[Closed] Would you buy a car with 178,000 on the clock?

Yeah. Obviously depending on price. My old Diesel 205 had 220k on the clock and still ran fine.

I don't buy into anecdotal stories of 'my uncle had a Volvo on 300k'.

I always say buy on mechanical condition and feel not on how the clean the car has been scrubbed up.

Also, don't pay anywhere near a average mileage example. Its more of a punt.

depends on price. For significantly under a grand, if the price is keen, I'd take the gamble. I run a 183,000 mile Mondeo, but its a dog and worth about £150

It's a second car, will only do 6-8000 a year.

Fed up of looking at small shit cars with sewing machines for engines for way too much money

I'm with Hora

It would have to be BLOODY CHEAP with that milage on. Like not much more than scrap value, TBH....

Some VW's can cosmetically look very nice with high mileage. So deceive you into thinking its a worthy punt as you 'perceive' it to be 'good'.

My friend ran a 110bhp Golf TDI SE from new/2003 and it had 120k on it. It looked bloody mint but he refused to sell it to me as it had numerous niggles and small jobs that were needed every month.

Then it occassionally cut out. Now a good valet and some 'its been good as gold' and it would have gone in seconds on autotrader..

Those engines are pretty reliable as long as they've been serviced to schedule. You're probably more likely to find problems with stuff like broken shock springs, exhausts, tired brakes etc.

I'd consider it if the price was low and it had a complete service history and the cam belt had been done to schedule.

I don't buy into anecdotal stories of 'my uncle had a Volvo on 300k'

I've got a merc on 270k, but I'm not your uncle though.

If the price is right , why not?

My point is you hear of the stella mileages but what you don't hear about (often enough) is the massive VAG bills when ECU and turbo etc fail.

All you hear about with VW's is 'quality'

Got a link to the advert so we can judge a bit better? As said above it's all about condition and history. I had a transporter with that engine that had done 165k in less than 3 years and it was still mint. History is important to know what it's already had done - e.g. flywheel, turbo, clutch etc. If it's had many of those done recently then it's clearly worth more and a better option.

Oops double post.

It depends on whether the mileage is motorway mileage or taxi mileage. Some of our rep machines (skoda 110) are still in great shape at 200k+. All motorway and regular service. Some of the BMW's at our place are like new at 150k.
On the other hand a mate of mine brought a passat which was a taxi in a previous life and very cheap with 150k on and it was bobbins.

Would you buy a car with 178,000 on the clock?

I'd buy one from a mate/with providence.

From a total stranger?

No.

I tend to get high mileage ex-company vehicles with high for their age mileage. Motorway miles don't put much strain on a car. Good service record is key, look for something that has had expensive stuff done recently - for example, when I got my last car it had just gone through major service and not long had clutch and turbo replaced. Little difference in interior condition to a friends low mileage equivalent.

Car was probably 20% under book trade price, so a decent saving on what was a 4 year old car when I got it. Nothing unexpected has gone, just wear and tear stuff, tyres, brakes, bearings.

Mine is a Mondeo though, so cheap parts widely availale.

I'd be very wary and insist on a very long test drive so you get a feel for it.

The old VW reliability......hmmmmm my best mate owns a reputable VW specialist in Cannock. He's not stupidly minted for no reason!!!!

Saying that I wouldnt touch anything that isnt VAG but then free labour and parts at cost does help somewhat.

Yep depends on the price and what works already been done to it.

I wouldn't personally but if you want a cheap car and are prepared to either scrap it or pay the bill if something expensive breaks then why not. Got to be not much more than £700 though.

hora - Member
I'd buy one from a mate/with providence.

From a total stranger?

No.

I think you mean 'provenance'. It would be a shame to let a perfectly good car thread go the same way as the god thread. 🙄

Sold my polo to a person in work for £300 with exactly that much on the clock.

Remember 178k is 2k off needing a new cam belt which will cost as much as the car is worth 🙂

Omega with 280,000 here.

Was bought for £350, but is a bit ropey.

Suspension bushes the weak point, but I'd do it again.

Will probably run it 'till it dies then buy another one, estate if poss.
It's the little niggly things that annoy, but the engine feels fine.

Mines just clicked over 272K .
Cambelt was quoted at £375 by a local independant garage .
I paid £800 at 236K ( Passat PD Estate ) . To date i have only put 4 tyres on and oil / air filters every 10K .I fitted a sump oil level indicater as the light was on , but its a wiring issue, and 1 rear door wont lock / unlock with the remote .
Uses 1 ltr of oil in betweeen changes , and about the same amount of water .
and no it wasnt a taxi .

