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I understand your points. You first have to determine if you really could make a profit on the sale of the car. There are a number of good websites where you can assess the purchase price and the eventual selling price. Start with Kelly bluebook.
If the car was garage kept, that is a big plus. If you have access to the maintenance records that is also a big plus. Pay particular attention to items that have to be serviced on time intervals regardless of mileage. The anti-freeze is good for 10 years, regardless of miles. The brake system should be flushed at least every 4 years because brake fluid continually absorbs moisture from the air and when the moisture content gets high, it starts corroding all of the brake system internal steel surfaces. The accessory drive belts should be replaced if they are 10 years old. Get a copy of the owner’s manual maintenance section and see all of the items that need some attention based on age.
At the 10 year point, I would think that the rubber hoses should have up to 5 years of safe life left in them. If kept out of the sun, the rubber door and window seals could be good for 20 years. Also note that 10 year old tires are not safe, even if they have good tread left.
My basic argument is that for the price of a 2010 Lexus ES with 30K miles you could probably get a 2014 model with 100K miles and the newer car will be more reliable and drive better and probably look better and be easier to work on. I am assuming that you would be paying a fair market price for either car. The newer car has gone through fewer winters and sat in the sun and weather for 4 fewer years. Remember that sun and Ozone continually degrade the paint, rubber, and plastic. For a well-maintained modern car, 100K miles is roughly the half-life of the transmission and 1/3 the life of the engine. It all comes down to what you think you could pay and resell the car for, but aside from the profit aspect, I would rather own and drive the newer car.
Dave
I would recommend against buying older cars with low mileage because age and the seasons are tough on cars in ways that can’t readily be repaired. For example:
– All of the plastic and rubber bits age due to the effects of sun and ozone
– Many of the fasteners corrode and will break when being disassembled; a real headache!
-this applies to engine seals and gaskets
– Every winter a car goes through accelerates corrosion throughout the car
– The older the car is, the harder it will be to find replacement parts
– a low-mileage engine has spent a lot of time unused or driven many short trips. This is generally bad for engine wear.On top of this, low-mileage cars tend to be over-valued in the used car marketplace. The only exceptions to this rule will be enthusiast and high performance models that collectors seek; but don’t expect to find bargains readily.
I usually recommend that you look for the opposite of a low-mileage older car. Find the newest car in your price category and don’t worry about miles. Even an ordinary modern car engine and powertrain should be very reliable for at least 200,000 miles if maintained properly. Cars that are driven more than 30,000 miles per year tend to be well-maintained.
Dave
The best oil type is fully-synthetic and all of the major companies make similar quality products. If you search online you can find comparison tests of many major brands. In these tests you will find many different criteria and it is difficult to summarize the relative importance. Overall, I try to stick with either Pennzoil, Mobil 1, Amsoil, Redline, or Castrol. Really any of the other major brands ( Kendall, Quaker State, Valvoline) are so close in overall performance that it really won’t make any difference. You will also find really good test results from the generic brands from WallMart and Amazon. Here is an example of a well-done comparison test: http://oil-tech.com/motoroil-comparison.php
You can find all of the performance parameters (test results) for almost any car by going to the road test section of the car magazine web sites. The USA ones are: Car and Driver, Road and Track, Motor Trend, and Automobile.
I personally drive sedans and sports cars: Hyundai Ioniq, Mazda 3, and Toyota MR2 Spyder. If I need a van or pickup truck, I rent it. I have driven many SUV’s and I do not like driving them.
Most of the added mass in SUV’s is in the entire Unibody structure. The larger a structure is, the more difficult it is to make is stiff and strong. This is just the science of structures. Structures do not just scale up. As you try to scale up a structure it gets flimsier, so you have to make the structural sections larger and heavier.
Dave
As far as SUV’s safety compared to midsized sedans, I have to go back to my original assessment: it depends on the type of crash, and sedans with their better handling and braking are significantly better at avoiding crashes. Just look at the published stopping distance difference between a Chevy Suburban and a Toyota Camry.
The crush zone of SUV’s and other large cars are larger, but in general, the increase is not a large as the increase in mass. The energy to be absorbed in a crash is directly proportional to the mass of the car. A small car has all of the room in front to accommodate the engine and transmission, accessory drive, radiator and fans. The much heavier SUV does not (usually) have an increased crush distance between the driver and the front bumper that is proportional to the increased mass. Some may, and you can judge the overall crash effectiveness by looking at the NHTSA frontal crash scores. The IIHS can be a useful source of crash effectiveness, but I don’t trust them as much, because they are working for the insurance industry and do not always follow rigorous testing methodology.
