Looking at buying a Toyota Tundra 2001 SR5 V6 4 door extra cab. vehicle was used to commute 250 miles daily. The mileage now is 293000. Regular maintenance has been done. Asking price is 3400. should I take a chance? How many more miles will this engine go?
Whew! At that mileage, if it runs well and doesn’t smoke, then the engine is the least of your worries. Ball joints, U-joints, steering components, brake components, transmission and -if applicable- transfer case health. THOSE are what I would be looking at.
Did the owner replace this truck with a helicopter, or a small airplane?
If you be mechanic, and love trucks, …OK.
Under the circumstances that the truck has been driven, I think you can buy it even if the engine falls apart the next day. There is little risk at that price and you will have no worries about the quality of any future work done to it. A V-6 doesn’t cost as much as the V-8 to replace anyway. Just don’t buy any expensive extras for it.
Unless the owner can provide receipts for thousands of dollars worth of recently replaced parts this means you’re going to be the one replacing parts from stem to stern. Even if the engine itself only had 10k miles on it the entire truck and chassis has almost 300k.
You can bet a decent tech could put that rig on a rack and find a dozen things wrong within 20 minutes.
Too much money IMHO; way too much, unless the owner can pony up a box of receipts and then it’s at least worth considering. Maybe.
This is the kind of vehicle you buy if you need a truck as a second car; not to be driven much, and use for the occasional hauling. As a daily driver I would say “NO”. As others point out, the chassis and everything else has gone around the world nearly 12 times!
The commuting was relatively easy on the vehicle, but you don’t know the kind of maintenace this truck has had. If it is an area where there is alot of snow there will be a lot of rust on the underside by now.
The present owner is really smart; he has had excellent service out of hte vehicle, but with his commuting style it is obvious time to trade.
Even though it has almost 300k miles are most Highway Miles??? If so…highway miles are far less stressfull then city miles.
You can take a chance…but I think $3400 is too high. You just never know with a vehicle with that many miles. The guy could have owned a paper route which would account for the high miles…and put tremendous stress on the vehicle.
This is why I hate the fact that people use mileage as their primary gauge as to how much wear and tear a car has seen.
293,000 miles done 250 a day likely means highway miles. The engine was likely running at a good operating temperature, near constant rpm, the transmission was likely not having to shift much at all…
Its the suspension that probably would have seen the most wear and tear.
But around here, 1 mile jaunts on city streets will beat a suspension up more than a 20 mile run on the highways. The highways are nice and smooth. The surface roads shouldn’t be called roads.
I mean really, given the following options, which vehicle saw a rougher life? 1) A 5 year old sedan with 250,000 miles that saw a 100 mile daily commute on interstates. or 2) A 10 year old sedan with 100,000 miles that saw daily commutes of 2 miles each way on surface roads with 15 stoplights in between?
There’s far more to how a vehicle is wearing than just the number of miles…
I vote with those that say the price is too high for the mileage and the mileage too high to consider it a reliable daily driver. While highway mileage is easier than in-town mileage, the rest of the truck has the full 293,000 miles. And if maintenance was not fully kept up the engine too could have the effects of high mileage. 50,000 of those miles could have been with a misfiring cylinder. Or with a vibrating wheel.
And it is, after all, eight years old now.
too much!
Amazingly, this is an excellent price. Go to Edmunds.com or KBB.com and check out the expected price. The mileage penalty is hefty at over $2100, but the price is about $7800 before the mileage deduction or additions for options. You didn’t say what options are on it, so I added a sliding rear window, 4-wheel ABS and an automatic transmission. The anticipated cost for this truck in clean condition is about $6300. That leaves about $3000 for any repairs to make it a “clean” truck. BTW, clean means that there are no major problems, just minor wear and tear. Get a mechanic to check it out. It might need brakes, tires, suspension parts, or anything else that wears out. Do you think that the truck needs a timing belt/chain? The $3000 could evaporate pretty quickly, but $3400 could be an excellent price.
Good assessment! However, if the mechanic checks the truck out and pronounces it clean & sound, it still leaves the new owner with limited “remaining life”, as engineers and accountants say.
In buying anything used, the remaining life is the important consideration. If this was a small GM model (S10), its estimated remaining life would already be over
So the $3000 for repairs and replacements gets gobbled up very quickly if this is used as a daily driver. In my previous post I suggested it would make a good second car if it checks out mechanically, for low use.
With that mileage, I would offer $1,500 at most and that is only if it is in really good condition.
I buy nothing but high mileage vehicles and that seems like way too much money. Even if the engine is in good shape, other things on the vehicle are getting worn out. This will shortly become a money pit. When I get rid of a vehicle at 240K, it is pretty much worn out. I wouldn’t want to sit in a seat with almost 300K on it.
Excellent post, JT, but I still think the mileage is too high to trust for a daily driver. In addition to every system on the truck having the full effect of 293K the engine peripherals including the alternator, AC compressor, water pump, ignition system manifold, cooling fan(s), fuel delivery system, etcetera all have 293K.
The idea that highway mileage is easier than city mileage applies to the engine internals and the starter, but the rest of the truck is high mileage. $3K could dissolve pretty easily.
But your post and your reasoning was outstanding.
When talking about other components such as the compressor and alternator, might time be just as important if not more important a factor than milealge?
A car driven 250,000 miles at 75 mph has been “on” for 3,333 hours.
A car driven 133,320 miles at 40 mph has also been “on” for 3,333 hours.
With that said, I would also rather have a car driven on smooth highway for 250,000 miles than I would a car driven by most people on city streets, especially where I am in the midwest. A lot of the wear on suspension components comes from potholes, turns, and stop and go driving. Most of this is avoided with highway mileage. I have seen Toyota’s and Honda’s almost 10 years older than the truck being discussed here with the same mileage and a much rougher life.
I am not saying one way or the other, but I just wanted to share my thoughts. All I’ll say is, its a gamble. You might regret not buying it just as much as you might regret buying it.
To many miles,even thuogh there hiway, this truck has seen it’s best days.The last guy that asked me this question bought the vehicle any way and later came back to tell me I was right,It nickel&dimed him to death.
What are these trucks selling for in your area with far far less miles on them? Things wear out- this millage has a;;ot of wear on it… i would look for one with a lot less miles as 3400 is still a llot of money to me for a worn mostly out truck.