How many miles is to many miles? I need some opinions
01-02-2014, 05:35 PM
#1
1st Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 149
How many miles is to many miles? I need some opinions
Hey everyone, so I have been looking at getting a 2000-2004 Mustang GT for about 3 weeks now or so and I'm almost to the point of buying one and actually went to look at one the other day which is now making me want one more and I'm now way more impatient haha. Anyway, I found a few that are around the 80k mile mark but are about a 4 hour drive from me. I also found a few that are much closer that are almost at or just over 100k miles. All of them are stick. Being at the mileage they are all at I'm sure they will probably going to be needing a clutch before to long. But from what I'm seeing parts that you would think are normally pretty expensive to fix are really not to terrible on these cars due to them having a huge aftermarket. Clutches don't seem to be to terrible, flywheels are fairly expensive it looks like but not to bad. What other things may start breaking or wearing out around 100k miles on these cars? I'm just trying to decide if I should bite the bullet and drive to go see these other cars and hope I can get into them or if I should not really worry about it to much and save some more money and just get into the cheaper "higher" mileage ones. Then my payment would be lower since they are roughly $1000 cheaper then the ones that have less miles. I had a 96' thunderbird that had the 4.6L and after I got the tranny rebuilt it ran really strong for having 129k miles. I know a lot of it comes down to how the car has been driven in the past. Basically long story short, should I worry so much about mileage on these cars? I know I probably should think twice about a car that has 250k miles, but 100k? This will be a daily driver, and I plan to do some basic bolt on mods. But nothing crazy. I apologize for the slight rambling lol, thanks for any help and insight you guys can give me. I'm new to the Mustang world, so I'm just trying to soak up as much information as I possibly can.
01-02-2014, 06:18 PM
#2
TECH SAVANT
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Saint Augustine, FL
Posts: 10,938
Hey everyone, so I have been looking at getting a 2000-2004 Mustang GT for about 3 weeks now or so and I'm almost to the point of buying one and actually went to look at one the other day which is now making me want one more and I'm now way more impatient haha. Anyway, I found a few that are around the 80k mile mark but are about a 4 hour drive from me. I also found a few that are much closer that are almost at or just over 100k miles. All of them are stick. Being at the mileage they are all at I'm sure they will probably going to be needing a clutch before to long. But from what I'm seeing parts that you would think are normally pretty expensive to fix are really not to terrible on these cars due to them having a huge aftermarket. Clutches don't seem to be to terrible, flywheels are fairly expensive it looks like but not to bad. What other things may start breaking or wearing out around 100k miles on these cars? I'm just trying to decide if I should bite the bullet and drive to go see these other cars and hope I can get into them or if I should not really worry about it to much and save some more money and just get into the cheaper "higher" mileage ones. Then my payment would be lower since they are roughly $1000 cheaper then the ones that have less miles. I had a 96' thunderbird that had the 4.6L and after I got the tranny rebuilt it ran really strong for having 129k miles. I know a lot of it comes down to how the car has been driven in the past. Basically long story short, should I worry so much about mileage on these cars? I know I probably should think twice about a car that has 250k miles, but 100k? This will be a daily driver, and I plan to do some basic bolt on mods. But nothing crazy. I apologize for the slight rambling lol, thanks for any help and insight you guys can give me. I'm new to the Mustang world, so I'm just trying to soak up as much information as I possibly can.
================================================== =======
Hey everyone, so I have been looking at getting a 2000-2004 Mustang GT for about 3 weeks now or so and I'm almost to the point of buying one and actually went to look at one the other day which is now making me want one more and I'm now way more impatient haha.
Anyway, I found a few that are around the 80k mile mark but are about a 4 hour drive from me. I also found a few that are much closer that are almost at or just over 100k miles. All of them are stick.
Being at the mileage they are all at I'm sure they will probably going to be needing a clutch before to long. But from what I'm seeing parts that you would think are normally pretty expensive to fix are really not to terrible on these cars due to them having a huge aftermarket.
Clutches don't seem to be to terrible, flywheels are fairly expensive it looks like but not to bad. What other things may start breaking or wearing out around 100k miles on these cars? I'm just trying to decide if I should bite the bullet and drive to go see these other cars and hope I can get into them or if I should not really worry about it to much and save some more money and just get into the cheaper "higher" mileage ones.
Then my payment would be lower since they are roughly $1000 cheaper then the ones that have less miles.
