Should I Be Worried About High Mileage Cars?

[JoeWright 1]

Hi everyone, new to this model of car but have had lots and lots before, all mainly classics to be honest. I am currently looking for a 205 gti but most of the cars in my price range 3-4k seem to have high mileage ie over 100,000.

Should I carry on looking and steer clear of these cars or am I worrying to much. I don't want to be buying a car that is going to end up costing me lots of money straight away.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

All the best

Joe

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

Buy on overall condition. A 130,000 mile vehicle with comprehensive history, good body in the usual problem areas and a tidy interior is a better buy than a 95,000 mile vehicle with rust, minimal history, a knackered beam etc etc.

 

All IMO of course.

[Anthony 1,003]

Personally, I would buy on condition first and foremost. Mileage is quite far down my priorities.

 

These cars are all 20+ years old now so what you're looking for is one in the best condition possibly, particularly body wise as most of the oily bits are easily and comparatively cheaply replaced if needs be. Poorly repaired accident damage, significant rust or extensive paint/lacquer issues are rather more costly to resolve, and be warned that some trim is now getting quite costly to replace, particularly on early Phase 1 cars.

 

Most 205 GTi's are now well North of 100k miles and I wouldn't personally deem that to be high mileage, so you're really limiting yourself looking for a low mileage example IMO. That said, if mileage is important to you, then be patient as there are still lots of sub-100k car out there - obviously check the paperwork to ensure that the mileage is genuine though.

 

What you do need to see on a higher mileage car is a stack of history showing that it's been maintained and, hopefully, that the major jobs you'd expect have been undertaken to keep it in fine fettle.

 

There is a lot of over-priced tat out there in my opinion, so it pays to be choosey.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Do your homework is my advice. For the price range you describe I would expect to see detailed history with evidence of major works such as rear beam rebuild, and replacement of wearing components such as wishbones, driveshafts, wheel bearings, etc. Additionally the body should be free of rust in the few major hotspots, with a tidy interior.

Sadly with prices of late going up, there are some nice genuine cars out there that are probably worth the money, versus some neglected original examples that have been maintained on a shoestring, and finally some utter piles of rubbish with wildly optimistic owners and pricing. Your challenge is to sort through the above and find a good one. Remember that these cars are all at least 20 years now, and due to that if they are still wearing such as their original dampers (many will be) then they will be very much past their best, and for a car acclaimed for its handling this is not a good thing.

[Hheppy 9 1 Cars]

Joe, I bought mine around 18 months ago, same price bracket as you Dan's advice is spot on.

 

I looked at a few old nails before I found the right one, I suppose having owned a couple of 205 GTi's in the early 90's was a big help.

 

I ended up with one which had done just over 130k miles, but had receipts showing a lot of work to the engine and bodywork and a considerable folder of history too, proof really that it has been well maintained and I have even found pictures from a previous owner on a blog on the net showing how much hard work has been put into it.

 

Happy hunting!!

Edited November 11, 2014 by Hheppy

[ATK 140 1 Cars]

Wouldnt worry about Mileage at all, history and maintenance counts for alot more as people have said. My old cherry red was lowish miles but was nowhere near as good mechanically as my current steel grey which I bought on 180k miles

[JoeWright 1]

Hi again,

Thanks very much for the advice everyone. It all seems to make sense and I obviously have some work, albeit fun work, to do. I'm not overly concerned with mileage and I know condition is important but I wondered how these cars fared at 100k miles plus as I have never owned one before. By the sounds of it as long as they have been looked after then they will be okay.

Thanks very much people.

Joe

[jeremy 70]

Personally mileage means little, as my car has 90k on the clock and mechanically afaik only the head is original. So go on condition receipts etc.

[dcc 855]

Higher mileage cars to me shout that theyve been services more frequently and better looked after to have lasted that long. I have had a 182k gti and a 75k gti, the high miler had less rust.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Low mileage cars could mean they're that unreliable they've never been on the road!, a good example is old golfs! always sky high miles because they run forever hardly ever breakdown. On the other hand old lancer evo's, imprezas, pulsars all they types always seem lower than average for a good reason they're always knackered!

[Andy101 4]

I'd agree with the advice so far, condition is far more important as is history. The cars I've had have varied hugely in condition and mileage and not always as you'd think. Have a look at quite a few, you'll soon work out what's a good car and a bad car as there are lots from both ends of the scale on the market. You should be able to find quite a tidy rot free and mechanically sound car for your budget. Good luck.

[JoeWright 1]

Thanks again everyone

[welshpug 1,657]

most important thing is to either look for as good a shell you can, and change the mechanicals as necessary, or be/know a good fabricator & welder.

[notamondayfan 44]

What the clocks say might be wrong anyway, so unless it's backed up with a good paper trail, then it's simply a number.

[lagonda 42]

notamondayfan makes a good point. It's easy enough to change the instrument binnacle on these cars, so not even necessary to fiddle with the speedo to clock the car.

My CTi has now done over 215000 miles...I rebuilt the engine at 160,000. Just back from a round trip to the UK, probably done over 2000 miles in 4 weeks including 640 miles in one day. No mechanical worries, just electrical issues. To be honest it's the crap electrics you need to worry about, and low mileage isn't a factor really in that regard.

[JoeWright 1]

Hello everyone, i'm picking a car up on Wednesday. Happy days. I will let you know how it goes

[dcc 855]

Whats the reg on it#

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Hello everyone, i'm picking a car up on Wednesday. Happy days. I will let you know how it goes

 

What's the mileage?

[JoeWright 1]

 

What's the mileage?

130,000 full service history. Fingers crossed it's alright

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

more importantly....whats the corrosion like?

[erbs 42 1 Cars]

when i got mine, there is a little rust but main fault that engine was goosed, overall i think body work is more important, an engine can be stripped and parts easily sourced, if you got a shell that shot to pieces kind of defeats the object of buying it in the 1st place.

 

my pug is just shy of 100.000 being a B reg i thought that was quite low, means nothing now as i have rebuilt the engine from the ground up

[FilipK 0]

That is also my worry - for cars that are around the same age, you can find a surprising variance in mileage, some being as low as 60k, others not far from 190k. I guess the only way is to go with the previously mentioned attitude - just examine the car regardless of mileage.

I am currently looking at a 190k one which is fairly local to me, the owner seems pretty confident that it is mechanically sound, need to examine the shell now.

[unariciflocos 49 1 Cars]

Bought mine with 60k on the clock and it was a real pig, engine completely destroyed (thrust bearings were supplemented with coffee tin cutouts), had to replace a sill as I could poke my finger through it, needed full respray, aftermaket el cheapo dampers all around.

All depends how it was looked after and the good ones are easy to identify.

[jackherer 543]

IMO the vast majority of 205 GTIs have had their mileage altered, unless there is continuous documentation to back up what the clocks say you need to assume the worse.

[unariciflocos 49 1 Cars]

Agreed, mine had all the service log and all the invoices, how it got to that state I can't imagine. Wasn't tricked into it though, I knew what I was buying as GTIs and Rallyes are a pretty rare sight on the continent.