I'm in the hunt for a V6 limited 3rd generation and am wondering what the concensus is here in regards to high miles? I know a lot of owners have higher mileage vehicles with no issues but my question is would you buy a 300,000km/ 200,000 mile 3rd generation Rav4 or would you be patient for a lower mileage Rav4. Prices seen to be somewhat consistant here in BC 150,000-200,000 kms V6 are around $12,000 cdn whereas 300,000 km V6's are around $8000 cdn both cars maintained in a similar good fashion. . So about $4000 difference. I know repairs can add up fast so would a higher mileage car at a lower price be a false sense of value if you have to put a few thousands in for repairs? What are your guys thoughts? Am I just over thinking this whole purchase thing? Should I expect repairs in a 300,000 km car?
High mileage 300km/200k milesyeah or nay?
Suncoast
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I'm in the hunt for a V6 limited 3rd generation and am wondering what the concensus is here in regards to high miles? I know a lot of owners have higher mileage vehicles with no issues but my question is would you buy a 300,000km/ 200,000 mile 3rd generation Rav4 or would you be patient for a lower mileage Rav4. Prices seen to be somewhat consistant here in BC 150,000-200,000 kms V6 are around $12,000 cdn whereas 300,000 km V6's are around $8000 cdn both cars maintained in a similar good fashion. . So about $4000 difference. I know repairs can add up fast so would a higher mileage car at a lower price be a false sense of value if you have to put a few thousands in for repairs? What are your guys thoughts? Am I just over thinking this whole purchase thing? Should I expect repairs in a 300,000 km car?
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My rav is 240kmiles and
I've gone more than 500 km with my V6, driving at 65-70 mph. I think I could reach 580 km...
I've gone more than 500 km with my V6, driving at 65-70 mph. I think I could reach 580 km...
No, honestly this is a fallacy that lot of folks run into. It would be better to buy a car with 150,000 miles vs one with 50,000 miles. There are certain issues that only show up later, so if a car is driving fine at 150,000 miles, buy it. A car at 50,000 miles might have been abused and it may never make it to 150,000 miles, etc. Plus it will be cheaper.
What you say doesn't make sense. Sorry, I disagree.
How does it not make sense?
If someone abuses an engine or transmission early on, some issues generally do not not show up until later. If a car is driving perfectly fine at 150,000 then you basically know almost for certain that it wasn't abused early on. Reason being is that said car would NOT have made it to 150,000 miles if it has been abused or messed up. I've using numbers pulled out of the air, you could compare 30,000 to 90,000 or whatever you want, etc. This does not mean a lower mileage car is always bad, but you have no way to really know what was done to a car when it was young.
In additional: Specifically with Toyota's (and hell even some Fords), assuming maintenance is done and there is no abuse, there is no difference between 50,000 miles and 200,000 miles to the majority of their engines and transmissions (especially Aisin Warner Transmissions). You would never be able to tell the difference between the two unless you saw the miles or someone told you.
In fact as a side note: 2nd gen Tacoma's had a design spec of 450,000 miles. This was straight from Toyota themselves.
With that said, I've never purchased a toyota with less than 100,000 miles and I've driven them all to over 200,000 miles with zero issues. If you want to pay twice the price to get a car with half the miles, go ahead but it is just a waste of money at the end of the day. The only exceptions are overall crappy quality cars like Kia and such, lol
If the car has 150,000 miles and looks like crap (is abused or has issues) then obviously don't buy it. But, if it runs and drives perfectly fine, buy it.
Again... that is a fallacy. No mechanic can tell you whether or not some kind of "sleeper damage" has been done. The only way to do that would be to inspect the inside of an engine or transmission which is obviously not possible without doing a full tear-down which would not make sense... You could buy something with 50,000 miles, have a mechanic check it and say it's good, and then have a major failure 20,000 to 50,000 miles later. I'm not saying every car with 50,000 miles has "sleeper issues", but there is no way to know until you drive it for a long time. If a car has made it to 150,000 and runs like a top, then you know it would not have made it this far if it was abused. And again, it doesn't have to be exactly 50,000 and 150,000 by any means... This is just for example. And again in all seriousness, just about every car after like 1990 can easily reach 200,000 miles (toyotas will go much further) if they are taken care of. Toyotas typically had higher quality parts and would survive longer without maintenance.
If someone has the money and acknowledges this, they can do as they please, but saying "lower miles = no issues" is illogical and this should not be spread around. This is exactly why people are afraid to flush a transmission these days. "A flush ruins your transmission! Don't do it!" Etc, this nonsense spread like a wildfire. This was another fallacy. ALL transmissions need to be flushed around 40,000 to 60,000 miles. There is no such thing as a lifetime ATF. If you flush one, and it "suddenly fails or starts having issues", it was already ruined. They become ruined when you do not replace aging fluid. The flushing did not "cause the failure", it just showed you the failure that was already there.
TL;DR
Lower Miles does not always equal less issues.
Flushing a Transmission does not ruin a good transmission. (since I mentioned it above)
A good Toyota (not the cheaper ones or hybrid nonsense) will easily go 450,000 miles and beyond if you do ALL of the maintenance.
So, if you can get a cheaper one with more miles (that obviously drives well and has no issues) buy that and save money.
good luck
Lower mileage is better as long it is properly maintained. High mileage is ok if maintained properly and is very cheap in price with many parts replaced. So the key is that the vehicle is maintained properly but without knowing this information any car can be expensive to repair. The higher mileage vehicle will have more parts that are worn (damaged) or near its end of life. An engine that have long oil change intervals may have high oil consumption problems. Owners that don't change their transmission oil can have shifting problems or failure down the road.
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