2001 Acura MDX question - High miles - Good buy?

gibby1547

Hey I’m about to buy my first car. It’s a 2001 Acura MDX and it’s got 214k miles. How many miles do you think I can get out of it? I read online that they can go a while If well maintained but I’m buying it off a lot so i don’t know how it was treated. I’m getting it for $2800 is that fair and how many more miles do you think I could get out of it? Thanks

benjaminh

gibby1547 said:

Hey I’m about to buy my first car. It’s a 2001 Acura MDX and it’s got 214k miles. How many miles do you think I can get out of it? I read online that they can go a while If well maintained but I’m buying it off a lot so i don’t know how it was treated. I’m getting it for $2800 is that fair and how many more miles do you think I could get out of it? Thanks

Well, if it's been treated well and you're really lucky, you'll get a few good years out of it without it costing you too much. But any vehicle, even an Acura, that's 17 years old and has over 200,000 miles on it is living on borrowed time. If it was well-maintained by the previous owner(s) then it might even have another 100k in it. But it also could need major work tomorrow.

If c. $2800 is your budget for a used car purchase there aren't that many good options.

Try to do a Carfax on it to see what you find there.

Also, if you can find a good mechanic to check it out for you for $100 or so that might be money well spent. If for $100 or so the mechanic after looking it over says there could be major trouble ahead, walk away. A compression test on the engine would probably be a good idea, but that would likely cost more.

Good luck! Please let us know what happens and what you decide.

gibby1547

benjaminh said:

Hey I’m about to buy my first car. It’s a 2001 Acura MDX and it’s got 214k miles. How many miles do you think I can get out of it? I read online that they can go a while If well maintained but I’m buying it off a lot so i don’t know how it was treated. I’m getting it for $2800 is that fair and how many more miles do you think I could get out of it? Thanks

Well, if it's been treated well and you're really lucky, you'll get a few good years out of it without it costing you too much. But any vehicle, even an Acura, that's 17 years old and has over 200,000 miles on it is living on borrowed time. If it was well-maintained by the previous owner(s) then it might even have another 100k in it. But it also could need major work tomorrow. If c. $2800 is your budget for a used car purchase there aren't that many good options. Try to do a Carfax on it to see what you find there. Also, if you can find a good mechanic to check it out for you for $100 or so that might be money well spent. If for $100 or so the mechanic after looking it over says there could be major trouble ahead, walk away. A compression test on the engine would probably be a good idea, but that would likely cost more. Good luck! Please let us know what happens and what you decide.

Thank you very much I’ll let you know!

benjaminh

If it is in good shape mechanically, it could be a lot of car for the money. I'm a big Honda/Acura fan, and the "bones" of their cars are usually good if they've been treated well and regularly maintained.

Mr_Shiftright

Cars with this many miles really need to be checked out on a Pre Purchase Inspection by a good local repair shop. A $2800 car that needs tires and brakes is suddenly a $4500 car. And be sure to play with all the knobs and switches to make sure everything works.