Where Do You Draw The Line - Mileage?

[Dennis Kirban]

As the title of the thread suggests.......at some point most of you reading this thread have shopped for a good used car or in my case many used cars. Years ago if you did this the rule of thumb was to seek out a car with under 100,000 miles. Anything over that and the car usually was at the point of costing more in repairs than it would be worth to you as the owner.

Technology, craftsmanship whatever has vastly improved over the last dozen or so years so its not unusual to find extremely nice running cars that have 130,000 or 160,000 miles on them. Look at any Craigs list and some cars show 180,000 to 200,000 miles on them for sale. As owners of turbo regals (myself included) the basic 3800 engine is known as one of the best engines built and they will go with many many miles with proper maintainance. Same token other motors are prone to failure.

So, the question is: When you shop for a used car regardless of make or model to buy and drive what is the mileage figure that you won't cross or consider buying? Is it 130,000? or what? Granted other factors come into play but mileage is one critical one....as any dealer will tell you! Example most new car dealers usually wholesale out cars of a certain age and definately with mileage over 100,000 to avoid the headaches.

I do not mean turbo regals but a basic used car for general use.

Will post my thoughts later.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Phoneguy]

I think you will get quite a variance on this question Dennis. Many owners will take very good care of a car and others will not. It would depend on the individual vehicle. Take a diesel truck, 150,000 miles is nothing if taken care of...

Bryan

 

[gofstbuick]

I have bought three cars from craigslist, a 55 chevy pu, a 99 pontiac bonneville and an 07 dodge magnum. The pontiac was in the 55000 mile range and I sold it in the 165000 range 6 years later. I recouped half my cost of the original purchase price. I paid a premium for the magnum, cause the car had 24000 mile when I bought it, plus it's an RT with the road&track performance package (essentially SRT8 cosmetics and suspension on an RT). I've never owned a new car, just a new MC. Since most of us car enthusiast are somewhat mechanically inclined, we'll usually fix most problems. I bought my gn with 75000 miles on it and put over 100000 mile on it. I like driving and being comfortable. Have rebuilt engine twice. I try not to exceed 100000 on a car I plan to purchase, but will have no problems selling one.

 

[John Larkin]

For me it is a relationship of mileage to age. In my opinion, 2 - 10K per year is exceptional, 10 - 15 is above average, 15 - 20 is average, and 20 up is heavy usage. More miles per year = more wear and tear. My personal limit is about 50K miles if I am buying a car and I still own two that I bought at that mileage. But low miles per year vehicles will suffer from age deterioration. I was a victim of that this last week: 1996 car with 85K miles, I have owned it for 12 years. It still looks great and starts/driven daily. Out of no where I popped the upper rad hose and one of the heater hoses, pulled over and was towed home (AAA is the best). No engine damage fortunately but the hoses were 16 years old and had been heat cycled as much as a 200K mile car. Soft parts do not last endlessly. Now I am planning to replace the GN's hoses before this season kicks off, never done those either. Age + mileage and the subliminal wear and tear are definitely things to consider when buying.

 

[TurboTnZ06]

Also years/warranty come into play. My '09 Suburban LTZ just hit 100k miles, no longer under any drivetrain warranty. I'll keep it to 200k if I can since everything is like new and works great.

I have 215K on my 10 sec '87 Turbo Buick and it runs just fine, although the only thing not rebuilt or new is the frame.

 

[TurboTdr3.8]

I have seen mileage low and high , it really depends on how it was taken care of ,maintance, oil and filter is the main thing .I have seen low mileage cars that sit alot and gunk up from not driving , then you take a car that is driven on the highway long trips that has several thousand miles on the clock and is in better shape than the one sitting around and not driven . Personally miles and age of a car does not bother me , its the wear and tear from abuse that I do not like . I drive a 1991 model with 190,000 plus and its still going strong ,just took a 1100 mile trip with zero problems .

 

[Pronto]

Mileage isn't as much an issue, it's rust that is a killer. Anything around here after 10 years is on the downside of life if it's been driven in the winter.

 

[Red C5]

It depends on car. When I was shopping for a good tow vehicle I wanted a F350 with the 7.3 goal was to find something with around 100k miles but the vast majority of trucks I looked at had 200k + and all ran great. But were not cosmetically taken care of. Found one that met our needs with 109k on clock.

Also the overall condition is more important than just miles. If the car is in excellent condition and well taken care of, I will buy that over a lower milage car that looks like it was beat on.

 

[ttypewhite]

Show me the Carfax........... lol. But true in a sense. Usually a car with multiple owners in a short time frame generally means it's a problem child. The really nice ones have few owners. A good test drive for longer then 15 min will tell the health of the drive train, mechanical, and suspension parts. Not too mention, a couple questions to the owner usually gives you a indication if he is genuine or a flake.

 

[PLAINWHITE T]

About 125K is my limit for something I plan on keeping for more than a couple of years. I like paperwork/carfax documentation to support maintenance and ownership history too. This may seem like I'm being a snob, but dealing with a private owner and seeing how they keep themselves, house and lawn can be telling as well.

When I worked selling used cars part-time in college, I repeatedly was asked for "a good, cheap, used car". My standard reply was, "How good, how cheap, and how used?" It was a great ice-breaker.

 

[MNcarbturbo]

I dont look at mileage. When it comes to older cars in the North anything high mileage gets rusted out and cant be driven anymore. There is no rusty 250K mile early 90's cars (or very few at least) since they all rust out. Only old stuff that survives is low mileage. In a way, the salt/snow makes the cars rust apart before they really get to a point where they become so fragile that they are constantly breaking.

