shurik74

Kinda interesting to see European (dutch) buying japanese car. Welcome to Acura/Honda club amigo! Usually in US they buy of course europeans supercharged (less expensive here) or american cars since they are expensive in EU

P.S. Pardon for my english...

TeamAcura

Personally, I would not buy a car with that many miles. That being said, that '09 looks mint and in excellent condition! Test drive it and see how it feels and drive. Aside from the tune up, check the suspension. They may be on the way out. GL and report back!

350

iTrader: (4)

If it drives good, talk them down a bit more and buy it. Put in some new fluids and rock out. It's not a freaking Dodge.

Knucklehead

mylove4cars you got a good deal. To give you an idea about a month ago I purchased a CPO 2010 SH-AWD Black/Umber with about 45,000 mi for $24,850 a little less than you paid. By 'out the door' I assume you mean the 'sell price' shown on the invoice before trade, title, taxes, doc fee, etc etc. That's the only way to compare since the adders vary depending on dealer, state/local taxes, and so on.

Whether the OP should buy or not buy the high miles example really depends on their specific circumstances. Willingness to do some work yourself, access to a trusted mechanic that is capable but not too expensive, another vehicle to drive in the event of an unexpected issue, etc. are all factors. True you don't know how the PO treated the car and that's always a concern but the Carfax gives you at least a partial idea about that.

Agree that a PPI at an Acura dealer is a must, but it will likely be more than $100. Figure on 2-3 hours in which case it will be more like $200-300. For that reason use the PPI as a 'go no-go' last step only for the cars that check out otherwise. Best option is to get the PPI dealer to not only point out issues but what they would charge to fix them -- then you take that back to the mom-and-pop lot and use it to beat them down. Sometimes they won't move enough, thinking that they will just find a less-informed buyer. Just have to see where that leads. If successful, then just take the vehicle to a trusted but capable, less expensive mechanic to have the work done.

There are high-mile cars that are at the bottom of their depreciation curve and are great values, but aren't reliable enough to take the chance. BMW 740 and VW Phaeton for example. But this is a Honda underneath, so you are leveraging their reputation for high reliability.

Timing belt service is a plus -- not difficult but time consuming to do it yourself, probably $1000-1500 at the dealer. Things that come up on high mile but otherwise reliable cars are often just maintenance -- battery, struts, brakes, the occasional front-end part, trans & brake fluid changes, and so on. Nothing earth-shattering; it's just 'operating cost' along with gas and oil changes.

andrewcjduong

That's exactly what I mean. I buy used cars all the time and so do my parents. Generally what I do is if it's a used car with a bit of km's, I'll speak to the seller whether it's private or third party dealer and ask them if I can have the car brought to an official dealership to have the vehicle inspected and checked. I don't care if there's warranty or not. It's more of making sure parts are ok and if things need replacing, to know that so I can account for that in the price of the car purchase.

mylove4cars

Had quite some European cars in the past; most Mercedes, nevertheless back than the car I liked driving the most was a Nissan 300 ZX Twin Turbo 1990 awesome vehicle drove a lot on the German autobahn going from Brussels to Vienna. I never had a problem of any kind with this vehicle sold it with 160.000 Km.


When I moved to the US and over 18 years’ time I purchased 3 Toyota Sequoia’s, a 4 Runner and a Toyota Solara. Now the kids are big and out of the house I don’t need big SUV’s anymore.

Knucklehead

Kids are gone now; why not just buy another 300zx? Great cars...I guess we all get older sometime and want a little luxury, at least thats what my brother said when I told him I bought a TL ha ha...

mylove4cars

Well, my grand-kids are saying I need to have some more fun and buy a Porsche 911 Turbo S. I told them about my new parking place next to the jail warden's Fiat SS.

dnd2984

iTrader: (6)

Defiantly a gamble, but if it was my $16,500 I would look for a lower mile accord. Or if you really want a TL look for a base with lower miles. Just my

mylove4cars

I believe this boils down to a couple of points; if the car has not been abused and maintenance has been performed in a timely manner, I would have no qualms buying the vehicle.


There are a lot of vehicles with more than 200.000 miles and still driving well.


Hence I would try to find out as much as I can about the history of the car, drive the vehicle and not just around the block, try to sense any unusual behavior or sounds (take of the airco, fan’s and radio and keep your ears open) you could ask for a compression check which might tell you a little bit about engine condition. Many things you can do to diminish the risk buying a vehicle with problems.


Nevertheless there is never a guarantee; Acura’s have a reputation of being reliable which makes this a plus.

Good luck,
Roland

nj2pa2nc

according to the carfax this car was purchased 12/08 making it just over 5 years old. If all service has been done why not buy it. Put 100K miles on my tsx in 3 years thanks to cross-country roadtrips.