??Buying a v low mileage car - pitfalls??

[bigalmckenzie]

Hi,

... Still hunting for a car.  Found one that's four years old but has done an extremely low mileage (few thousand only).

All other things being equal,  could this be a bad buy as the engine's not been run much rather than a seemingly good buy as a low mileage car?

Why?

Any advice gratefully received ...

Cheers.

[Top Cat]

Its a simple equation,  the low miles means the car is less likely to have had a eventful life, a lot of the bits like the plastics and rubbers on the car wont know its had an easy life, they will age no matter, but for all friction parts as long as it's been serviced annually, then it has to be better for it's low miles.  

[PDT]

I never really go off milage on cars, but a low milage car is usually better in the long run than a higher miler.

I bought a 5 year old golf gttdi last year, with just 7k on the clock. The turbo blew on the way home from the dealers.

I also know someone with an e46 M3, its 6 years old with under 10k miles, but that 10k has been accumulated by lots of thrashing down dragstrips and over 150 trackdays! 

[markc]

Look for the easy things mate to match the condition to its mileage.   Find out how many owners its had first and check the service history, check paint condition/stone chips etc.  Look at the interior, seats/bolsters, pedal rubbers, gear lever it it worn more than you would think for a 10k miler.  Check the wheels any tyres too.

If your thinking engine trouble, due to it only having a low mileage I wouldnt worry, they have a good motor.   Mine was a 1 owner, old couple owners that did 6k a year !!!   Great   It drives      

[SO8]

I sold my Edition 30 at 14K miles after 18 months ....

It was just getting loose ..... at 8K, even 10K it didn't spool up as quickly and felt noticeable slower than at 14K - even remapped !   I will now only look for car with about 10K on them at 18 months ... that way I get them new enough but run in :)

[Johnny_tro]

Mileage - I will always look at the ppl and general condition of the car.

I still have my little sh*t-ron Saxo VTR. 6 Years old, brought from new and has just hit 342,700 miles.  runs and ticks over sweet.

[neg]

wow, 342k in a saxo - thats worse than a jail sentance 

like others have said low mileage is not always a good thing - saying that high is not always bad - it all comes down to history.

[ukdub]

Mileage - I will always look at the ppl and general condition of the car.

I still have my little sh*t-ron Saxo VTR. 6 Years old, brought from new and has just hit 342,700 miles.   runs and ticks over sweet.

If they where still alive, I would have rung Roy Castle and Norris McWhirter long before that mileage.  

[Johnny_tro]

Yea.....342k on a Saxo lol

It's my work horse. It's been hammered around silverstone.......round country lanes lol we have had some good times lol but, 2 services a year (£40) and it's still going. It's worth more breaking it, so I'm going to keep going going going till it goes :(

Running costs to date - 1 clutch, 1 altenator, two front shocks (due to british roads!!!) one radiator and heater matrix :) not bad for mileage.

[Johnny_tro]

World Record 

1966 Volvo P1800


1998 he made the Guinness Book of World Records for most miles driven by a single owner in a non-commercial vehicle as his red Volvo reached 1.69 million miles.

MMMMmmmmmm move over, I'm coming for you 
Me - Average 70k year.
Him - Average 36k a year lol

 

[jmspear]

FWIW my GTI ('05 on a 55 plate) has just hit 100k miles, 80% on motorway cruising at 80mph (indicated, 70mph true officer ;-) ) I fitted ITG, HPFP, TBE miltek and stage 2+ map at 90k miles and it made 275BHP and 315lbft torque on the rollers at 90k miles, so pretty good fels just run in :-) :-) In 100k miles it has had a air con pump sieze, has a small weep from the oil cooler, which I must get round to fixing and has had to have a drive shaft boot replaced, otherwise in great running order. If the engine is warmed up every run and then not stressed, the only issue with high miles will be the suspension. I had a Citroen 1.9i Volcane (Peugeot 309 GTI chassis and engine) but the suspension was like a tin tray full of marbles at 160k miles, the golf is a very different beast - German engineering :-)

By contrast, my neighbour had a 997 2S that only ever did track days and was smoking on start up like a steam engine after 7k track day miles!! (and not just from the usual flat six oil collecting in head on standing). He

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

With a low mileage car, what you ideally want is one which is used infrequently perhaps but when it is used, covers say 15+ miles for each journey as opposed to a daily driver which covers 3 miles per day for obvious mechanical wear reasons.

Ideally the car will have been garaged to avoid perishing / uv deterioration of plastics and rubber - including tyres. It would also be benficial if the car was kept on a battery conditioner when not in use.

I notice in my neighborhood that some rarely used cars (often 2nd cars it seems) sadly sit from November to May or June the next year wearing a coating of road salt and grime. This can't bode well for years to come.

My car has only covered 7,500 miles(2006 GTI) but I maintain her like a classic - over serviced / detailed & waxed frequently - decent length journeys when used - 95% of time dry weather use only - battery always on a conditioner - all trim and door rubber seals treated  / protected appropriately.
It would be hard to find a n example which has ticks in all the boxes but certainly some consideration points.

Depends what you want to do with the car and how long you plan to keep it for. If you want a show car thenyou might need to be very choosy. If you plan to do 30,000 miles in 12 months and move it on then perhaps less choosy?