Motorway mileage defender

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Gooldie

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Hello

Considering changing my P38 range rover for a 2011 2.2tdci defender, one that I am looking at has a substantial mileage for a 2 year old car (75,000 miles) is there anything in particular I should be looking at or asking. How often should it have been serviced with that sort of mileage? Am I asking for trouble buying a car with such a high milage?

It's going to be a 3rd car for me so will probably only cover 5,000 miles a year under my ownership

Any advice would be great
 
Us lot in the UK seem to have a massive aversion to high mileage vehicles, provided it's been looked after, it'll be no difference to a low mileage one :)

I guess it's because we don't drive the amount of miles Americans, Aussies and Afrikaners do because we live on a tiddly island.
 
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I wouldn't treat it any differently to a high mileage car in respect of what to look out for.
History.. maintenance records and long mot on purchase with a good look at the advisories listed, if any. Oh and HPI cleared.

If all that's fine and you want to be extra cautious. Arrange for a garage of your choice to give it a once over.
 
Gooldie said:
Hello

Considering changing my P38 range rover for a 2011 2.2tdci defender, one that I am looking at has a substantial mileage for a 2 year old car (75,000 miles) is there anything in particular I should be looking at or asking. How often should it have been serviced with that sort of mileage? Am I asking for trouble buying a car with such a high milage?

It's going to be a 3rd car for me so will probably only cover 5,000 miles a year under my ownership

Any advice would be great
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What sort of price are you looking at? I bought 2011 2.4 Puma 9 month ago with only 1,800 miles on the clock, so there are very low milage ones out there.
 
Gooldie said:
Hello

Considering changing my P38 range rover for a 2011 2.2tdci defender, one that I am looking at has a substantial mileage for a 2 year old car (75,000 miles) is there anything in particular I should be looking at or asking. How often should it have been serviced with that sort of mileage? Am I asking for trouble buying a car with such a high milage?

It's going to be a 3rd car for me so will probably only cover 5,000 miles a year under my ownership

Any advice would be great
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nothing wrong with a high miler...... better than a low miler
 
how can you say that its not a problem to have a high mileage car??? :confused:

Answer is you can't!

High mileage means the car and everything on it has done that mileage too. Even if its a motorway miler, its still done alot of mileage which means things will be worn.

Bushes, seals, engine, exhaust, bearings, seats. Dont forget the re sale value if you change our car.

Yes it probably has lots of life left in it but when your neighbours car is running nicely and yours is starting to go wrong then you might have a different opinion.


As people have said, there isnt anything wrong with buying a car with higher mileage, i frequently do. But there is a trade off, cheap price vs maintenance.

You have to weigh up whats worth more - your time or your wallet.
 
Low miliage car never get to operating temps causing moisture problems in the engine. Cars sets for long time oil drains off the parts, acids build up in the oils and people dont do oil changes. Oh I have only done 2k miles this year no need to change oil so 3 years latter they have done the oil change, Engines sit for along time and you got stuck piston rings and valve seats can and do rust from lack of use. Brake drums and rotors rust up and glaze the brakes. Grease get hard from setting for long periods. The list goes on
 
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I have found short runs, especially if the enginedoesnt get fully warmed up, can be far worse than high mileage. Stop start driving is loading the brakes, gearbox and clutch all the time, on the mway tis only the engine and box working at a steady speed, and nicely at temp. wih thin oil.
I had a saab 9000, at the time I was up and down to Aberdeen all the time, it was carefully maintained. It had done 276,000 sweet as a nut. Shame the body and interior were hanging by then:D
 
my Passat did 186k in my ownership, 90% sat on cruise doing 70mph original clutch and dmf, it's still going strong with its new owner with over 250k on
 
A very well maintained car with 100-200K on it is much better than a car with 40 or 50K on it with only the bare essentials done and drawn out service intervals.


Cars that sit parked for most of the year will have surface rust on all the underside componets, bushings and any perishables will deterioate when they get disturbed, brake-fluid will be contaminated and a whole host of other problems unless in a very dry garage and also maintained while in storage by giving them a spin every so often.


Good servicing is much more important. Granted on newer vehicles, they haven't seen many winters so a higher mileage one needs to be backed up with service history as oppose to one the same age but with much less on the clock.

Anything over 5 or 6 years old though, The mileage on the clock is probably the last thing I'd worry about if everything else is perfect.



Good case in point, I looked at a '06 Defender before mine and it was very rattly and there was lots of transmission play even with only 30K on it. Only good thing about it was there wasn't a ding on it but that was it.

The one I got had 157K on it and drove far better plus was much better speced and both were more or less the same price too!
 
DaveM-sport said:
A very well maintained car with 100-200K on it is much better than a car with 40 or 50K on it with only the bare essentials done and drawn out service intervals.


Cars that sit parked for most of the year will have surface rust on all the underside componets, bushings and any perishables will deterioate when they get disturbed, brake-fluid will be contaminated and a whole host of other problems unless in a very dry garage and also maintained while in storage by giving them a spin every so often.


Good servicing is much more important. Granted on newer vehicles, they haven't seen many winters so a higher mileage one needs to be backed up with service history as oppose to one the same age but with much less on the clock.

Anything over 5 or 6 years old though, The mileage on the clock is probably the last thing I'd worry about if everything else is perfect.



Good case in point, I looked at a '06 Defender before mine and it was very rattly and there was lots of transmission play even with only 30K on it. Only good thing about it was there wasn't a ding on it but that was it.

The one I got had 157K on it and drove far better plus was much better speced and both were more or less the same price too!
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Agree 100%, Being underused is far worse than overuse. Often the feather edges of seals round shafts will stick to the metal shafts, so when the motor is started again it will leak oil everywhere possible.:(
Buying an old car esp. landy, mileage would be the last thing I would worry about, I look for condition, and the mindset of the previous owner regarding the vehicle.
Years ago we used to service and mot a Rover 2000 for an elderly gent who seldom did 300 miles in a year. Always amazed us how much could seize up in a year :D
 
Im not saying don't buy one I'm just saying you have to look at both sides of the coin.

There are pro's and cons.

A motorway miler might not be on and off the brakes as much as a city run around but covering say 100K on a motorway. how many times has the owner hit the brakes, changed gear, how many times have they been on and off the throttle causing any slack in the drivetrain to build up.

There is a science to buying a car and it isn't as straight forward as "there isn't anything wrong with a high mileage car"

Just saying ;) :D
 
High mileage and frequent use is better for the car than short stop starts and low mileage all day long, if used on short journeys all the time they never get to temperature and wear parts much more.
What's better, sitting on a motorway for thousands of miles in 1 or 2 gears mostly, with everything up to temp or start stop, running cold, your oil in all the working parts not to operating temps? Causes a lot of wear.

I used to show RS Cosworths in concours, I bought an RS500 in 2004 with 22k miles from new, had been sat in a museum for 12 years, although mint the car was a nitemare and cost me thousands as part after part let go while friends of mine with cars touching 200k used there's with no hassle whatsoever, a little different but still along the same lines.
 
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