Low mileage or high mileage?

[Perfectionist]

I'm a new member but a long time Lexus owner, fan, and enthusiast.  I am considering buying another pre-owned GS350, maybe 2007-2010...YOUR opinions are appreciated on "mileage":  I'm looking at 50k cars and 120k cars.  Naturally the 100k ones cost less than the 50k mileage examples.  I'm using CarMax as my search dealer. 

Question:  Since I put about 60miles/day on my cars, is it SMART to buy a 100-120k mile GS350?  I drive an older Accord as my commuter vehicle and Honda reliability is right up there with Toyota-Lexus. My thought process is I would have a hard time buying a nice GS wiith 50k miles and then putting 60miles/day on it.  Does that make sense?  I like to baby and preserve my cars but I want something nice to drive everyday. 

What do you guys think? 

 

[1990LS400]

The costs of running low miles and high miles cars equals out to some extent.  A higher priced lower miles  car "should be" more trouble free and require fewer repairs than a less expensive higher miles car.

I think it comes down to your personal preference.  If we were all "smart", we might be driving a Toyota Prius like my CPA wife does.  It's a fascinating super reliable high tech / high economy vehicle with radar cruise control and automatic braking but nobody would call it fun to drive.

Except for one rarely driven 2-seat zoom car and not counting the cars my wife has driven, I drove only three vehicles from 1979 until 2014:  1979 Mercedes sedan from new to 210K, 1990 LS400 from new to 183K, 2000 LS400 from 38K to 179K.  So ... my method has been to buy fairly nice new vehicles or low miles used vehicles and drive them every day until the wheels fell off or they started requiring too many repairs or when I started thirsting for newer technology.  Some people like to change cars often.  We buy cars like we invest:  "Buy and Hold".

Only yesterday when I tried to get my wife to test drive a Tesla Model S as we walked by the Tesla dealership, she chided me about how much I have spent on cars during our 40 years together.  I reminded her that it seemed that she enjoyed riding in them a lot and I reminded her of how few cars I've bought.

What works for us doesn't work for everyone.  Do what you want!

 

[Perfectionist]

2 hours ago, Perfectionist said:

Thank-you 1990LS400; I was a service advisor for Lexus about 9 yrs ago and I love the product.  Your advice makes sense and you are right: do what I want!  sometimes my sensibilities overshadow my wants...but in this case I think I will try to find a lower mileage pre-own and drive it until it gets to be too expensive to keep it running.

Regards,

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Perfectionist said:

 

 

 

[jamesm182]

Higher mileage isn't always an issue, providing the car has been well looked after with a comprehensive service history.

That being said, I usually don't like buying cars with too many miles, especially if I will put quite a few on it. Think about how many miles it will have come sale time and how easy it will be to sell on.

[Perfectionist]

Thanks jamesm182; car has been serviced by a Lexus dealer all of its life so I am confident the mileage will be a non-factor in future reliability.

[jamesm182]

On 4/20/2016 at 1:18 PM, Perfectionist said:

Thanks jamesm182; car has been serviced by a Lexus dealer all of its life so I am confident the mileage will be a non-factor in future reliability.

That's good, you still have to think about certain parts that may eventually fail at certain mileages - it is a Lexus though so should be pretty good!

Sounds like a nice car though!

[Perfectionist]

Thanks again JamesM182!  Car is Matador Red Mica and I will post pics ads soon as I get her home.