Buying a used car, probably going to have 100k on it given my budget, what cars give me the best chance to double that? (tires, drivers)
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The nice thing about buying a 100K vehicle is that any manufacturer's defects should have manifested themselves and been repaired by this point. If a modern car is running well and has been reasonably well maintained pretty much any of them should make 200K with continued care.
Obviously I plan to keep up with regular maintenance on whatever I get. Worth noting that I'm very tall (6'7) so I NEED legroom, so a smaller/compact car probably isn't going to cut it. Other than that I have no real preferences. Thanks in advance.
Honda Accord, Pilot, or Oddesy. No problem getting you to 200k plus miles.
You are about my height and I can tell you that you definitely will not fit in a Camry. You may not fit in an Avalon, if you have a long torso. I would have purchased an Avalon, but my head hits the roof. The leg room is pretty good, but there is no head room. Toyota tried putting me in 6 different Avalons and none of them had enough head room.
I purchased another Buick instead. I have had LeSabre's and a Park Avenue. Ended up in a Lucerne and it has worked out fairly well. I think you could also fit in an Impala and probably a LaCrosse would work fine. I have put over 225,000 miles on all of the Buicks I have had with no engine or transmission problems. This Lucerne is holding out well. The Park Avenue was exceptional as it had next to no mechanical problems. The side benefit is that these vehicles will get about 28 mpg on the highway. I change the transmission fluid once a year and do the oil changes etc. Bad news though, people don't want sedans anymore and they are going away slowly. I purchased these vehicles with about 100k miles on them.
When you start shopping and sitting in vehicles you will realize how limited your options are.
Obviously I plan to keep up with regular maintenance on whatever I get. Worth noting that I'm very tall (6'7) so I NEED legroom, so a smaller/compact car probably isn't going to cut it. Other than that I have no real preferences. Thanks in advance.
I'm 6'5 and am very comfortable in a Kia Soul. It has it has 100K on it when I bought it and todate, needed nothing. I drive from Montana to Florida each winter and back, and so far I've done that trip twice. I'd buy the car again in a second... best I've had.
And especially avoid those with an automatic transmission -- folks try to sell them just before the AT fails, and they are really expensive to fix or replace.
When did this happen? I owned a small automatic Mazda truck for 17 years. The only thing the transmission ever needed was a $50 cap.
Honda timing chains do not require maintenance. They're easily good for a half million miles or more. I'm unsure why VW chains break or need replacement as early as they do.
Most Volkswagen engines have timing belts, with a replacement schedule every 80k or 100k miles (some are 110k miles I think). They do not break if replaced on time with quality parts.
Personal experience: I bought a used Prius a few years ago. I think it has a lot of head/leg room relative to a subaru outback and even a forester. I was closing in on 200K with no problems to speak of when someone totaled it in a parking lot. I bought another Prius for less money/more miles. It is now nearing 200K with no problems.
Also had a Honda CRV, 2004, that was nearing 200K and ran well. my daughter totaled that one and we will eventually be buying her another (perhaps older) one.
It is rare that we have not gotten 200K out of a car. In other words, you can get anything if it is in decent shape and you keep it maintained. Here are some examples from our experience:
2006 Chevy Express conversion van - currently 209,000 miles and going strong.
2009 Dodge RAM 4x4 pick up Currently about 160K miles I will keep it for another four or five years, so it will get to 250,000
2002 Chevy Express Van - died at 220,000 miles.
2003 Saturn ION - this is a post staturn saturn (in other words a rebadged chevy cobalt). It was a cheap car when new my son bought it for $500 at 240,000 miles. Drove it to 268,000 when the plastic steering gear stripped out.
1998 Volvo - went to about 280,000 miles.
2003 Ford Ranger - traded it at 210,000 miles to a young guy in exchange for some work on the Volvo. (Brake lines blew out and needed some other hugely time consuming work, so we were not going to fix it.
1996 Chrysler Sebring Convertible. At leasst 278,000 miles. Odometer is broken. Son bought it last summer for $700. Still running and driveable/driven, but it has some issues you just have to live with.
1994 Lincoln Town Car - This was right about 200,000 miles when the transmission started acting up and the after market alarm system started preventing starts from time to time. Traded to the same kid for more work on other cars.
1995 (I think) Thunderbird LX (v-8 version). At about 180,000 miles, my son had this at the same time as the Saturn. I told him the had to get rid of one of them. he chose to keep the Saturn for the better MPG (35-50 vs about 18- 28). Saturn is dead, we still see the T-bird around town at times. It has been several years so it is over 200K buy now. oops.
2006 Volvo wagon - this is either just shy of 200K or it just turned over. I do not remember. It is starting to get problemy and will be replaced as soon as my daughter can afford to replace it.
There are another three or four I am not feeling like exercising the mental energy to remember what they were.
One I remember form my brother was a ford ranger he drove to 310,000 the sold still running and sort of drivable (totally rusted out though). It was from the early to mid 1990s I think.
Some cars that did not get close to 200K: Three mid-1990s Dodge GrandCarvan/Town & Counry. All of them had transmission failures at about 100K (or less). One we had the trans rebuilt and it lasted about as long as the warranty on the rebuilt trans. 1996 Camaro Z28. Lasted 19 years, but only had about 110,000 miles. LT 1 engine with a lot of stupid design mistakes. 1998 Mercury Sable - a daughter got it dirt cheap at 43,000 miles. Trans failed at about 80,000. 2003 Toyota Corolla. trans failed at about 140,000.
While it is a mixed bag, almost any modern(ish) car can/will get to 200,000 miles.Looking at very used cars for kids, we often see cars for sale with over 200,000. Pickups sometimes with 300,000. Rencelty I saw one (Chevy) at over 440,000 and they still wanted $10,000 for it.
Side note, while visiting a Dodge dealership to have some key fobs programmed yesterday, I was shocked to see the prices on the Jeep Wrangler/Rubicon. Base $38 k, but all of them were over $42K as presented. Then I saw a 2014 with 56K miles and it was $26K and this one was the top model with every possible option (and 5 brand new tires). Other than some rick chips on one rear fender, it was pretty much perfect. Huge drop!
We also saw a 2017 Charger for $25K when the equivalent new one was stickered at over $40K. I did not see how many miles on it though.
Prices fall fast on some vehicles.
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