Worth considering a high mileage used car?

AdrianC

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

It's really not THAT ridiculous - Only about 65 miles per working day through the year.

Scrapit

AdrianC said:

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

It's really not THAT ridiculous - Only about 65 miles per working day through the year.

I stand by what I said. Thats not for me.

MinuteNoodles

tacpot12 said:

Small city cars do not usually last as well doing motorway miles as the engines have to work harder.

Rubbish. They work much harder being driven around town accelerating than they do driving mile after mile maintaining a fairly consistent speed. Accelerating puts much more of a load on the engine than maintaining a cruising speed. Even my 44 tonne lorry only needs about 140BHP to maintain a cruising speed hills aside, and they'll do over a million miles without ever having a spanner put to the engine so a city car will be just fine. They'll also fare a whole lot better with the engine actually getting up to a proper temperature and being able to burn off any moisture, most likely crusing at a lower RPM too.

Personally I'd be avoiding anything that's done less than 8k a year, preferably 10k unless it was just a couple of years old. My previous cars were a MK3 Mondeo bought at 3 years old with 90k on the clock, kept that 5 years and sold it with 168k on and it only ever failed one MOT around the 150k mark with a sticking handbrake mechanism on a rear caliper, the last car was a MK4 Mondy bought at 2 years old with 38k on, sold it to my parents last year with 155k on and it flew through it's last MOT just like it did every other one. In the past we've had a Passat with over 250,000 miles on, a BMW 5 series with 200,000 miles on which still ran on 0W/30 oil and the engine didn't make a sound. Not scared of high milers. OTOH my lad bought a 12 year old car with 60k on which had been used to do the school run and the bottom of the engine dropped out, a family friend had a car for several years and the bottom end of it's engine dropped out by 60k because it hardly ever did anything other than short trips too.

Ectophile

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

I have a little Fiat Panda that I bought years ago.  Over the years I have done journeys from East Sussex to Cornwall and East Sussex to Northumberland.

I bought the car because it was comfortable and easy to drive.  It has an official top speed of 96, so it can cruise all day at 70.

Who needs some luxo-barge just to do a long journey?

Actually, I do now have a big luxo-barge as well.  But the little Fiat is a lot more economical, and I have no hesitation using it for long journeys if I'm not carrying lots of stuff.

Scrapit

Ectophile said:

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

I have a little Fiat Panda that I bought years ago.  Over the years I have done journeys from East Sussex to Cornwall and East Sussex to Northumberland.

I bought the car because it was comfortable and easy to drive.  It has an official top speed of 96, so it can cruise all day at 70.

Who needs some luxo-barge just to do a long journey?

Actually, I do now have a big luxo-barge as well.  But the little Fiat is a lot more economical, and I have no hesitation using it for long journeys if I'm not carrying lots of stuff.

Christ, had one of them on holiday once. Could only get 1 suitcase in the boot, underpowered engine and skinny wheels with stiff seats. Drove it 100 miles around a Greek island and that was more than enough. Didn't get it stuck at the beach though, every cloud.

onlyfoolsandparking

Scrapit said:

Ectophile said:

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

I have a little Fiat Panda that I bought years ago.  Over the years I have done journeys from East Sussex to Cornwall and East Sussex to Northumberland.

I bought the car because it was comfortable and easy to drive.  It has an official top speed of 96, so it can cruise all day at 70.

Who needs some luxo-barge just to do a long journey?

Actually, I do now have a big luxo-barge as well.  But the little Fiat is a lot more economical, and I have no hesitation using it for long journeys if I'm not carrying lots of stuff.

Christ, had one of them on holiday once. Could only get 1 suitcase in the boot, underpowered engine and skinny wheels with stiff seats. Drove it 100 miles around a Greek island and that was more than enough. Didn't get it stuck at the beach though, every cloud.

Did you need a suitcase at the beach? 

Scrapit

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Scrapit said:

Ectophile said:

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

I have a little Fiat Panda that I bought years ago.  Over the years I have done journeys from East Sussex to Cornwall and East Sussex to Northumberland.

I bought the car because it was comfortable and easy to drive.  It has an official top speed of 96, so it can cruise all day at 70.

Who needs some luxo-barge just to do a long journey?

Actually, I do now have a big luxo-barge as well.  But the little Fiat is a lot more economical, and I have no hesitation using it for long journeys if I'm not carrying lots of stuff.

Christ, had one of them on holiday once. Could only get 1 suitcase in the boot, underpowered engine and skinny wheels with stiff seats. Drove it 100 miles around a Greek island and that was more than enough. Didn't get it stuck at the beach though, every cloud.

Did you need a suitcase at the beach? 

Cool story bro

onlyfoolsandparking

Scrapit said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Scrapit said:

Ectophile said:

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

I have a little Fiat Panda that I bought years ago.  Over the years I have done journeys from East Sussex to Cornwall and East Sussex to Northumberland.

I bought the car because it was comfortable and easy to drive.  It has an official top speed of 96, so it can cruise all day at 70.

Who needs some luxo-barge just to do a long journey?

Actually, I do now have a big luxo-barge as well.  But the little Fiat is a lot more economical, and I have no hesitation using it for long journeys if I'm not carrying lots of stuff.

Christ, had one of them on holiday once. Could only get 1 suitcase in the boot, underpowered engine and skinny wheels with stiff seats. Drove it 100 miles around a Greek island and that was more than enough. Didn't get it stuck at the beach though, every cloud.

Did you need a suitcase at the beach? 

Cool story bro

You know it

Grumpy_chap

Ectophile said:

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

I have a little Fiat Panda that I bought years ago.  Over the years I have done journeys from East Sussex to Cornwall and East Sussex to Northumberland.

I bought the car because it was comfortable and easy to drive.  It has an official top speed of 96, so it can cruise all day at 70.

Here is a thing where it is possible to rationally agree with both sides of the comments.

A modern, small city car will be suitable for doing long journeys and at proper motorway speeds.
Equally, a modern, small city car will not be comfortable if doing long journeys on a regular basis - they just don't have the creature comforts to make that type of use relaxing or enjoyable, nor the same level of supportive seats etc.
So, if regularly doing a longer journey, then a more comfortable barge will be far more enjoyable overall.

onlyfoolsandparking

Grumpy_chap said:

Ectophile said:

Scrapit said:

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.

I have a little Fiat Panda that I bought years ago.  Over the years I have done journeys from East Sussex to Cornwall and East Sussex to Northumberland.

I bought the car because it was comfortable and easy to drive.  It has an official top speed of 96, so it can cruise all day at 70.

Here is a thing where it is possible to rationally agree with both sides of the comments.

A modern, small city car will be suitable for doing long journeys and at proper motorway speeds.
Equally, a modern, small city car will not be comfortable if doing long journeys on a regular basis - they just don't have the creature comforts to make that type of use relaxing or enjoyable, nor the same level of supportive seats etc.
So, if regularly doing a longer journey, then a more comfortable barge will be far more enjoyable overall.

I agree, It's horses for courses in reality. I personally prefer a bit of comfort over economy and the best car I ever had for comfort was a new X5, felt like I was sat on my leather settee at home, loads of room, plenty of pull and auto box, it practically drove itself, fuel economy not great but lovely car that effortlessly ate the miles up on long journeys.