Advice on car please!

[Lauren2905]

Hi all!
My VF commodore is closing 280,000kms and I’m getting a bit worried. I don’t want to sell because it’s been such a good reliable car with no issues so far but the kms are getting a bit too high for my liking! Any advice on what I can do/ what would be best?

 

[panhead]

Put a little piece of duct tape over the screen where it shows the odometer reading.

Duct tape fixes everything.






.

 

[daves8]

If it’s a series 1 V8, the lifters and springs could be replaced. The DOD lifters are a weakness at high kms

 

[J_D 2.0]

If it’s a series 1 V8, the lifters and springs could be replaced. The DOD lifters are a weakness at high kms

It’s a V6 going by the OPs profile.

 

[J_D 2.0]

Hi all!
My VF commodore is closing 280,000kms and I’m getting a bit worried. I don’t want to sell because it’s been such a good reliable car with no issues so far but the kms are getting a bit too high for my liking! Any advice on what I can do/ what would be best?

Have you kept the servicing up to it the whole time? If so it’s probably going to keep running just fine but it will get to the point where more and more things start to break, that’s just how things are with high mileage cars.

You really need to make a judgment call if your ok with putting more money into it on an ongoing basis and possibly biting the bullet and preemptively rebuilding the transmission (assuming it’s an auto) as that’s probably going to be the only big ticket weak point.

Having said that parts are now becoming more expensive for Holden’s in particular due to them shutting up shop. I’m putting my 2009 VE SSV in tomorrow to get one of the aircon lines replaced and the bill will be about $1000 as just the part is around $800.

If your the type that doesn’t want to worry about any of that and just want reliable transportation to get from A to B then it might be advisable to move on and get something newer with less mileage on it.

 

[Forg]

Have you kept the servicing up to it the whole time? If so it’s probably going to keep running just fine but it will get to the point where more and more things start to break, that’s just how things are with high mileage cars.

You really need to make a judgment call if your ok with putting more money into it on an ongoing basis and possibly biting the bullet and preemptively rebuilding the transmission (assuming it’s an auto) as that’s probably going to be the only big ticket weak point.

Having said that parts are now becoming more expensive for Holden’s in particular due to them shutting up shop. I’m putting my 2009 VE SSV in tomorrow to get one of the aircon lines replaced and the bill will be about $1000 as just the part is around $800.

If your the type that doesn’t want to worry about any of that and just want reliable transportation to get from A to B then it might be advisable to move on and get something newer with less mileage on it.

This is good advice IMHO, and I’d like to tack a bit more on.

Also consider the overall cost of replacement vs the requirement for reliability. At about 300k kms it’s not worth a huge amount more than it would be at 400k kms so I don’t think there’s a resale-related gain to be made from selling it now; however it’s very true that with age & wear the chances of things breaking will continue to increase.

I guess what I’m saying is … if you can cope with dealing with it if something breaks, then from an overall cost perspective the odds are that keeping it longer is likely better. No guarantee, but likely. Then if stuff starts breaking, fix & sell then.

But if you don’t want to cope with all the running-around etc of repairs when it happens, then it could be a good time to sell & get something non-VW & newer & with fewer km’s on it. Not urgent, but I’d start thinking about it, if the reliability is more important than the extra cost.

 

[Sam_100]

Agree with all the points above. The other advice I would provide is as things break on the car get them fixed as soon as you can so they don't pile up and you get a price shock to get it fixed all at once.

 

[RevNev]

Put a little piece of duct tape over the screen where it shows the odometer reading.

A couple of years ago, there was a barber on eBay offering VF haircuts, you'd send him your BCM, and he'd reset the odometer. He lasted a few weeks before his services were likely banned. It was an auto electrician shop in QLD and shocked me that someone was silly enough to advertise odometer roll backs on eBay.

 

[someguy360]

KM's are just a number.

I'll take a well maintained car with 300,000km over a car with no service history with 80,000km.

 

[RevNev]

KM's are just a number.

I'll take a well maintained car with 300,000km over a car with no service history with 80,000km.

The bloke I bought my SV6 wagon from recently, sent me pics of the book with every service done by a Holden dealer without me asking about the service history. Technically, he did maintain the car in the best way to his knowledge.