At what mileage will you look for your cars replacement?

[Deleted member 37751]

I've always found it fascinating how many cars I see for sale with 99,000 miles on and people's perceptions that think a car will drop to pieces once there are six figures on the clock.

I've owned cars with over 400,000on and it's never really been a big thing for me, condition and history being the most important.

So...what mileage do you normally look to get rid, or you wouldn't buy over?

 

[Deleted member 11979]

I actually bought a w124 diesel because it had 320k on the clock, cocking a snoop to the low miler brigade!

Also had a w124 cabriolet with over 220k on the clock , the look on one blokes face when he saw the mileage at a car show was priceless

Mileage doesn't put me off if it's well looked after and priced accordingly

 

[DavidL]

It also depends which car and what it is for. We have (somehow) managed to have 5 on the drive. 3 of those are over 100k and 2 are over 200k! But these are mine and I buy the sort of car that will be a bit more leggy.
My wife's is a 2 yr old 30k car and will be replaced at around 5 yrs or 70k as I need her and master DL to be in something that is unlikely to them stranded. I can live with the occasional inconvenience of a breakdown or drive around something I know needs to be done a certain way.

 

[Driver15]

I've always found it fascinating how many cars I see for sale with 99,000 miles on and people's perceptions that think a car will drop to pieces once there are six figures on the clock.

I've owned cars with over 400,000on and it's never really been a big thing for me, condition and history being the most important.

So...what mileage do you normally look to get rid, or you wouldn't buy over?

It's odd as you don't see the guys who use KM advertising cars at 159,000 KM.

I think it has a lot to do with the search filter on auto trader and other sites which cause it as most filters go up in blocks and then have a "over 100k" section which puts cars of 101k miles and 200k miles into the same search.

 

[gaz_l]

I don't do big miles, and bought the SLK at 4 years/11K miles. It's going to be 10 this year and still only has 32K on the clock, so it should at least be good for resale as and when I decide to sell.

I'm not that bothered though, I had a Citroen ZX back in the day (that I bought through necessity not desire, I'd just bought my flat so was skint and needed cheap wheels!), it had 183000 on the clock but had been serviced on the dot every 10K since it was new. I ran it for a year (adding another service and 8K miles along the way) and sold it for more than I paid for it. About the only car I've ever owned where I can say that. I have to say I didn't enjoy it (it was a non-turbo diesel so a complete slug, and poverty spec too - manual windows, no power steering, you name it) but it was what I needed at the time and did the job just fine. I still have a grudging respect for it.

Scrolling forwards, when I quit my job a couple of years back I was reviewing the car situation, I've always worked locally and realised the SLK would be difficult to justify if I ended up having to commute. I probably would have ended up with something leggy but cars these days don't fall apart at 100K if they're looked after. Also, if my mileage went up I'd want want something with a bit of comfort - even though it's cheap to run, no way would I want to spend 2 hours a day in the Panda! So, I think an E or S class with solid history would have been the order of the day, and sod the mileage.

Fortunately, I ended up getting another job 3 miles from home, so I'm still "commuting" in the Panda and the SLK stays in the garage for sunny days

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[vabenzi]

I'd probably look for something that's done less than 10k miles a year and also I try to stick to something that's about 5 years old max I'd go to personally is 8 years old so that you can still enjoy the machine with almost no problems..?

But I guess build quality has improved over time but I still stick with those specs when looking for a replacement

 

[w124nut]

I have no plans to sell my W124 cabriolet but to keep it whatever the mileage however, my daily run-around a Ford Focus, I buy at 3 years old and sell after 2 years or 50,000 miles whatever comes first.

 

[John]

If I had sold my E and couldn't decide on a replacement, I would have considered the LS400 on AT with nearly 300,000 miles on it, assuming it checked out.

Doesn't really worry me.

A car where the value depends heavily on mileage would though.

I wouldn't touch a 150,000 Nissan GT-R if I was looking for one!

 

[moonloops]

Last saab 95 turbo I had, I sold at 110,000 miles. Current one has 120,000 miles - not bad for a high output GM turbo motor. I guess time to sell depends on the make/model...

 

[Mrhanky]

Mileage has never bothered me on a car with good history and condition. I purchased my E39 M5 with 140k on it. I sold it having done 70k miles and 210k on the clock. The chap who bought it wasn't bothered either as I gave two lever arch folders of history. The reason I went for the car was it had been under warranty upto a year before I got the car and had extensive history.

