100k Miles On A Engine

Volvoboy

What is it with Irish people and this way of thinking that the engine is going to fall out of the car once it hits 100K miles??

Had a argument with someone whos looking to buy a car, thier sole reason they're looking is the current motor a BMW 520 has 95K miles on it??


The only thing that i can see going wrong on a higher mileage engine is the oil consumption increased slightly.

meathstevie

A fool and his money....

A modern sizeable engine that's well serviced should do 250k miles without major trouble. You might have to replace a clutch and have some rather expensive maintenance like belts and waterpumps etc done if you keep a car for the long run but it I'll be cheaper than replacing the car.

Greenmachine

Yup 191k mile on the car I'm driving only thing is it burns a lil oil. Apart from that it is solid.

biko

Close to 180K, checked the oil yesterday for the first time in months - might fill up a tad later or so.
Cat's on it's way out thought, will have to sort that. €400 job.
S40

trad

Judging by the amount of threads here about turbo failure on BMW's and flywheel failures on audis they might just have a point. If all around you are having problrms and yours is not, time to sell I think.

Captain Slow IRL

The missus has a '00 320d with 110k on the clock, it's very good - doesn't burn a quarter of a litre between services. I've it embedded into her to run the engine for a half minute before switching it off!

I'd be more worried about bushings and suspension issues that would need attention around the 100k mark - they are the items that'll end up crippling your wallet.

peasant

The question also is, what is "trouble" and what is reasonable wear and tear.

A clutch for example does and will need replacing at some stage...that doesn't mean its broken or that car is giving trouble. The same goes for water pumps, diesel injectors and a host of other bits and pieces.

run_Forrest_run

I was driving an Opel Corsa ('95) 1.2 up to a few years ago before I gave the car to my sister and she is now still happily driving it, 148k miles on the clock and still going strong, thanks to regular servicing.

bazz26

I think the problem here is that due to the general Irish mentality of shoe string car servicing and maintenance, poor roads, etc the Irish midset is that a car with that sort of mileage has already endured a hard life and possibly needs alot of work and money spend on it. Thing is a low mileage cars can have endured the same level of treatment but people seem to be blinded by what the odometer reads and assume mileage is an accurate indication of wear.

I have no problem buying and running a high mileage car (I have in the past and it's still in the family) but you really need to be very selective in this country with what you buy, condition and service history would be more important than what the odometer reads to me.

To totally discard a well priced car just because the odometrer reading is considered high is madness imo.

Marlow

I'm at 330k km in the one of'em (205k miles) and the one I recently bought has 120k+ miles on the clock.

The 525tds, that I sold had 170k miles and was only sold, because I wanted something quicker. Runs perfectly though and will most likely last for many many more miles.

It's all down to how well you service your car.

/M

firefly08

I think it's a myth we've inherited from times gone by. Most people, the little they know about cars is what they were told by their dads. And in their day, engines were pretty worn after 100K miles. The message has survived, through word of mouth, popular culture, TV, media, advertisements: low mileage = A Good Thing.

But it's not just Ireland - I live in the States, and it's worse here. I'm glad people have this attitude though - lots of cheap used cars available for those of us in the know!

Personally I prefer to buy cars with mileage a little on the high side of average, for their year. It tells me the car must work properly, or else the previous owner wouldn't have put up with it!

Dades

Threads don't stay in view for long in this forum!

I asked this yesterday.

voxpop

Diesels with 100k are grand, just broken in.
What about petrols, do they handle the mileage as well consider that diesel is a lubricant where as petrol is not and washes away any lubrication. Also diesel engines are generally built with stronger components to withstand the higher compression.

Im talking here 1.8+ engines - I wouldnt think a Golfs 1.4 would handle high mileage well, being worked so hard all its life.

firefly08

What about petrols, do they handle the mileage as well

Petrol engines are well able for it, even small ones. My last car was an Opel 1.4 petrol - I passed it on to someone else with over 140K on the clock. Engine was running perfectly and never burned a drop of oil. Even if it begins to wear out now (and there's no sign of it) it'll still last a while longer - I bet it'll do 200K. The engine will outlast the rest of the car, so it's the last thing I'd worry about!

bladespin

Managed over 220k miles on an Isuzu Trooper, replaced a clutch and drive shaft, no other problems.

