Used car mileage - does it really matter?
 

I've been looking around for a second, dog carrying car for a few weeks and rather like to look of the Skoda Octavia 4x4 estates. Now, I'd prefer this thread to stay here and not to be moved to other marques because its a general question that could cover scoobs too.

I was chatting to a guy who's Octavia has just blown a turbo at 347,000 miles whilst a friend of my father's has a Vauxhall Carlton with 275,000+ on it.

I'd always thought that it'd be better to look for an older low mileage car than a newer high mileage one - but these days is that the case?

Given that a car has a full service history and the driver doesn't seem like a chav, is mileage over 80,000 generally a problem?

If the car has been a company car then you can be assured that they have been serviced on the dot in most cases. And contrary to popular belief most company car drivers do look after their cars to the extent that they have to use them for 3 years or so so would like a reasonable amount of reliability etc ...

BUT remember that even if it has been wells erviced things like dampers/bushes etc will have a large mileage on them and will be past their best .....

Dave

engines last if serviced regularly, but you spend money on disposables, and sadly clutches, turbo's, gearboxes, bushes etc, all enter the disposables category when you're talking muliple hundres of thousands of miles.

Apparently there are a group of volvo/saab owners who take much pride in driving their cars past the half million mark

its no problem with a full service history,inc timing belt done on time.Without a history,forget it,imo

currently looking at an ex-company owned octavia with 84000 miles and full skoda service history.

for a run about a co car with 80k on is fine...far better than a car with half that and twice the age.

would you rather fly to the US in some old banger that hasnt seen much action or a 747 with 10 gillion miles on it built 2 years ago?

It depends on what 'type' the mileage is. If it's spent most the time on the motorway then things like suspension, gearbox etc. shouldn't have too much wear (the car will have been on flat smooth roads in top gear most the time). Compare this to a car with half the mileage that has been in stop start traffic on crappy broken roads for most it's life. I know what I'd choose!!

However, knowing how it's spent it's life is another matter but that's the case whatever car you buy unless you know the owner.

You do have to look at running costs though. Is the car closing in on a cambelt change? Are the discs thin? Are there oil leaks that mean base gaskets need to be changed?

Other than this, makes perfectly good sense. I don't own a car with less than 130k on the clock, and have had no real problems.

You also have to consider reselling it. 100k is a big psychological barrier for buyers, so if you would cross the 100k threshold in your ownership, I reckon it's best to buy one that's already the other side of it.

These days engines seem to be well built and designed and as long as the car has been reasonably well looked after, mileages should not be too much of a worry as long as the price you pay allows for the mileage of course.

Years ago I had a Beemer 735i which had 130K on the clock. I took the head and sump off and could find no wear anywhere. I did a good decoke and installed new rings and bearings since it was in pieces.

When I sold it there were 225K on the clock and the engine used no oil and went as well as a new one. Just a good inspection when you buy it and you should be fairly safe.

Les