Don't know if I've the courage to buy a 200,000 miles car...

[Leicesterdave]

....I know I should buy on condition and history but it's still a scary place. I've got a wonderful newish car @ the moment which I have to get rid of to add funds to my business. Thing is for £1,000 you don't get much!

But I've found an A4 avant 1,9TDI for that very price with 200,000 miles and history. The trader sounds like most traders I've dealt with- dodgy! I've got to pick up the history this morning and I'm very busy today but you take a look at it later. He just doesn't give me much confidence but at that price it seems to silly to ignore.

Go for it or not- 200,000 is a fair chunk!

[Fast Bug]

With that budget, I'd be looking for a private sale. You'll get next to no comeback with a dealer, they would have probably paid £500 for that car, and if there's a warranty I doubt it's worth the paper it's written on as most, if not all failures would be down to 'fair wear and tear'...

[schmalex]

Hmm. Tdi @ 200k...

Personally, I'd be looking towards a Volvo V70 2.4 petrol. Less to go wrong and decent examples can be had for ~ £1k (I've recently helped my Father purchase one - 52 plate car with 80k on the clock at £1.2k.

[k-ink]

200k mile VAG diesel. Screw that at half the milage. That £1k car is soon going to cost you a hell of a lot more than that. You may as well spend £3k on a better example and be done with it. Or forget about the badge and get something far more sensible if saving money is an issue. Personally at this level I'd buy something from Japan.

[steveo3002]

yeah id be looking for a private sale , he mustve paid a few hundred for that car

at least with a private sale you can suss out the owners

[Chicane-UK]

Not sure I'd be looking at something with that kind of mileage unless I knew it'd been extremely thoroughly looked after.

[Matt UK]

Fast Bug said:

With that budget, I'd be looking for a private sale. You'll get next to no comeback with a dealer, they would have probably paid £500 for that car, and if there's a warranty I doubt it's worth the paper it's written on as most, if not all failures would be down to 'fair wear and tear'...

I would have to agree - you are paying £1k for a car he bought in with the change in his pocket.

There is no reason why 200k miles should be a problem - some rep cars can rack that up on the motorway in 3-4 years, but you have to accept that things are wearing out all over the car, especially as it's getting older.

Last year I was using a 160k Passat 1.9tdi. It was getting rough around the edges, but mechanically I trusted it to start each morning and put in a 120 mile daily shift so that I could earn a living.

[patmahe]

Ditto, a lot of my cars have come from the bottom end of the market over the years and I've always found private sales to be happier hunting grounds.

Also unless you really need diesel you can find some decent petrol cars at this level because nobody else seems to want them.

[FlashmanChop]

whats your gut feeling?

could buy it and get the AA Parts Repair Cover? It is the reason my daily now has 163k on the clock - I have peace of mind in the cover the aa provide. if you get the "stay mobile" element they meet you at the garage within a courtesy car. my college with a RR doesn't even get this service from the local stealer.

[OldBuoy]

You need to drive them. Big difference between a 200k car that's been maintained well and an old nail.

I had a 180k A3 1.8T as a px, mechanically the car was spot on and I would of been happy to let my wife use it as a DD. I suspect (although no paper work to prove it) quite a bit of money had been spent keeping it this way.

[Leicesterdave]

FlashmanChop said:

whats your gut feeling?

My gut feeling is telling me it's too cheap. Not in terms of the mileage but just generally that it's going to be a gamble. Which I can ill afford.

[RussH91]

I bought a Picasso at 260k ish, no history nothing to fill you with any type of confidence ran it for 6 months did a further 12.5k with no maintenance. In all honestly if I'd cared for it, it would still be going now the engine was strong enough. I just didn't care about it and trashed, quite juvenile really but was great fun racing it around a field with no doors on and the exhaust cut at the down pipe. It got me out the hole I was in and would have potentially kept going. I'd have no problems buying another high mileage car, if I was prepared to look after it.

[Boobonman]

Buy solely on condition, not what the arbitrary numbers on the dash say.

Most used cars have been clocked at some stage anyway...

[Leicesterdave]

Boobonman said:

Buy solely on condition, not what the arbitrary numbers on the dash say.

Most used cars have been clocked at some stage anyway...

That's what I keep telling myself... But 200,000 !!!

[k-ink]

Boobonman said:

Buy solely on condition, not what the arbitrary numbers on the dash say.

Most used cars have been clocked at some stage anyway...

Yes, it has probably done 300k.

[thewildblue]

Got a 2001 V70 Manual T5 with 222k for £1250 in April this year ....put 3k on it so far as its a 3rd car, its due for its MOT next week....if it passes then other than a non working aircon compressor the car feels superb.

[Leicesterdave]

The way I see it is this. Most other estates I've seen I've been advertised for between £2-3k with an average mileage of 150,000.

Now are the 150-160-170,000 mile cars really worth 2 to 3x as much?

[MGJohn]

Condition and maintenance is the key here and a private sale is invariably the best option if you are patient and know what you're doing. As already mentioned, dealer warrantys and so called service history are often not worth the paper they're written on. When viewing a private sale car the clues as to condition and maintenance will be there if you know what to look for. If backed up by some documentation so much the better.

My son's P-Reg car which he uses as a work hack is currently showing 207,000 miles, Been on several continental tours recently and plans another "Snowboarding" trip with his mates when he gets back from his Holiday in Brasil. He's had it for closing on ten years.

I have a similar car with less than half the mileage. I would not hesitate to take a long trip in either car. We would struggle to get £1000 for either except from a clued up buyer who know these cars. Why, because they are Rovers... 620ti. If patient when searching, it is possible to obtain a decent one privately now with both Tax and MoT for less than £1000. A rare mint example say £1200.

Yes, yes, a hard pill to swallow for many PHers here but, for peanuts money now, some MGs and Rovers are exceptional value.

All in our humble opinions of course.

P.S. My friendly Boxster driving neighbour is convinced our MGs and Rovers are so reli6ible because of their Honda engines. >>> .... I kid you not.

[mwstewart]

For me it depends on wheter I have the time in my life for a breakdown, which I don't at the moment, hence I couldn't trust one. The risk of breakdown has increased too much.

I know plenty of people run them but converselt plenty have scrapped long before 200k!

[Leicesterdave]

mwstewart said:

For me it depends on wheter I have the time in my life for a breakdown, which I don't at the moment, hence I couldn't trust one. The risk of breakdown has increased too much.

I know plenty of people run them but converselt plenty have scrapped long before 200k!

It's clearly a gamble. But what do you do when you have so little to spare!