How much is 'too much' mileage?

JCR1987

Hi guys,

Just looking for a quick opinion on your experience/knowledge of car mileage.

Basically we're looking to get a cheap(ish) second car as a run around to help with dropping our little girl off at nursery and for me to get to work half an hour away. I'm happy just to get a cheap little motor for a couple of grand or so to do this, but I don't want to get anything that will die on me after a few months because its been run into the ground.

The theory (in my head) says the less miles on a car the better, but is this necessarily true and if not, how much is too much? My guess is 30k-60k is good, means its been well run, but not thrashed, anything over 60k probably depends on the type of car.

For info, the types of car i'm looking at would be:

Fiesta
Clio
Focus (old style)
206
Ibiza

Any opinions or personal experience of these or other cars welcomed.

Cheers,
JR

Gordon_Hose

Provided it has been looked after and serviced properly then high mileage shouldn't be a problem. However, anything can go wrong at any time.

I use 10k per year as a rough guide, so if I was buying a 10 year old car then a mileage around the 100k wouldn't be a problem provided it had been mechanically looked after.

benham3160

50,000 is far too many miles for a car that's never been allowed to warm up, and just been driven around town all day, never serviced, and needs tyres, brakes and exhausts every other year.

200,000 could get you a sweet running car that's spent all it's life on motorways, and still has another 200,000 miles left in it.

No magic "numbers" each car must be taken on its own merit.

Regards,
Andy

masterlumps

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Provided it has been looked after and serviced properly then high mileage shouldn't be a problem. However, anything can go wrong at any time.

I use 10k per year as a rough guide, so if I was buying a 10 year old car then a mileage around the 100k wouldn't be a problem provided it had been mechanically looked after.

agree, mileage must be compared to age

we have an old corsa which has done 70,000, but at ten year old an well looked after this is not high mileage

masterlumps

benham3160 wrote: »

50,000 is far too many miles for a car that's never been allowed to warm up, and just been driven around town all day, never serviced, and needs tyres, brakes and exhausts every other year.

200,000 could get you a sweet running car that's spent all it's life on motorways, and still has another 200,000 miles left in it.

No magic "numbers" each car must be taken on its own merit.

Regards,
Andy

we also have a volkswagen which has done 150,000 the majority of which are 'town' miles, its a fantastic running car, and again well looked after

Ebe_Scrooge

I'll second what's been said previously - it depends very much on what sort of motoring has been done. The car that's been owned by a little old lady for running to the shops once a week will be knackered, even at low mileage - the engine never warms up properly. Bear in mind it's not only the engine, but also the gearbox, clutch, brakes, suspension, etc etc etc., which take much more of a hammering around town than on the open road. In this respect, it could be said that an ex company rep-mobile that's spent all its life on the motorway, and been properly serviced, will be a good bet even at very high mileage. The engine is always running at its ideal temperature, and the gearbox etc will have had relatively little wear.

These are broad generalisations, but the idea is sound. You need to know the car's driving history and service history to make a judgement.

Hammyman

JCR1987 wrote: »

The theory (in my head) says the less miles on a car the better, but is this necessarily true and if not, how much is too much? My guess is 30k-60k is good, means its been well run, but not thrashed, anything over 60k probably depends on the type of car.

For info, the types of car i'm looking at would be:

Fiesta
Clio
Focus (old style)
206
Ibiza

Any opinions or personal experience of these or other cars welcomed.

Cheers,
JR

60,000 miles is actually danger mileage. Its the point where many things usually need doing - shock absorbers, cambelt, clutch.

Apart from one car, every one I've bought has been the thick end of 100,000 miles. My current 04 plate Mondeo I bought a couple of years ago with 90,000 on the clock - all motorway miles. Its now at 141,000 due to do a 2,000 mile trip in a week at the end of the month. Other than an alternator and a couple of suspension bushes, its not needed a thing above normal servicing.

A mate of mine retired his Vectra at 250,000 miles, 150,000 of those being hard graft towing trailers full of fruit machines. Never ever serviced it, just replaced stuff when it failed which was usually rear suspension bushes. He decided to scrap it this week. Its been stood for a couple of years. The thing started first go.

I would rather buy a car with 100,000 motorway miles than a car with 30,000 town miles. The town car will be well shot.

A quick history of my high miler cars in no particular order:
04 Mondeo TDCi 141,000
86 Ford Capri 138,000
Mitsubishi FTO approx 120,000 (speedo in km)
91 Ford Sierra 150,000
89 VW Passat 198,000
BMW 525 201,000
MK1 Mondeo 138,000

All of the above needed nothing other than normal servicing and the odd alternator/starter motor.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Those are barely run in

petrolhead89

JCR1987 wrote: »

Hi guys,

Just looking for a quick opinion on your experience/knowledge of car mileage.

Basically we're looking to get a cheap(ish) second car as a run around to help with dropping our little girl off at nursery and for me to get to work half an hour away. I'm happy just to get a cheap little motor for a couple of grand or so to do this, but I don't want to get anything that will die on me after a few months because its been run into the ground.

The theory (in my head) says the less miles on a car the better, but is this necessarily true and if not, how much is too much? My guess is 30k-60k is good, means its been well run, but not thrashed, anything over 60k probably depends on the type of car.

For info, the types of car i'm looking at would be:

Fiesta
Clio
Focus (old style)
206
Ibiza

Any opinions or personal experience of these or other cars welcomed.

Cheers,
JR

Remeber that a car with high mileage - and that is still running properly is likely to have been very well looked after and is likely to have had everything doing when it needed it.

cyclonebri1

High mileage and Low age is the real key to value, backed up by a decent service history. You should be able to get a cracking car for 2 grand whatever your specific choice. I have bought cars at 80 or 100K that have run on and on and on.

Now I can afford better my previous car was bought @10months old with 22K on the clock, the present one at the same age with 28K showing, both approx 1/2 new price.

Jakg

Think about it this way - cars don't get to high mileages being unreliable.

Most diesel's only really make financial sense over 15k miles a year. So it's not unresaonable to find a 6 year old car with 100k on the clock.