I have been looking at buying my second car as I passed roughly a year ago and struggling to overtake tractors is getting frustrating!!

Is there anything wrong with a car on 100k compared to say 85k as the saving is around £1k+

Depends on the service history and how its been driven. wouldn’t put me off.

Not nowadays. Most engines are capable of double that. I recently bought a 17 year old Discovery with 160 000 miles on it. Unwelded chassis and straight panelwork. Towing trailers off road and an off into a fence whilst sliding backwards testing out the mud terrain tyres on a super steep slope have already added battle scars and accelerated the rusting process.

I’ll run it into the ground for and not worry about depreciation.

Bangernomics are awesome.

Mostly depends on how it’s been driven. if it’s mostly motorway miles and well maintained (e.g. rep car) it should be OK. 100k on a school run/popping to shops/ 10 mile commute will have had a much harder life.
It also depends on the engine, mercs, hondas and volvos seem to keep on trucking well into the 200-300 000s and PSA diesels are supposedly very reliable long-term too.

I’d stay away from small capacity engines in heavy cars e.g. 1.6/1.8 estates, they’ve had to wok a lot harder throughout their life.

All my cars except for my first one have been over 100k when I bought them, not had any serous mechanical problems (just a leaky master cylinder on a rover 75 and DPF problems on a mazda six, both common faults for cars with <50k never mind 120k
)

I’m just returning a company Mondeo with 130k on the clock; it’s been serviced at a Ford dealer every 12000 miles and hasn’t had a single mechanical or electrical issue in its 3.5 years.

It’s 90% motorway miles, the rest being entering/leaving towns for the motorway.

As has been mentioned, service history and driving sytle is the key when choosing a high milage car; it may be worth approaching some fleet operators directly to see if they sell decomissioned cars to the public.

edit- diesel engine

No one has mentioned / questioned whether petrol or diesel….

As above – the engine / gearbox should be fine if looked after. It’s all the other stuff that can make cars uneconomical to repair nowadays: heater matrix, wiring loom problems, leaking seals,…

I think there’s a phycological thing price wise for below and over 100k – so buying at that point can get a better deal.

Is it petrol or diesel?

I think there’s a phycological thing price wise for below and over 100k

Thats because 15 years ago most cars didn’t have that many digits on the odometer – 100k or more meant the car had gone ’round the clock’. 20 years ago getting to the 80/90k mark was quite an achievement, and by then the car was usually ready to fall off the engine, as the car was approaching the end of the clock people would stop maintaining them as the clock was telling the car was going to expire anyway.

These days, pretty much any car should be able to sail past 100k and onwards, as long as its been maintained and not driven by a fool. If you’re not a high mile driver yourself then a cheaper, higher mile car is ideal, especially if its gained those mile in a short time with few owners/drivers.

I drive vans rather than cars but the last 3 I’ve bought have all come with over 200k already on the clock. The one I drive just now (bought with 240k on it) will reach 300k in the next few weeks but its taken me 5 years of reliable motoring to add those 60k.

Engine reliability aside there are other issues to be aware of with higher miles – every door, lock, handle, button and knob will have been used more time. The more bells and whistles a car has the more chance something annoying might peg out. I drive merc vans for lots of reasons but particularly because they have no gimmicks – no elec windows, central locking – to break down.

The other is the windscreen – 1000s of miles of motoring can leave the screen peppered with tiny tiny pits. These cause glare from other people’s headlights at night, so I’ve encouraged the screens to break and had replacements fitted.

so I’ve encouraged the screens to break and had replacements fitted.

😯

I have been looking at fiesta’s, mini’s, polo’s and even alfa 147 which comes in very cheap.

I like the mini most looks wise probably in 1.6 engine size and petrol. I am not to fussed on if the car can take large loads.

In regards to FSH what on earth am I looking for, I bought my first car from a guy on this forum. I think he said it was FSH this was in the form of a folder full of receipts which means sod all to me.

thats excellent FSH tbh it lets you see whats been done and when it was done

better than a dealer stamp imo …. but a full stamped book is good , be suspision if they are all with the same stamp and same colour pen though….

of course you do need to know what your looking at really for the folder of reciepts to make any difference to your percieved value

In regards to FSH what on earth am I looking for, I bought my first car from a guy on this forum. I think he said it was FSH this was in the form of a folder full of receipts which means sod all to me.

Genuine question – do you trust the stamps in the book?
I know countless people with friends in the trade who will take the log book in to get it stamped prior to selling.

Ideally you’d have a fully stamped book AND receipts, but anything can be faked.

So a FSH means very little, especially as I would trust my mate more with fixing cars than most mechanics.

