I'm looking at the 11-14 mustangs and I'm just wondering what a reasonable amount of mileage to buy a used car at. This is something I'm going to want to drive for a long time as for I'm a college student. Any advice of which year and mileage I should consider to be reliable?
Need some advice.
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Keep your eyes open for a garage queen like my 2011 GT,I bought it new in May of 2010, and it now has a little over 14,000 miles on it,it is brand new inside and out not a D/D just my toy,not had any problems with it at all love the car,and NO it is not forsale,but this should give you some idea of what might be out there, if you look hard enough.
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This is good advice. Also, if you think in terms of yearly mileage for a daily driven car that is well taken care of, under 10,000 miles per year is a good number. It also keeps you inside the drivetrain warranty mileage number.
Pete
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710 Posts
It all depends on your budget, too. My '13 GT is a daily driver. I buy my 'stangs to drive, and have over 40k miles since Nov. 2012. The Ford warranties are pretty short, so as Pete said, if it's going to be a high mileage DD, you're going to want to find something that is low miles, probably < 20k. I will say that even at almost 42k miles, my car still drives like new! It's holding up VERY well. Things to consider financially, brakes, rotors, clutch (if manual), oil changes are expensive, and so are tires if you're looking at a performance oriented GT. It's not so much that the tires are crazy expensive, but the mileage you get out of them certainly won't be 40k. Plan on around 20k if you're DD'ing.
Oh, and if you get bitten by the mod bug, you can just kiss that budget goodbye!
Good luck in your search!
Oh, and if you get bitten by the mod bug, you can just kiss that budget goodbye!
Good luck in your search!5.0
I agree with Xarius, I daily drive my 2013 5.0 to and from work, about 61 miles combined. already have 28,000 mi on the car. the mod bug just bit me today, after my Bassani exhaust and eibach springs and shocks got installed. I love the car even more now! you can't go wrong with any 11-14 coyote.
I agree with Xarius, I daily drive my 2013 5.0 to and from work, about 61 miles combined. already have 28,000 mi on the car. the mod bug just bit me today, after my Bassani exhaust and eibach springs and shocks got installed. I love the car even more now! you can't go wrong with any 11-14 coyote.
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It may go over your budget, but my extended warranty for my 2011 was around $1200 for a 4 year-80k Mile. I bought the car in September of last year with 28k miles so due to time the ford warranty was expired, and was worried about all the scary stories of early models having trans problems so I opted for the warranty. This might help you widen your search for cars with more then the standard 10-12k miles a year. Love my car, you wont be disappointed with yours when you get it! Might even make your brother upgrade to the 5.0 haha. Happy hunting.
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232 Posts
I couple things I would look for are maintenance records and overall general condition. Miles don't scare me as long as the car was maintained. A car that has sat outside it's whole life even for 2-4 years will show weathering on all the trim and any black plastic pieces. Make sure you say away from a ticker. Drive the car for a while and get a chance to cold start it. The infamous BBQ tick will generally be heard if it's an affected car. Research that one. And finally I would try to find an mature (older owner) one owner car. Good luck.
Not all mileage is the same. I would rather have a car with 35,000-40,000 mostly highway miles than one with only 25,000 city stop & go miles. It's long been known that the greatest engine wear occurs at start up. Also short trips makes it less likely that the engine, or any other moving parts for that matter, ever reach full operating temps. This makes contamination of the engine oil more likely. How the car was driven and maintained is a major consideration. Low mileage sounds good unless it was done 1/4 mile at a time. What part of the country is the car from? Some regions are harder on cars than others. Salty winter roads in the north/northeast and sun baked interiors in the south and southwest. Was the car kept in a garage when not in use or kept outside all the time? 5.0 V8 or 3.7 V6? Manual or automatic transmission? Speaking only in generalities a manual V8 will probably be driven more aggressively than automatics or sixes. I wouldn't necessarily let that deter me from buying the manual 5.0, but I would want to be extra careful about checking the maintenance records and finding out if it had been modded. As for the driver's/owner's age, having an older [ more mature? ] owner may be somewhat reassuring, but not necessarily indicative of their driving habits. I am almost 71 and I found out where the factory rev limiter was set within 24 hours of buying my '14 GT. It's 6,800 rpm not 7,000 like I thought it was just in case you're interested.
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I'm with xracer. It isn't all about the miles. If the previous owner took pride in the ride your going to be a lot happier even with higher miles than if they were neglectful owners. Cleanliness and maintenance records go a long way. If they claim to do their own wrenching, take a look at the garage or tools. If they take care of them they probably took good care of the car. If they say they take it in for service ask where. Chances are if they were regular about maintenance you will be able to tell just by the way they answer.
my 2 cents for what its worth...
my 2 cents for what its worth...
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119 Posts
My golden rule which normally works out well - the car looks great inside and out (a testament that the previous owner took good care of it and most likely didn't hotdog the heck out of it, at least not daily)
Look at the tires (unless they are new) to see the wear on it. If they are balding heavily on certain sides, be cautious it could've been hot-dogged daily.
Check the engine bay. If it looks nice and crisp, that's a good sign. A dirty or stained engine bay is like dating a girl with yellow teeth - bad hygiene and just not my cup of tea.
If you can chat with the previous owner, that's a huge plus, you get insight to how he took care of it. Either way, go with your gut, if anything throws you a red flag move on...there are thousands of these cars out there for you. I went to a dealer to buy mine, took 10 minutes looking at it, a 5 minute test drive, and I left the lot with it within the hour. No regrets. Midway through the paperwork an older gentleman came in asking to check it out, had to apologize I already snagged it ; )
Look at the tires (unless they are new) to see the wear on it. If they are balding heavily on certain sides, be cautious it could've been hot-dogged daily.
Check the engine bay. If it looks nice and crisp, that's a good sign. A dirty or stained engine bay is like dating a girl with yellow teeth - bad hygiene and just not my cup of tea.
If you can chat with the previous owner, that's a huge plus, you get insight to how he took care of it. Either way, go with your gut, if anything throws you a red flag move on...there are thousands of these cars out there for you. I went to a dealer to buy mine, took 10 minutes looking at it, a 5 minute test drive, and I left the lot with it within the hour. No regrets. Midway through the paperwork an older gentleman came in asking to check it out, had to apologize I already snagged it ; )
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