high mileage cars for sale - how much is too much ?

[rfuerst911sc]

I have been looking at local CL for a Cayenne . In my area there are a lot of pepper wagons with 100 - 150 K on them in the price ranges of 8500 - 15000 . Many of these vehicles are very clean so it has me wondering how many miles is too many ? This will not be a daily driver as my wife and I are retired . To be honest it's mostly to be driven when the weather doesn't allow driving the Boxster or when I need to have more than one passenger . The upscale GTS and Turbo also are available for about 18 - 20 K .

Being retired and this not going to be a primary vehicle I'm not looking to spend a ton of money . So have any of you purchased a high mileage Cayenne and had good results ? I know plastic coolant pipes are an issue along with driveshaft bearing any other consistent issues ?

[wildthing]

10K a year is plenty for this car. Above 15K a year it's a real commuter. Probably lots of small wear items...

For reference, I bought a 2011 with 54K last year for $34K. A similar one with 85K miles was $25K.

[Tervuren]

It is my observation that with modern cars it is not the mileage but the wear, and the two often do not relate in anything like a near linear fashion.

Where the car has lived its life and how is of much greater import than just how many miles it has.

The number of cold starts, length between starts, temperature, and climate, these are the more important factors.

If you enjoy the chase, look for a garage kept by all owners car that hasn't sat on dealer lots. This makes a huge difference in interior degradation.

The first thing I would judge by is interior detrition, followed by maintenance history. A well maintained car should go 350K+ in a good environment.

So if you plan on not driving a lot, there really isn't a limit on too many miles, just make sure to get a well taken care of good example.