I am beginning the process of (thinking about) buying a new used car to replace the one I’ve got now.
I came upon two possibilities today (online, so I haven’t scoped 'em out in person yet):
–a 2008 model with 59,000 miles;
–a 2018 model with 116,000 miles.
They are essentially the same price.
My knowledge of cars is rather limited, and I am not necessarily going to make an offer on either of these, but I am curious what the masses think: is it better to have a six-year-old car with six digits’ worth of miles on it, or better to have a sixteen-year-old car with half that number of miles? Or does it depend entirely on so many factors that there’s no easy way to answer the question without seeing and driving the cars?
FWIW, the cars are Subaru Outbacks; the car I had before the current one was an Outback, and I liked it very much. But I’m curious about whether there’s any consensus on age vs. mileage for cars in general. Thanks!
Pure speculation, but I’d go for the 6 yo car. But I have a 17 yo car with only 20k miles on it that I can let you have cheap. (Just kidding, I am keeping it till it collapses.)
It has newer technological innovations, safety features.
For the older car rubber parts are going to deteriorate with age and the iron parts (particularly underneath) are going to rust and the paint is going to fade and the plastic interior (seat covers…) have gone through several more years of hot summers and cold winters and are also going to deteriorate.
Ask yourself how the two vehicles were driven? I think it likely the low mileage car had mostly local stop and go driving while the higher mileage car went on a lot of longer trips. And with local stop and go driving you have a lot of brake usage, transmission shifting–probably more than the newer higher mileage car.
I agree with all of this. I would definitely get the newer car despite the higher mileage. Not to mention the fact that 116,000 miles on a six-year-old vehicle is only a little more than the average.
I’ve had two vehicles that were driven into the ground, and both died due to corrosion issues that were unrelated to their mileage.
This. Highway miles are easy on a car: in addition to what you said, pretty much every time the engine starts, it runs long enough to fully heat up and dry out the oil, driving off all of the water that got into it during the previous cold start. You also get fewer cycles on everything else in the car, like door hinges/latches, seat belts, the starter, and so on.
Between the older low-miles car and the newer high-miles car, I’d take the latter, provided it had been maintained in accordance with the owner manual (regular oil changes, etc.), and provided that a mechanic inspection didn’t reveal any red flags.
My gf did work for one of the big lawn tractor companies. They even shot a commercial at our house. The agency had one of their tractors on display in their lobby.
When my gf switched agencies, they followed, and gave her the display tractor. I hauled it home in my trailer. It had zero miles, and had never even been started. It was 8 years old.
I changed the oil, put in a new battery, filled the gas tank, etc. Couldn’t get it to start. Changed spark plugs. Nope. Finally resorted to spray starter and got it running. In the year we had it I could never get it started without spray starter
We eventually gave it to a friend who does small engine work as a hobby/part time job. After tinkering around with it he eventually used it for parts.
IMO @PastTense nailed it. As did others of the same opinion albeit in less detail. Newer is the better choice.
A 16yo car with 59,000 miles is not even 4K miles per year. Either it spent a lot of years totally unused, or it got driven little. Both are bad.
A 6yo car with 116,000 miles is 19,000 miles per year. A bit heavy use, but a mere 42 mile each way commute to a normal Mon-Fri job would be that many miles even with zero driving on weekends. Assuming typical non-commute driving on weekends, we’re talking more like a 30-35 mile each way commute. Nothing unusual about that. Whether rural or suburban or urban.
A caveat for the folks saying “High mileage means lots of easy high speed highway mileage”. Maybe not, and even less so nowadays. Why do I say that?
Lots of commuting is done in stop-and-go or slow-and-go traffic. Which means lots of brake use, shifts between 1st and 2nd, etc. Not all highway travel is steady state 60+ mph. Many people have commutes where the mileage is in the 30s and 40s each way, but the speed of traffic means they spend 60-90 minutes each way each day covering those miles.
Uber/Lyft. Lots of ordinary looking cars & SUVs are racking up city / suburban driving miles at a furious pace per day since the driver is using the car 4-, 6- or even 8 hours per day to earn a living. And unlike a former taxicab or police car that indelibly looks like what it was/is, a former Uber/Lyft vehicle looks completely ordinary.
So a new question we should all ask the seller is “Did you Uber/Lyft with it?” Not a concern with a 2-seat coupe, but otherwise this is a real factor, and a new factor, in the used vehicle market.
IMO YMMV Caveat Emptor.
Experentially, by far the worst maintenance hog I ever owned was an 11yo car I bought with 44K miles on it. It had been the winter car left at the winter home of a part-time Florida resident. Stored raised up on blocks with a trickle charger attached ~8 months per year, driven lightly the other ~4 months. Even with ideal preservation, the list of stuff that had deteriorated due to age and non-use was long. Too long.
Low mileage older car will probably need major service soon on critical engine components. And unless the newer car has already passed those milestones with repairs completed it may also be in need.
I’d also consider number of different owners, where and how often the cars were serviced.
We bought a 2001 vw Jetta wagon for my daughter about 5 years ago, other than a new engine (needed one winter after hitting a block of ice,that wiped out the oil pan, dropped by a trucker in the middle of the hwy after dark in the wilds of the UP) it’s still her daily commuter. Needs a muffler, but it runs great She was third owner, it originated in the PNW it moved with 2nd owners to MI. They outgrew it and sold it. I recall our mechanic profited by several hundred bucks in getting it really roadworthy.
Personally I’d feel More comfortable with the newer model.
are parts still available for a 2008 model car? If it’s a model that was discontinued, then parts will become harder and harder to find.
Even if the “same” model name is being sold today, there are probably a lot of parts which are not the same as they were 13 years ago…
I’d buy the 2018 car, not the 2008
Probably the newer model. Engine and transmission wear corresponds well with mileage. The newer one doesn’t have very high mileage for it’s age though. Every thing else wears out with age. You can check the quality of the tires, shocks, CV joints etc. up front to a degree, but anything else can fail at any time, and does so with increasing frequency as a car ages.
Definitely. The average car is 12 to 13 years old, so certainly there are parts available for 16 year old cars–and lots of parts are also available from junkyards.
I bought my last vehicle almost exactly 4 years ago. I did quite a bit of research and found 2 vehicles that would fit my needs. The first was a 2014 Silverado with 22,000 miles on it. Almost all the miles were put on it the first 3 years of it’s life. The owner passed away and the truck basically sat till traded in on another vehicle in 2020. The second was a 2018 Silverado with 66,000 miles on it. Based on the condition of the body, the truck was driven hard and put away wet. The body shop at the dealer said it needed about $8,000 in body work. The Carfax only showed 3 oil changes since new, that also was a red flag. But it had a leather interior, power running boards and some other things the 2014 did not have. The 2014 was priced a bit higher than the 2018. I chose the older truck. 4 years later and I do not regret the choice. It only has 56,000 miles on it now and except for a rock damaging the A/C condenser, has been problem free.
This is the best response. Age and mileage are important, but there’s no substitute for a thorough pre-purchase inspection done by someone who knows the model and works for the buyer.
The vast majority of used vehicles are sold “as is” - buyer has almost no recourse if even serious problems appear post-sale.
IMO, the safety and convienence features of the newer car outweigh any mileage considerations. I just got rid of my 2010 and replaced it with a 2021, no comparison.
She was third owner, it originated in the PNW it moved with 2nd owners to MI. They outgrew it and sold it. I recall our mechanic profited by several hundred bucks in getting it really roadworthy.