Would you buy a 2 year old car that's covered over 125,000 miles? The car in question is a Honda Civic Type R. Apparently it has a full Honda service history. Only mod seems to be a Mugen induction kit...
If I was looking at say a 7 or 8 year old car that had 125,000 miles on it I wouldn't be that concerned but is it asking for trouble to have so much mileage put on a car in less than two years? Price of the car certainly takes into consideration the mileage: £7,000 verses £12,000 for the next cheapest.
I only really need a car at the weekend and would be little real mileage. What do you think?
Everything depends on the test drive. The only problem I can see is that as it's a Type-R it may have been thrashed to an inch of it's life.
Check everything works and that it handles and performs perfectly. There's no reason a 125,000m Honda can't be a good'un if those miles were easy miles, up and down motorways. If it doesn't feel right don't buy it.
Yes. As long as the price was right, and it was in good condition. The chances are that most of that mileage was done on motorways, which is considerably less wearing on an engine, than shorter trips over a longer period. It's 125k probably means it's engine, and mechanics are in better condition than an older car with the same mileage. Apart from that, being younger, the spec might be better than an older car that's only done an average yearly mileage. In any case, 125k is not a lot for a modern engine. IMO s/h cars should be baught on condition, NOT mileage, or how old it is. Mileage is only useful as a guide to what to look for. A BM I've just baught has 152k. The engine appears to be in perfect condition, as is the rest of the car. I think Honda engines are at least as capable as the BM units. Mike.
You would be hard pushed to rack up 62k/year if it wasn't mainly motorway use. Perhaps if it had been used as a taxi it would have managed it but it isn't your typical cabbies mount.
Go for it, that car has been serviced every 2 months! The mileage must have been long distance work, the engine WILL be in better condition than one with 30,000 of city driving.
Of course give it a good check over first for accident damage/repairs, and ask for the dealer details so you can contact them to verify the servicing.
I bought a 15 year old bmw with verified 108000 miles and loads of history ........... due to the fact that my mates bmw, also 15 years old, has done 300000 miles more, has less history, yet has still been reliable over the past 4 years.
Obviously, i persuaded the previous owner to let me do my checks (compression, crankfloat, underbody inspection). The only thing wrong is a tickety cam due to the infamous bolt on the oil spray bar working loose .... good for 300 quid off the price).
Go for it i say.
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Yes if it was a realistic price of around £900, it's not really worth any more due to high mileage, it's been well thrashed by a boy racer and will need a lot doing to it. Check the service history is genuine, a Honda garage will be able to compare it to details they have on computer. Anyone can get a book stamped. I got my car from a main dealer and the service history didn't match the book, very interesting indeed!
I would avoid it, buy another car, avoid ANYTHING with stupid boy racer mods on. Induction kits only suck hot air from around the engine and make the car louder.
That mileage practically guarantees that it hasn't been thrashed. No boy racer is going to rack up that kind of distance and, even if he did, accelerating madly away from traffic lights is not going to have featured heavily. Besides, I doubt you have to thrash a Type R to get anywhere. It will have spent time cruising on motorways. You can assume it's been serviced properly.
While I wouldn't usually approve of 'mods' to a car, a Mugen induction kit sounds pretty kosher for a Honda.
Sounds ideal. Other people's prejudice saves you £5000. I'm almost tempted myself, because on paper the Honda looks fantastic (it just looks deeply unfortunate in real life).
It's not quite so extreme but I once bought a 4 year old Uno 1.0 with
120,000 miles. Bloody brilliant buy; I got an H reg for the price of an F with normal miles and it was immaculate. Compared to an older car with the same mileage you're looking at less chance of it having been overheated, crashed or neglected.
Check it out. If it looks good and drives well with no noises or signs of wear, go for it.
A dirt cheap Uno with silly miles on it may have been a good idea, but, I'll repeat, would you _really_ want to spend £7k on a car that's done that kind of mileage? - by the time the OP comes to sell it, he'll struggle to even get people to come and look at it.
Assuming it is a garage sale, why not contact the original owner and ask what was done to clock up such a mileage ? He / she will fill you in with the info. They may also say if it has accident damage etc. They may also still have receipts for servicing, tyre purchases etc which would confirm the miles done and when.
Regarding any financial loss due to the high mileage, I would have thought that when you come to sell the car, you could afford to possibly throw it a way compared to the value of a similar aged car say 4 years down the line. Eg. what would a £12K car be worth then ? I would expect it to have lost more than you will have paid.
As a side issue it just makes me wonder how anybody could clock up this mileage in 2 years ? - must have spent most of his / her time on the road - when not in for servicing etc. ( car that is :-) I used to clock up 40 000 a year as a sales rep. in the good old days before snarl ups on the motorways but even then could only spend probably 4 hours or so actually seeing people . It was also in a different type of motor than the Honda Civic - which I would suggest is not your average fleet vehicle ..
Having said that if it looks and feels good and for the mileage you intend to do I would go for it !!!
Normally I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 2 year old car with 125k on it (at the right price of course), and Hondas are reknowned for their engineering quality. Also with that kind of mileage, it's likely to have had relatively few short journeys which kill engines quicker than anything else. The difference with this one is that at £7k, it might be cheap for what it is, but it ain't a cheap car. Most fleet fodder with this mileage on it is 2-3 grand which makes it easier to swallow the mileage, and any bills that might occur.
My main concern personally though would be the model of car. Being a Type-R, it will have been regularly revved past 8,000 RPM (there's no point having one otherwise - they're no quicker than a stock model below
6k) This means it WILL have been driven extremely hard, and probably spent a lot of time at stratospheric revs. If any engine will take this it will be a Honda one, but surely everything has its limits. Plus, you'll have the usual 100,000 mile plus replacements like shocks, suspension bushes, clutch (possibly), balljoints and such like which all needs to be taken into consideration. Fine on a £3,000 car but not so fine on a £7k one.
On balance I would be inclined to trust the Honda engineering and consider it further, but I'd have it thoroughly checked out and make some enquiries into parts costs before going ahead. Bear in mind, being a relatively new model, any engine component failures will mean new, genuine Honda parts and prices to go with them.
That's a fair point, although the delivery of the VTEC engine does render it necessary if you want to access more than about half of the available power. It's a fair bet that it's been up there on a fairly regular basis.
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