BlackWizard

My biggest worry with 100k mile cars is things like suspension area, clutch/gear box, cat and maf issues. Generally most of this can be spotted by a good mechanic or someone who has gone through all of these issues before.

But when it comes to sub 100k mile cars, I'm kinda nervous about electronics, turbo failure, gasket failures, warning lights.. basically everything. With a 100k mile car I'm almost certain any major mechanical imperfection would of appeared by now.

I had a high mileage petrol before. The radiator went, MAF and cat both gone too. That car could of easily went another 100k before needing any more major work done.

VW Golf 1.4L @30k miles has had a stupid warning light issue for years. First time it cost 420 euro to get it "fixed". That's the cost of a new clutch plus lunch and taxi.

Drummerboy08

A mate of mine has a 00 320d with almost 200,000 miles on the clock, and it's still going strong.

I took back a mix of Mazda 3/6's at the start of the year and each had around 250,000kms on the clock, one had 300,000. All were driving fine, and made good money actually!

galwaytt

Dades wrote: »

Threads don't stay in view for long in this forum!

I asked this yesterday.

Here, have have a comment, just to keep your post up

voxpop wrote: »

Diesels with 100k are grand, just broken in.
What about petrols, do they handle the mileage as well consider that diesel is a lubricant where as petrol is not and washes away any lubrication. Also diesel engines are generally built with stronger components to withstand the higher compression.

Im talking here 1.8+ engines - I wouldnt think a Golfs 1.4 would handle high mileage well, being worked so hard all its life.

Right now, I'd have less issues with high-mileage petrol over diesel.

Historically, diesels had big heavy mechanicals, and simple ancillaries, and ran forever. Nowadays, in the era of high rpm, high bhp, cardboard/mush-consumable DMF's, crap clutches, 1500bar distribution pumps and calibratable injectors and turbo's that can go 'pop', you'll be lucky if the ancillaries last half as long as the basic mechanicals. All of which, btw, are big-ticket items, and are enough to render a car uneconomic to repair. Unless of course it's a Mazda diesel, in which case all of the above can **** up.

Big petrols, oth, are now, funnily enough, more basic than modern diesels, and repair of same is more accessible to independant mechanic's. IMHO, that is. And very few have DMF's - which is a big +++++++

My current big-miler was bought at 141k last year, 156k now, and runs like a Swiss watch. Uses no oil between changes, and occasionally a small amount of coolant. With no turbo's or other paraphenalia to mind, I don't see why I can't get another 156k out of it, really.........I even thought about buying a spare Tipronic box for it, but when I found out they could be got for 350, there's no point in doing that for another while yet at that price.

Oh, and you're right about the 1.4 Golf. That's a banger no matter what way you mind it.

Dades

galwaytt wrote: »

Here, have have a comment, just to keep your post up

Good lad.

JimmyCrackCorn!

Volvoboy wrote: »

What is it with Irish people and this way of thinking that the engine is going to fall out of the car once it hits 100K miles??

Had a argument with someone whos looking to buy a car, thier sole reason they're looking is the current motor a BMW 520 has 95K miles on it??


The only thing that i can see going wrong on a higher mileage engine is the oil consumption increased slightly.

If you pick the car properly it all good. Larger capacity engines are generally better built and less stressed. It is car dependent to be honest


Cars that i have killed at 100k miles
-Volkswagon golf 1.4 8v 1997 101k miles (valve seals and head gasket shagged)

-Renault Mcganne 1.4 8v (108K miles) Timing belt (though everything at the time was breaking quicker than i could fix it)

On the other hand i had a Nissan mica 92 1.0 that was indestructible and was sold on with 150k miles

Ford sierra 145k miles 1.6 (liked to break clutch cables but otherwise fine)

Currently a Honda Accourd with 89k miles bought with no clutch for 550 euro and a years nct. Good for at least 200k miles.

congo_90

peasant wrote: »

The question also is, what is "trouble" and what is reasonable wear and tear.

