Looking to buy my first cobra soon but, how many miles should one stay away from? I been reading around some say even at around 100k think about starting a rebuild?
How many miles is too much
- Thread starter Fooj
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a terminator that has been decently maintained and not flat our abused should last well beyond 100k.
If you're concerned have a compression test done before purchasing.
If you're concerned have a compression test done before purchasing.
a couple months ago i thought that maybe i needed to remove the front cover and do the tensioners on my 125k vert, but now i don't think that's the case. the car runs real strong and does not burn any oil.
compare that to my 57k coupe which sat most of its life, and probably does need valve stem seals because sometimes it smokes on warm startups.
i think for the most part you can get 250k on modern engines with good maintenance. there's a guy on here with over 400k on his terminator.
a well-maintained high mileage car that saw a lot of highway miles will probably be in better condition that a low mileage car that has been neglected or beat on its whole life.
i don't think you can use mileage as the only indicator of a car's condition.
compare that to my 57k coupe which sat most of its life, and probably does need valve stem seals because sometimes it smokes on warm startups.
i think for the most part you can get 250k on modern engines with good maintenance. there's a guy on here with over 400k on his terminator.
a well-maintained high mileage car that saw a lot of highway miles will probably be in better condition that a low mileage car that has been neglected or beat on its whole life.
i don't think you can use mileage as the only indicator of a car's condition.
You're going to get a lot of different opinions on this. A lot of guys on here wouldn't touch a Cobra with more than 30k miles. Mine had 97k when I bought it. Nothing was really wrong with it. Aside from needing a good cleaning. I didn't mind the higher mileage because putting miles on doesn't bother me now. I'd be more concerned about how well taken care of it was.
Agreed with the others. The car was built to be driven. Those that love their cars maintain them well, and that is more important than being a garage Queen.
Some day you will die and on your death bed you're not going to be saying "I wish I didn't have so many miles on my Terminator (or whatever car)"
Back to your question tho. .... These cars were built well. SVT engineers knew what they were doing. If the car has not been heavily modded and raced you will be okay in the 100k range. Even so part of owning the car and the fun is to be working on and maintaining and restoration etc. (at least for me).
Is the car to be a hobby toy or a daily driver?
Some day you will die and on your death bed you're not going to be saying "I wish I didn't have so many miles on my Terminator (or whatever car)"
Back to your question tho. .... These cars were built well. SVT engineers knew what they were doing. If the car has not been heavily modded and raced you will be okay in the 100k range. Even so part of owning the car and the fun is to be working on and maintaining and restoration etc. (at least for me).
Is the car to be a hobby toy or a daily driver?
Are you going to daily drive the car? If so, an 80k+ car will be at 100k soon.
Will it be a weekend/fair weather car? Same 80k+ car will live forever.
Everyone wants a low mile car. They're usually cleaner & have more life in them. But. Some low mile cars have been beat on hard. And on the same token, some higher mile cars will present well if properly cared for.
End of the day, get the best car you can afford. And don't jump on the first one that seems like "the" car. The market is full of terminators, so shop around & be patient.
Pick a color you want, pick a mileage range, and be patient. The car you decide on will pop up.
Will it be a weekend/fair weather car? Same 80k+ car will live forever.
Everyone wants a low mile car. They're usually cleaner & have more life in them. But. Some low mile cars have been beat on hard. And on the same token, some higher mile cars will present well if properly cared for.
End of the day, get the best car you can afford. And don't jump on the first one that seems like "the" car. The market is full of terminators, so shop around & be patient.
Pick a color you want, pick a mileage range, and be patient. The car you decide on will pop up.
Miles aren’t a big deal if cared for. You said they didn’t clean up much of the car before selling it.
Something else to consider is what mods do you have planned? If you're planning on modding a system that would need to be fixed in the future it's pretty much a non-issue. Like I'm sure the suspension needed some work when I bought mine. Aside from the lack of an alignment after being lowered. But I planned on replacing/upgrading everything anyway.
Bought my stock (cai and exhaust only) Cobra 5 years ago with 130k. Everything was good with it. Daily driver 5 years later at 170k miles with 2.3 whipple since 145k. Havent had problems other than little stuff here and there. If the car is well mantained, these cars last
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