Wandl

I've been seeing some cars with over 200k miles for sale recently (I'm bored, I surf Autotrader a LOT much to my wife's chagrin). Anyway, regardless of brand and maintenance history, how many miles before the car completely scares you off?

Case in point, saw a early 2000s Acura TL with 267k miles for a few thousand...as per it's Carfax it was a 1 owner with extremely religious maintenance (57+ maintenance entries on Carfax if I recall, it was the most I've ever seen). This thing was impeccably maintained by the previous owner, but you'd still have 267k miles on it...would you buy it?

Another example, saw an early 2000s Toyota Landcruiser, which many would say are bulletproof vehicles in terms of reliability. It had 330k miles for almost $10k, I know the LC's have their own following....but it's on it's way to half a million miles.

Then came across a 08 or 09 Lexus LX570 with 177k miles on it for north of $25k. Lexus or no, would you find it hard to justify spending $30k (after taxes etc) on a vehicle with almost 200k miles?

Open to your thoughts, this is purely hypothetical (my wife would kill me if I purchased another vehicle) but keen on your opinions on, even with a detailed maintenance history and reliable reputation, how many miles may be too much for you to consider purchasing a vehicle?

mmarshall

With used cars, it depends on a number off factors. But, Heck...never mind used. For that matter, there are some brand-new cars, sitting on dealer lots, that I probably would not buy or lease because of the way I suspect some of them have been test-driven. That's especially the case, of course, with some high-performance and sports cars. (I drive plenty of new cars myself, of course, when I do reviews, but I never abuse them).

With used cars, of course, CPO's (Certified Previously Owned), has taken some of the traditional risk out of used-car buying, offering a virtual new-car warranty and a number of inspections/repairs as needed (on the CPO check-list, roughly some 160 items for most vehicles). Of course, CPOs have their own age/mileage limits to qualify, the CPO process adds to the price, and, from what I've seen on dealer lots, not all of those items are actually done properly sometimes. (at really busy dealerships, with a lot of regular service work to do on customer's cars, they might not have much time left over for the technicians to spend a lot of time with CPO's and all 160 items).

Toys4RJill

To the OP, 200k ++ miles is a lot of miles for any used car. And I don't see any value in spending 25k on a 6-7 year old LX570 with 177k, I would personally just put $25K into a brand new vehicle with a new warranty, modern safety features, and better fuel economy.

mmarshall

That corresponds with some of your former posts in other threads saying you wouldn't buy used at all. In most cases, I wouldn't, either.

Fizzboy7

I'd have to say with that many miles, you are opening a can of worms. Doesn't really matter which vehicle it is. Rubber rots, plastic cracks, things deteriorate. As other state, if you have $20+k burning a hole in your wallet, go with something much newer and get all the benefits and lower hassles of a newer car.

Toys4RJill

Yes, I would not buy used if I did not have too. I understand why some do it and if that is because one cannot get into a brand new car, then I understand. But if one can get into a new car for $25k, I just don't see the value of buying a used car for $25k with out a warranty, new features, etc etc.

carguy75

I would say that it all depends on the make of car.

Some used cars from certain automakers are problematic as soon as 60k miles if not sooner.

Generally, I would go up to 100k miles on any Toyota/Lexus model.

Other makes like VW,Nissan,Infiniti,etc. I would make my cut-off at about 30-40k miles if it runs well without any additional soot or smoke from the tail pipe at start-up.

Honda/Acura depends if the engine had a timing belt or not, which I think most Honda engines still have up to very recently.

If the Honda engine still have the timing belt, then I would go no higher than 50k miles to have some wiggle room since the timing belts could fail from 60k miles on up.

I would not buy any car no matter the make if it has more than 150k miles since the timing chain and guides would be one of the main concerns at that mileage range, unless the previous owner was very good with the oil changes since proper oil changes keeps the timing chain/guide friction free for long life.

My second concern would be the transmission.

If the previous owner changed the filter early(before 100k miles or sooner) and/or regularly changed the fluid, then I would be more at ease.

If not, the transmission maybe on the way out at those miles above 100k or is probably a rebuilt unit which usually do not last as long as the original transmission from what i was told, so again a potentially costly repair for a car like the LX570.

If you can afford to buy one new, then I guess you can handle any issues that may a rise from a used high mileage LX570.

If you can not afford a new model, then I would walk away since Lexus will charge you just about the same to repair an old LX570 as the newer model.
$$$$

super51fan

I just sold a 88 Supra with 260K miles on it because it was owned by my uncle who was a toyota mechanic for 15 previous years before i owned it.
My parents bought a 2001 accord brand new, when they were done driving it, I drove it in high school/some of college. After 330k miles, not only was it still running, we couldnt get anything to break on it and it sold for $1200.
You could go buy a 2 year old used car with 30000 miles and it have a rod knock. I buy cars based on past owned and maintenance and miles are just a side thought when thinking of cars. I just bought a Lexus GS300 Sports edition without seeing the car beforehand because all the maintenance was on the carfax

tex2670

This is nuts. But the bottom line is that you can't look at miles in a vacuum. To me, it's a matter of price--what else is out there for the same price? With this example, you can find plenty of SUVs within 5 years old, with way lower miles that will cost $25,000.

I think likewise, even if you found a car with 200,000 miles on it for $1000, there are probably plenty of cars out there in the market place for the same price with 1/2 the miles.

TangoRed

40,000mi. No more.

doge

Its all very circumstantial, whats the purpose of the car, who its for, how long will i keep it, and how hard will I run it, is it CPO?

A DD for me can have no more than 20k

SW17LS

I don't buy used cars in general...

nosurprise

iTrader: (1)

So your max is 1 mile?

Personally, if money is not an extreme factor, I wouldn't go for a used car that's out of factory warranty miles (around 40K). But if I'm just looking for a used car to buy, I would say the limit is 80K.

Toys4RJill

I dont see what is wrong with that. If someone is getting a brand new car, it would suck to get one with 30-40 miles already on the ticker.

Aron9000

Depends on what I'm looking at, what I'm using it for, and how much $$$$ I'm spending on it.

For something like an old work truck for $5000 or less, miles aren't a big deal as long as it runs good. Also with something old like that, I usually look for a manual transmission(or reciepts that the automatic was recently rebuilt). Same thing if its a small car, I'll specifically look for a manual. I really don't like buying old cars with questionable maintence history and automatic transmissions(especially on something like Hondas and full size GM and Dodge trucks, where the automatics are known to break)

But yeah, for something I'm actually spending good money on, more than $10,000, I'd say 80-100k at most. Mainly its more about how it was maintained, I'd buy a car with 100k on it that was spotless vs something with 40k miles that is all beat up and probably has had the oil changed twice its whole life.