My E55 I got with 88k and now it's 116k. I expect I will probably get rid at 150k miles purely as I will want something newer / different by that time.

 

[fields5069]

I'm just going on number of years I'll keep the current car, and how long I'll have to pay the car loan for. It's currently my company car, but probably my last one because BIK tax will be stupid in 4 years. If the lease company offer it to me for a fair price, then I'll take it and will probably take 3-4 years to pay off the loan. So it'll be used as a deposit on something nearly new when it's 7-8 years old, which equals 80-90k miles in my world.

 

[NL Benz]

Voted Condition & history more important

 

[Monkeylegend]

I am happy to run high mileage cars on the condition that I am the one who has put the mileage on and know the history of the car.

Once I get past the 100k psychological barrier it then becomes a challenge to put as many miles on as possible. Currently on 286k and counting.

 

[grober]

With better corrosion protection mileage does become an issue rather than age although age still appears to be the main criterion the motor trade uses to value a car. However what then becomes far more important is the nature of the miles travelled. Long motorway miles in top gear with the engine at optimum operating temperature is always going to be better than stop start short distances in town with the engine cold. There are new phenomena on the block to consider---I see far more private vehicles being used as the last delivery stage by courier companies for example and I hate to think the extra strain the latest stop/start models are putting on their transmissions/ dual mass flywheels/ auxilliary batteries etc. And talking of batteries hybrid technology is still in its infancy for many maufacturers and here's a news flash---- rechargeable batteries do eventually wear out with their ability to take charge diminishing with age AND THEIR CHARGE DISCHARGE HISTORY. At one point Manufacturers were offering exchange battery packs as part of the purchase deal in an attempt to get round this but most seem to have gone quiet on this front. So in the future it may not be the mileage of the car that's important but just what useful life remains in that hybrid battery pack !

 

[poormansporsche]

I once looked at a year old omega with over 180k on it. It was absolute top spec with the 3.2 engine. It was up for less than 5 grand and cost over 30 grand new. I could not get my head round the maths at how it could do so many miles in just over a year. It turns out it belonged to a oil company and spent 24 hours a day transporting confidential documents between Aberdeen and dover. The car was absolutely mint in every way bar the obligatory stone chips on bonnet. I bricked it at the last minute only due to the 3.2 being at bit juicy. Was definitely a great buy for someone

 

[davidjpowell]

I'm not stuck on mileage, but the amount of mileage I do behind a wheel.

30 - 50k and I'm getting bored. I've got our Volvo for 3 years, which means 90k, if I'm careful. I'm dreading the last year.

The exception was our S210, that I still really liked, but the bodywork had really started a slippery slope that I did not think could be saved.

 

[David404]

Saab Miles

Last saab 95 turbo I had, I sold at 110,000 miles. Current one has 120,000 miles - not bad for a high output GM turbo motor. I guess time to sell depends on the make/model...

Sold my last Saab 93 2.2 diesel at 148,000. Current 95 1.9 diesel is on 137,000 I drive gentle, its serviced on the dot by a Saab Indi and if something needs doing it generally gets done. Both cars drive well and give little indication of their miles.

I do around 15,000 a year, need reliability, tow a caravan (tow bar fitting costs) and don't actually like changing cars so I aim to keep 5 to 7 years. Currently researching E320/E280, my budget and risk reward compass is suggesting 2008+ cars with 80,000 - 100,000 with full history and looking like they've been loved.

 

[David404]

Saab mileages

Sold my last Saab 93 2.2 diesel at 148,000. Current 95 1.9 diesel is on 137,000 I drive gentle, its serviced on the dot by a Saab Indi and if something needs doing it generally gets done. Both cars drive well and give little indication of their miles.

I do around 15,000 a year, need reliability, tow a caravan (tow bar fitting costs) and don't actually like changing cars so I aim to keep 5 to 7 years. Currently researching E320/E280, my budget and risk reward compass is suggesting 2008+ cars with 80,000 - 100,000, a few options with full history and looking like they've been loved. Oh and the important bit costing around £8000.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I've always tried to buy low mileage.

Not because I don't trust high milers, I believe that modern cars are designed to do 250k miles if not abused.

The reason I prefer low mileage cars is that I'll need to sell them on at some point and will get hoofed in the clackers come part-ex time.

 

[Benzowner]

Bearing in mind that not so long ago odometers only read to 99,999 then went back to zero. Some very low models available back then, 105E Anglia's, Mini's