High mileage?

J

jonno

Member
 N Herts/S Cambs
Interested that on the Buy and Sell forum or on Pistonheads, there's often lots of focus on low mileage being a really important factor when considering Zeds. This is obviously a fair point for most other kinds of car, but I was chatting with a mechanic mate the other evening who reckons it's daft to use mileage as an overly-important indicator with Zeds. His point is that they're such well-built cars they can go way beyond 100K and in many cases even 200K without any of the major engine/structural/corrosion problems that you'd worry about with other cars. Sure, components are going to need replacing as you rack up the miles, but his point was it's a different issue than with other, less well-put-together cars. He reckoned you could tell more about a Zed from how well cared for it was (both the look and FSH etc) than how many miles it had done.

Do people agree? And whose Zed has the most miles on here? Anyone over 100K yet? 150? :driving:
 
When I sell my car after four years of ownership, it will probably have in excess of of 100,000 miles on it, most of which will have been motorway miles, stuck at a steady 70 mph. I drive my car for about 10 hours a week and this to me is key, if I had used it as a Taxi cab it might have the same mileage but someone would have driven it 40 hours a week and the car would would look very tired.

Mine has not been overtly stressed or thrashed, is cared for and has used less than 250 ml of oil in the last 12,000 miles, now come resale, it is going to be worth considerably less than a car with below average mileage, that has been thrashed from cold from day one......go figure
 
I think your mechanic is right. Zeds are well built and with a big 6 engine pulling it, it will last forever with parts replaced and servicing.
We've seen many on the forum well over 100k and running well. In fact I just sold my X5 with 100k on the clock (same engine as my Z) and it looked and drive like new.

People tend to focus on low mileage because they are looking for mint cars and 'keepers'.

If you want to cut the cost or have a 'driver' then I see no issue with high mileage at all, unlike buying say a 100k small hatch from the cheaper end of the spectrum.
 
I bought my zed with 66k on the clock. No issues. I've added another 6k. I've seen 3 series with the same engine for sale with (IIRC) 240k+ on the clock.

Maintenance is key. The engines will last a long time if properly maintained :thumbsup:

Think someone on here had one with 200k plus until someone crashed into him..... :(


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Interesting.

BTW, just to clarify, this post has nothing to do with any cars that might be for sale. I don't know anyone who might be selling, and I have my Zed and am very happy with it!
 
I'm going to put mine past the 100k mark next week! I have owned it for 1 year and bought it on 82k. As has been said, if it's been maintained properly there shouldn't be any issues.

Passed MOT last Saturday with no advisories. That said I had the bushes, springs and brake pipes replaced in summer.

I sold my 3 series last year with 115k on it and it felt brand new to drive!
 
I sold my red a4 to a mate four years ago wth 138000 miles on it,he then sold it to a neighbour with over 150k on the clock and I still see it regularly in the area,when I sold it the original clutch and exhaust were still good but I did have the springs shocks and lower arms done,it was a fast economical and reliable car,I changed oil every 5000 miles and maintained it well the result being its still good transport. If you look after things they will still do a good job.
 
I agree, ive had a string of cars that were either high milers to start with and/or ended up high milers - all BMW.

1st was an e36 318tds which was 2 years old when i bought it but had 119k on it. Full BMW SH which i maintained and it didnt miss a beat apart from regular maintanence jobs and then other common remedial items for e36 cars. Sold it with 213k

2nd was my e46 318ci. bought with 84k and sold with 156k - again, same story as above.

My Z4 which im selling now has 77k and whoever comes to look/shows interest wil buy it. look after the car and it will look after you.

:)
 
My 1988 BMW 635Csi has 134k on it. It had the head gasket replaced at 88k but other than that no other engine work as far as I can see from the history.

My 1992 VW Scirocco has 125k on the shell and probably many more on the engine (unknown mileage) but its fine and has not needed any work in 4 years!
 
Regular servicing, good quality oils and preventative maintenance is the key for me. As CJs X5; if it's well cared for mileage may be a deciding or baragaining factor in price but ultimately not in continued reliability.
 
It depends what you want really. If your are goin to run it for afew years and pass it on low milage is vital as it's far easier to sell if your going to run it for a long time mileage becomes less important. I wouldnt have an issue with a high milage car if I knew I was keeping it. But that is seldom the case now adays especially with sports cars etc
 
Apart from poor maintenance the big killer for any engine, especially large capacity motors that take a while to warm properly, is lots of cold, short, stop start use. A big low mileage motor used for city commuting will show a lot more wear than one with high miles that spends all day on the motorway. The only downside to high mileage is the wear on ancillary parts like water pumps, rads, brakes, alternators etc but that's built in to the price of a 100k miler.

But despite this truth a high miler is always going to be hard to re-sell at a decent price so they can make a great buy if selected with care :thumbsup:
 
dyshipfakta said:
It depends what you want really. If your are goin to run it for afew years and pass it on low milage is vital as it's far easier to sell if your going to run it for a long time mileage becomes less important. I wouldnt have an issue with a high milage car if I knew I was keeping it. But that is seldom the case now adays especially with sports cars etc
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I think that's kind of the point my pal was making. With many cars it makes sense that a lot of people would be put off buying it by high mileage, but with the Zed it really doesn't matter to the same extent, so it's daft that it's still something people focus on.

Ewazix said:
But despite this truth a high miler is always going to be hard to re-sell at a decent price so they can make a great buy if selected with care
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Exactly what he was saying! If you know what you're doing, the *right* high-mileage car can be a great bargain! :thumbsup:
 
if you buy a high mileage motor then you get them much cheaper, but then you may struggle to sell it on, so great if you want to keep it long term
 
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