Is it worth buying a high Mileage Toyota Celica or Acura RSX?

Question

Hey, so Im a college student and the old ford taurus is starting to die... Im looking to buy a used car that will be reliable and carry me for the next 4-5 years.

I love the Toyota Celica and the Acura RSX and ive noticed that once these cars pass the 100K mark theyre values drop significantly.

Is it worth buying an $9000 coupe with 105K miles over an $11,500 with 80K miles? or will i just cost just even out in garage visits and repairs?

Considering I drive about 10-12K a year, I will be putting up to another 50-60K miles on it in 5 years.

Considering i only need the car to last 5 years, Does it make sense to get a high mileage vehicle?

Answer 1

with $9,000 u can get something good at any dealer... not those mom and pop dealers though... go to a Toyota dealer, or a Honda dealer.. or go even a ford dealer... ford dealers give you good deals on japanese import cars... i got myself a 02 honda for $7000 with 90,000 miles on it.. instead of going to autoshops to get ur car fixed... u can just take it back to the dealer and they' will fix it for free as long as ur still have a warranty. I THINK I WENT OFF IN  A TENGENT HERE.. anyways.. both cars u mentioned will go about another 120,000 miles..

Answer 2

I guess you should also check insurance quotes for the car before buying one, for example here: http://carinsurance.deep-ice.com

As I know these cars are expensive to insure.

Answer 3

You will never notice a difference in mileage of RSX's, nor will you ever do work on them other than the clutch, i think there is a scheduled engine tuneup at 150k miles, but usually they just check and dont change anything at all. My RSX has about 60k miles on it, but i drive it past the redline most of the time when i take off, and my max speed that i hit daily on average is about 90mph, i have driven mine for 400 miles straight at 130, past redline without slowing down other than to pass traffic without too much danger, then its back to floored and passing redline before i shift. The brakes will stop from 130 great over and over again. I have failed to cause ANY damage to my rsx short of wrecking it into anything, my brother hit a tall curb backwards at 45 (drifting in the rain in a parking lot) 0 damage, i hit a curb (would scrape the front end to park on it) forwards on a slight angle at about 60 (perscription drugs are bad when you quit them) 0 damage.

On the other hand if you do buy a celica, get used to replacing suspension components if you hit a pothole, because i re did the suspension 3 times in 15k miles of owning that car.

Do your self a favor and get the RSX, great car, doesnt slide out of control EVER unless you rip the handbrake around a turn going too fast already.

And to the last question, mileage does not matter at all on any of the k-series honda cars (RSX, Civic Si 06+, accord 05+, crx 05+, element) you will never break a single peice on the engine, trust me ive tried, really really hard. Ive even driven it at 40 miles per hour in 1st gear for miles and miles seeing what the turnout of that is, and the only result was about 15mpg while i was doing it. I have put more stress on that car than imaginable, I average 5k miles per set of tires (they are supposed to last 40k miles).

The only thing you need to look out for when buying a honda, is wether or not it has been crashed and or steering has been put out of alignment. Personally i wouldnt even be worried about getting one that i drove for 50k miles. But any other car I wouldnt even think about buying one that i was the previous owner of. Also make sure that oil has been changed regularly througout the lifetime of the car.