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

[someguy360]

How the mindset with cars have changed over the decades considering 100,000 too high.

For the ridiculous expense of new cars these days I'd want a service life of at least 350,000km, yet people are fussing over 100k.

Back in the iron block (202, 308, Buick, Ecotec/304 days etc) I used to consider anything under 280,000km as a good used car buy provided it had been well maintained.

I used to run my dailies into the ground and average about 450,000km before I moved them on. I bought my Mrs a Kia Sorento Diesel that already had 180,000km on it as a daily and she drives 120km a day and relies heavily on it.


These days it seems that everyone seems to think 100,000km means that the cars already past a large chunk of it's service life. Is it a reliability thing or a mindset shift?

I feel it's due to our disposable society. Once somethings a few years old it's worthless and needs replacement. Most of my mates do leases now becaue they don't like keeping a car more than 3-4 years at a time because it's "outdated and old" by then.

I grew up in the era where a family would buy a car and then keep it in the family one way or another and hand it down over decades for a good 400,000km

IMO 100,000km is barely broken in.

 

[hademall]

One of my daughters is about to buy a 2013 Mazda cx 9 luxury model, providing she likes it after taking it for a test run over the weekend. It’s done 100,000ks, and apparently always been serviced.
The car at the moment belongs to her sisters husbands parents, so I would like to think they are confident the car is In good nick to be selling it to somebody they know.
I’d say that any car that age with less than 100,000ks with a good service record is not such a bad prospect, so long as you get it for the right price. I believe she may pay around $22,000 for this car if she goes ahead.
Have you negotiated a firm price, or is this the stealers asking price? If I wanted that car, I would walk into the stealers with 5 grand in cash, put it on the table and “say I’ll be back with a bank cheque for the other 16 grand following an independent test, and if all is to my liking I’ll pick the car up once you have detailed it and filled it with petrol”
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

[Pollushon]

I think the 100k thing came from the advent of the timing belt and just morphed into affecting anything with an engine these days, timing belt or not

@hademall - hard to go wrong with a Mazda of that vintage, quality made vehicles

 

[kiwiVF2014]

Thanks everyone for your input. Much appreciated.

Ended up checking it out in person and took it for a test drive. It was indeed very tidy, and amazingly, the service book had a COMPLETE service record from start until now, serviced by a Holden dealer every step of the way.

The car itself had a couple of issues - a vibration under heavy braking, and the steering response felt "loose" and light (not sure how else to describe it). Between this, the 105k service being due soon, no-name brand tyres on the car (front and rear axles weren't the same either), and the WOF/Rego all due in a month's time I wasn't feeling too impressed.

The dealer wasn't willing to move on price at all, so I've walked away for now.

Will keep looking!

 

[dassaur]

Thanks everyone for your input. Much appreciated.

Ended up checking it out in person and took it for a test drive. It was indeed very tidy, and amazingly, the service book had a COMPLETE service record from start until now, serviced by a Holden dealer every step of the way.

The car itself had a couple of issues - a vibration under heavy braking, and the steering response felt "loose" and light (not sure how else to describe it). Between this, the 105k service being due soon, no-name brand tyres on the car (front and rear axles weren't the same either), and the WOF/Rego all due in a month's time I wasn't feeling too impressed.

The dealer wasn't willing to move on price at all, so I've walked away for now.

Will keep looking!

The steering you describe may just be the difference between electric v hydraulic power steering.
I wouldnt describe it as loose but definitely light.
YOu should drive another car or vf with electric power steering as a baseline to compare.

 

[Forg]

I think the 100k thing came from the advent of the timing belt and just morphed into affecting anything with an engine these days, timing belt or not

@hademall - hard to go wrong with a Mazda of that vintage, quality made vehicles

I don't know how long @someguy360 is referring to, in terms of when the 100k km attitude came in, but I don't think it's changed in at least 40 years.
Talking to car-industry people who'd been in the industry for decades in the early 90's, they said that the exact same attitude USED to exist at 100k miles, back when everything was miles rather than kilometres. It's just a nice round number to mentally treat as a landmark.

