I am looking at a 1991 Toyota as a starter car for my daughter - it has 400,000 miles on it. Am I crazy to even think about it? Also does anyone have a step by step guide on what I should be looking for when buying a used car? I am a single woman with a little experience about motors. I can pull the oil cap to see if it is smoking, things like that. Any more advice?
Yes you are crazy. Even Toyotas pass the point of no return SOMETIME. Why saddle a kid with something that is likely to be a real problem? Dig a little deeper and start your kid off with at least SOME reliability.
Crazee...like the song. Willie was singin about you!lol. I think you could do better. 100-200k mi. would be acceptible on a well cared for Toyota or Honda. Here's a couple of guides, what one don't have the othern' will.
400k is too much!
Look for a Corolla with about 250,000 less....
Be sure the odometer hasn't been rolled back.
Your best bet, Traci, (and this goes for ANYONE buying a used car who is not terribly knowledgeable about these things) is to take whatever car you are looking at to a shop and spend some money on having a technician look it over. The ideal would be to take it to the dealer of whatever make you are considering and have one of the used car technicians inspect it. The reason I suggest this is in addition to looking at mechanical items, these techs are also trained to spot past accident and flood damage. The dealer I works for charges around $80.00 for this service. Very cheap insurance to avoid costly headaches down the road.
Are you nuts?
Of course...
Well, this might sound sexist but it really isn't...by what you say about 'the oil cap' my sincere advice to you is to find a man among your family or close friends to find a reasonable used car for you and your innocent daughter...as to why I don't find this sexist is that women (IN GENERAL) don't usually enjoy messing with old cars and men are much more apt to be of that bent.
By the same token, if I wanted to know something complicated about some recipe, then I'd be more likely to seek the advice among the gentler sex...see?
Forgot to ask...her age?...school?...job?...
I would be wary of buying a car with that many miles on it only because you don't know the service history and maintenance work that has (or has not) been performed. If the seller has complete records, or is a relative whose word you can trust on things like that, that's one hurdle passed.
If you check the car yourself and think it's a good deal, you still need to go get it checked over thoroughly by a local mechanic that's an expert in older Toyotas - you might spend $50 to $80 on it, but the inspection can save you a whole lot more. Compression and leakdown tests, pre-test the emissions on a smog machine, look over the body and suspension for imminent problems, check the brakes and axles, etc. And if there are major problems brewing either pass on that car, or get one hell of a bargain price on it figuring you will have to fix those items yourself soon.
Toyota's will keep running well long past 400,000 miles, you can drive them effectively forever if they are well cared for - but that means jumping on $500 maintenance items like a new timing chain and chain guide kit as they come up /before/ they become terminal. (The slack timing chain wears through the inside of the timing cover and dumps coolant into the oil on the 20R and 22R motors, and then you have a big mess to fix.)
Systems and parts will wear out, that's normal - just fix them and keep driving. It might need a manual transmission rebuild at 500,000 and a new steering gearbox at 600,000...
And eventually you'll have a million miles on it and it'll be due for an engine overhaul. Then you get it back on the road and start on the next million miles.
But let the little repairs go for too long, then they break and cause major damage, and suddenly it's cheaper to scrap the car.
IMHO the only real reason to scrap a car is if it rusts out from under you, or it does not meet your needs any more (as in a growing family). If the car does what you need it to do (get you and your stuff from Point A to Point B and back) and you can still get repair parts for it, keep driving.
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You sure tippee toed through THAT minefield, there, Gord. lol
-hbuck
"hbuck" wrote: snip
I can't get this old living among women unless you pick up the odd clue... :)
lol. You made me realize though, thats' one field the gals haven't gone into. I've never even seen one (female auto tech).
-hbuck
I've seen two female techs.
Well, we even had a female aircraft tech way way back...lessee now, T'was 1951, in the fall...she was an AET on Lancasters (Aero Engine Tech) where I worked for a couple years...
"Traci" wrote: > I am looking at a 1991 Toyota as a starter car for my daughter > - it has 400,000 miles on it. Am I crazy to even think about > it? Also does anyone have a step by step guide on what I > should be looking for when buying a used car? I am a single > woman with a little experience about motors. I can pull the > oil cap to see if it is smoking, things like that. Any more > advice?
you have all been great help - i think with the advice i have received, i will pass on this specific car - BUT you can guarantee i will seek more advice on this site - it was a eye catcher at $400 but the white smoke was a real turn off
White Smoke??? Did you mention White Smoke before? I don't think so.
Just the sign (probably) of a blown headgasket and a $1200 repair! On a car e/400K????
Scrap is currently $127 a ton...
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