I had a 96' thunderbird that had the 4.6L and after I got the tranny rebuilt it ran really strong for having 129k miles. I know a lot of it comes down to how the car has been driven in the past.
Basically long story short, should I worry so much about mileage on these cars? I know I probably should think twice about a car that has 250k miles, but 100k? This will be a daily driver, and I plan to do some basic bolt on mods. But nothing crazy.
I apologize for the slight rambling lol, thanks for any help and insight you guys can give me. I'm new to the Mustang world, so I'm just trying to soak up as much information as I possibly can.
================================================== =======
As for your dilemna, I would not even think about financing a 10 to 14 year old car unless I was to be the very well documented second or third owner. Run a CarFax report and if it has passed through more than one auction (or even one) walk away--it has something wrong with it.
Also keep in mind that very low mileage examples (< 50k miles) have not been driven enough and will have problems resulting from that. Higher mileage cars (> 125k) owned by more than two previous owners will likely have an undocumented and poor maintenance history--and maybe "beaten to crap" to boot...
01-04-2014, 10:35 AM
#5
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Georgia
Posts: 141
The truth is that you take a risk anytime you buy a used vehicle. Just try to go into the purchase with as much mechanical knowledge as you can and look for the most obvious things first. Try to take a test drive for a good 30 minutes to an hour and see how the car behaves. Other than that there isn't much else you can do. Odds are you're gonna learn stuff the hard way though. I know I have.
01-12-2014, 10:18 PM
#6
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Missouri
Posts: 76
A documented maintenance history is way more important then mileage. Some low mileage cars were just driven in/around town and hardly ever seen a highway; the worst you can do to a car.
If you don't know anything about cars take it to a Ford dealer for a PPI.
If you don't know anything about cars take it to a Ford dealer for a PPI.
01-13-2014, 01:27 AM
#7
4th Gear Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: DFW, TX
Posts: 1,925
I wouldn't worry about miles. I have a 2001 Nissan frontier with 95K miles on it, which are extremely low for a truck in Texas. It had 4 melted pistons, the carpets were full of dirt, the paint has etching all over it and the body has dings.
On the flip side, I have an 04 Saturn Vue with 180K miles on it and it's nearly perfect. I have a stack of records on it as well.
Just find one that runs good. Pro tip of the day, when buying from a car lot, always check to see if the Service Engine Soon light comes on when you turn the key to "on"
On the flip side, I have an 04 Saturn Vue with 180K miles on it and it's nearly perfect. I have a stack of records on it as well.
Just find one that runs good. Pro tip of the day, when buying from a car lot, always check to see if the Service Engine Soon light comes on when you turn the key to "on"
01-14-2014, 10:17 AM
#8
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location:
Posts: 1,817
I would recommend a car with the fewest number of owners in the mileage range you are looking at. The transmission will most likely be in better shape although not guaranteed. Inspect the car thoroughly and take a nice test drive that includes some highway driving, Look underneath for rust, etc.
01-14-2014, 07:23 PM
#9
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 128
last Reply
Your post is a giant glob of text that is more trouble to read than it is worth. In fact I had to format (see below) it to read it:
================================================== =======
Hey everyone, so I have been looking at getting a 2000-2004 Mustang GT for about 3 weeks now or so and I'm almost to the point of buying one and actually went to look at one the other day which is now making me want one more and I'm now way more impatient haha.
Anyway, I found a few that are around the 80k mile mark but are about a 4 hour drive from me. I also found a few that are much closer that are almost at or just over 100k miles. All of them are stick.
Being at the mileage they are all at I'm sure they will probably going to be needing a clutch before to long. But from what I'm seeing parts that you would think are normally pretty expensive to fix are really not to terrible on these cars due to them having a huge aftermarket.
Clutches don't seem to be to terrible, flywheels are fairly expensive it looks like but not to bad. What other things may start breaking or wearing out around 100k miles on these cars? I'm just trying to decide if I should bite the bullet and drive to go see these other cars and hope I can get into them or if I should not really worry about it to much and save some more money and just get into the cheaper "higher" mileage ones.
Then my payment would be lower since they are roughly $1000 cheaper then the ones that have less miles.
I had a 96' thunderbird that had the 4.6L and after I got the tranny rebuilt it ran really strong for having 129k miles. I know a lot of it comes down to how the car has been driven in the past.
