Am I Mad to buy a car with 200K miles

darkbeatz

I saw an audi a4 last saturday with 200,000 miles on the clock and generally a well maintained car. He had just got it in so I saw it in its true state! Its had 3 previous owners. is a 1.9TDI and has never been crashed. He wants 2K euro for it. I'd appreciate some opinions on this please.

tks

Seth Brundle

any idea on year, service history, etc?

darkbeatz

its 95D
no service history but the timing belt was done at 197 and the power steering belt needs to be replaced.

Seth Brundle

Im sceptical. If no history but suddenly the timing belt was replaced then Id walk.
If you are still interested then bring along a mechanic who can inspect it.

maidhc

darkbeatz wrote:

Am I Mad to buy a car with 200k miles

Yes, especially when you don't know anything about its history and what has been done to it. More so when it is an Audi that uses expensive suspension bits that are overdue replacement if it has not already been done. Why not buy a primera/mondeo/vectra/carina with half the miles for 1/4 the price?

conor_mc

I'd have to agree with the other posters - for a 200k car, I'd only expect to pay a nominal price of a few hundred euro.

HashSlinging

A friend of mine was given a free 99 passat TDi with 250k on the clock - all doc's inc! It was from a mate who drives taxis.

He should be paying you to take it.

darkbeatz

Tks for the feedback guys

Futureman

Don't go near it!

HashSlinging

to be honest, I've sort of changed my mind..if the car looks ok and you've had a mechanic look at it, I'd say you could be ok, that passat drives very well for 250k. It might be a very shrude buying decision, if the seller is prepared to drop the price a bit and everything gets the nod then you might/should/could be ok.

fits

I have 245k on my 94 1.9 TDi Passat.
Engine is brilliant, absolutely everything else is falling to pieces. I wouldnt pay much for that Audi.

JHMEG

Was gonna say, but fits kinda beat me to it, that no matter what make the car is at that kind of mileage some very expensive parts will be worn out or very close to it. Stuff like suspension components, distributor, oil seals (some of which are not cheap or trivial to replace)...

peasant

200 k (or earlier) is roundabout the max designed lifespan for most vehicles (depending on how it was driven and serviced of course).

It might last longer than that, if taken good care of. But as others said, critical and expensive components will start to fail, one after another and you will be sucked into a viscious circle, having just spent hundreds one one repair, having to spend more on the next one to make the previous one worthwhile ...and so on and so on.
Very quickly you will end up with a car that cost thousands in repairs over the last few months and still isn't worth a cent.

Stay as far away as you can (unless you get it for free:D )

kdouglas

there is the odd exception: http://www.cabinnaise.com/vpage/irv.htm

overdriver

I have no objection to cars with high mileages in general - I sold my Carina with 175k on the clkock and it was running like a Swiss watch - , but there are better ways to spend that 2,000 euro.

Volvoboy

http://www.cabinnaise.com/vpage/irv.htm

:rolleyes:

As the slogan says ''For Life''


Once a car has been well looked after they shouldnt give much trouble, well as long as major components are in working order, i'd have no qualms about buying a car with big mile's, but i have a mecanic that owes me a few favors:)


-VB-

DublinWriter

A well looked after BMW/Audi of that vintage is basically an unstoppable tank.

However, no service history means that you don't know if it was looked after in the first place, so basically, it's a gamble.

Even with a FSH, 2K is a little spicy for that.

Your problem is a lack of history involving the timing belt. Fail to replace the timing belt on a diesel of that type at the right-time and you'll be shopping for a new engine.

I'd suggest 1K would be closer to the true value without a FSH, and even then, there better be some extras, like Air Con, Leather, or an electric/automatic something.

peasant

A well looked after BMW/Audi of that vintage is basically an unstoppable tank.

What exactly makes a 95 A4 an "unstoppable tank" ?
Does this mean that a 99 A4 will be "solid as a rock" or "safe as houses" ?

For all we know it could be a jittering heap of jelly with every mechanical component hanging on its last thread, waiting to fall off. We have no idea where (on what kind of roads) it was driven and how ...never mind sevice history.

Now, me for example ...if I owned a real quality high mileage "unstoppable tank", then I would hang on to it until it did actually stop, because I would know that I would get no money for it.

The only time I would dispose of it, is if I knew that something big was about to fail pretty soon ..then I'd try to sell it as quickly as I could to someone who actually believes in "unstoppable tanks". Just be sure to pick the right time so that it survives the test drive without anything falling off.

But thats just me ...and I'm a cynic

darkbeatz

peasant wrote:

Now, me for example ...if I owned a real quality high mileage "unstoppable tank", then I would hang on to it until it did actually stop, because I would know that I would get no money for it.

The only time I would dispose of it, is if I knew that something big was about to fail pretty soon ..then I'd try to sell it as quickly as I could to someone who actually believes in "unstoppable tanks". Just be sure to pick the right time so that it survives the test drive without anything falling off.

But thats just me ...and I'm a cynic

Meet your brother! My sentiments exactly.