My 88 Cherokee has 230K and the only thing that ive replaced is tires, oil, fuel filter, cam sensor, batteries, stuff like that. The power locks dont work and only the drivers window controls work but I dont care. It came out of Oregon so it never rusted out. The last 30K miles in Minnesota have done more than the first 200K ever did in Oregon for the rust. Vehicle would have rusted out before the little stuff started falling apart.

My 81 Cutlass came out of Texas and had 100K some but the interior was trashed from baking in the sun. If it was garaged it would have been perfect.

My 97 firebird was a MN car new and it would be a pile if I didnt fix it. Rust in the quarters and floors starting to show through. Engine blew up witch put it out of commission and why I got it. If it hadnt though, the rest of the car wasnt far. Swaybar endlinks were rusted off, brakes were rusted solid, window got froze in the winter and didnt close so the interior got wet.

What Im saying, is if it runs and has no rust thats the only thing I would look for if I were buying a used car. Fixing wheelbearings and waterpumps is easy. If its post 1990 its going to run forever not going to spin any bearings or need rings, just a matter of the interior and shape of the body. I'm below that stage on the auto totem pole though so I look for the stuff that is rusted or complete junk. If the body is clean and runs rough im in, if the body is rough and it runs good im in, if its super cheap I dont care whats wrong.

 

[87_we4]

I have a 01 f150 with 216k and a 99 cummins with 312k I'd drive either of them anywhere. As long as maintenance is performed regularly and taken care of vehicals run forever

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

to me it depends on the specific vehicle.
My old astro- i got it with 124K miles - and sold it a few years later with 285K miles- the only thing that gave me trouble was the spider injector but that was at 250K.
My old GTP i got it with 114K (i think) used for a few years LOTS AND LOTS miles later no problems - Sandy got that one.
i just bought a Suburban with 116K lets see how it goes. BTW the truck drives so good that my brother thought that i bought a new truck and was lying about it.
I do maintain my cars.

 

[OhioC5]

I can't buy a high mileage car. To me anything over 30k is too much, I just can't do it.

 

[Dennis Kirban]

Interesting comments.....definately rust is the number one issue in the northeast part of the country which is where I reside.
I had a few cars that have 140,000 to 155,000 miles on them. The smart buyer is the one seeking the 1-2 owner, vehicle that has been garage kept, and not smoked in. Many of the engines today 3800 and the 5.7 V8s can go wel over 100,000 miles with proper care.

Long as the seller took good care of the car some vehicles are amazing at high miles. I got my wife a low mileage car about 5 years ago and it has had more problems than some of the models I have owned that had high mileage on them. It needed a complete steering set up with 25,000 miles on it.
Trick is to weed thru the variety on craigs list and find the ads that are written by someone intelligent......

denniskirban@yahoo.com

One vehicle I have shows 155,000 on it. I bought it with I think 125,000 its one of the desireable full size 2 door Blazer Sport models 1994....the ones that usually have rotted away. This one been cared for.

 

[OhioC5]

I have a friend that loves high mile LSx cars. The biggest problem for me is the rattles and squeaks drive me nuts.

 

[theCATman]

I have had "work" cars for about 15 years now. Mostly Hondas & Toyotas until now. I took over our '03 Grand Prix.

All the Jap cars had 130-166K on them when I bought them.

The last one was a '96 Civic. It had 166k on it when I bought it. One owner car, of whom I knew the people personally. Still had the original clutch at 166k. To say the car was babied is an understatement. It had 244k when I sold it & still ran great. One power window had died, but everything else was is great working order. I'd still have it, but we inherited a mini-van, so that's when it was sold & I took over the GP. It only has 63k on it, and we are the original owners.

 

[INEEDAGN]

Personally I don't care if the odometer is worn out. At least if I buy a 200k pos, I know I'm getting what I pay for. The few times i've tried to buy in the $5-7k used car market, they've been money pits. I can buy a 1-2k beater and let it fall apart until it stops moving, and fill it with scrap iron and get quite a bit of my money back. The salvage yard doesn't check my maintenance records

Highway miles are way easier on a car than city miles, the odometer is only part of the puzzle. Seen lots of highway driven 200k vehicles through the dealership that were still good cars, and some sub 100k stuff that I wouldn't buy. I was at a transmission seminar talking to a shop owner about an s10 blazer that they put a trans in, it was owned by a mall security company. Did nothing but stop and go around the mall and was a real POS at 35k miles. They had to warranty the trans a couple times just to get it out of the warranty period they put on it.

Carfax is useless on "program" cars. They were mostly owned by self insured fleet companies and they don't report most of what happens to them. Clean carfax does not mean its never been wrecked.

 

[groumoutis]

Over the last 8 years I have had to drive 50 miles round trip to work and that is all my back and forth to work car does. I had a 1992 Honda Accord with 280,000 miles and it ran great however I traded it and some cash to a friend for his Subaru Legacy. We had gotten rid of our 4 wheel drive so I wanted to get something that got around in the snow. The Subbie has 135,000 on it. Mileage doesn't scare me as long as the car was maintained properly. If the suspension rattles and the alignment is out of whack then I won't think twice about buying it. Those are just signs of poor upkeep!

On a side note, that Honda will rust apart before the engine quits. The engine in that car was as smooth as a sowing machine but the body was rusting away from its years of Indiana salted roads! I only paid $2200 for it and got 100,000 miles out of it. What a bargain!!!!!

 

[BEATAV8]

I buy my GMC trucks new and drive them to 250K plus. At 130-140K miles the things have always started costing money. Much less expensive than a car payment since I do everything myself, but that is not typical of most folks. My newest GMC has so far been better than the older ones and has gone a long way without anything really.

in contrast, my sister's Chrysler minivan has been a complete piece of crap with less than 40K on it. brakes shot all around, odds and ends broken, battery....