[Thomas]

1973!

[brian51]

yes thats quite amazing there u have a 73
so looks to be about 45 years old now..

[SpookyZalost]

73... that's a super-beetle right?

I've got an 86 cabriolet Wolfsberg I'm fixing up, VW's and honda's, gotta love em.

plus those beetles will go EVERYWHERE

[Thomas]

Nope, not a super beetle. Just standard.

[SpookyZalost]

well a beetle is a beetle lol, as a side note I was a fan of herbie the love bug when I was younger, gotta love em!

[VSS]

a 2006 ford focus. a reliable sedan with only 40k miles on it! it was a former rental.

[Guardian]

Good deal! I love finding older cars with low mileage.

Last summer we bought a 1996 Dodge Dakota with only 128k miles on it.

[Darth-Apple]

Good deal! I love finding older cars with low mileage.

Last summer we bought a 1996 Dodge Dakota with only 128k miles on it.

That's not bad! Trucks will run way up into the higher miles too. How's it been running? 

@VSS: Nice! How did you manage to find it with 40K miles on it?

[Harry K.]

Good deal! I love finding older cars with low mileage.

Last summer we bought a 1996 Dodge Dakota with only 128k miles on it.

That's quite weird, but as far as I'm aware and have always been told, here in the UK a car anywhere near 110/120k miles is a no-go for buying(most of the time). Granted you guys drive a hell of a lot more distance than us

[Guardian]

That's not bad! Trucks will run way up into the higher miles too. How's it been running? 

Still runs great! I mean... the radio, A/C, and heat don't work, but those are just frivolities. Haven't had any major issues, and nothing seems wrong with it still.

That's quite weird, but as far as I'm aware and have always been told, here in the UK a car anywhere near 110/120k miles is a no-go for buying(most of the time). Granted you guys drive a hell of a lot more distance than us

Yeah, for a car that old, it's almost impossible to find it that low. By now they're usually 400k+. My 2011 Jeep has 130k+, my 2008 has 240k+. It's a good find here.

[Darth-Apple]

Believe it or not, cars with a lot of mileage aren't necessarily bad. I worked for a car dealership for about a year and a half and I've seen just about everything. But cars, to be honest, need to be used. If they sit, there's a lot of corrosion internally that happens just as a by-product of use. And the majority of engine wear occurs at startup as well. Once it is up to temperature, the wear significantly decreases.

So cars with 200K miles in a five year span might actually be in better condition than a car that has 100K miles over 10 years. I've never really felt a need to shy away from high mileage cars from that reason.

The biggest issue high mileage cars have is with the piston rings. They wear and the engines start burning oil. I had a corolla with 200K miles on it, ran like a champ and nothing could destroy that thing (even took it offroading just for the hell of it, was a dumb idea but it was fun nevertheless). Only issue? It burned oil, and a lot of it.

There's a lot that goes into finding a good car that's in great condition, but miles, contrary to popular belief, aren't everything. In fact it can be quite misleading on the condition of the car. A well taken care-of car that is driven quite frequently can have hundreds of thousands of miles and still be in good condition if those miles are highway miles, it's driven a lot, and it's well taken care of. I had someone bring in a Kia Soul with 170K miles in a three year span (business car), and while we couldn't offer much because nobody would likely buy the thing, it actually was in far better condition than many cars with only 75K miles.

[SpookyZalost]

sometimes I wish I knew more about cars and engines than I do now... those piston rings would be cake to replace if I knew more...

[Harry K.]

That's actually really interesting, and makes sense if you think about it. Thanks for sharing.

[Thomas]

Believe it or not, cars with a lot of mileage aren't necessarily bad. I worked for a car dealership for about a year and a half and I've seen just about everything. But cars, to be honest, need to be used. If they sit, there's a lot of corrosion internally that happens just as a by-product of use. And the majority of engine wear occurs at startup as well. Once it is up to temperature, the wear significantly decreases.

So cars with 200K miles in a five year span might actually be in better condition than a car that has 100K miles over 10 years. I've never really felt a need to shy away from high mileage cars from that reason.

The biggest issue high mileage cars have is with the piston rings. They wear and the engines start burning oil. I had a corolla with 200K miles on it, ran like a champ and nothing could destroy that thing (even took it offroading just for the hell of it, was a dumb idea but it was fun nevertheless). Only issue? It burned oil, and a lot of it.

There's a lot that goes into finding a good car that's in great condition, but miles, contrary to popular belief, aren't everything. In fact it can be quite misleading on the condition of the car. A well taken care-of car that is driven quite frequently can have hundreds of thousands of miles and still be in good condition if those miles are highway miles, it's driven a lot, and it's well taken care of. I had someone bring in a Kia Soul with 170K miles in a three year span (business car), and while we couldn't offer much because nobody would likely buy the thing, it actually was in far better condition than many cars with only 75K miles.

This is true and I especially believe it to be true for older cars. I put my VW in a lot of shows and it bums me out to see so many working cars pulled in on trailers. Trailer queens. Cars are meant to be driven and it's such a special thing to see old cars on the road.

[SpookyZalost]

so I recently got a hold of another car following some advice I got for an in the mean time vehicle... for $2000 I actually got one hell of a deal.

since my blue honda was fenris, I've decided to call my new car Sleipnir after the mighty 8 legged horse.



yes that's actually me in the picture, and I'm not worried, I'm actually trained in kung fu lol.

it needs some body work... but that's actually all that's wrong with it, it had an engine replacement 170k mile ago, body has nearly 290k miles on it.

no issues driving it, transmission and everything on it works amazingly, has a couple little wiring quirks but nothing I can't handle.

[Guardian]

Nice jeep! That is one great deal!
How did you manage that!?

[Darth-Apple]

Love it Leo! Old jeeps with a mile or two on them are the best kind! What are your long term plans for it?

[SpookyZalost]

I was playing ingress, it was parked near a portal, for sale, $2200.

my grandfather used to be a general purpose salesman, he's sold shoes, cars, you name it.

the guy was haggled down to $2k.

it was literally pure luck and being in the right place right time.

I've been saving since fenris became inoperable back in november, and thanks to the bank giving me a $1500 credit card with a $1000 of it in cash to pay off the car in one go and a 1 year pay off time (I actually know the bank manager personally so that helped lol, that and I've been a member of this bank since I was 8.)

by this time next year, I'll have an A+ credit rating, both fenris and Sleipneir running, and quite probably another pay raise up to $18 an hour lol.

but that's just how this turned out, fate is a fickle mistress after all.