Buying a used car. 200,000km?

Question

I've been offered a car through a family friend for about $2000.

A nice '99 Sunfire. As far as I can tell from looking and test driving it seems to be working perfectly and it's exactly the kind of car I've been looking for for the past few months. Right model, right price range I wanted.

But it has almost 200,000km on it...which makes me hesitant. How long does the engine normally last (assuming it was well taken care of)? I doubt I'll be getting in more then 1,500km's every month as school and work are walking distance/from home, it's mostly for quick errands and getting home to family on weekends.

But is it worth it? Or is it likely not to last long enough to make the purchase worth it?

Answer 1

There's really no way of telling how long it will last with 200,000km on the engine, but one thing you have on your side is that you know who had the car and the way they keep it.Look at it like this , if the motor goes out you can always have another motor put in it as long as the body is in good shape.I help out at a used car lot and for that year of car with a clean inside & outside we would get 1500-2000 dollars for it .If you like it and have checked it out the best that you can, then buy it .Plus you said you wasn't going to be putting a lot of miles on it anyway.

Answer 2

At 200,000 Km, the car has out-lived its usefulness and is ready for the scrap yard.  $2,000 is way too much to pay for a car that is worth only "Scrap Value."