How high of KMs on an ODO is too high for you when buying used?

[Sugarphreak]

...

[max_boost]

One of my first vehicles was a 88 Toyota Camry and I drove it from 140k to 240k.

I don't think I will buy a used car with over 100k but I will keep driving one well over if I had it from day one.

[schocker]

I think when I bought my volvo it had 190k. I want to say that was probably not the best idea.

[speedog]

Will pass 500k on my 99 Sierra in the next few days, thing just keeps chugging along. I have had a number of domestics that have cracked 300k, only sold them when electrical gremlins started popping up.

[Gart]

One day I'll have a nice shiny low km vehicle like the rest of you!
I generally find I buy in the 100-150k zone for my personal car, which is usually a jap made. But I probably pay too much into the maintenance each time. oh well.
In the meantime:

Our '07 Legacy is still running strong with less maintenance work than I would expect. (220k). First spot of (visible) rust this year.
Lots of recalls this year though (3 so far)

However our '07 Saturn Ion (came with the gf) needs to die a quicker death (190k). In the last year or so I've had to fix or replace:
-Rear defroster
-Driver low beam (corrosion: re-solder)
-Rear driver power window: not functioning(motor)
-Front passenger window: no "up" action (cable re-solder)
-rear brakes kind of died (or as internet spells em: breaks)
-AC not functioning (haven't looked into this yet)
-coolant reservoir sensor malfunction
-blower fan (climate control)
-front control arms and bushings wore out
I'm sure there's much more I forgot, or haven't noticed yet.
oh right.. tranny. (and a year later, the same tranny)

Originally posted by speedog
Will pass 500k on my 99 Sierra in the next few days, thing just keeps chugging along. I have had a number of domestics that have cracked 300k, only sold them when electrical gremlins started popping up.

Ah good!, this means my 330k '06 has a good chance to hit that high too. Except I doubt my interior will last that long.

[corsvette]

My shop truck Sierra has close to 500k, keeps going strong too!

I personally put more emphasis on maintenance and use than mileage. Hourmeters are an excellent indication of use, had some low km trucks with ridiculous high hours before.

The only vehicles I'd be very careful buying with high kms are high performance vehicles (M cars, AMG etc) Had a friend with a S4 4.2 Audi that pitched it's timing chain at 120k, cost him close to 8K to fix that mess.

There was a guy in our Corvette club with a C6 that had close to 400,000 on it, was his daily and vacation car lol. He still had the original clutch/engine/trans, but the guy was ~70+ and drove like it too.

[ExtraSlow]

I think I mentioned this a few times, but that truck I bought last summer has 396,000 on it when I bought it, and only 402,000 when I sold it.

There is no hard line that I won't go past. However, it is a real bitch to sell things with over about 250,000 on them. That 402,000 truck wasn't a fun sale.

For me, I like to have one "reliable" vehicle in the house, and the wife drives that. Everything else can be beater status. Savage Honda Fit Recession Fighter has 171,000 on it, and the mileage doesn't worry me at all.

[My_name_is_Rob]

I bought my daily back in 08 when it had 400k on it. And it's sitting at 650k now, and I wouldn't hesitate to take it anywhere. Granted the body is far from minty.

[AndyL]

I want to see at least 30k a year - so a 10 yr old vehicle should have 300k. Any less and it's been infrequently used which seems to cause me more grief than higher km...

But I shop for vehicles outside the city looking for high mileage, as my best value... Lots of those can be found in the rural areas with commuter mileage - often with dealership service records dating back to new (love farmer record keeping)

[J-hop]

Originally posted by AndyL
I want to see at least 30k a year - so a 10 yr old vehicle should have 300k. Any less and it's been infrequently used which seems to cause me more grief than higher km...

But I shop for vehicles outside the city looking for high mileage, as my best value... Lots of those can be found in the rural areas with commuter mileage - often with dealership service records dating back to new (love farmer record keeping)

My first thought was holy crap that is a lot. But kinda makes sense when you break it down to a weekly average. Then you know they weren't driving it 5kms a day to work at minus 30 and it spent more time idling than driving.

[shakalaka]

I think 20K a year is considered average and I'd probably be comfortable with that. Just depends on the purpose etc, I personally would feel more comfortable with 10K a year for a high end vehicle.

[Type_S1]

If you are somewhat knowledgeable about cars and can do minor fixes I believe the below is reasonable.

Toyota - 250k...most can last up to 500+ if well maintained...seen some tacoma and land cruisers over a million.
Honda - 200k
Anything German - don't touch once over 100k unless you are planning to just flip it for profit
Anything domestic (except trucks) - nothing over 50k as they are POS's that fall apart. I would never suggest buying a domestic unless we are talking a $100k sports car as there is always something better in the same price range non-domestic.
Discount brands (hyundai/Kia) - see domestic...I would never buy one of these under any circumstance...POS.
Gas trucks - 150k
Diesel Trucks - 250

[D'z Nutz]

My dad was an auto mechanic at one point in his life so when I was growing up he drilled it into my head to avoid used cars over 100K when I was shopping for my first vehicle. Of course, I'm well aware modern cars are vastly more reliable than cars in the 60's and 70's as evident by peoples' experiences in this thread, but it's kind of the magic number that's been conditioned in my head.

