Wife wary of buying a car with 50,000 miles on it- is she right?

Why selling the MX5?

I was convinced it would last longer than the Rohloff!

Just not as practical as we need just now I’m afraid Al!

Best not let on about the 312,000 mile Passat I had last year . Was 2001my so not exactly new . Never let me down . NO major componants replaced in the 100k I owned it , just a brake caliper.

Fabia VRS TD is a great little car, and possibly the best MPG V Grin factor car out there. My colleague has one ( I bought it ) now with a re- map and its great 175bhp and 60 mpg. Mid range 3rd gear 30 – 70 is stonking ,390Nm torque see to that.

Newer 1.4 TSi models , not as good apparently.

Don’t laugh , but have you considered a Fiesta ST ? We looked when we were car buying and they are a cracking little package.

Singeltrackmind- The ideal for me would be a current Fiesta ST but they’re beyond our budget. I really don’t like the old Fiesta ST.

Mine’s on 173,000. I don’t think I’ve ever owned one with under 60k!

If a car was 10 yrs old and had 50k on the clock, I’d be very wary. Lots of short town journeys and never properly warmed up.

If it was a year old with 50k I’d snap it up, as it will have spent it’s life doing long gentle motorway journeys in 5/6th gear. Less wear on gearbox, steering, brakes, clutch etc.

And enjoyment of driving is quite high up the list for me.

Why is the MX5 impractical now? Expecting?

If I got/get another MX5 I’ll do my own spannering. I’m already learning on my current car. 🙂

I’ve had fun in 3 cylinder cars- namely Aygo/C1 etc.

Even I can spanner the MX5 hora- it’s a satisfying car to work on.

Not expecting, no! Wife’s getting a third car share person, I need to cart stuff about at work etc. When we can afford a third car we’ll get another MX5.

Pity the Ford Puma is now long in the tooth 😐

If a car was 10 yrs old and had 50k on the clock, I’d be very wary. Lots of short town journeys and never properly warmed up.

My dad’s motor (1.6 petrol mondy) does one or two reasonable length trips per week – but being retired with no commute he never does more than 3k or 4k total per year… 16 year old car, 60k on the clock.

It’s now the ultimate bangernomics motor. Almost pristine and worth about 50p.

Did you actually think you removed the sexist ones !? I’ve already said it’s your car so just do as you please. I don’t need convincing from a bunch of men on the Internet.

Fair play to her!

http://www.divorcelawyers4u.co.uk

Not sure why you are posting – you’ve been TOLD what to do, go do it.

Did you actually think you removed the sexist ones !? I’ve already said it’s your car so just do as you please. I don’t need convincing from a bunch of men on the Internet.

Mrshora would be horrified if I asked any opinion non-bike related on the internet. She was pissed off that I’d actually asked for help on mumsnet when our son was first born. Her words were ‘why would you ask a group of mental womens opinion on the internet’. 😆

OK, so, anyone got any good recommendations for nice dog houses?

Pity the Ford Puma is now long in the tooth

No, no its not! 😉

You can’t possibly win in this situation – unless you consider ending up with some terrible 1.0 city car a ‘win’. And nobody thinks that!

So you might as well completely ignore everything she says, get everything lined up, then one day, just casually say ‘I’m just nipping out for a walk love’, then roll up the drive an hour later in something really stupid, that you just always fancied 😀

When we bought our Avensis it was 3 years old and 50k on the clock, it was mint, i couldn’t get my head round how whoever has owned it had kept it so pristine, i however managed to scratch it approx 4 hour after we got it.

The petrol Fabia VRS is a lot of fun, and certainly a good bit quicker than both the MX5s I’ve driven.

It’s far from perfect – models with chassis number starting CAVE should be avoided and look for one starting CTHE. Epic oil usage otherwise.

Rachel (ex VRS driver – if the one you look at is white with a block roof, watch out – a previous owner was an idiot)

So you might as well completely ignore everything she says, get everything lined up, then one day, just casually say ‘I’m just nipping out for a walk love’, then roll up the drive an hour later in something really stupid, that you just always fancied

Or come back with a motorcycle (many, many years ago – went looking for a small hatchback), got a new one of these instead 🙂

http://s243.photobucket.com/user/chakka77/media/fz600.jpg.html

You see – b r has the right idea!

As far as I can deduce from your posts:

YOU are paying for it
YOU are going to be driving it most of the time

Therefore YOU get to choose what you bloody well like!

Did I mention I just bought a daft Golf GTI 1.8T 😀 Mind you…. Mrs Binners drives a Polo GTI, so we have very very similar taste in vehicles. Sensible 1.0 city cars would never enter the conversation

Interesting reading:

http://www.car-insurance-information.org/average-annual-car-miles-uk/

As others have said, 50k is nowt. It was probably sage advice in the 70s but many modern engines will just be nicely run by the age where once of a time they’d have been scrap.

