into regular use. Tyres too, even if tread depth is healthy enough.

Engine may not have got properly warm for some time and that can throw up a few issues that weren't apparent previously.

Has it just been left standing on a driveway or in a garage?

[New POD]

My father in law gave my son a 15 year old Astra with 15000 miles on the clock. 

Fully history, never been out in the rain, never taken on short journeys. 

In 5 years he's done 50 k in it, and it needed tyres, a battery and recently a radiator. 

In fact the tyres had lots of tread but were rubbish. 

I can safely say its like a nearly new car still. It was like a new car. Had that smell. 

[trigger]

2003 is still a new car, like SL said, change the basics, fresh tyres if their still original and just enjoy and repair as you go along, I wouldn't be worrying about it. 

[Snipes]

Some cars dont like to sit around but I think the most important thing is not to let the low mileage push you into paying over the odds.

[Jewel25]

Thanks for the replies. It's £2100 ! So over odds . I paid £1200 for a 65,000 mile example 10 years ago .

[Rod/b]

2100 for a 17 year old Rover 45? Regardless of mileage that’s mental.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

2100! Cummon man... it's no MK4 Escort 1.3L. 

[trigger]

I'd save your money, once you start putting miles on it that will quickly become a sub £1000 car, I'd sooner buy something nicer and with more miles for that kind of price, it will probably depreciate slower too. 

[Jewel25]

Please don't get me sectioned .... I'd pay around £1500 if it was mint . It is 60iles away mind so not sure I can be bothered. I do love 45's though. My current one is decomposing on in laws drive , needs lots of work though. 

[Kiltox]

Id much rather have a well maintained higher mileage car than a low mileage one that’s been sat for ages 

 

[steveo3002]

buy on condition not what the speedo says ....kinda depends if its been sat in a damp field all those years  or some old duffers heated garage  

[Peter C]

A couple of years ago I bought a ten year old Mercedes CLS with 58k on the clock and FSH. There was infinitely more wrong with it than any 20+ year old 100k+ mile car I’ve ever had.

[BeEP]

I'd spend some of the money fixing the gold one, then have an entertaining evening on ebay wondering what to waste the remainder on!

[HMC]

Low mileage stuff has a bit of a wierd market. Especially if it’s in that not new not a classic hinterland that so many of our cars inhabit. 
 

Some types of buyer want to get something unworn and low miles to squirrel away, others see an older than they might normally buy but little use/ low cred to daily and use as a hack.

Prices are a bit all over the shop— @montytom posted a 19k mile city rover up at about £600- (it was sold when I enquired)  ?

[HMC]

1 hour ago, trigger said:

I'd save your money, once you start putting miles on it that will quickly become a sub £1000 car, I'd sooner buy something nicer and with more miles for that kind of price, it will probably depreciate slower too. 

That’s the trouble that puts me off mega low milers (beside the price) £3k on something with  20k on the clock- it suddenly looses its USP if it gets used. Soon enough it’s just another slightly lower mile example that’s really not worth much more that an average one. Fine if you commit to the notion that’s it’s a curio and ornament, or that you’ll lose out if you start using it as intended.

[sierraman]

£2100. Christ that’s a lot. 

Cars really don’t like being sat these days, all sorts of odd stuff starts playing up with regular use like dried up bearings etc. 15,000 as well would worry me, it’s probably never actually got properly warm over the years, all those cold starts shunting it in and out of the garage on choke. 

Its also no guarantee that things like the rear trailing arm bushes aren’t perished to fuck as well. 

[Tamworthbay]

Purplebargeken was selling a gorgeous 45 for peanuts on here, might still be available. Ken is a top bloke and totally honest about his cars. It looked a minter from the pics he put up.

[Agila]

3 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

Purplebargeken was selling a gorgeous 45 for peanuts on here, might still be available. Ken is a top bloke and totally honest about his cars. It looked a minter from the pics he put up.

