What’s your mileage limit for buying a used car?

[Exhaustgases]

Depends on the price and car or ? .
120K Max $ to spend
160K 1/2 of Max
>200K not much as it would need a lot of stuff and likely a junker

 

[Cujet]

A beater car can be just about any miles or age. Depends on what the new owner is willing to sink into it and what is expected. My Jag X-Type has 235K miles of M1 and frequent oil changes. Runs perfectly. The rest of the car, not so much.... Put $250 worth of rear calipers/pads on it 2 months ago and $700 worth of tires and then rear control arms. The calipers have already failed. Beaters are a bit of a battle. $1000 worth of work for very few miles.

The practical point for a used car seems to be a quality vehicle under 40K miles or 4 years.

Any way you slice it, the cost per mile does not vary much, generally not more than 5c per mile within class of vehicle. Don't just consider purchase price, add in gas, regular maintenance/tires/brakes, insurance, unscheduled repairs, and eventual sale value. The IRS now allows 70c per mile, not far off the reality of the situation.

 

[E150GT]

The highest mileage vehicle I've purchased in the last 20+ years was a 1995 F-250 7.3L with 225k on it. They were known for their reliability so I went with it & sold it at 273k. Mainly I'd say I try for <150k, good price, & decent condition. It will be older since that usually equates to a lower price.

I got my '95 f150 with 238k on it. It's not daily driven so I don't care. Runs great. Cold ac too.
I wanted to buy my neighbor's 2000 f250 with 7.3 but it was at 400k. I'm afraid the best miles were behind that truck already.

 

[ka9mnx]

Price and condition. I was willing to fly anywhere in the South to find a good 3rd gen 4Runner. I ended up finding one 50 miles from my home in GA for half the price of others listed. I spent two hours looking at the vehicle before making a counter offer. The owner balked at the price but I mentioned the "safety" issues I would have to repair before turning it over to my wife. When I pulled out cash, he jumped on it.

After two weeks on jack stands and $1,600 I was satisfied with the repairs.

It's been a wonderful vehicle now with 300k miles. I bought the vehicle with about 255k highway miles.

 

[Bailes1992]

Depends on the car entirely. I bought a 3 year old Ford Mondeo back in 2012 with 100k on the clock and everyone looked at me like I was insane. That Mondeo turned out to be the most reliable car I ever had! At the time the Mondeo was up for sale for £6,400 in a car supermarket and one with half the mileage would cost you around £10,000.

I bought my Wife's 2008 Volvo XC70 with 148k on the clock last year. It's tired and needs love but it's safe and reliable.

 

[brages]

I bought a high miles Honda Accord Hybrid. The gas door solenoid has started buzzing, though.

B

Thread 'Bought a very high miles 2019 Honda Accord Hybrid'

Dec 21, 2024

Kind of rolling the dice on this one. Just picked up a 2019 Accord Hybrid with over 250k miles.

Previous owner had it for two years, put on 100,000 miles for work, got reimbursed at 67 cents per mile... do the math, lol.

Anyway, looks a lot nicer than my typical beaters. Interior in good shape, new tires. Had a horrible grinding wheel bearing that the owner was oblivious to, weird. Knocked off a bit in the price for that. Also he ended up getting the head gasket replaced, which is one of the few weak spots with this car, as far as I can tell.

Gas milage on the drive home was...

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• Replies: 20
• Forum: Vehicles

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[IndyIan]

Depends on the vehicle and the maintenance of it. Right now I see a lot of 1st or 2nd owner 12-14 yr old Toyota Matrix coming up, with 120-150k, for $3-4-5k and with good maintain records those seem like a good buy. For the DIY I don't think there's too many $1k repairs in those for the next 5 years?
For the older cars, you do have do some/most repairs yourself to make it worthwhile IMO, and pick one that doesn't need too many!
We usually have KISS cars and they haven't had any problems beyond my youtube mechanic abilities, other than rust repair... But if I had to take my current Focus in for everything for the last 6 years, it probably would cost $1k/year on average? Me doing everything has been ~ $1k in parts. I would expect a Matrix to be the same or better.

