I have a choice of 2 cars, both the same model, engine and price.

car 1, private sale, 57 reg, 38k miles, cat D write off last May for rear wheel arch damage, seen the pics, nothing serious just expensive to put right.

car 2, dealer sale, 58 reg, 100k, full main dealer history.

Both 2.5 petrol models, non turbo.

Thoughts?

neither.

reasoning?

Neither the write off nor the one that’s done 100k sound ideal.

Unless you’re after something niche, you can afford to be picky…

It’s the top of the range sport model, pretty scarce, esp in my budget

Mazda 6 hatch

^^^what he said. Both will haemorrhage money.

However, if you intend to keep it until it dies…Car 1 so long as it wasn’t structural.

from the pics, the damage looks like a car park incident

Are they BMW 2.5l 6 cylinder petrols by any chance?

no, 4 cyl mazda, not sure if its a ford or mazda lump

The damage must have been pretty heavy to write off a 57 plate Mazda

The write off would have to be dirt cheap, otherwise they aren’t worth the hassle when it comes to sell it on. If the price is right, that’s probably what I’d go for

What kind of mileage do you do? For a 58 plate to have got to 100k it’s probably done largely motorway miles which are pretty stress free. If you’re doing under average and looking to keep the car for a few years it will even out in the long run. Any Cat write off is always harder to sell, regardless of the damage….

I did worse than that to my Leon (in pretty much the exact are though), cost £700 for a body shop to fix

Is the top end MPS Mazda 6 not a 2.3 turbo with 4WD?

Anyway if you are keeping the car for a while buy the Cat D – Cat D status will effect the sell on price but this is less of an issue if you are just going to run the car until its dead

If it’s got to be one of the two I’d have the cat D. But then I’d be keeping it til it was worth 50p.

Is the 2.2 180-brake diesel out of the question? Lovely motor that.

Car 2. 100k miles is nothing.

I wouldn’t buy either unless very, very cheap.

It’s been written off as they’ve suspected that the rear axle and possibly subframe were bent by the impact. You can see in picture one that the damage goes right across the rear wheel onto the rear bumper.

If I were buying it I’d have a full wheels off allignment and inspection done to see if the rear wheels are actually where they’re supposed to be.

i did think of that daffy, the wheel is clearly scuffed up.

We don’t really do many miles, current car (x-Trail) has done 37k in 5.5 years!

I’d prefer a petrol for the simplicity and quieter running, quicker warm up etc. A diesel wouldn’t save us any money really and I want something reasonably economical with a bit extra go. wifey will drive it every day doing a commute to school of about 6 miles each way. Leather seats are very important as we have 2 very messy boys and a wife with an aversion to cleaning the car. the Leather in the X-Trail is brilliant, granted it will be tougher than the mazda though.

eeerh keep the x-trail!

Car giant have 2 pages of them. All under 10k with acceptable mileage and no bodywork damage.

x-Trail won’t pass another MOT without a big bill and is on 02 plate with 150k now.

I will miss it though

I’m on a strict 5K limit though, got cash saved and don’t intend to borrow

car giant have 3 that fit the budget, base model diesels and petrol

I’m on a strict 5K limit though, got cash saved and don’t intend to borrow

Run X-Trail. Get MOT done. Use cash to pay.

Only buy a 2.5 petrol if real cheap, as in very cheap as no one will buy it off you unless even cheaper.

got 6 months MOT left on the nissan, think you’re missing the point br.

I want a newer car, more interior space, bit faster, similar running costs.
2.5L Mazda will return approx the same mpg, same road tax cost and much cheaper insurance than the diesel nissan

In that case go for the cat D after gettign somone to check out for any major twists – nice cars, I was after an estate but couldn’t find one. If you need to look for somethng else check out used Saabs as they are proving to be good value

Make sure all door shut ok
Take it to a 4 wheel alignment place and get it checked out, if its ok, can’t see a problem with the cat d , you are getting it cheap, so you won’t lose as much when you sell it

First thought, dealer – as above, 100k miles is not much on a modern car. Get them to roll in a 6-month warranty on it, if you can.

But what are the intervals on belts, water pump and the like?

Lump is a Mazda engine, IIRC (not Ford or Volvo).