Have you ever driven a Mini Cooper S? (Mk ll) Proper awesome thing to drive on short journeys, although despite the fact they look great on 17in rims I’d suggest smaller, as combined with run flats, its like having NO suspension.

Edit: not really in your price range….although looking at Autotrader there are some nice Cat C ones. Now Ive never considered buying a previous write off, but if you were able to establish the damage and the repair and were keeping it forever, then it might be worth considering?

Personally I think most 3+yr old cars for sale are clocked.

with MOTs recording mileage from 2009 it’s a lot less likely than it was, and i personally doubt it was that widespread anyway. plenty of paperwork and buying privately helps, but with newer cars the margins and therefore incentives are pretty low, and most new cars are company cars of one description or another, so less likely again.

munrobiker – Member

Sent her an “abbreviated” version of this thread. The response is-

Did you actually think you removed the sexist ones !? I’ve already said it’s your car so just do as you please. I don’t need convincing from a bunch of men on the Internet.
Dead man walking.

The only phrase missing from that message is “fine” or even “go ahead”.

Beware French diesels at 50k – additive/DPF £

Yeah, I wouldn’t buy a car with 50k on it, hardly run in properly and probably far too expensive. 100k plus is more like it.

As others have said upthread, the 50k bracket is a psychological one for traders etc. In the next 25-40k miles it’s gonna need a cam belt ( if it isn’t gear or chaindriven) clutch, brake discs, in other words all the big consumables. Factor those in as an expected cost of owning and running it, and fine, you’ve got a car for life mostly.

That said, I have a Disco 3 with 120k on the clock, and trust me, the price of a dual mass flywheel and clutch, suspension compressor and so on take a bit of brushing under the carpet, truth be told…… even the wheelbearing it took to get me through the last MOT was eyewatering.

Stumpy to be fair to the diesel doom mongers they are generally not taking about you doing high mileage but those who buy a used diesel and are then pottering about on short journeys clogging and coking turbos dpfs etc.

Certainly true, I’m guilty of that, being a lazy git and driving the car to work if the weather’s a bit iffy, when I can walk it in fifteen minutes. Suffered loads from it going into limp-mode, finally stopped being an idiot and wasting diesel, gave it a few good, long runs during a week off last month, and it’s made a big difference, the car really runs well now.

Rockape63 – Member
Pity the Ford Puma is now long in the tooth

No, no its not!
Well, most are getting a bit dog-eared, I saw a black, T-reg one today, quite shiny, but rot around the rear wheel-arch.
Mine was showing faint signs of bubbling when I sold it, and that was around ten years ago.
I’d also be vary wary of maintenance on the 1.7 Zetec engine, too; the bore coating is notoriously subject to wear if oil changes and levels, and oil type aren’t adhered to.
I’d dearly love another one, but I’d need to have a lot more disposable income to be able to afford to run it; the £300+ insurance, £170 licence and <30mpg are beyond me these days.
It was tremendous fun to drive, and really comfortable for long distances, considering I’m 6′. I miss it terribly, it was the car of my dreams when I bought it.
😥

@stumpy01

What car is that?

Simone

She’s American so probably grew up with American badly built cars that would indeed fall apart at 50,000 miles!

moniex – Member

@stumpy01

What car is that?

Simone

2003 Seat Ibiza Sport 130TDi. Same car as the original Fabia vRS.
They did a few variants; originally they did the Sport in 100 and 130 tdi versions, as well as the 160bhp Cupra.
They the did a facelift and the 100 remained the Sport, the 130 turned into the FR and the Cupra stayed at 160.

Mine is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I still like it. The aim is 300k miles and then probably replace it.

Rickos, this is what she drives at home. Having driven it myself I’m amazed that she hasn’t been put off all cars for life.

Is that a car, as drawn by a 3 year old?

Our 25 year old car with 75k (documented Hora) costs far more to keep on the road than the 13 year old car at 175k with turbo and haldex.

OP – 7k a year, would probably look for something with 8 cylinders.

I bought an old blokes Accord 2001 with 54k on it in July 2013 it now has 92k on it 10k in the last 3 months .It goes fine only cost £400

Not a car fan, mine is a 176k Mondeo, but I’ve had a fabulous car from work this week, a Skoda Superb Estate.
What a lovely motor.
We hve some BMW & Mercs on the fleet but the Skoda has been the best by a mile.
Will top my list when the Mondeo finally dies.

I bought an old blokes Accord 2001 with 54k on it

How was the VTEC? Only problems I know of are the actuators sticking if they haven’t been exercised regularly but aside from that you can’t go far wrong with an older Honda.

hitting Vtec in an old blokes accord 😉

Depends really, if he was conned into buying a Type-R I would 😀

Have you ever driven a Mini Cooper S? (Mk ll) Proper awesome thing to drive on short journeys, although despite the fact they look great on 17in rims I’d suggest smaller, as combined with run flats, its like having NO suspension.

Proper fun little car, but can’t see it being much more practical than the MX5.

Looks like you can get anything you want know, just be prepared to be made to feel bad about it for the near future 😛