Of course I don't think I can actually say it has to be under X kilometres, but more like under X/year. In my case, I'd probably be around 20K/year at the most and I'd never consider a used car older than 5 years anyways so I'd still be within my 100K limit, unless it was like a classic car, a really good steal, or something I wasn't planning on keeping very long. The fact of the matter is I just don't trust people I don't know, so I'm always suspicious they're trying to unload their problem vehicle onto me. I'm more likely to buy a new vehicle so I know the ins and outs of it from day 1.

[v2kai]

Originally posted by 2Legit2Quit
Depends on the vehicles purpose and price range.

If it's just a winter beater and $1-2000, the sky is the limit for me as long as it runs good.

Once you get into higher dollar amounts and if this is going to be your main vehicle, then it depends on your budget and accepting the year of the vehicle and mileage.

word for word, exactly this. To me it's really condition and how well it runs and relative to the year what the mileage is. If it's low mileage relatively speaking (like 5k km a year or something when the average is 25k km), good condition, runs well and is a decent price ... go for it.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by AndyL
I want to see at least 30k a year - so a 10 yr old vehicle should have 300k. Any less and it's been infrequently used which seems to cause me more grief than higher km...

But I shop for vehicles outside the city looking for high mileage, as my best value... Lots of those can be found in the rural areas with commuter mileage - often with dealership service records dating back to new (love farmer record keeping)

Yeah, rural vehicles are often fantastic values. But for someone who lives in the city (pretty inner-city as well) I have never in my life put 30,000 kms in a year.

Even my wife, who commutes across the city doesn't hit 20,000 per year.

For a city dweller, maybe if you live in Tuscany or Cranston . . . .

[tonytiger55]

Originally posted by Type_S1
If you are somewhat knowledgeable about cars and can do minor fixes I believe the below is reasonable.

Toyota - 250k...most can last up to 500+ if well maintained...seen some tacoma and land cruisers over a million.
Honda - 200k
Anything German - don't touch once over 100k unless you are planning to just flip it for profit
Anything domestic (except trucks) - nothing over 50k as they are POS's that fall apart. I would never suggest buying a domestic unless we are talking a $100k sports car as there is always something better in the same price range non-domestic.
Discount brands (hyundai/Kia) - see domestic...I would never buy one of these under any circumstance...POS.
Gas trucks - 150k
Diesel Trucks - 250

Just out of curiosity, why would you put Toyota above Honda?
I've always considered them to be in the same grouping with small variances. Since immigrating here I have noticed Toyota reliability is placed above Honda a lot of the time. I'm just curious why that is.

[blownz]

I put on just over 30k a year and my wife about 25k a year so in general because I like to keep a vehicle for 3-4 year I have never bought anything with over 20k on it.

My wife's last 3 vehicles have been brand new because he is a princess but at least they last 4-5 years with zero issues and can still be sold easily.

My last 4 vehicles I have purchased with 10-20k on them. Most recent one had 12k and was 9 months old. I have had it for exactly 2 years now and it is at 74k so one more year maybe.


On the topic of German/Japanese/American, I generally agree that really long term trouble free mileage is best with Honda/Toyota but beyond that I don't rate the Japanese any higher than a German or American car. All of my vehicles have been German or American with the exception of one Toyota Camry (purchased to drive lots of miles for work). And the Toyota was by far the worst. It was a 4 year old car that constantly had issues and the regular service cost more than anything domestic. I didn't even keep it a year. Likely I had a lemon, but I will still never own another Japanese vehicle.

Funny thing was a service shop I took the Camry to the owner told me they make most of their money off of people that own Japanese cars because so many are stupid. He said they all think they will run forever and spend a fortune to keep them running where he said any smart person would junk the cars long ago. lol

[Anomaly]

For a daily I was looking to buy, I would say below 160k, but preferably below 100k. For a beater it doesn't really matter. Personally, I would rather a car with 120k and in good shape with proof of maintenance than a car with 90-100k with no maintenance records by someone who didn't take care of it.

I wouldn't be totally against a car with 200k+ though if you're willing to turn a wrench. My cars (both import and domestic) have 260k and 330k now. Bought them with around 100k on them and it's all been typical maintenance and consumable stuff

[master hec0]

mileage is pretty irrelevant for me as long as she runs good and the price is right.

currently daily driving (80km round trip) a 1985 Mercedes 300D with 430,000kms and occasionally my 2006 Nissan titan with 316k (190k on the motor)


my last car was a 2007 suzuki SX4 with 340k on her when hail wrote it off.

[speedog]

Originally posted by master hec0
mileage is pretty irrelevant for me as long as she runs good and the price is right.

currently daily driving (80km round trip) a 1985 Mercedes 300D with 430,000kms and occasionally my 2006 Nissan titan with 316k (190k on the motor)


my last car was a 2007 suzuki SX4 with 340k on her when hail wrote it off.

Late yesterday afternoon, treated the old beast to a car wash - automated but the paint on it isn't all that pristine any more...


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