In reality, any car these days will probably last at least 3x as long as anything that came out with an odometer in miles!
Well that's up until you get to the point where someone is willing to spend HEAPS more than the car's worth to keep it on the road, for example it's probably cheaper if you know what you're doing & particularly if you can weld stuff to keep an HR going than to keep a VZ going.

Considerably more people could be ditching cars as they approach the 100k km mark as cars have become so much cheaper than they've been ... certainly the cheapest they've been since the mid 70's for sure, but maybe even cheaper than the late 60's.
And interestingly, they're more affordable here than anywhere else ... https://www.drive.com.au/news/new-car-ownership-in-australia-the-cheapest-in-the-world-study/ ... that most definitely was NOT the case 3 decades ago!

 

[hademall]

I don't know how long @someguy360 is referring to, in terms of when the 100k km attitude came in, but I don't think it's changed in at least 40 years.
Talking to car-industry people who'd been in the industry for decades in the early 90's, they said that the exact same attitude USED to exist at 100k miles, back when everything was miles rather than kilometres. It's just a nice round number to mentally treat as a landmark.

In reality, any car these days will probably last at least 3x as long as anything that came out with an odometer in miles!
Well that's up until you get to the point where someone is willing to spend HEAPS more than the car's worth to keep it on the road, for example it's probably cheaper if you know what you're doing & particularly if you can weld stuff to keep an HR going than to keep a VZ going.

Considerably more people could be ditching cars as they approach the 100k km mark as cars have become so much cheaper than they've been ... certainly the cheapest they've been since the mid 70's for sure, but maybe even cheaper than the late 60's.
And interestingly, they're more affordable here than anywhere else ... https://www.drive.com.au/news/new-car-ownership-in-australia-the-cheapest-in-the-world-study/ ... that most definitely was NOT the case 3 decades ago!

I remember buying a new 1986 XF Falcon Station Wagon, bench seat column auto shift, when I first arrived in Australia. It cost me $18,500. It was a bit rough around the edges, but hey, it was the mid eighties!
Sixteen years later I bought a new 2002 AU Falcon Station Wagon. (Yes I know it wasn’t the most popular Falcon) The difference in paint, panel fit and overall reliability was immeasurable, and the cost was $30,000 which was so much more affordable at that time than the XF In 1986. Sixteen years further on I bought a new 2017 VF Holden Commodore Calais Sportswagon for $40,000, which is so much more technologically advanced, so much more stylish, so much more dynamic and so much more comfortable! But sadly I’m not so sure it will last anywhere as long as it’s equivalent predecessors. And I also believe that the ongoing maintenance and repair costs will inevitably far outweigh the costs of those equivalent predecessors.

 

[greenacc]

That 100,000km concept is 40 year old nonsense from the days rings and valves used to wear out soon after those miles.
My early 3.6 Alloytec has done around 290,000km and still runs like new. No doubt partly thanks my over servicing everything with the best fluids and treating it nicely but also because engines are built better than they used to be.
So many people treat their old cars like crap, scrimping on servicing or using cheap oil because it's old then wonder why the car runs like an old dog...

 

[HarryHoudini]

It all goes back to how it was driven and service record. 100,000 mainly highway K's is nothing,a car that has done 100,000 from mainly school runs is trouble especially VE/VF's ,the old Buick motor that was well serviced could rattle up(pun intended) 100,000K's and be barely run in.

 

[hademall]

I think the 100k thing came from the advent of the timing belt and just morphed into affecting anything with an engine these days, timing belt or not

@hademall - hard to go wrong with a Mazda of that vintage, quality made vehicles

WE had a 2012 Great Wall x200 (yes I know, I know) which was due to have it’s timing belt replaced late 2018, but then I thought maybe I should not push my luck by spending God knows how much to replace it, and then have to start replacing other stuff as it slowly or quickly fell apart.
Funny thing was my wife who drove the car most of the time said she really liked it and still misses it to this day, even though she’s been driving the VF Sportswagon since!
Strangely, I kind of agree with her!