A clutch for example does and will need replacing at some stage...that doesn't mean its broken or that car is giving trouble. The same goes for water pumps, diesel injectors and a host of other bits and pieces.

Your very correct there in your point. The only thing I would call trouble is damage from poor maintanance like rust or if the car was raced everyday etc.

Natural wear and tear happens on cars. I think the problem people feel is that the value of a typical car around 100k is quite low hence anything more than brakes or oil change annoys them to pay more than value for repairs for as others have said clutches, cat perhaps water pump etc.

There are cars out there with 100k+ miles out lasting those with half that.

Senna

Have to say i've used the "jesus, 100k that a bit high" line a few times when buying just chancing my arm to get another few quid off.:D But 100k wouldn't put me off any car, newer cars will loads of complicated electrics make me more nervous.

Theanswers

I'm Driving a 05 Caddy van, 1.9 tdi turbo disiel. Had her from new.
She has just touched over 400,000km. Plenty more miles/ KM left.

Plug

Theanswers wrote: »

I'm Driving a 05 Caddy van, 1.9 tdi turbo disiel. Had her from new.
She has just touched over 400,000km. Plenty more miles/ KM left.

and you sir I bet have it serviced regularly and its well looked after like dipping for oil etc, thats why your motor is trouble free, well done. Hopefully more Irish people see your post.

johndaman66

I once seen a thread on an American webiste where two identical engines were stripped. One had 67,000 miles on it while the other had 167,000 miles on it. The engine with 67,000 miles was poorly maintained and serviced while the engine with 167,000 miles was well maintained and serviced frequently. It was amazing to see the difference and how cleaner the higher mileage engine was. Measurements of components taken indicated much less wear on the higher mileage engine also.

Don't know if this argument of "it'll go forever'' is always justified. I'd imagine any car will go forever if you keep replacing stuff that breaks in it and ends up breaking you along the way. Bit like Trigs broom

746watts

Theanswers wrote: »

I'm Driving a 05 Caddy van, 1.9 tdi turbo disiel. Had her from new.
She has just touched over 400,000km. Plenty more miles/ KM left.

wow thats some milage(kilometerage)......... do you ever get home to relax or drive 12 hours a day..........:eek:

galwaytt

Theanswers wrote: »

I'm Driving a 05 Caddy van, 1.9 tdi turbo disiel. Had her from new.
She has just touched over 400,000km. Plenty more miles/ KM left.

I may be completely wrong, but I'm going for it's a 90bhp or poss 105bhp.....want to confirm ?

BostonB

In my experience, most cars regardless of diesel or petrol 70k onwards things start to need replacing, shocks, exhausts, timing belts, fuel pumps those kinda things. Some people simply want to avoid these costs. That said they have much bigger depreciation to deal with when they buy a low mileage car, so the savings aren't always what they think.

Other people, (people in this thread) see threse as consumables spread over a longer life time of the car if you are going to run it for a lot of miles. We've run a few cars to 250k and 300k miles. But in fairness by then they are usually well saggy. More like driving a sofa. But it makes better financial sense sometimes.

maidhc

BostonB wrote: »

More like driving a sofa. .

Or a Toyota?

I wouldn't buy a secondhand car with more than 60k on the clock and it would need a good service history at that... I agree that at about 100k you will find you need to start spending money on wearing parts.

I wouldn't ever sell a car that was going well just because it clocked 100k though. I tend to mind my cars and keep them.

B11gt00e

I'd be more wary of a car w/ 30k miles of city miles over five years on our capital's rampfields and roughly chiseled asphalt.

Marlow

galwaytt wrote: »

I may be completely wrong, but I'm going for it's a 90bhp or poss 105bhp.....want to confirm ?

Most Caddy TDI's after '04 (new body) are 90bhp or 105bhp. They are solid engines though.

Also, the T4 TDI engines (2.5l, 88, 102 or 149bhp) are very very solid. Mine is at 320000 km now and spinning like there is no ending.

