Mileage or Age?

Gilbretto

Gilbretto

Gilbretto

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As stated in another tread i am looking at buying a car in the new year. It will be the first 2nd hand car i have bought, the car i have now (first car) was a gift.

Looking to spend £2500 ish (£3000 max)

So, i have a few questions;

Is high mileage ok? obviously not 150k, but is 80-90k alright for a car 5-6 years old?

Or should i be looking at older cars with low mileage?
 
Think how a cars use is reflected by the mileage. It's a shame cars don't record how long the engine is used in time too, that would be interesting data!

Assuming both cars are used for around the same sort of time, perhaps an hour to and from work each day and some running about on weekends plus an odd night out or a holiday to the south coast.

A car with low mileage probably spends a lot of time in stop start traffic, lots of use of the foot and hand brake, the clutch, gear changes and sitting idiling.

A car with high mileage spends a lot of time cruising motorways or a-roads. Usually sat in 5th gear and no use of the brakes. Obviously there are lots of other components to the car that proportionally wear with age however a lot of mechanical components wear through how they are used.

The interior and exterior of the car definately wear heavily on cars used for lots of short trips as apposed to cars that do a longer daily commute.

This is by no means a blanket rule. Some low mileage may be so as they have hardly been used. Likewise, high mileage because it has been used as or similarly to a taxi.
 
Thanks.

The car i am looking at is a Focus 1.8 Zetec. As i said previously, i have around £2.5k.

With the car/money details above, what sort of mileage/age should i be looking at? roughly...

Hope you can help.
 
General condition of the car is more important. I've never been put off by high mileage assuming the car is excellent.

I bought my 330ci with 132k and it's 7 years old. It had full BMW s/h and I could tell from the time between services and mileage recorded it must have spent a lot of its time on the motorway. It drives well with no weird noises etc.

80-90k isn't really much on a 6 year old car. Only a little above average.

When you look at how much you can save by getting a car with mileage that's only just above average or high it's worth it imo if the car is generally in good condition and drives ok.
 
as above, dont rule out a car because of age / mileage. Go and visit the car and assess the condition yourself.

Photos can hide all sorts of blemishes and marks and just general tattyness. Go and see the car for yourself, and let its condition speak for itself.
 
If you have very little knowledge it's worth taking along a mechanic friend or pay for a warranted report, I think the AA/RAC do them?
 
Check the service history and just as important check how much the next service is gonna cost you. You dont want to buy a car that is in urgent need of a cam belt.
 
swyllie2000 said:
Check the service history and just as important check how much the next service is gonna cost you. You dont want to buy a car that is in urgent need of a cam belt.
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Why not as long as it's reflected in the price, or you haggle the garage to do it before you buy if it's a trader?

I'd rather have a car thats just had a new cam belt than one that hasn't, in fact the cam belt has been the first thing changed on both of my cars for peace of mind though I did do it with a mate rather than pay someone to do it.

It's a good bargaining point :)
 
Gilbretto said:
I only assumed that mega high mileage is something to avoid.
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150k is high mileage not mega high. I wouldn't buy that high, personally, simply because your chances of problems increases but there are plenty of cars that will keep going perfectly fine well beyond that point if kept well.
 
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After buying a low mileage 7 year old Audi that turned out to be a dog I'd go with high mileage well looked after over low mileage and trashed everytime.
 
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