Looking to buy a used CR-V. Wondering what mileage cap I should use. The common rule is a not overly-used car should have mileage less than 12K x age. But pretty clearly, more mileage is worse. But what cutoff should I use? I’m reluctant to consider cars with over 50K miles. Sensible?
Depends on how many miles a year you’re expecting to put on the CRV but they’re pretty robust and I would rather have a well maintained example that had a service at least once a year over a lower mileage CRV with little or no service history.
1 Like
Mileage and maintenance and years are the big factors in my book. An 03 with 50k miles is a worse bet than a 2019 with 100k miles imhop.
2 Likes
That is something that will differ between most everyone to some point… I like to buy a vehicle that has some factory warranty left, even if it is only a few thousand miles left on it, my last purchase had 12K on it ad only about 10 months old. But I have bought many 2 and almost 3 years with a remaining warranty…
I have also bought many 5-10 plus year old vehicles with no warranty’s left…
It all depends on your budget, I looked for the newest lowest mileage vehicle I could find in my budget this last time…
Good luck hunting…
As said, the CRV’s are built well and to last for years to come…
Are you kidding me??? Most used vehicles being sold have over 100,000 miles, and over 150,000 is not uncommon. I would assume that the design life of a properly-cared for vehicle is 250,000 miles, so anything under 200,000 miles should (in theory) give me at least 50,000 usable miles.
And of course, depending on age, high miles might be acceptable. For example, if I’m looking at a 30-year old car, it’s probably going to have over 100,000 miles, and might have over 200,000 miles. If a car that old only had 50,000 miles, it would likely be less reliable, and have more problems than a similar model with 150,000 miles.
If buying used is a concern then look for something new that is in a price range that you are comfortable with .
1 Like
Newer and lower mileage are almost always a better bet. They often mean better condition but not always. Find one in your price range with your preferred trim level and take it for a long test drive. If you still like it have your favorite mechanic do a prepurchase inspection. If you still want it then negotiate a price.
I sold a 12 year old Accord in 2017 with 187,000 miles as a trade in and the salesman told me that the used car manager declared my Accord V6 the best 12 year old car he’d ever seen. I did all the required maintenance and changed the auto trans fluid every 40,000 miles. I am not suggesting that you should buy a high mileage car, but you certainly should consider CRVs with a little over 100,000 miles, especially if you put on less than 15,000 miles per year.
Yes, that is the AVERAGE mileage a car gets in the US but…
This is not always correct. Why? A 2 year old car with 50K miles is not a problem. To achieve 50K, the car likely saw a lot of very easy highway miles fully warmed up. The same car with 12K miles in 2 years likely made a lot of short trips which are hard on a car. The point being, mileage is not the only consideration.
I’d be very wary of a 10 year old car with 35K miles… so 3500 miles a year average. That is a lot of 1 mile trips to the market and church - the legendary “little old lady” car.
Condition is everything and that takes a professional pre-purchase inspection to identify. It isn’t fool-proof, but it is far better than relying solely on mileage.
3 Likes
Similarly, when I traded-in my 12 year old Outback, after driving it and putting it on a lift, the manager actually gave me more for it than he had originally stated that he would give me. It had 145k+ on the odometer, but it looked–and drove–like a very new car.
Yeah budget and previous usage. I’ve bought everything from 12 miles to 120,000 and never been disappointed. Ya just expect to spend some time and money catching up on maintenance. My Pontiac was a one year old rental return with 30,000. I knew it must have been on the road with that mileage and not around Boston where it came from. One of the best cars I ever bought.
Not kidding. I’m looking at Edmunds and Carmax and they have a lot of cars with mileage less than 50K. Obviously age is another factor. Not clear why an old car with few miles is necessarily less reliable. That makes no sense. It should be obvious that I’m not relying on mileage as the only factor. This is for a case with limited funds and zero maintenance experience. Yes, getting a used car with some warranty left is optimal, but those cars are MUCH more expensive, for exactly that reason. You pay one way, or you pay the other.
As already stated, an older car with few miles likely had lots short trips which don’t warm up the engine enough to drive the water and blowby gasoline out of the oil, resulting in poor lubrication if not changed frequently. Long highway trips put much less wear on the engine (and suspension, too), even though they result in more miles.
3 Likes
Just saying, the car I bought with 100,000;miles at a good price, I ran it up to 520,000 miles.
1 Like
I’m always far more concerned with how a car was maintained, instead of how many miles it has.
Several higher mileage cars I’ve bought (over 75,000) have given me long, trouble free service. The idea of a car being worn out at 100K miles nowadays is quaint. Most cars out there are prob only halfway through their useable lives at 100K miles. I think they’re great deals, IF you can review the maintenance history first.
But, literally, your mileage may vary. Seems like some folks can’t stand an occasional rattle, scratch, or scuff.
@DougieL, we don’t know you. Nothing is obvious.
3 Likes
One w/fewer miles indeed may be more reliable, provided the fewer miles driven were freeway miles. If they were stop and go short trip miles, that itself doesn’t make the car unreliable, but the concern about short trips is that water from the combustion process can mix with the engine oil and corrode the engine’s internal parts. Longer trips at higher speeds heat the oil enough to evaporate most of the water. A short trip car can still be as good or better as a long-trip car provided the oil and oil filter are replaced frequently. Taxi cabs last a long time. And part of the reason is the Taxi cab companies usually have their own shop, and use it to replace the oil and filter frequently.
2 Likes
My concern with new(ish) cars that have unusually high mileage is the suspicion the owner didn’t take as good care of it. Rode hard and put away wet… So I don’t like either extreme.
3 Likes
Selecting a vehicle based on one parameter like mileage is as foolish as selecting a wife based on hair color. All things considered I’d rather buy a one owner 100,000 car from one owner than a 50,000 mile from a 3 owner car.
Any machine has it’s “design life” but that’s greatly affected by the usage and owner’s maintenance.
3 Likes
It is a myth.
Approximately 20% of the customer’s vehicles I see for maintenance are low mileage vehicles driven less than 5000 miles/year. Driving 20 miles round trip for work each day doesn’t harm the vehicle. I see vehicles like that in the shop for annual maintenance, 15 years/75,000 miles and no opportunity to sell repairs.
When I work on a vehicle that is 2 years old/50,000 miles, I find a LYFT or UBER decal on the windshield. They spend all day in city traffic.
3 Likes
Dad put 65k on a 2007 Crv in 12.5yrs serviced every year at the dealer with notmal wear items replaced. Dealer put it on the site for 2x what they paid (kbb trade in)