Singletrackmind have you disconnected the battery since replacing the sump level sensor. The ecu needs to be reset to pick up the new sensor only needs to b disconnected for 10 seconds or so. I have a 100hp Passat with 160k on the clock still running very strong use it for work about 1000 a month and not let me down. Most old cars will need some new parts but if you can do it yourself it can be cheap motoring. I change all oil filters etc every 5 - 6k miles.

I've had several high milers; W123 Merc 280e with 213,000 on the clock. Was good as gold. Lexus LS400 with 165,000, great until a lorry drove into the side of it.
Friend picked up a W211 with 497,000 on the clock, ex-taxi.
It's not the mileage that is the killer, it's the care it gets.

It's not the mileage that is the killer, it's the care it gets.

^^^^ This.

Last week I drove 85 miles one afternoon, & 26 miles the following morning in a 272000mile BMW 525d Touring. The car is one owner, full BMW main dealer service history with 17 service stamps in the book. It drove 'as new', no squeaks or rattles from anywhere, good strong engine, smooth gearchanges up & down the auto 'box. Pity i'm not in the market for a car at present...

On the passats- are they PD TDI's?

If it's the 110 it will be the older TDi not the Pump Deuce.

If the timing belt and other belts, water pump have been done recently, it might be worth a go.

I had the dubious pleasure of working in Brooklyn and the Bronx in New York last month - some of the taxis I got had nearly 900,000 miles in their clocks....

Last car was quite a high miler at 153k for a 2003/4 325d Beamer Estate... Ran with no real issues to speak of, bough off a local fella who ran a pharmacy so was very 'clean' 😛 Several trips to Austria, Germany and one Euro road trip with some work mates, no probs at all and a rather handsome 45-50 mpg on [i]most[/i] journeys didn't axactly hurt ;). P/X'd it at 221k for another Beamer, this time a 530d Saloon (moving up in the world see! :D) which had 89k to start with- is at 121 odd k now and going fine...

Speaking from Personal experience, high milers are fine but as has been said before, careful with strangers! 😉

The interweb is a very large place so I'm sure you could find a vid of some kind to tell you what to look out for 🙂

Hth!

My dads Audi has done 268k and it's still fine mechanically, still does 45-50mpg and only a couple of squeaks and rattles.

just traded my Octavia in with 178k on the clock, Nothing wrong mechanically, just some niggles, the clutch pedal snapped a week ago, the windscreen wipers mechanism was in need of work, slow puncture, intermittent fault with the clocks.

big issue was Cambelt and i didn't want to risk just driving it until it failed, particular with the clocks, as it was a V plate i had to pay c£230 a year in tax, then there would be the MOT queries, etc....

made the decision to buy something newer just in case.

Usually providing you make sure a car is regularly and correctly serviced and not canned they can last a very long time and achieve very high mileages. The big issue is really making sure the oil is topped up and the oil and oil filters are changed at the correct intervals as if you dont you end up with a lot of internal wear issues, also if they engine uses timing chains instead of belts they last a lot longer. If a car has spent a lot of its life on motorways then they really are not being mechanically stressed at all. its the low milage cars that tend to get issues, my local garage told me of one car managing only 60miles from new before requiring a new clutch... (and yes, it was an OAP driver too...)

my 90tdi has ran sweet with oil and filter changes every 10k.Its now over 215k.

I would be worried about the state of the car if its over 9-ish years old.My car was a mess with the scottish road salt after 8 years.So many parts underneath have seized.The connection linking the abs sensors to the abs unit corroded into powder and i`m sure thats not the only connections that are a mess.Ask to see the old MOT advisory sheets to get an idea of its history.

Top tip above look at the last MoT advisory .. if they have not got it go to dvla vosa site and type in the requested number from the V5 document and it will give you history

correctly serviced and not canned

But don't forget to cane your diesel every so often.

THis thread just cost me £115 - just remembered to renew my tax

Last week I drove 85 miles one afternoon, & 26 miles the following morning in a 272000mile BMW 525d Touring. The car is one owner, full BMW main dealer service history with 17 service stamps in the book. It drove 'as new', no squeaks or rattles from anywhere, good strong engine, smooth gearchanges up & down the auto 'box. Pity i'm not in the market for a car at present..

Theres a 5series on autotrader at that c.mileage but they want 2k 😮 and its only MOT'd until this month ❓

Is it the same one?

I had the dubious pleasure of working in Brooklyn and the Bronx in New York last month

My point is you hear of the stella mileages but what you don't hear about (often enough) is the massive VAG bills when ECU and turbo etc fail.

The 'stella' mileage VAG cars seem absolutely fine. Put it this way, at 5 years and 130k, our PD engined Passat is fine. We got it at 3 years, 70k miles, and it's been no problem. Needs fuel and tyres, a service every 18k miles or so, and that's been it. A friend has an identical car with 190k and has had exactly the same experience of reliability.