Car question: Is 120,000 miles too high?

[veeeffarr]

Yo,

Found someone off of the Celica owners club that's selling a Celica GT (1998) for £1800, only problem is that it has 120,000 miles on it.

The guy's an enthusiast (He owns about 4-5 Celicas and is always buying them) and he was going to use this one to advertise his new business (A Celica website!) before he bought a GT-Four...

Would 120,000 miles put you off? He says it has partial service history, but seems really handy with the spanners (He put a mint interior in the car when he first got it)

Cheers

[Cigaro]

For a Toyota, if it's been looked after, I wouldn't say it was too high.

[Keir]

should be fine. celicas are pretty reliable.
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[D O G]

It seems about right for the age, but then again, it is still 120k. Should be ok I guess if it has been maintained properly, how long do you intend to keep it? How many miles are you going to put on it?

If you are going to run it until it dies over the next few years, then don't worry about it, but if you intend to sell after a year I would have thought a lower mile car would be a better bet for resale.

[rotax81]

120,000 is average for 10 years. it wouldnt put me off.
just do the usual checks to make sure it isnt worn.
i got my 3 year old audi with 99,000 on it, its now done 147,000 trouble free miles
on the other hand my brother had a GT4 and that was the most unreliable car he owned. that obviously wasnt treated well.
(it started life as castle coombes pace car)

trial and error really with a 10 year old car
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[Misc]

My car (2000) had 125,000 miles on it & ran just like new, didn't have 1 problem through the year that i owned it. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Madmanx]

Normally the body will rot before the engine seizes.

Like Diesel transits.
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[Mr Nice Guy]

Who is it on CCUK?

My Celica has 111k now (i think) and mechanically is fine. Belt is due every 63k/5 years.

Body is galvanised, only real place you'll get rot is at the bottom of the doors as there is a waterway there and it gets blocked and rots from inside out.

Given up on the sensible first car route then?
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[MarJay]

Does it have a turbo? If its normally aspirated then people have seen 200,000 miles plus on a 3S-GE engine (same as the MK2 MR2).

The 3S-GTE (turbo) on the other hand might not be great. A new turbo would sort it though.

On The MR2, with that kind of mileage you're looking at changing the suspension bushes and possibly shock absorbers before you'll need to touch the engine. If its got a service history then even better.

I had a 120k Mazda MX3 and it was fine apart from the distributor which was a known issue. I don't see it being much of a problem if the car has been looked after.
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[Ant]

[Harold_Shand]

Yes it is too high, you need to spend a lot more if that's the type of car you want. Is 2 grand your budget?

You could get an '02 Suzuki Swift with 20-30k miles, full history for that. Why, for the love of god, don't you get a reliable little runner for your first year? Celicas will still be around to buy next year.
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Harold_Shand's theory might be the best explanation.

[Al]

I sold my old 92 Celica GTi a couple of months ago with 204,000 miles and it was still going strong.
Infact it was probably the most reliable car I've ever had
That was the second 3s-ge powered Toyota that I've owned the first was an MR2 and that had pretty high mileage aswell.
Really like the 3s-ge motor its nice and revvy, seems to be a bit thirsty on fuel though given that its nippy rather then out and out fast.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/big_al/P3240002-1.jpg

I wouldn't worry about the mileage at all, but I would still try and knock him down from £1800 though, Its a buyers market and a highish mileage Celica with incomplete history isn't going to be the easiest car to sell.
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[iCraig]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

120k is nothing if it's been looked after.

Mate has a Golf that's done 152k, makes some funny noises, but it's still ok.
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[Kickstart]

Hi

Wouldn't worry about the mileage. Still don't think spending more than a min on your first car, let alone a sporty car, is a good idea.

Put it this way, think about the problems you had with the GS500. And how many of those are due to user inexperience.

All the best

Keith
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[trevoriv]

Did some marketing work recently with a guy from Toyota and he told me that an internal aim within the company is for all non consumable parts in a toyota engine to last at least 200,000 miles.
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[veeeffarr]

[Kickstart]

[veeeffarr]

[Kickstart]

[D O G]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Ford_Fiesta_Mk2_Maroon.jpg

You know you want me.

(I know I do).

[Mr Nice Guy]

Parts prices for the Celica are pretty expensive, around £110 for HT leads for example, a nightmare to find the correct bits for some of them (the one listed is not always correct - I had an absolute nightmare trying to source a thermostadt several years ago)

Got help you if you ever bump the body work (not that one would with a first car) - even on ebay your talking over 100 quid for a rear bumper.

Don't want to nudge the front, as its not a bumper its an entire nose cone... £600 unpainted for a new one.

ABS sensors go - no other car uses same, and they are rather expensive too.

Exhuast is over a grand for standard, I searched everywhere and the cheapest I could find was £1062ish, £400 for a boy racer Powerflow jobby.

etc

etc

etc
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[Drew]

[Mr Nice Guy]

I know the bit you mean, mine is meant to have the flexi according to the manuals of all the garages I went to, however, it doesnt!!!



Such a pain in the ar5e sometimes.
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