More mileage and cheaper or less and more expensive?

Elika0215

ShandyAndy wrote: »

Have you ever driven said car?, they are terrible, worst car I’ve ever driven.

Ah! No but I fully intend to before committing!

facade wrote: »

So armed with knowledge from here, you performed your due diligence on your prospective purchase, and got a good one. Many people don't, hence the number of threads about "faulty" cars that could have been spotted on the forecourt.


Which is what the OP should do, 10,000 miles makes no difference, what does is whether it has been used for playing bumping cars, carrying sacks of coal, driven on dirt tracks, parked for 3 years on grass, had milk spilled on the carpet or the clutch is worn out by someone like my neighbour, who takes a good 5 minutes to back out of the drive, with the engine screaming at the redline the whole time slipping the clutch.


All of these you will spot on inspection and test drive.

I've researched which car is best for my requirements, now I can start looking properly. I've not committed to buying anything yet but wanted to get a feel for what's better value for money.

I do give a car a good look over and drive but unless the clutch is slipping (as an example), I don't know how to tell if an engine's been thrashed. Not sure if there is a way to tell is there?

Thanks by the way to everyone for your opinions and help. It genuinely appreciated.

ShandyAndy_2

They’re not very refined, I drove one on a dual carriageway and it was ridiculously loud at anything over 60, both engine and wind noise, you feel every bump in the road, fine I guess for local journeys but if I was using dual carriageway or motorways regular I would look elsewhere.

Alanp

Also be aware that the celerio, in that spec, doesn’t get the full safety kit, only the top spec sz4 does,
As others have said, don’t get hung up on mileage, a car that has covered a few more miles but has been looked after, would normally be better than a low mileage car that hasn’t, if you’re not too sure about cars, can you take someone who is a little more clued up ?, are you settled on a celerio ? My sons gf, looked at these but eventually settled on a low mileage, Hyundai i10, from a main dealer, for about the same money as your budget, just a thought,

ShandyAndy_2

Try the suzuki splash / Vauxhall Agila, Vauxhall is a Suzuki underneath and actually nice to drive and the 1.2 goes like stink, really revvy engine.

Elika0215

Just to complete the thread; I ended up buying a Ka for £3400 with 35k miles.

Really happy following advice on here to not pay too much notice to cars with super-low mileage.

I enjoy the drive and saved £1800 to boot!

Thanks to all who helped out on here.

Mercdriver

Thanks for coming back to update...

LandyAndy

I see the lower mileage Celerio is still for sale, now at £5450.

TF03

I'd not choose a car on mileage alone. It's just one factor to consider.

For example, I've just purchased a Peugeot 308.

My options were a 15 plate that had done 25k miles vs a 16 plate that had done 40k. Similar spec, engines etc, trim etc.

I chose the newer one, despite it having more miles and over the average miles per year. It's history was so much better. It had done motorway miles (the dealership I purchased it from knew the car from new), been fully serviced on time (above and beyond actually) and had clearly been well looked after.
The older one, whilst lower mileage was owned by a school run mum and has missed a service interval by quite a long time. It had more than likely had a lot more strain through the lower gears and used around town before the engine had a chance to warm up.

History is the king, over mileage and and age.