The T4 engines are not commonrail, not sure on the Caddy engines. I'm not sure, how the new VW commonrail engines will last. The original TDI design is pretty solid for a modern diesel.

/M

pred racer

maidhc wrote: »

Or a Toyota?

I wouldn't buy a secondhand car with more than 60k on the clock and it would need a good service history at that... I agree that at about 100k you will find you need to start spending money on wearing parts.

I wouldn't ever sell a car that was going well just because it clocked 100k though. I tend to mind my cars and keep them.

I find that the cars with 100k+ are priced really well (especially as I normally buy citroen/pugeot) and I can therefore afford to pay for stuff that breaks rather than paying it to the bank for the loan every week. I find that works better for me. ie small or no monthly payment and I can then stand the pain for stuff like brake discs, shocks, bushings etc which prob have never been done on the car before. It also helps that I do most of this stuff myself.

In the garage where I bought mine, there is the same year c5 2.0 hdi with 425k miles:eek: (its a taxi) and apart from normal service items its had one clutch and a head gasket, done both done 50k ago.

so Mine is a veritable child with a paltry 154k

voxpop

Marlow wrote: »

The original TDI design is pretty solid for a modern diesel.

Amen to that - I hear alot of ppl complaining that its ancient and noisy, but it keeps going and going.

bazz26

voxpop wrote: »

Amen to that - I hear alot of ppl complaining that its ancient and noisy, but it keeps going and going.

So is Red Hurley, doesn't mean we should all go out and buy his albums though.

Marlow

voxpop wrote: »

Amen to that - I hear alot of ppl complaining that its ancient and noisy, but it keeps going and going.

The 5 cylinders aren't noisy. The just sound very different and the driving culture of the engine is better than some 6 cylinder engines.

And they definatly don't sound like a tractor, compared to some 4 and 6-cyl diesels

/M

Biro

bazz26 wrote: »

I think the problem here is that due to the general Irish mentality of shoe string car servicing and maintenance, poor roads, etc the Irish midset is that a car with that sort of mileage has already endured a hard life and possibly needs alot of work and money spend on it. Thing is a low mileage cars can have endured the same level of treatment but people seem to be blinded by what the odometer reads and assume mileage is an accurate indication of wear.

I have no problem buying and running a high mileage car (I have in the past and it's still in the family) but you really need to be very selective in this country with what you buy, condition and service history would be more important than what the odometer reads to me.

To totally discard a well priced car just because the odometrer reading is considered high is madness imo.

You have a point, but it's much easier to find a low mileage car with little wear than a high mileage one. If 70% of Irish owners are hard on their cars, then it stands to reason that there's a fair chance of finding a car that had a less than careful owner. That being the case, the amount of wear with the same type of person after 100,000 miles is 4 times as much approx as someone who has had the car for only 25,000 miles.
Careful ownership and maintenance is certainly the key, but in any case thigns have a lifespan, and will wear out, and many things like this are expensive, with more complex suspension etc, so some people don't want the hassle of forking out and going to the trouble of fixing these things.
Might be easier to sell your 80k car while the Irish buyer thinks it's woth something and add 2k for it for a similar car with half the mileage.

znv6i3h7kqf9ys

I have a 1994 M3 with 146k on the clock. Runs like new due to being serviced every 6k through out it's life. Only issues were with shocks suspension etc.

Dades

Test drove a 06 today with 120k on the clock. Given my budget - it's that or a 04 older model with half the mileage.

It's an ex-company car, and the history shows all the scheduled services with oil changes, some belts (inc timing belt) replaced and some other bits.

Gonna have a mechanic check it out but frankly for the price (and trade in) I'm offered I'm left with a budget for some future necessities, so I'm probably gonna go for it. My own mileage in it will only be 5K a year.

CyberGhost

Never understood people who buy new crap instead of an older but a better car.

Dades

CyberGhost wrote: »

Never understood people who buy new crap instead of an older but a better car.

I assume you're equating 'better' with lower mileage? Surely there's more factors than that worth taking into account.

