Older car low miles newer car high milage

[Tooter]

Hi. I’m looking at buying a Audi not sure what one but looking for general advice would you buy a older car with low milage or a newer car with higher milage. Also petrol or diesel. Thanks

[DuraAce]

Low vs high miles depends on the price difference amongst other factors.

Petrol vs diesel depends on your usage.

There isn't one answer.

[StevenB]

Low miles cars can be worse than high milers, never get warm, short trips etc. high mileage is usually motorway miles and in general kinder to the car so long as it has been serviced correctly.

[Tooter]

DuraAce said:

Low vs high miles depends on the price difference amongst other factors.

Petrol vs diesel depends on your usage.

There isn't one answer.

Hi yer I understand than but high milage newer are around the same price as low older cars.

[Tooter]

StevenB said:

Low miles cars can be worse than high milers, never get warm, short trips etc. high mileage is usually motorway miles and in general kinder to the car so long as it has been serviced correctly.

Oh yer never thaught of it that way would you say Audi’s are generly ok at high milage then?.

[Tooter]

So in short a high milage fsh car isn’t anything one scared of ?
Do Audi’s in general cope with high milage is the anything I should look out for when buying. ?.
Any engines I should avoid like the plague ?.
Thanks

[Jimi.K.]

Petrol or diesel?

I'd rather have a diesel that had done 20k miles a year than one which had done just 6 or 7k miles. I've recently bought a 9 year old Audi A5 3.0tdi with 147k miles on the clock. Averages out at 16k miles a year so plenty of motorway miles which is important for a modern diesel to clear the DPF.

My personal tactic when buying used is to find a car/engine combination that is perceived as VERY reliable, then find a cheap, high-miles, but well looked after example.

[Dave.]

I scrapped an 80k mile mk1 focus (rust) and bought a 113k mile mk1 focus (no rust).

Obviously not an Audi, but moral of this story.... Buy on condition, not age/mileage/whether you get 5mpg more/etc....

Edited by Dave. on Thursday 17th January 13:53

[ZX10R NIN]

How many miles will you be doing per year?

How much are you looking to spend?

Once people know the answer to those two questions then you'll get the appropriate advice.

[StevenB]

I have a 2001 A2 with 284,000 miles, it has had cambelts and recently the chain and sprockets that drive the oil pump balancer shaft. nothing else. I understand there are problems with some TFSI engines burning oil requiring expensive rebuilds. currently running an A1 1.6 TDI with 107,000 miles all seems ok it has had the EGR replaced.

[james_gt3rs]

The only problem I've had with high mileage cars is they are hard to sell on.

[MRichards99]

james_gt3rs said:

The only problem I've had with high mileage cars is they are hard to sell on.

Yeah not everyone's keen on high mileage cars but if you buy one and run it until it's uneconomical to repair, you just sell it on eBay for spares or repair.

[Tooter]

ZX10R NIN said:

How many miles will you be doing per year?

How much are you looking to spend?

Once people know the answer to those two questions then you'll get the appropriate advice.

Hi I do about 8k a year and looking at about £5000. I would like a A4 A5 size car.

Edited by Tooter on Thursday 17th January 19:12

[Tooter]

Jimi.K. said:

Petrol or diesel?

I'd rather have a diesel that had done 20k miles a year than one which had done just 6 or 7k miles. I've recently bought a 9 year old Audi A5 3.0tdi with 147k miles on the clock. Averages out at 16k miles a year so plenty of motorway miles which is important for a modern diesel to clear the DPF.

My personal tactic when buying used is to find a car/engine combination that is perceived as VERY reliable, then find a cheap, high-miles, but well looked after example.

Hi good advice thanks. Can you advise of any good engine box combinations to look out for or avoid thanks.

[ZX10R NIN]

Tooter said:

ZX10R NIN said:

How many miles will you be doing per year?

How much are you looking to spend?

Once people know the answer to those two questions then you'll get the appropriate advice.

Hi I do about 8k a year and looking at about £5000. I would like a A4 A5 size car.

In that case then I'd say that your mileage isn't really suitable for a diesel so I'd say petrol is the way to go.

A4 S Line with sensible miles

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

A5 Sport I have to say I wouldn't buy this when I can buy one of the above:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

My first pick for a swift family saloon would be a Mondeo in 2.5T Titanium X trim it's a better steer than the A4:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[kurt535]

Doubt it helps much but.......if Im buying older low miles cars, Ive kept to Jap and so far, its been problem free motoring since 2015

- lexus 2004 - wracked up 40k trouble free miles in 15 months cost £4k, madly sold for £5k
- honda 2005 CRV - 15k trouble free till richard head smashed into me writing vehicle off. cost £5.5k
- toyota avensis estate 2010: 18k miles when i bought it in sept, now on 25k and all good. cost £5.5k

[popeyewhite]

Providing the mileage isn't astronomical I'd always go for the newer car.

[Jimi.K.]

Tooter said:

Hi good advice thanks. Can you advise of any good engine box combinations to look out for or avoid thanks.

I think with your mileage you'll want a petrol (unless the limited miles you are doing include a lot of motorway). There were some significant issues with the 2.0 petrol in the era of Audi you're looking at, most will have been fixed by now, but you'll need to do some specific research on that. The 3.0tdi and 7-speed S-tronic auto seemed to be the most reliable combination when I was researching, but I didn't really do any research into the petrols.

If you're looking at a sub £5k saloon to do 8k miles a year in I would 100% recommend a Lexus GS300. I owned one before my Audi, and would definitely have got another one if not for the fact I needed a hatchback and a diesel as I'm doing 25k+ miles a year now. See my thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Tooter]

Jimi.K. said:

I think with your mileage you'll want a petrol (unless the limited miles you are doing include a lot of motorway). There were some significant issues with the 2.0 petrol in the era of Audi you're looking at, most will have been fixed by now, but you'll need to do some specific research on that. The 3.0tdi and 7-speed S-tronic auto seemed to be the most reliable combination when I was researching, but I didn't really do any research into the petrols.

If you're looking at a sub £5k saloon to do 8k miles a year in I would 100% recommend a Lexus GS300. I owned one before my Audi, and would definitely have got another one if not for the fact I needed a hatchback and a diesel as I'm doing 25k+ miles a year now. See my thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thanks they look quite nice.

Edited by Tooter on Friday 18th January 11:31

[Tooter]

ZX10R NIN said:

In that case then I'd say that your mileage isn't really suitable for a diesel so I'd say petrol is the way to go.

A4 S Line with sensible miles

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

A5 Sport I have to say I wouldn't buy this when I can buy one of the above:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

My first pick for a swift family saloon would be a Mondeo in 2.5T Titanium X trim it's a better steer than the A4:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Hi thanks for that post appreciate the leg work you put in the mondeos look nice would you say they are more reliable than the Audi’s.? Are they as bad as they are made out to be.(done a fare bit of research on them) if they are so bad how have they got a good reputation. Thanks