 

[newoilguy1]

I have had good luck buying my current Civic and the one before that when they each had about 80,000 miles. But I wouldn’t have a problem buying one with 100-120k as long as it appears to be treated well.

How do you feel about CVTs? As part owner of a neglected one I feel a used car with unknown CVT spill and fill history is a gamble.

 

[Kurtatron]

Actions speak louder than words. Here’s my vehicle purchases.

1992 Miata 114k
1991 Previa 185k
1999 Toyota Solara 189k
2001 Civic 115k
2010 Scion xD 165k
2004 Lexus RX330 194k
2005 Ford Focus 150k

Only car that has ever left me stranded was the Honda Civic. Camshaft position sensor would fail intermittently, leaving the car in limp mode.

Previa had a ruptured coolant hose, but was my fault because I didn’t strap it correctly.

Cheap cars have always worked for me.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I bought my Grand Marquis at 123000 miles. It's first 50 or 60K were in NYC so it lived a hard life. It was 20 years old at the time so it was a low mileage per year situation

So far I've had to replace a lot of things
- Engine
- Full suspension
- Ball joints and steering
- Blend door actuator
- Brakes ... a few times

For a cheap beater I'd put up with a lot more than I would for something of value.

I see a lot of used trucks with around the same mileage but they're nearly 10x the price I paid for the Marquis. That I can't stomach.

 

[BigCahuna]

With me, I think age is more of a deciding factor. A car to me that's over 10 years old isn't worth more than about $1500. Because you know it's at a point where just about everything is gonna crap out on you. And how much are you will to spend on a car that's only worth a few hundred dollars?.,,

 

[Astro14]

Depends on condition.

When we bought our 2002 Volvo V70XC - it had 92,000 miles, unknown oil changes, but there were stamps in the book. It’s always used a bit of oil, but despite that unknown, it soldiers on with 308,000 miles on it, still using just a bit.

The 2002 V70 T5 - had no stamps in the book, had 75,000 on it, and has never burned a drop of oil. It is running perfectly with 230,000 or so.

Both cars were in great condition.

I can fix mechanical. I don’t care for body/interior work.

That said - I am leaning towards new as the results of a couple of factors:

1. Parts support dries up after 10 years, and by 20 years, is very poor, particularly for trim, body, and interior pieces.
2. I have less of an appetite for doing car repairs on the daily drivers.
3. The crazy used car prices recently have negated the cost savings of buying a 3-5 year old car.

 

[dfarr67]

For me- well under 100k. But thinking on it 30 years ago 100k was high, now I'm thinking 300k is mature.

 

[RaymondP]

3 years, 45k miles.

 

[Snagglefoot]

The last one I bought had 50,000 miles and was 15 years old which was unusually low mileage for the age. It was rust free which is another important issue to me. It now has 120,000 miles and I changed out the water pump and rear struts. It’s a 2005 Ford Taurus.

 

[gman2304]

I bought this one owner 2000 Ford Focus wagon on April 10th with 119,000 miles. After a 600 mile beach trip and many 100 to 200 mile day trips it runs and drives great, currently at 124,000 miles and averaging roughly 30 mpg. I have the service records from 6 miles and realize It’s a 1/4 century old used car and stuff happens, but well pleased so far.

 

[AdditiveOCD]

I just bought a 2011 f150 crew cab 6’ bed with a immaculate interior and good enough exterior(rust free). 140k miles, everything functions, and the price was right. I went in looking for a work truck but I’d have no qualms road tripping it at this point .

Just did the first oil change actually and sent in for a uoa so hopefully nothing that makes me nervous lol

 

[Fattylocks]

30K max more or less.

 

[Elkins45]

How do you feel about CVTs? As part owner of a neglected one I feel a used car with unknown CVT spill and fill history is a gamble.

No CVT for me except the eCVT in a Toyota hybrid, but I’m not buying an older hybrid that might need a battery replacement.

 

[supton]

Depends more on age than miles, but both matter. Prior owner not taking care of it, road salt doing its thing. Normal wear and tear. Ability to source parts... and my desire to work on it. I don't want to work on it, but don't want to pay for someone else to work on it either. But then I look at my insurance bill and that keeps me from buying new too.