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Is 100,000kms too high for buying second hand?

kiwiVF2014

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I'm from Auckland, NZ, and a local dealer has an automatic V6 2014 Holden Commodore VF Calais for sale with 99,821kms on the odometer.

I've come from a background of owning low KM Japanese cars (I tend to sell them on around the 70,000KM mark), so this is the first time I'd be buying something with 100,000 KMs.

It's priced at $24,990 NZD and is from a big dealer chain. I'm very OCD when it comes to servicing my vehicles, but buying something second hand means I'm taking a risk on an unknown service history with this Calais.

I guess I'm just nervous that buying something with high KMs is going to cause me problems.
  1. What are the servicing intervals for this year and model?
  2. Is it being sold at just under 100,000kms because a lot of work is due shortly?
  3. Are there any reliability issues I should be aware of?
  4. Am I being paranoid?

Appreciate any insight!
 

Anthony121

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I'm from Auckland, NZ, and a local dealer has an automatic V6 2014 Holden Commodore VF Calais for sale with 99,821kms on the odometer.

I've come from a background of owning low KM Japanese cars (I tend to sell them on around the 70,000KM mark), so this is the first time I'd be buying something with 100,000 KMs.

It's priced at $24,990 NZD and is from a big dealer chain. I'm very OCD when it comes to servicing my vehicles, but buying something second hand means I'm taking a risk on an unknown service history with this Calais.

I guess I'm just nervous that buying something with high KMs is going to cause me problems.
  1. What are the servicing intervals for this year and model?
  2. Is it being sold at just under 100,000kms because a lot of work is due shortly?
  3. Are there any reliability issues I should be aware of?
  4. Am I being paranoid?

Appreciate any insight!
I sold my Calais V V6 after 4 years with 80k kms. The car was immaculate and only sold it as I ended up with 3 cars. The new owner got a bargin and a awesome car serviced at 7500 kms intervals. Nothing wrong with the car and I have seen it a few times. They have children (so do I) and the car is not the same condition as I sold it interior wise. If the car has been looked after, then shouldn't be an issue.
 

kiwiVF2014

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I sold my Calais V V6 after 4 years with 80k kms. The car was immaculate and only sold it as I ended up with 3 cars. The new owner got a bargin and a awesome car serviced at 7500 kms intervals. Nothing wrong with the car and I have seen it a few times. They have children (so do I) and the car is not the same condition as I sold it interior wise. If the car has been looked after, then shouldn't be an issue.

It does look to be in very tidy condition, and the dealer advised it has only had two private owners - one for 5 years and one for two years, so at least I know it hasn't been passed around constantly.

Do these have common issues I should be aware of and/or does 100,000kms mean it is due for a major service overhaul?
 

Anthony121

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It does look to be in very tidy condition, and the dealer advised it has only had two private owners - one for 5 years and one for two years, so at least I know it hasn't been passed around constantly.

Do these have common issues I should be aware of and/or does 100,000kms mean it is due for a major service overhaul?
For the V6 you would want to make sure the oil change history at least every 15,000 kms
 

Banjo79

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I wouldnt touch one over 50k km's unless its had 5-7500km oil changes, which would be rare to find. Do a search of sidi engines with sludge and know that's what you could be purchasing. If you had 15% more $$$ to spend, you could buy a new crate engine to go with the car purchase, store it for when/if needed and sleep easy. 3.6l crate engines are so cheap (compared to v8's) it's painful.
 

Anthony121

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As I said I changed my oil every 7500km's which was every 3-4 months when I have my Calais V. Previous V6 VE was the same as well as my VZ. The VZ we had for over 10 years with no issues and that was sold with over 125,000 kms. VE was sold at 105k kms with no issues. Only upgrade because of lease. Now I have my Redline nearly 5 years old and have no idea what to replace it with.
 

gossie

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With an immaculate service history it should be fine.
Sit down with the books on your own and study them carefully.
There is no such thing as a full or big service on these cars, it’s just all about following the books and doing what’s needed at the intervals. Read, study the service books and you will understand.
Correct fluids are also VERY important and make sure they have been used throughout its life.
Good luck, nice car if it’s been looked after properly.
 

Skylarking

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Factory service interval is 15,000km or 9 months, whichever comes first.

Many consider that the factory intervals are not enough and there should be an interim oil and filter change between factory service. Maybe that’s hang up from issues with the earlier V6 and their stretched chains and the fact they’d gunk up internally … DI engines also gunk up the back of their intake valves so some fit oil catch cans to alleviate the problem…

There should be a service booklet that comes with the vehicle and it would list what is done at each service on a tear off page that leaves a stub within the book. That stub should be filled in when the vehicle was serviced (km & date) and who serviced it (name, stamp signature). (I prefer to see the service receipts as they have much more relevant info)…

Such a service booklet would show whether the service was timely or the vehicle was neglected. If the book isn't included and a Holden dealer can’t pull up service history (and service receipts), then that should raise alarm bells. Added to that, if you can’t contact the previous owners to discuss the vehicle condition, service and crash repair history, then I’d simply walk away as there should be lots of cars out in dealer land…

As for issues with the car, look at the following link

http://australiancar.reviews/reviews.php#!content=recalls&make=Holden&model=Calais&gen=1143&pno=0

For comparison, the earlier model is below

http://australiancar.reviews/reviews.php#!content=recalls&make=Holden&model=Calais&gen=324
 

Forg

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Chucking an opinion out there ... but no Commodore is built as well as almost any Japanese car. There are exceptions (hello 2.4L Suzuki engines and under-gearboxed turbo Subarus), but in the main a Commodore's build-quality is lower & hence IMHO the "mechanical risk" is higher.
I should also say that this may not be quite as true with Japanese grey imports that've all had the odo wound back from "150k kms on salted snowy roads" to "40k kms only driven on sunny days" ...

It used to be the case that the overwhelming availability of cheap parts counteracted the build-quality thing ... whether that's still true, I don't know.

Having said that, the immaculately serviced 10yo 100k km VS 3.8 Berlina was one of the most reliable cars we had. Crank angle sensor problem when we bought it, it admittedly did an engine at ~180k kms & 20yrs due to bad luck (well combo of poor design & bad luck - blocked sump oil intake), but then I once sold an AE82 Corolla Twin Cam with ~170k kms on it & the transaxle needed replacing just before I sold it & I saw it for sale 9 months later with a "new engine" ... and Corollas are supposed to be super reliable.

In short - if it has a full service history & everything's working well now, I don't think it's a high risk purchase.
 

Pollushon

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The LFX v6 had a bunch of bugs ironed out from its predecessors. It's a pretty solid motor as long as the oil has never run low for extended periods and been changed per interval. It's existed long enough to prove there are no catastrophic flaws if maintained and that you can push 200+ kms out of them
 
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