10 year old / 21k mile car with 3 verified oil changes

Lets see some pics!!!
Haven’t had a chance to even wash it myself yet….

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Go for it. Aside from some bad gas, a filter change or two, and some tires, should be a solid prospect if it is priced right, and you indicate you are already familiar with them. If you're worried about a sticky engine, use the HPL and press on with pride.
175 miles/mo for a decade? Hard pass. Considering that could be either 5 miles per day (all short-tripping for its life, 2100 mile round trip once per year, or 21k put on in the waning quarter of Obama and it sat for the last two Presidents’ full terms, there’s not enough usage to show that mechanisms & seals have been well-cared for.

My grandma bought a 1993 Lumina brand new, garaged all its life, and passed in 2007. She left the car to my mechanic brother with about 21k total miles, and he had performed about 95% of all the maintenance during her lifetime. He literally sold it without taking possession for about half what its book value was, making sure the buyer understood he was selling it cheap with no warranty or promises based on my above comments.

Turns out he was right; 6 months later, the guy he sold it to came back to him, complaining that he “had” to put injectors, intake gaskets, all 4 calipers & tires, rear brake lines, and other hard parts that suffered either dry rot or internal corrosion; where my brother clearly saw the coming money pit unemotionally for what it was, the buyer saw “14 years old and would still be under factory warranty!” Which ended up costing the buyer about 6x what he paid for the car to fix it, and over 3x its book value at the time.

If that sounds like a great financial proposition, have at it. You’d likely get a much better return for your money in the champagne room of your local gentlemen’s club even considering Chris Rock’s advice on the topic.
 
175 miles/mo for a decade? Hard pass. Considering that could be either 5 miles per day (all short-tripping for its life, 2100 mile round trip once per year, or 21k put on in the waning quarter of Obama and it sat for the last two Presidents’ full terms, there’s not enough usage to show that mechanisms & seals have been well-cared for.

My grandma bought a 1993 Lumina brand new, garaged all its life, and passed in 2007. She left the car to my mechanic brother with about 21k total miles, and he had performed about 95% of all the maintenance during her lifetime. He literally sold it without taking possession for about half what its book value was, making sure the buyer understood he was selling it cheap with no warranty or promises based on my above comments.

Turns out he was right; 6 months later, the guy he sold it to came back to him, complaining that he “had” to put injectors, intake gaskets, all 4 calipers & tires, rear brake lines, and other hard parts that suffered either dry rot or internal corrosion; where my brother clearly saw the coming money pit unemotionally for what it was, the buyer saw “14 years old and would still be under factory warranty!” Which ended up costing the buyer about 6x what he paid for the car to fix it, and over 3x its book value at the time.

If that sounds like a great financial proposition, have at it. You’d likely get a much better return for your money in the champagne room of your local gentlemen’s club even considering Chris Rock’s advice on the topic.
Why not? If the guy knows the vehicles, he should already know what he is getting into. He just seems more concerned about the OCI's then the issues you describe, which may not necessarily happen to him.
 
Why not? If the guy knows the vehicles, he should already know what he is getting into. He just seems more concerned about the OCI's then the issues you describe, which may not necessarily happen to him.
May not happen, sure, I certainly hope not even though I don’t know OP. But time, elements & temps don’t seem to care about probabilities once warranties expire. Current actuary MTBF calculations seem to be pretty spot-on lately… 👍🏻
 
175 miles/mo for a decade? Hard pass. Considering that could be either 5 miles per day (all short-tripping for its life, 2100 mile round trip once per year, or 21k put on in the waning quarter of Obama and it sat for the last two Presidents’ full terms, there’s not enough usage to show that mechanisms & seals have been well-cared for.

My grandma bought a 1993 Lumina brand new, garaged all its life, and passed in 2007. She left the car to my mechanic brother with about 21k total miles, and he had performed about 95% of all the maintenance during her lifetime. He literally sold it without taking possession for about half what its book value was, making sure the buyer understood he was selling it cheap with no warranty or promises based on my above comments.

Turns out he was right; 6 months later, the guy he sold it to came back to him, complaining that he “had” to put injectors, intake gaskets, all 4 calipers & tires, rear brake lines, and other hard parts that suffered either dry rot or internal corrosion; where my brother clearly saw the coming money pit unemotionally for what it was, the buyer saw “14 years old and would still be under factory warranty!” Which ended up costing the buyer about 6x what he paid for the car to fix it, and over 3x its book value at the time.

If that sounds like a great financial proposition, have at it. You’d likely get a much better return for your money in the champagne room of your local gentlemen’s club even considering Chris Rock’s advice on the topic.
It makes little sense to compare a 1993 Chevy sedan to a 2014 Acura. Chevy reliability can't be compared to Honda/Acura reliability, with some exceptions of course. Hope the OP enjoys the new ride for many miles to come.
 