It depends on the kind of crash. For a car-to-car crash, the larger and heavier car is generally safer because the car larger car experiences lower peak decelleration. In car-to-barrier crashes, the lighter car generally is safer because the ratio of crush zone to vehicle mass is better. A typical 4000 pound car does not have 33% greater crush zone depth than a 3000 lb car, yet it has to absorb 33% more energy in the crash. Also, all other things being equal, lighter cars corner and brake better than heavy cars, so they are more likely to avoid a crash, which is the safest outcome. you can also judge car crash safety by looking up their government crash ratings at the NHTSA site. You will see that crash safety scores are not always proportional to vehicle size.
My experience is that they review any year-to-year changes with the appropriate engineers, but the manuals are written by a publication department. Maybe the first manual was written by the engineers!
First check the steering column; particularly find where the u-joint is (it is under the dash) and inspect it. it can either wear-out or the bolts that tighten it to the steering shaft could have loosened. If you only feel the free-play when the engine is on, then the likely problem is the connection from the electric power steering motor (I assume your car has electric PS) to the steering column. On most cars their is a plastic or rubber gear that transmits torque from the electric motor to the steering column or steering rack. This “gear” can wear out. With the engine off, try to observe or feel if there is any overall free-play in the system. You can do this by placing one hand on the front tire while wiggling the steering wheel (you might need an assistant). If there is no overall free-play and you still have the feel of free-play when the car is on, it is probably the PS motor gear. Finally, it is possible that your steering rack is worn out, but this will show in the overall free-play when the car is off.
1) I would buy a flood damaged car before I would be a crash-repaired on. The 2 problems with flood-damaged cars are mildew in the carpets and upholstery, and electrical problems due to water. The first one is east to assess, mostly based on smell. The electrical system of modern cars is pretty waterproof, so if the car has had enough time to dry-out and everything electrical and electronic works properly (no engine codes), there should be no future failures due to the water.
2) I know how difficult it is to bleed the Prius brakes. If you do not have the Toyota diagnostics hookup to open the valves that allow bleeding, there is a work-around. Look it up on PriusChat. You could also purchase an OBD2 diagnostic tool with TechStream. TechStream software should allow proper brake bleeding. 10-year old brake fluid will come out brown.
A car that has been in an accident may have repaired well-enough to look undamaged, but hidden damage to the underlying unibody, like wrinkled or bent structural parts, will not be as strong as they were originally. More importantly, the car may be more subject to corrosion because the repair parts are likely not as well-protected as the factory parts. Factory body and chassis parts may be zinc coated and /or phosphated before painting. The other thing to consider is that the suspension geometry might be altered in a crash and, therefore the car may be difficult to align after a crash. It is difficult to know how much value a car loses from being in an accident and then repaired.
Old brake fluid doesn’t wear-out the brake system it causes corrosion throughout the system. The corrosion can lead to leaking seals and frozen pistons in the calipers. Replacing the calipers will be expensive (parts +labor).
In rough order of importance to me:
1) look for signs of accident repair by looking for wrinkles in the unibody. Look carefully around the radiator mounts, in the engine compartment, the floor of the trunk, and get underneath
2) See the service history of the car. If the car has less than 100 k miles, it probably has only needed regular oil and filter changes. Make sure this maintenance was don on-schedule and with the proper oil. If the owner only use synthetic oil, that is a plus. If the car has over 100,000 miles there is a lot of extra maintenance and service required. Look at the maintenance section of the owner’s manual and find out if everything on it was done
3) If brake fluid has not been flushed at least every 4 years, that is big minus.
4) If the owner used a remote starter to warm it up on cold mornings, I would not buy the car
5) Remove the oil fill cap and look for signs of sludge. Sludge is an indication of a lot of short trips or insufficient maintenance
6) The engine should start, run and idle smoothly and the only sound you should be able to hear at idle is the fuel injectors. Listen both after a cold-start and after a drive.
7) Garage-kept is a major plus
8) another check for any major accident damage is to either follow the car in your car while it is driven and look for dog-tracking (the front wheels not following the rear), and any signs of blue or black smoke from the tailpipeGood Luck!
Very important. Too much torque and you can break or crack the fastener or the suspension component. Too little and the joint will not be clamped up sufficiently to resist all of the loading, or the bolt or nut may loosen up eventually from vibrations. Either way, the consequences can be a sudden failure while driving. A typical suspension fastener is there to provide enough clamping force to a joint so that the joint can not separate or slide. Please don’t try to do suspension work on a car without the torque specs and a good torque wrench. You will see what I mean when you see all of the torque specs in the shop manual, and see that almost every joint has different specs.
Dave
