Mileage vs price. Which one ?

[CK11]

Wife needs a new ‘ used car’ and went looking today. Spotted 2 Different Mazda CX-5’s at the same garage.
Same spec / model, Both 2016 models, 1 month apart.

One had 17k on it. £13,750
One had 76k on it. £11, 250

Both 1 owner , both full service history
Basically a 2.5k difference in price.

The car will most likely be kept for 4-5 years and about 8k miles per year.

Would the price difference be about right.

[scorcher]

A 57 k miles car will be easier to sell than a 116 k miles car in 5 years times. Spend the extra £££ imho.

[Car-Matt]

CK11 said:

Wife needs a new ‘ used car’ and went looking today. Spotted 2 Different Mazda CX-5’s at the same garage.
Same spec / model, Both 2016 models, 1 month apart.

One had 17k on it. £13,750
One had 76k on it. £11, 250

Both 1 owner , both full service history
Basically a 2.5k difference in price.

The car will most likely be kept for 4-5 years and about 8k miles per year.

Would the price difference be about right.

Id buy the 17k miler in a hearbeat

The high miler has had a hard life, 76k miles in less than 3 years.........

[ging84]

seems a lot of miles to only be £2.5k cheaper, seems like maybe the high millage one is over priced

get a valuation

[Trevor555]

ging84 said:

seems a lot of miles to only be £2.5k cheaper, seems like maybe the high millage one is over priced

get a valuation

I agree, the one done nearly 80k is over priced.

[Exige46]

Car-Matt said:

Id buy the 17k miler in a hearbeat

The high miler has had a hard life, 76k miles in less than 3 years.........

Really? I would have thought greater mileage in a shorter space of time indicates more motorway easy miles. The low mileage vehicle has maybe made multiple short journeys, regularly from cold.

But agree - high mileage vehicle looks overpriced compared to the low mileage one.

[CK11]

To throw one more in , again same model spec, history etc But haven’t viewed yet

October15 with 92k

Priced at 9500

That’s a £4250 different between 3 months and about 75000 miles

[MrGTI6]

Car-Matt said:

The high miler has had a hard life, 76k miles in less than 3 years.........

Doesn't sound like a hard life to me. Very likely to have spent most of its time cruising on the motorway at operating temperature. Provided it's been serviced at recommended intervals, I wouldn't be put off by the mileage whatsoever.

I'd go as far as to say that if it's a diesel, it would be no less reliable than the example that had done done 5k miles per year. It goes without saying that the lower mileage car would be easier to sell on though.

[dreamcracker]

Buy the vehicle in best condition, don't judge by mileage.

[SWoll]

dreamcracker said:

Buy the vehicle in best condition, don't judge by mileage.

Easy to say until you come to sell it. Makes sense with an older lower value car or something more special but on a 5 year old Mazda mileage will be king for resale.

[BRR]

I'd go for the low miler at such a small price difference, the higher mileage car would probably cost more over the life of ownership when you consider the difficulty you'll have selling it on and the likely additional maintenance required

[Car-Matt]

Exige46 said:

Really? I would have thought greater mileage in a shorter space of time indicates more motorway easy miles. The low mileage vehicle has maybe made multiple short journeys, regularly from cold.

.

Guesswork tho isn't it, it could have been a taxi or a hire vehicle for all you know and it will definitely be harder to sell. The price delta isnt big enough between the high and low miler for me

It may well be motorway miles but cars still wear with mileage, servicing or not, you cant service shock absorbers, wheel bearings, bushes, suspension joints etc, and higher miles cars will have gone through more cycles on these non serviceable items

[Car-Matt]

MrGTI6 said:

Doesn't sound like a hard life to me.
I'd go as far as to say that if it's a diesel, it would be no less reliable than the example that had done done 5k miles per year. .

Based on what? A hunch, a guess?

It could have been a taxi or hire car for all we know.

Assumption is the mother of all uck fups

[RazerSauber]

Same for me, I think the lower mileage one represents better value. In that situation, I'd look at which car is in better condition inside and out. Service history is one thing but general care on a car is another. If one has things like worn out bolsters or scratches all over the interior would smack to me of someone who would not take care of their vehicle and may be subject to more abuse like going over speed bumps more quickly or something. Maybe check if unruly children have been sat in the back. I'm confident these Mazda's will be fairly bulletproof like so you'll be in good hands with either.

I assume you've done due diligence with HPI and such too?

[Roger Irrelevant]

Car-Matt said:

Exige46 said:

Really? I would have thought greater mileage in a shorter space of time indicates more motorway easy miles. The low mileage vehicle has maybe made multiple short journeys, regularly from cold.

.

Guesswork tho isn't it, it could have been a taxi or a hire vehicle for all you know and it will definitely be harder to sell. The price delta isnt big enough between the high and low miler for me

It may well be motorway miles but cars still wear with mileage, servicing or not, you cant service shock absorbers, wheel bearings, bushes, suspension joints etc, and higher miles cars will have gone through more cycles on these non serviceable items

Agreed - I'm not scared of a high mileage cars but the whole 'if it's got high miles it must have spent most of it on a motorway, and if it's got low miles it's never got up to temperature' is tosh IMO. Every long motorway journey starts with a cold engine just the same as a short journey, and any engine wear from the cold bit isn't magically repaired once it's up to temperature. Unless the lower mileage example spent all its time doing really short journeys (as in not long enough for the oil to reach everywhere it needed to be), on really knackered roads, then the lower mileage one is going to be in better nick and will be much easier to sell in a few years.