I asked this question myself to a few friends who are mechanics or have car dealerships. They all pretty much agreed it depends on the car, so don’t be put off. Things will start to wear out with age and use though. I’d look on eBay/auto trader for high mile examples and see of there are many about, my first car was a load of crap, MG ZR, there are very few high mile ones about so I conclude they don’t make old bones.

tails not necessarily – id would class my van as FSH i have a book with the first stamp then a reciept for each subsequent service / mot / tire change /oil change etc detailing how i have treated the car

a car is only as good as its previous owners looked after it in most cases

my girlfriends car gave us some issues , i phoned her dad to see when it was last serviced etc and he said never had anything but an mot in the entire time he owned it – was on 92k miles and mostly tottled about town. – scrapped it rather than take out the tar and polish the turd !

there are other issues to be aware of with higher miles – every door, lock, handle, button and knob will have been used more time. The more bells and whistles a car has the more chance something annoying might peg out.

This. I drive a diesel Mondeo that’s done 160000 miles (bought it at 130000). Mechanically it seems perfectly sound, but bits of the switchgear play up and the remote locking is a bit sporadic…nothing worth sorting on a car worth 1.5K and nothing you can’t live with but annoying nonetheless.

Stamps vs receipts: both is best surely! Do your research and find out what is likely to go expensively wrong – I bought this particular mondeo as service history showed it had had new clutch+DMF at 110,000 miles – this is an approx £900 job that I knew would need seeing to at some stage on a Mondeo – hopefully (tempting fate!) I can run the car to 200K without it having to be done again.

There’s plenty of internet studies (with examples) that show its bar far cheaper to maintain a car than it is to buy a new one.

Me, I have a 52′ BMW 330i (petrol) thats on 97k. Nothing has been replaced except tyres and brakes. In Decemeber is went for an MOT & Service and returned with a list of thing-to-do totalling £3k. I took it to a BMW Indy instead who eventually did the work for £1500.

When I chatted to the mechanic he said:

a) I’ve been unlucky – all the items where wear and tear and should have been replaced within the 10 period anyway, it just so happens to have all occurred at once.

b) I’ve just paid £1500 to have a perfectly good car running (probably) without issue for at least another 5 years.

£300 a plus insurance and tax is less than £1k a year – I can live with that. Now add up your monthly’s on a new purchase…

Older BMW mini’s for reference:
check if it has had the gearbox done – early BMW mini’s had rover boxes in that usually only ran for 60-70k.
They also have sensor problems on the exhaust.
Finally the interiors can be a bit shabby at higher mileage.

I have a mate with one with 120k ish on the clock and as much as he loves it he has had to fork out a bit on keeping it running.

not really. I sold a Golf GTI (to a work mate) with 105k on the clock, really thought it had had it (mind you, I bought it with 50k and the seller assured me *then* that it was on last legs). Work mate nursed it for another 15k I think.

Current car – Saab 900 – is on 104k and I’d be very sorry to see it go. Certainly no qualms about keeping it running. And as above for toby1, I’d rather keep it running than shell out on repayments for a new used car, with the uncertainties.

If the 100k had been done under my ownership I’d say don’t touch it.

If it was owned by someone who drove the car steadily/normally/with sympathy then yes.

Thing is, you have absolutely no idea which of the above the car has had.

If the stamps in the service book are from a main dealer you can ring the service dept , give them the reg number and they’ll confirm exactly what was done.

I sold a Golf GTI (to a work mate) with 105k on the clock, really thought it had had it (mind you, I bought it with 50k and the seller assured me *then* that it was on last legs). Work mate nursed it for another 15k I think.

I guy used to work for gave away his old MK1 Passat to an employee as it was ‘on its last legs’, It was because he was moving to a new premises that wasn’t served by public transport. It was to tide the guy over until he could sort himself out with a new motor for the commute. This had been 10 years before I joined the company and the guy was still turning up to work in it.

My 2001 Fiat punto sporting (1.2 petrol) has now done 102k miles. I brought it 3 years ago on 54k. I changed the timing belt and tensioners the week i brought it, then oil and filters every 6 months. I’m not in the slightest bit worried that it’s now done over 100k. Plus in the time i’ve had it the only money i’ve had to spend on it other than on tyres and brake pads has been a slave and master cylinder. Will have it for another year now as it’s just passed its MoT

’95 Peugeot 205 diesel here. Bought with 100K on it for £400, 107K added since Nov without missing a beat.
I echo the advice on purchasing simpler bangers with less to go wrong (and they seem to have more charm without the modern complications). I had the timing belt replaced on purchase and change the oil in every 3,000 miles which is probably excessive but doesn’t cost a whole lot in the big scheme of things.
I expect it to last a good while yet and can fully recommend the Bangernomics site as a good source for buying these sort of vehicles.

Bought at 236K .
Now at 285K.
Spent £190 on a new cat , £42 on pads . done 5 oil changes and filters , with a flush each time . 2 air filters . 8 tyres as i put on 16″ alloys .
Passat tdi Pd.
So not worth worrying about miles as long as its got a wad of service receipts , most of the MOTs. Better to do 20K a year , than 20K in 10 years. Watch the insurance on Alfas though .
IMO.