If you were buying a car would miles matter

[AppleAndPearss]

I need a new car ASAP. Looking to spend a couple of thousand so nothing fancy or new. I have no experience with cars. Would miles matter? What is the most miles you would buy a car with...is a car that's done say 70K not worth buying

70k is fine IMO. Check when the cam belt was last replaced - if it was done recently and now the car is on 70k that's good.

Depends what car it is...I’ve been a trader in the past so speak with some experience.
Renault if it’s done over 50/60k I wouldn’t buy it.
Ford 2.0 tdci hold miles well and I would happily buy one that had done 130k as long as there was evidence it had been looked after.
Ford 1.8tdci-can be troublesome and would generally avoid.
Ford 1.6 petrol are good engines will usually happily cover 130-150k in their lifetime.
Vauxhall diesels are good for 130-150, the 1.8 petrol not so much nor the 1.6.

I could go on

Its a case of balancing how old it is against the mileage. I got a new car recently and worked on the basis that average mileage each year is about 10k. So if a car was 3 years old, 30k was average. Any more i would be wary, anything less would be preferable, but average mileage with regular services etc shouldn't have any issues

Mazda's are good for a long while, so I have heard.

Depends on the car, the service history and who you are buying it from. I drive an old Land Rover LWB Safari and have absolutely no idea how many miles it's covered but it does get serviced and maintained regularly so it's safe and reliable. Thats the key, safe and relaible. And remember, you are buying the life that is left in the vehicle.

JoshLymanIsHotterThanSam

Interesting to read your reply, What about diesel Volvo xc60’s?

Interesting thread OP hope your find something. I’ve always been unsure about cars with high mileage!

VW Golfs are good

If you can get one with a FSH (full service history) that would be a good start, so you'll know it's had regular oil changes and the cambelt changed etc.

Of course. Higher mileage means less value, though there's a lot else that counts too.

I test drove a car that had done 150k and it felt every bit of it.

Depends on it's previous life. I have a company car and when it goes back it has high mileage but has never wanted for anything, so used but far from abused.

Personally I wouldnt buy one with that mileage. If you look around you can get some good ones. I spent £3K on a runaround with 34 thousand miles. That was in August and il already at 44k miles because I do a lot of driving which is why I went so low. Definitely shop around.

Agree on the cam belt check, was in a car once when one went and we were lucky we were on a quiet road with no other cars around. Cost £££ to repair the damage too.

You're not going to get a car with less mileage than that for a couple of grand.

@Hellohellohowareyou generally I rate Volvo Diesel engines...but the 1.6 is a bit brittle...it’s the 1.6 deisel that is shared across many platforms-Ford, Citroen, Peugeot, mini, bmw, Volvo.
The engine itself is good but does suffer from premature turbo failure if not serviced correctly with the right oil. There is a turbo feed pipe filter that gets clogged and starves the turbo of oil.

@leolion1 you aren’t looking hard enough then.

Depending on what manufacturer and age you are looking at it is perfectly possibly to pick up a low mileage vehicle for 2 grand!

When I used to drive bangers (£2or3k), mileage was my main criterion, then bodywork.

70-80k was always my upper limit, but if you’re lucky enough to find anything much lower than that, grab it.

JoshLymanIsHotterThanSam

Funny you should say that as I previously had a 1.6 diesel Peugeot which had those issues.

I previously had an xc60 and downsized to a v40 but thinking of going back up again! Thanks for your reply

Matters to me loads.

For the last 4 years I've been driving a Honda CRV which I bought for £1500 with 120, 000 on the clock. Apart from the alternator failing it hasn't been a moments trouble (obv had new brakes as routine), and the garage reckon it could go on and on - no cambelt to fail on that either.
Brilliant car, and you see loads of really old ones around which is always a good sign

It's always the most important thing to me when I'm looking for a second hand car.

@ScottishStottie

Its a case of balancing how old it is against the mileage. I got a new car recently and worked on the basis that average mileage each year is about 10k. So if a car was 3 years old, 30k was average. Any more i would be wary, anything less would be preferable, but average mileage with regular services etc shouldn't have any issues

A lot of it depends on how the mileage was racked up. Motorway miles and FSH is a lot easier on a car than one that's done 2-5000 miles a year all of short distances and left for years without oil changes etc. So mileage up to around 100-120k miles wouldn't put me off if its been looked after.

You can see how the mileage has been spaced out by looking at the MOT history.

A while ago I bought a 3 YO car with 100k miles on and it never gave me any trouble in the years I had it because it had several oil changes in its first 3 years of life.

YY to the timing belt issue, but not all cars have belts, some have chains that don't always need changing so often. You can tell if the chain is on its way out as the engine runs badly.

I've recently bought a car with a 2k budget and got one with 95k miles on it for £1800. Its too soon to tell how its going to last, and the type of car I got was one that's quite desirable so a little expensive for the size/age, but the mileage is less than average for the price. I wouldn't get a French car for that price because too many are unreliable, but you should have a good choice of polo, ibiza, jazz, fiesta or similar.

@JoshLymanIsHotterThanSam how would you rate these cars:
Skoda Kodiaq vs Mitsubishi Outlander (not PHEV) vs Honda CRV all seven seater. Thanks

My dad's toyota is going strong at over 200k

I personally wouldn't buy anything that's done over 100k but like joshlyman said up thread, fords are a usually good bet. Had a few and never broke down 🤞🏼 I actually loved my C-max far more than my DHs stupidly expensive fancy 4x4, it handled like a dream.

@Mishmased I’d go for Skoda or Honda over the Mitsubishi personally, purely only because parts are cheaper to buy for them as they’re more mainstream.

Miles 100% matter

More miles = more things to replace /maintenance