Mileage

[IanF]

Looking to buy my son a car and it’s raised some interesting questions about how many miles is okay. We’ve found a VW that has done 90000 miles in 6 years by one owner and full VW service history that my son likes.

My wife and son thought it was too high a mileage, which I disagree with as I tried to explain continuous mileage per annum is best for reliability and a serviced (relatively) modern car will be fine; but it came apparent that the issue is we’ve never had a car with over 40000 miles, (obviously it’s going to be my fault if anything ever goes wrong! ) ..

What’s your highest mileage car, and more importantly, do you all agree with me!? This will be helpful if anything does go wrong in the future.

[mik]

Buy on condition. Cars do not blow up at 100k miles.

15k miles PA with a full service history isn't stratospheric,.

Be aware of mileage from a resale perspective mainly - your missus and son reflect Joe Public's sensitivity to it.

[DeskJockey]

What Mik said. Never owned a car with less than 50k on it and they've never really given us grief beyond the expected.

Both my dad's old Mercs were fine with regular maintenance at over 250k miles.

[Sundayjumper]

I've had several cars with over 200k. My T4 was just over 250k when I sold it. They've all been old-ish cars to be fair, and have had old car problems like rust, but mileage in itself hasn't been a problem.

90k on a modern VW is fine. If he likes it, that's the important thing.

[Jobbo]

My highest mileage purchase was a 189k mile E34 525i Touring. It was the nicest E34 to drive of any I owned; I only bought it to get the 17” style 5 wheels off it but I had serious thoughts about keeping it.

Bought and kept a 140k mile 530i Touring, a 126k mile 540i Touring, a 136k mile 545i Touring - all of which I trusted to take me long distances on holiday and were fine. My 120k mile Boxster broke down on an Evo meet; bet it wouldn’t have if I’d used it more regularly and realised the alternator was going sooner.

[JLv3.0]

What’s your highest mileage car, and more importantly, do you all agree with me!?

Land Cruiser - 305k kms.
Audi - 222k kms.

Both running like Swiss clocks.

Tell your Mrs to get back in the kitchen, and make you a sandwich. This is man stuff

[Jimmy Choo]

I bought the Saab at 140k and it died at 175k.

Conversely, I bought the both the 155 and 166 at 80k and they both died at 120k.

Kathryn bought her E36 poverty spec 316i at 203k and she crashed it at 206k.

Basically, don't buy an Alfa.

[scotta]

My Cavalier had 150k ish on it. A4 had around 140k on it. I had an old mondeo that had done over 100k When i traded the Golf R in it had about 65k on it.

Dad used to change his taxis at 2 years old - they usually had around 250k on them.

[Sundayjumper]

Although, on the other hand, the couple of newer/low mileage cars we've had, it's nice having something that feels & smells new.

So I guess from a reliability pov mileage doesn't matter, but from an ownership pov it might do.

(and if it's his first car he'll probably crash it, so don't spend too much on it...)

[Carlos]

The 2 cheapest cars I've ran (Porsche 968 and Mercedes S202) were both bought with over 100k miles on the clock.

I'd much prefer a well cared for high miler than an average mile car on linglongs with the bare minimum of maintenance carried out.

It's a good haggling point as well

[Rich B]

90k isn’t a big deal - presumably the car is newer than the lower mileage alternatives?

[Nathan]

Looking to buy my son a car and it’s raised some interesting questions about how many miles is okay. We’ve found a VW that has done 90000 miles in 6 years by one owner and full VW service history that my son likes.

My wife and son thought it was too high a mileage, which I disagree with as I tried to explain continuous mileage per annum is best for reliability and a serviced (relatively) modern car will be fine; but it came apparent that the issue is we’ve never had a car with over 40000 miles, (obviously it’s going to be my fault if anything ever goes wrong! ) ..

What’s your highest mileage car, and more importantly, do you all agree with me!? This will be helpful if anything does go wrong in the future.

What is it ?

Avoid anything TSI

[RobYob]

E39 ticked over 230,000miles last week. It'll need a new clutch at some point but I was saying that the day I bought it four years ago with 180k on the clock.