Been roffled and resold already to someone who really really wanted it.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

I sometimes remember that RS500 with delivery miles on it or whatever it was. Being an old Ford it was for sale for like 7 billion or something. Like you're never going to use it- ever? Just becomes a massive 1:1 Maisto really.

[Tamworthbay]

17 minutes ago, Agila said:

Been roffled and resold already to someone who really really wanted it.

Jeez, I have missed a lot recently! Glad it’s found a good home as it looked a cracking car. Wouldn’t pay £2k for one though, no matter how nice.

[brownnova]

My Yugo only has 27,000 since its purchase in 1989... it’s still pretty worthless though!! 

[sierraman]

11 minutes ago, BoggyMires said:

I sometimes remember that RS500 with delivery miles on it or whatever it was. Being an old Ford it was for sale for like 7 billion or something. Like you're never going to use it- ever? Just becomes a massive 1:1 Maisto really.

Probably any road going RS500 is going to be an ornament. Too valuable to be used in anger and in any case you couldn’t take it places for people to enjoy, a worrying amount of old sporting Fords like that have been followed home from car shows and been promptly nicked. It’s a £50,000 car that can be nicked with a screwdriver. 

Back on topic anyway I had the opportunity of buying a 40k Mondeo years ago, it really was in good nick, full Ford history the lot, at the time I asked what they were looking for for it and it was something insane like £2k when a good one was worth maybe £6-700 so I declined. I wasn’t going to start bidding him as obviously we were on different pages re the value of it and to be fair it would have been wasted on me as I use cars as a workhorse, chucking timber in the back and tools etc, it’s have been ruined in about a fortnight. 

[Andyrew]

first car , skoda favorit with 13k on it , was slower than a slow thing. bought an abused one with 5 times the mileage on eBay and it went like stink until it OMGHGF.

think i have said this before one on here, i had a Carlton on a D plate,(admittedly that is 30 plus years old) manual box and it had 33k on it and hardly any rust, and everything looked spot on apart from giffer damage. it had been recommissioned to great expense by a previous owner all fluids changed etc etc . so i put it into daily use.

with that experience i say bollocks to low mileage cars.

leaked fuel from every single pipe,  brakes stuck on, smelt musky, clutch release bearing chewed the pressure plate. then started pinking this turned out to be the lifters full of congealed oil from what i assume was oil changes based on miles done. pinking and running on 3 then refusing to start.

sacked it off to a vauxhall toucher and its now his headache, 

cool car, dont miss it tho the ungrateful shite. 

replaced with a 180k+ disco that had been abused and had bent MOTs most of its recent life.  never failed to start and changed my mind completely about higher miles cars. 

current two in the fleet on the road at the moment ASTRA 154K, DISCO 198K

 

 

[Jewel25]

Thanks for the replies. My gold 45 has been sat for 2 years outside and has covered 125,000 miles.  Smells abit mouldy now too . 

[Scruffy Bodger]

My 405 had 37K on it when I bought it. I used a transporter to get it home then had a mate do the cam-belt and I gave the engine a ful lservice. The belt had only done 4K but it was fitted 14 years previously. It's now done just over 45K. Two new Michelins  and a windscreen washer pump is all it's had on it and it's gone straight through 2 MOT's. 

So for me, running a 25 year old low mileage  car has been a no brainer.

[BL Bloke]

I bought a 31K Rover 45 last year for £370 but found out shortly after that it was losing coolant. A new radiator hose and water pump were fitted but the problem remained. Instead of doing the sensible thing and getting it sorted I bought 3 more cars and the Rover has been languishing on the drive for the last 6 months. ?

 DSCF0614 by timothy jones, on Flickr

[Cooper1]

I had a Rover 25 1.4 with 21,356 on the clock, a 2002 car.. 

 

'twas totally rotten, sitting doesn't do cars any good in my opinion.. 

Had it for a week... 

[Jewel25]

A friend of mine bought a 30,000 example and that needed welding too. Had the 25 been outside?