Basically long story short, should I worry so much about mileage on these cars? I know I probably should think twice about a car that has 250k miles, but 100k? This will be a daily driver, and I plan to do some basic bolt on mods. But nothing crazy.
I apologize for the slight rambling lol, thanks for any help and insight you guys can give me. I'm new to the Mustang world, so I'm just trying to soak up as much information as I possibly can.
================================================== =======
As for your dilemna, I would not even think about financing a 10 to 14 year old car unless I was to be the very well documented second or third owner. Run a CarFax report and if it has passed through more than one auction (or even one) walk away--it has something wrong with it.
Also keep in mind that very low mileage examples (< 50k miles) have not been driven enough and will have problems resulting from that. Higher mileage cars (> 125k) owned by more than two previous owners will likely have an undocumented and poor maintenance history--and maybe "beaten to crap" to boot...
================================================== =======
Hey everyone, so I have been looking at getting a 2000-2004 Mustang GT for about 3 weeks now or so and I'm almost to the point of buying one and actually went to look at one the other day which is now making me want one more and I'm now way more impatient haha.
Anyway, I found a few that are around the 80k mile mark but are about a 4 hour drive from me. I also found a few that are much closer that are almost at or just over 100k miles. All of them are stick.
Being at the mileage they are all at I'm sure they will probably going to be needing a clutch before to long. But from what I'm seeing parts that you would think are normally pretty expensive to fix are really not to terrible on these cars due to them having a huge aftermarket.
Clutches don't seem to be to terrible, flywheels are fairly expensive it looks like but not to bad. What other things may start breaking or wearing out around 100k miles on these cars? I'm just trying to decide if I should bite the bullet and drive to go see these other cars and hope I can get into them or if I should not really worry about it to much and save some more money and just get into the cheaper "higher" mileage ones.
Then my payment would be lower since they are roughly $1000 cheaper then the ones that have less miles.
I had a 96' thunderbird that had the 4.6L and after I got the tranny rebuilt it ran really strong for having 129k miles. I know a lot of it comes down to how the car has been driven in the past.
Basically long story short, should I worry so much about mileage on these cars? I know I probably should think twice about a car that has 250k miles, but 100k? This will be a daily driver, and I plan to do some basic bolt on mods. But nothing crazy.
I apologize for the slight rambling lol, thanks for any help and insight you guys can give me. I'm new to the Mustang world, so I'm just trying to soak up as much information as I possibly can.
================================================== =======
As for your dilemna, I would not even think about financing a 10 to 14 year old car unless I was to be the very well documented second or third owner. Run a CarFax report and if it has passed through more than one auction (or even one) walk away--it has something wrong with it.
Also keep in mind that very low mileage examples (< 50k miles) have not been driven enough and will have problems resulting from that. Higher mileage cars (> 125k) owned by more than two previous owners will likely have an undocumented and poor maintenance history--and maybe "beaten to crap" to boot...
01-14-2014, 07:30 PM
#10
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 128
Mileage
Hey everyone, so I have been looking at getting a 2000-2004 Mustang GT for about 3 weeks now or so and I'm almost to the point of buying one and actually went to look at one the other day which is now making me want one more and I'm now way more impatient haha. Anyway, I found a few that are around the 80k mile mark but are about a 4 hour drive from me. I also found a few that are much closer that are almost at or just over 100k miles. All of them are stick. Being at the mileage they are all at I'm sure they will probably going to be needing a clutch before to long. But from what I'm seeing parts that you would think are normally pretty expensive to fix are really not to terrible on these cars due to them having a huge aftermarket. Clutches don't seem to be to terrible, flywheels are fairly expensive it looks like but not to bad. What other things may start breaking or wearing out around 100k miles on these cars? I'm just trying to decide if I should bite the bullet and drive to go see these other cars and hope I can get into them or if I should not really worry about it to much and save some more money and just get into the cheaper "higher" mileage ones. Then my payment would be lower since they are roughly $1000 cheaper then the ones that have less miles. I had a 96' thunderbird that had the 4.6L and after I got the tranny rebuilt it ran really strong for having 129k miles. I know a lot of it comes down to how the car has been driven in the past. Basically long story short, should I worry so much about mileage on these cars? I know I probably should think twice about a car that has 250k miles, but 100k? This will be a daily driver, and I plan to do some basic bolt on mods. But nothing crazy. I apologize for the slight rambling lol, thanks for any help and insight you guys can give me. I'm new to the Mustang world, so I'm just trying to soak up as much information as I possibly can.
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