How used will you buy a used car?

[the Teuton]

When it comes time to buy a "new" car, what's your limit on miles?  I am in the process of looking at beaters with heaters fairly seriously, and I've found some nice ones, but I am hesitant about buying something with well over 150k miles on it, even if the price is good.  I already had to replace my motor at 159k.

So what say you?  Is there a limit?

[2o6]

Buying a first car, anything over 150k is out for me.

[sportyaccordy]

My Maxima had 125K or so miles when I bought it, and it ran about 38 thousand times smoother than my mom's RX did at half the miles. I think it depends on the car. For my next car I'm still in the air as far as what I want exactly but I hope to get something with less than 100K on it.

[AutobahnSHO]

I buy in the 90-150k range. It's all about what can you afford to repair??
The cheaper the more miles or more needs fixing OR BOTH.

ANY time I purchase a used car I immediately do an oil and tranny filter/fluid change. And start saving for repairs.

[Tave]

It depends on my needs/wants.

For a DD, I'd push lower. If it's purely for fun, the sky's the limit. For something in between, well, I'd look at the stuff in between.

[r0tor]

CPO... if there is no warranty, your just better off fixing the damn car you already own

[CALL_911]

For me, well, I'd get whatever's cheap. Hopefully in the 90K-120K range?

Odds are my parents will get me my first car, which will either be new or be a CPO with really, really low miles.

[nickdrinkwater]

Absolute maximumis 80k, but hopefully below 60.

[Raza]

It depends on my needs/wants.

For a DD, I'd push lower. If it's purely for fun, the sky's the limit. For something in between, well, I'd look at the stuff in between.

There's the key.  A car upon which you don't need to rely doesn't necessarily need to be reliable.  I'm shopping for a used car, and what I'm looking at in my price range seems to have a low end of about 70K miles.  On a daily driver, I'd reconsider, unless I am fairly well assured that the car was looked after diligently in its life, but as a second car, I'd be less cautious.  Of course, I'd want to see that the car had been cared for, but the difference between 80K and 100K at that point are fairly negligible if reflected in price. 

[3.0L V6]

For a daily driver that doesn't stray much beyond city limits, I'd have no problem with ~100k miles. A car that sees a lot of highway use, I'd try to stay towards the 70k mile range when buying used.

[omicron]

200,000km/125,000 miles is my absolute limit.

[L. ed foote]

Depends on the condition of the car.  Mileage is unimportant to me.

[Laconian]

60-80k max. My car has 67k right now and it'd still be a good choice for a used buyer.

[68_427]

It's hard to find a 2.5 RS coupe with less than 120K, and I desperately want one.

[Vinsanity]

I don't have much problem driving around a car with 6 figures on the odo, but I'd much rather those miles be my own rather than an unknown.





hehe I rhymed.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Miles are even less shit than bitches, and bitches ain't shit.

[Tave]

There's the key.  A car upon which you don't need to rely doesn't necessarily need to be reliable.  I'm shopping for a used car, and what I'm looking at in my price range seems to have a low end of about 70K miles.  On a daily driver, I'd reconsider, unless I am fairly well assured that the car was looked after diligently in its life, but as a second car, I'd be less cautious.  Of course, I'd want to see that the car had been cared for, but the difference between 80K and 100K at that point are fairly negligible if reflected in price. 

Exactly, and you're never going to get a CPO on a 1966 Mustang coupe.


But if someone does, please call me. Preferably cobalt blue w/ a matching interior.

[Cookie Monster]

Preferably in the 80-120k range but I would take anything up to 150k or so.

[the Teuton]

It's hard to find a 2.5 RS coupe with less than 120K, and I desperately want one.

Cars under 50,000 miles still exist...for a massive premium.

Unfortunate that we're late to the game, eh?

My next car is probably going to be a Legacy upwards of 120k miles.

[ChrisV]

This car has 168k on it right now, and had 143k on it when I bought it. It's my daily driver, and has gone on long trips. Its very first trip was from where I bought it in bridgeport CT, all over middle Ct and then back down here to Baltimore, 6 hours away. Within a month it was driven by my wife to Richmond, VA and back, up the Blue Ridge mountains.



I've had daily drivers that were over 30 years old, and consisting of most of their original parts.

[Lebowski]

If it was from a dealer or other unknown seller, I'd like to keep it within the manufacturers warranty period, or < ~40k miles.

If it's a car from someone I know, and I know the history of the car and know it has been well maintained, I'd go higher.

[CALL_911]

Cars under 50,000 miles still exist...for a massive premium.

Unfortunate that we're late to the game, eh?

My next car is probably going to be a Legacy upwards of 120k miles.

If you don't mind if said Legacy is automatic, maroon, rusty in some areas, and FWD, I have just the car for you...

[the Teuton]

If you don't mind if said Legacy is automatic, maroon, rusty in some areas, and FWD, I have just the car for you...

Will that car pass a NY inspection, much less make it to Ohio for me to register?

I'm tempted.  It's a perfect big city college beater.

[CALL_911]

Will that car pass a NY inspection, much less make it to Ohio for me to register?

I'm tempted.  It's a perfect big city college beater.

It passed inspection.

[the Teuton]

It passed inspection.

This is very tempting.

We'll talk at the end of summer when a) I'm going down that way hopefully, and b) I have some dead presidents in my wallet. 

I am working my way into getting my parents into a Legacy, the Impreza isn't going anywhere anytime soon, I might be buying my next car this summer (read: Impreza, Legacy, Forester, or SVX), and another Subaru on the cheap would complement the whole damn bunch.

Now you got me all excited.

[SVT666]

Depends.  If it's going to be my daily driver, then I want the fewest miles for what I can get in my budget.  Now, next year I'm going to be looking for a used pickup and I'll take whatever's in the best condition for $2000.

[CALL_911]

This is very tempting.

We'll talk at the end of summer when a) I'm going down that way hopefully, and b) I have some dead presidents in my wallet. 

I am working my way into getting my parents into a Legacy, the Impreza isn't going anywhere anytime soon, I might be buying my next car this summer (read: Impreza, Legacy, Forester, or SVX), and another Subaru on the cheap would complement the whole damn bunch.

Now you got me all excited.

Hoooold your horses, I'll need to see if it'd even be for sale. I need a car soon, and that could be the one!

[the Teuton]

Hoooold your horses, I'll need to see if it'd even be for sale. I need a car soon, and that could be the one!

Fine.  An old POS E21 BMW 320i it might have to be...

But then that brings up another point, does mileage even matter when a car gets to be 30 years old?

[L. ed foote]

does mileage even matter when a car gets to be 30 years old?

Nope.  You figure the car has lasted that long...

[BimmerM3]

Like others have said, it depends on a lot of factors. My Accord had 53,000 miles on it when we bought it. The E21 reads 147,000 miles, but the odometer counts a lot slower than it should, so who knows how many miles it actually has on it.

It doesn't just come down to intended use either. For example, while Chris's 7er has been very good to him, if something does end up going wrong, he has the knowledge and resources that he would be able to fix it himself, saving him a considerable amount of money on repair bills. Additionally, if his 7er goes down, he has other cars he can drive until it's up and running again.

On the other hand, I don't really have much knowledge about working on cars, particularly when it comes to diagnosing problems, so if the Accord breaks, it's off to the repair shop for me. I also don't have an extra car to drive, so reliability is of the utmost importance.