90k is just nicely run in frankly

[Gwaredd]

My 850 T5 had 180k on it when I bought it & it was excellent. Felt like it had 50k on it. My Alhambra has 155k on it now & still drives great - far better than the S-Max we test drove last month that had 70k on it, so yeah, buy on condition & how it drives over the milage.

[drcarlos]

I've had several cars with over 200k. My T4 was just over 250k when I sold it. They've all been old-ish cars to be fair, and have had old car problems like rust, but mileage in itself hasn't been a problem.

90k on a modern VW is fine. If he likes it, that's the important thing.

I'd disagree with that. The wiring is shit and breaks apart at the connectors due to fatigue causing all sorts of issues (including starter motor and cooling fan issues with the knock ons from that). This I have experienced on VAG cars of the Polo ilk and according to the AA guy who diagnosed and fixed the problem (he walked up told me the problem before even opening the bonnet) pretty common on VAG's approaching 100k. I had fixed the broken wiring on my radiator fans 6 months earlier when I replaced the leaking radiator. I had discovered the fans were inoperable when I bled it out and knew exactly what he was talking about with the broken wiring.
The reason is that the newer VAG cars use fewer strands of thicker copper in the cable which can carry the current but are less flexible than many strands of finer wire that was used on older cars. This is fine for the first 90k but after that the repeated movement of the engine starts to break the cables where they enter connectors. It's also a pretty expensive thing to diagnose and fix. All down to cost cutting in the name of profits.
I'd avoid it personally and get something else with 90k or a much lower mileage VAG.
I should add the engine was fine it was just shit build of everything that surrounded it.

[Carlos]

I've had several cars with over 200k. My T4 was just over 250k when I sold it. They've all been old-ish cars to be fair, and have had old car problems like rust, but mileage in itself hasn't been a problem.

90k on a modern VW is fine. If he likes it, that's the important thing.

I'd disagree with that as every car I've bought seems to be knackered.

Your ability to buy broken cars is legendary is these circles

[Rich B]

I've had several cars with over 200k. My T4 was just over 250k when I sold it. They've all been old-ish cars to be fair, and have had old car problems like rust, but mileage in itself hasn't been a problem.

90k on a modern VW is fine. If he likes it, that's the important thing.

I'd disagree with that as every car I've bought seems to be knackered.

Your ability to buy broken cars is legendary is these circles

beat me to it!

[JLv3.0]

And me

[scotta]

Looking to buy my son a car and it’s raised some interesting questions about how many miles is okay. We’ve found a VW that has done 90000 miles in 6 years by one owner and full VW service history that my son likes.

My wife and son thought it was too high a mileage, which I disagree with as I tried to explain continuous mileage per annum is best for reliability and a serviced (relatively) modern car will be fine; but it came apparent that the issue is we’ve never had a car with over 40000 miles, (obviously it’s going to be my fault if anything ever goes wrong! ) ..

What’s your highest mileage car, and more importantly, do you all agree with me!? This will be helpful if anything does go wrong in the future.

What is it ?

Avoid anything TSI

Lol. Ive had 7 TSI cars and the only engine problem ive had were coilpacks that were replaced under extended warranty.

[Nathan]

Looking to buy my son a car and it’s raised some interesting questions about how many miles is okay. We’ve found a VW that has done 90000 miles in 6 years by one owner and full VW service history that my son likes.

My wife and son thought it was too high a mileage, which I disagree with as I tried to explain continuous mileage per annum is best for reliability and a serviced (relatively) modern car will be fine; but it came apparent that the issue is we’ve never had a car with over 40000 miles, (obviously it’s going to be my fault if anything ever goes wrong! ) ..

What’s your highest mileage car, and more importantly, do you all agree with me!? This will be helpful if anything does go wrong in the future.

What is it ?

Avoid anything TSI

Lol. Ive had 7 TSI cars and the only engine problem ive had were coilpacks that were replaced under extended warranty.

Did you buy them at 90k ?