Resale comes into it too. A lot easier to sell the last model car, than one two models back I would have thought.

BlackWizard

Dades wrote: »

Resale comes into it too. A lot easier to sell the last model car, than one two models back I would have thought.

You can sell any car easily but that depends on the price. Infact you will be burnt more with new cars on resale prices than the older cars. Depreciation decreases overtime. So the two generation old model would loose very little when it comes to resale compared the new car that just lost 7k euro because he drove it out of the garage.

Dades

No doubt new cars are depreciation nightmares, but I (for one!) was comparing two used cars - newer models with higher mileage v older models with lower.

CyberGhost

Dades wrote: »

I assume you're equating 'better' with lower mileage? Surely there's more factors than that worth taking into account.

Resale comes into it too. A lot easier to sell the last model car, than one two models back I would have thought.

Actually with "better" I'm assuming a better car.

People buy a new Citroen or a Fiat or some other car like that that costs the same as a bit older BMW say.

BMW might have more mileage and be older but it's still going to be a much better car.

Dades

Ah sorry - I think I misinterpreted your other post!

Totally agree on the new car business. Otherwise I'd be looking a new Daewoo myself.

w123

My Mercedes 230te has over 400,000 miles, I bought it at 398,000 - has been well looked after and runs sweet as a nut.

I'll change the oil and filters every 3,000 and 6,000 miles and keep it forever.

Personally I wouldnt buy a car with more than 100k miles. My current car (318ci) I bought with about 85k and now have 120k on it. Its served me well so far(touch wood) with just servicing costs, a cam shaft sensor and replacing the front wishbones which happens with every e46 3 series. But I dread to think about how little it will be worth when I go to sell it next year and in a way I wish I had bought with less mileage at the start.

Also every time I look at the mileage I cant help but think some major problem is just around the corner, It may(I hope) be an irrational fear but its annoying all the same.

I would hope to not to buy a car with much more than 60k miles on it the next time.

Dades

Tristian Faint Detective wrote: »

But I dread to think about how little it will be worth when I go to sell it next year and in a way I wish I had bought with less mileage at the start.

Surely less mileage would have cost you more to buy in the first place - isn't it all relative?

CyberGhost

Dades wrote: »

Ah sorry - I think I misinterpreted your other post!

Totally agree on the new car business. Otherwise I'd be looking a new Daewoo myself.

Np:) forgot about Daewoo, Luca Brazzi would have to have a "chat" with me for me to consider that.

For a new Deawoo(15k?) you can pick up a very decent car.

Voodoomelon

Tristian Faint Detective wrote: »

But I dread to think about how little it will be worth when I go to sell it next year and in a way I wish I had bought with less mileage at the start.

Also every time I look at the mileage I cant help but think some major problem is just around the corner, It may(I hope) be an irrational fear but its annoying all the same.

I would hope to not to buy a car with much more than 60k miles on it the next time.

I used to think like that until I realised that if somethings gonna happen, theres nothing you can do about it. So enjoy the hell out of the car while you can.

DanFindy

I had a 94 turbo diesel Mondeo that did 390k and the speedo had been stopped for 3 months, i serviced it religiously every 5000 miles and apart from regular wear and tear items and getting the pump reconditioned nothin much else ever spent on it. Good quality oil of correct type for the engine and regular maintenance is the key!!!

SpannerMonkey

It's complete rubbish I had a BMW 316i that had 380,000 miles on it and I never had a spot of bother with it my next car only had 35000 on it when I got it and it broke my heart there was always something wrong with it , a friend of mine has a old BMW 728i with 690,000 miles and no problem and I know another guy with a Toyota carina with 600,000 miles no problems as long as a car is serviced properly there is almost no limit to it's life , only downside is the Irish mentality that once 100k is done it could die any day after that , and so resale price is terrible and it's not just that ,if a car has 100k kilometers sone the same mentality applies it's obviously going to fail soon even though this is only about 65000 miles , it's just the number 100,000 that instills fear in the Irish car buyer and it does my head in !!
Rant over :-)