And, sorry to sound like your dad, but if these are the 2 options, you may need to rethink what you want for your money, ’cause you’re not really getting the pick of the litter!

Looking at the cat D pics, I’m guessing they’d have quoted for a quarter panel & door but assume that’s not what it got in the end..
Also take a look how far back the near side front wheel sits ..

Being a Mazda with fab build quality & bullet proof reliability, my money would be on the higher mileage car

2.5L Mazda will return approx the same mpg, same road tax cost and much cheaper insurance than the diesel nissan

Yes, but years of swapping cars has taught me that the cheapest car is usually the one you already own…

And also years of running big-engined petrol cars has taught me no one else really wants them, unless cheap. Which is why I buy them 🙂 Look on Autotrader, a £1000-£2000 buys an awful lot of car.

Not a chance on the rusty model-mazda. Thats where they all rot and repair etc the damage/water ingress is there too :O

Hold out for another car

Neither, but if you had to choose one then car 2. I’d suggest that car 1 actually has too little mileage – quite likely to be lots of short runs which is actually far more harmful to a car than mega-miles on a motorway. Given you mention a FSH for car 2 but not for car 1 then I presume it also doesn’t have that, whereas car 2 is presumably ex fleet and been well looked after. It’s also a private sale with no comeback if things go wrong and a year older – at your mileage the age is more of a factor than the mileage, at 10 years old car 2 will still have <140k, which isn’t all that much even for a modern petrol.

Of course I am less bothered by lots of miles than most people seem to be – just bought an 08 plate with 120k.

whereas car 2 is presumably ex fleet and been well looked after. It’s also a private sale with no comeback if things go wrong and a year older – at your mileage the age is more of a factor than the mileage, at 10 years old car 2 will still have <140k, which isn’t all that much even for a modern petrol

This.

Neither – I have the sport 2.2 on a 60 plate. 39 to the gallon tops! Boss drives a C320 merc that gives him 45 to the gallon?

Thanks all for the replies, I’m almost certainly going for the high miler over the damaged one. I’m not convinced on the paint match on the repaired one now i’ve studied the pics. I reckon I should be able to get a couple of hundred off the 100k model at least if i wave cash at them

I wouldn’t get either.
On a 100k mile car the engine will be fine, but the running gear will be probably be getting baggy. You could end up paying out a lot in the next couple of years for stuff like clutch, brakes, shocks, suspension bushes, etc. Not too much of a problem on a Ford, but I’d imagine Mazda parts are a more expensive.
I’ve bought of few cars around that sort of mileage and they’ve always ending up costing me money.
The Cat D may have other problems if it hasn’t been repaired properly.
2.5L petrol will make either hard to shift when it comes to sell – with today’s fuel prices most people looking at this size of car will be after a diesel.
NIce looking cars, but there’s a good chance you could come to regret buying either.

Just a word of warning funky if its the mps, (haven’t read the whole thread) they are apparently very hard to shift. I pick up my six tomorrow and have spoke to many a dealer and they just don’t want them on their forecourts! Lovely car, did a freebie specialist mazda day about 4 or 5 yrs ago and was doing j turns in one whilst bring attacked in a hostage scenario, funny as ****!!
Oh and as a note I’ve struggled to sell my impreza on for the same sort of reasons, fuel consumption etc but the preza is half the yearly car tax that the mps is.

I dont claim to be an expert but if I had to choose one of the two I would get the second one. 100k isn’t huge if you have FSH. You might tell yourself now that you are going to run it into the ground but what happens if you get six weeks in and you hate it? You’ll be hard pressed to sell a cat d ugly car.

On a 100k mile car the engine will be fine, but the running gear will be probably be getting baggy. You could end up paying out a lot in the next couple of years for stuff like clutch, brakes, shocks, suspension bushes, etc. Not too much of a problem on a Ford, but I’d imagine Mazda parts are a more expensive.

OK, so my high miler is a Ford, but are you really going to get that much wear in those on a 4yo car which has done most of its miles on the motorway (you don’t know that, but it has to be a fair assumption on a car doing 25k a year)? Then again the Pug I just got rid of still had the originals of all the parts you mention at 156k over 13 years (apart from brake discs/pads, but then they’re normal consumables and could well need replacing after 38k – oh and I suppose I should mention that I had replaced one spring, but that was definitely age rather than mileage related).