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I appreciate all of the feedback. I certainly would not say I can afford any car in the world but I sold a current model year new car in preparation to buy *this* car as I’ve been browsing this model in time capsule condition for a while and this one popped up.

If this car implodes on itself over the next few months then I will chalk it up to a learning experience. If nothing else, I’ll at least be a part of a dozen or more people running VRP in unique circumstances that will be able to contribute some observations/feedback after a few runs. :)
 
I appreciate all of the feedback. I certainly would not say I can afford any car in the world but I sold a current model year new car in preparation to buy *this* car as I’ve been browsing this model in time capsule condition for a while and this one popped up.

If this car implodes on itself over the next few months then I will chalk it up to a learning experience. If nothing else, I’ll at least be a part of a dozen or more people running VRP in unique circumstances that will be able to contribute some observations/feedback after a few runs. :)
hey even if it DID need fuel/brake hard lines because of rust.. so what? IF that's all that is wrong with it because it sat a lot.. then I'd say it's a worthy investment! Looks like you found a great car, from the pictures it was well taken care of! Because nothing is perfect, awesome looking car, thanks for the pictures!
 
Looks seriously Great! Congrats on the purchase.

If it was mine, I would get all the fluids, tires, etc, done then give it a few Italian tune-ups with a 2X dose of regane or Techron in the tank.

Enjoy!
 
Hello, all. I’m once again flirting with the idea of purchasing an older (2014) vehicle with very low original mileage (approx 21k). CARFAX shows 3 verified services on the vehicle; each approximately every 7k-ish miles meaning several years between as it was driven quite rarely. I assume the owner followed the OLM and the CARFAX states they did have it serviced at the original dealer.

I know there are issues with an older yet rarely driven vehicle with things aging out, but what - if any - danger was there from very larger periods of time but low miles between OCIs? Aside from the info on the CARFAX I’m at a loss for detailed information. I do have 1qt of unused HPL EC30 that I never got around to using with a previous project so I can sub that in for a single quart of regular oil; again, not sure that is “necessary” given the low mileage but if I don’t use it, it will continue to sit.

Aside from the standard OCI I’ll be changing all other fluids for a fresh reset under my ownership. It’s an Acura K24 engine so no GDI issues and pretty robust in my experience (have owned several others over the last 2 decades).
It sounds good to me. Popular Mechanic years ago wanted to see how often oil really needs to be changed in a car that's not driven very often. Their test mule was a Honda lawn mower. They used it every summer for 10 years. Stored it in a garage. The motor oil was not changed for 10 years.

At the end of year 10 they sent in an oil sample to a lab for testing and evaluation. The lab test showed the oil was still good, but nearly ready for changing.

I used to change my oil once a year even though I only drive 500 miles a year (mixed city/highway). After reading about that popular mechanics test around 10 years ago, I decided to change my oil once every 5 years.

My car is stored in a heated garage. So it never gets a fully cold start, even in winter. I think that helps because less temp changes, less condensation, etc. I never see water come out my tail pipe. My oil stays dry.

My current batch of motor oil in my 97 Buick Park Ave is 5w30 Valvoline Maxlife Synthetic (silver bottle). My oil is currently 3.5 years old and has approx 1700 miles on it. I checked my oil level and condition last week.

When I wiped the dipstick on a clean white paper towel, the color of the oil is medium to dark brown. It's not even black yet. It also looks completely dry. It looks like almost new oil.

Black oil would be somewhat dirty, but doesn't tell you if it's dirty enough to need changing. However, brown oil is defineatly clean. I also always remove oil cap to look at underside of cap to see if there's any sludge/goo or foamy brown milkshake looking oil. It was clean as a whistle.

The underside of my filler cap only gets wiped clean at oil change time. That way I can look at underside of cap to verify my oil is still dry and adequately clean. That and wiping the dipstick on a clean white paper towel let me see color and condition of oil.

My full size 97 Buick Park Ave is 27 years old, runs great, and even gets 33-34 mpg at 70 mph on highway. It's only flaw is a slight oil drip, but it drips so little that I only have to add ⅓ quart every 1500 miles.

So I wouldn't be concerned about the car you mention having gone 3 years between oil changes. I don't think that's a big deal, especially if it was stored in a heated garage.

Use dipstick to check oil level. If oil level good then car is probably fine. Also, wipe dipstick on a clean wipe paper towel and look at oil color/condition. Lastly, remove oil filler cap and look at it. If underside of cap is clean, that suggests healthy oil and maintenance history.
 
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A lot of BITOG guys are obsessed with buying and changing oil. I don't have that obsession.

My obsession is taking good care of my Buick Park Ave because I love it, and because it would be difficult to replace. AFAIK there are no new full size luxury sedans being made in the USA. At least none that I'm aware of.

I'm also obsessed with money management and being financially responsible.

I'm willing to spend as much money as necessary to maintain my car, but my other priority and hobby is pinching pennies. So I change my oil when I think it's actually needed, and not before.
 
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