Used car buying: High mileage with maintinence records vs. Low mileage

[helldiver14]

Looking at getting a new daily, since my 231k mile Altima is starting to get a little old. I've narrowed it down to a few cars, but the questions is should I save money and buy a well maintained higher mileage car or spend more up front and get low mileage? The cars I'm looking at are IS300, Mazdaspeed 3/6, Civic SI and SRT4 Neon.

 

[YJSONLY]

Imo low mileage. Unless records are dealer (could be crap shoot too).
A civic holds resale even with high mileage.

Also OP see your name.... Does it have anything to do with a speargun by chance?

 

[nxhappy]

maybe a low mileage focus from the dealer? The civic/accord is also a great choice. We just bought a '15 civic. I love it.

What is your budget? what are your car requirements ?

 

[Drive XR7]

Whatever you do, skip the Neon SRT4. They were all owned by high school kids at one point in their lives and had the crap beat out of them.

 

[oldmodman]

Sometime you can find an amazing deal on an older, but super low mileage car.

I was looking for a DD for a friend that had just had her car stolen. I found a 17 year old Lexus LS with 11,850 miles on it. And it had always been parked in a garage. It really was owned by a little old lady from Pasadena. Her estate was selling it and I offered what I thought would be way too low an off. They took it. :-D

The Lexus's are really reliable cars.

 

[Blown 89]

Low mileage. This shouldn't even be a question. Mileage rips cars apart no matter how well you take care of it. Every time you hit a bump in the road it's loosening interior clips, wearing components, flexing the chassis. Low mileage trumps all in most cases.

 

[cobra_neill]

I'm on the other side. People talk like miles tear your car to pieces, add wear yes, but as a daily (leave it in a parking lot with no worries, dont care too much about dings etc) do you really want to pay more to have it subjected to that? Due diligence goes a long way. How tight is the steering? Any strange noises? Does it feel loose while driving? No? You're good.

 

[CobraBob]

^^^ I agree with Blown89. I would only by a (cheaper) higher mileage car if it was just a beater and I absolutely wanted to spend the least amount of money. I would try to find the best deal on a lower mileage Civic.

 

[ford fanatic]

Only way I'm buying with high miles is if it's being sold by the original owner.

 

[Coiled03]

Low miles, always.

 

[nxhappy]

one owner, low miles, well maintained....kinda hard to find on CL .....lol

 

[SonicDTR]

It entirely depends on the car really. That 30k mile "like new" car could still be on its first or 2nd oil change, and you wont know it till it needs a motor at 75k.

Or you could have the 150k mile car that shows its mileage, but has been maintained extremely well and will last you 250k no problem.

Its a toss-up and you really just have to evaluate each car individually.

 

[Torch10th]

I don't think you can look at just miles. For instance if you're looking at a 1990 Civic with 5000 miles, that car has sat a WHOLE LOT in it's lifetime and not being used is just as detrimental as being used too much.

On the other hand if you're looking at a 2014 Civic with 150K on it, that might still be a great option.

As long as the miles aren't incredibly excessive, I would tend to want something with a bit more mileage and a maintenance history. Any major issues the car was going to have will have likely been taken care of at that time.

 

[NasteeNate]

Depends on a lot of factors IMO such as climate, service records, where the car was driven to, what type of roads it was driven on, and what condition are the bushings/seals. You really have to fine comb the car and make sure your not buying a pile of junk. I am the 2nd owner of my 96 GT and I probably have one of the cleanest versions out there now since so many of this body style has fallen apart. Its been in garage under my ownership most of its life but it never sit for more than a few weeks and hasn't been driven in winter since 07. Just as an example it really depends...

 

[helldiver14]

Imo low mileage. Unless records are dealer (could be crap shoot too).
A civic holds resale even with high mileage.

Also OP see your name.... Does it have anything to do with a speargun by chance?

No lol it was one of my favorite WW2 fighter plane names, plus it just describes me well. :fm:

 

[Dsg-shaker]

I don't think you can look at just miles. For instance if you're looking at a 1990 Civic with 5000 miles, that car has sat a WHOLE LOT in it's lifetime and not being used is just as detrimental as being used too much.

On the other hand if you're looking at a 2014 Civic with 150K on it, that might still be a great option.

As long as the miles aren't incredibly excessive, I would tend to want something with a bit more mileage and a maintenance history. Any major issues the car was going to have will have likely been taken care of at that time.

This points ring true. I'm buying (lol dmv) a 2007 tundra with 180k on the odor. It's a 1 owner truck and they have all the maintenance records from the dealer in 2007 to the Toyota specialist indy shop as of today. Imho if a buyer is feeling iffy about a car they should have:

1. decent scan tool that can read all modules for pending, active and inactive faults.
2. Bright ass flashlight and some mirrors for hard to reach areas.
3. Engine compression tester and adaptors.
4. Digital multimeter w/ leads, cheapy amp clamp is optional
5. Tread depth gauge and a tire pressure gauge.

I've used prettymuch all of these when buying cars or looking at cars with friends. Most of this stuff now days is cheap to come across and cheaper used. The best tool in the end is judgement, if you're feeling something isn't right with the car or sellers just walk away.

 

[YJSONLY]

No lol it was one of my favorite WW2 fighter plane names, plus it just describes me well. :fm:

Ah. Ok. There is a group of spear fisherman who call themselves hell divers. They have scuba dive 400 plus feet and shoot big fish. The amount of balls training and time to go down 400 feet and then hours to come back up for 3-4 mins to kill a fish.

 

[likuid_inc]

I would save up for a low mileage car, if you do happen to find a good deal with high mileage its great to be a one owner car with history paperwork. Good luck!

 

[Dynobrat]

I'd rather push a wheel barrow than drive any of those, less maybe the srt4 and once would be enough. Have a little re-think and then I'll give you a better answer. haha.

 

[Jomo1994z71]

I bought a 2004 civic low miles for reliability and got hosed with a blown head gasket a while later. The 04 civic was the most unreliable vehicle ever. Goodbye Honda, end rant!
Just do your homework and even then bad stuff happens to good cars