Cars We Drive!

[brokencycle]

What do you guys think about cars that have accumulated high mileage in a short period of time? Better or worse if you are going to be the subsequent owner?

High mileage quickly is generally highway miles, so it is likely easier on the car.

 

[sugarbutch]

What do you guys think about cars that have accumulated high mileage in a short period of time? Better or worse if you are going to be the subsequent owner?

I suspect the costs and benefits probably balance out. Is there any warranty left?

 

[otc]

Obviously depends on price and extent of the mileage.

You know that at that point any powertrain issues have probably been exposed and fixed and you probably have had limited use of other wear items... Like the doors on a 1 year old 35k car have probably been slammed a fraction of the times of a 3 year old 35k car. Paint has less time in the sun and less time in parking lots (but still a bunch of rock chip miles).

Given equal mileage, I'd prefer the newer car, but ultimately it depends on the price.

 

[double00]

We inherited a 2016 RAV4 from my wife's mom when she passed earlier this year. Our son is about 2 months from getting his full driving permit, so he drives it to school every day with me in the passenger seat and the dog in the back and we return home via the local park for a walk after dropping him off. I actually kinda enjoy driving it on short trips compared to the gigantic GLS AMG douchemobile and swear the dog prefers it too -- have to bribe him into the back of the Mercedes but the minute the Toyota tailgate pops he's in there like a flash. Seems like a downsizing opportunity.

Anyway, the car said son would really like is an FJ Cruiser -- which is possibly the most robustly valued, reasonably recent, used car that's not an exotic. Not sold in the US since 2014 and up to 100K mile examples routinely go for well over their original MSRP. Has become a bit of a cult car on the West Coast. His argument is that, given scarcity, depreciation will be minimal going forward -- which is probably true. And one of reasons people like them so much is they are extremely reliable. IDK, we'll see.

FJ is a great option imho , visibility may be an issue as noted but probably would resolve as a daily driver .

if it's an option i'll go ahead and predict the manual will endure as desirable , full time 4wd with the torsen diff . personally not crazy about the independent front suspension but i'd probably get used to that as well .

we ended up going with a new wrangler which has worked out just fine (2dr manual JK) but i still really like the toyota .

 

[Texasmade]

High mileage quickly is generally highway miles, so it is likely easier on the car.

A few weeks back I was washing my Porsche at my brother‘s house. He comes out and sees this giant rock chip that tore through the PPF on my hood. He was like “were you driving your car on the highway? Wtf?”

I just looked at him like are you a ******* idiot. Where the **** else am I supposed to drive my car and enjoy it? I’m not going to drive it in the city with stop and go traffic.

 

[Jmm722]

A good friend as the Cayenne Turbo GT and it does go pretty well. He's 6'7" and I have no idea how he finds it comfortable though.

I didn’t even know it was out yet. For $180,000+ I’d look elsewhere

 

[jbarwick]

I thought high mileage in a short term could also be a rental or courtesy car. Any way to get details on it?

 

[clee1982]

I thought high mileage in a short term could also be a rental or courtesy car. Any way to get details on it?

do dealer need to disclose?

 

[yorkshire pud]

I thought high mileage in a short term could also be a rental or courtesy car. Any way to get details on it?

In the UK the vehicles log book lists previous owners, most high milers tend to be ex lease cars in my experience, so generally well serviced and lots of motorway business miles.

Maybe the title in the USA???

 

[otc]

I think Carfax can tell you if it used to be a rental or fleet vehicle with some level of reliability.

Courtesy cars shouldn't actually rack up miles. They get driven on people's ordinary commutes, not road trips. Also don't most dealers try to sell those early and promote the fact that it was a loaner (and thus well serviced by them, I guess?)? I've seen ads that are like "new service loaners coming in, come get a deal on the old ones" and they are <10k miles.

 

[brokencycle]

Yeah, I always see them as 1-2 years old with <10k miles/year (often <5k).

 

[patrick_b]

do dealer need to disclose?

Yeah, I always see them as 1-2 years old with <10k miles/year (often <5k).

Purely anecdotal, but we bought a former rental Grand Caravan when our kids were little (12-13 years ago). It was a year old with ~10K mi, ran like a champ and was a steal. I'm fairly certain they had to disclose that it was a fleet car. My wife traded in my Infiniti FX35 that I only drove for a year before I changed jobs and got saddled with another company car. She couldn't make the FX35 work with the kids, their friends, dogs, etc. That little FX was a joy to drive and I drove 25-35K/year. Infiniti got it right with that vehicle.

Edited to add:

I get company cars that are "Fleet" cars and I think they are documented the same as a rental once they hit the secondary market. We would drive ours (Ford Edge) for 3 years or 60K whichever came first. But most of them are very well maintained because the driver isn't paying out of pocket for anything. I always did oil changes, tire rotations and all other service at the dealer because it was close to home and I didn't care about high labor costs. Those were all highway miles and probably a good buy. If my company still provided the Ford Edge, I'd happily buy it and give it to my son who is now 18. Alas, new company provides the Nissan Rogue which I will never buy due to the well known CVT issues once out of warranty.

 

[Dino944]

What do you guys think about cars that have accumulated high mileage in a short period of time? Better or worse if you are going to be the subsequent owner?

I put a lot of miles on my daily driver, about 25,000 miles per year, and most of it is highway driving (which is less punishing to most cars). Picks up some stone chips, but it gets serviced regularly. You definitely want to see the service records, and of course it depends on the condition and price of the vehicle.

 

[Dino944]

A few weeks back I was washing my Porsche at my brother‘s house. He comes out and sees this giant rock chip that tore through the PPF on my hood. He was like “were you driving your car on the highway? Wtf?”

I just looked at him like are you a ******* idiot. Where the **** else am I supposed to drive my car and enjoy it? I’m not going to drive it in the city with stop and go traffic.

Bring it to the shop that did the PPF for you. A stone put a bad tear in the PPF on the hood of our Cayman, and they replaced the PPF on the hood and put ceramic on it for $400. Also if it damaged the paint, they can touch it up before re-applying the PPF.

 

[jbarwick]

My wife had a service loaner for over a month back when she had her 125i and it was tough to get a new HPFP. We drove it from Sacramento to Napa then another trip down to SF. I assume this is not the norm.