I have a friend looking for a 997. He found two that he likes - both are 2007 C2S - southern kept. One has 78k miles and the other has 29k. Otherwise, they are nearly identical and the 78k miler does not show the extra mileage at all. Both have good service history.

I am wondering if the 78k mile will be more reliable because it was driven more often or if the lower mileage is the better bet for reliability. The difference is price (7k) doesn't seem to be worth the 49k mile difference, but it may end of making the difference at re-sale time (if he ever sells).

Thoughts?

 

If both have good history and pass a PPI I think it comes down to a personal decision of options each has and color, as well as if low miles and 7k matter to them.

I wouldn’t run from the 78k car but I would get it inspected including a borescope. Would do that on each one.

 

Other things being equal (which they never are) I would go for the 29k car as $7K is not much of a premium for 40k miles; with lower mileage cars its usually $3k per 10k miles or so.
But it's really a personal decision; with the lower mileage car I would like the feeling that you can still make it your own car after driving for a few years.

 

Completely depends on maintenance history, color and options, and use case.

I’d spring for the lower mileage one, all things being equal, because these cars do have wear items and we’ve seen values of 997.1s rise - in the future, if the one car has 100k miles and one has 60k, I think you will recoup the difference and perhaps even more if prices continue to go upward.

 

^ same.

All things equal I would def go for the lower mile car for $7k more.

The 78k mile car will be a cash car soon due to its mileage going over 100k.

That cuts out a bit of the buyer market because CUs normally won’t loan on a car over 100k miles.

 

If he is buying it to drive and not garage queen it I would go higher mileage. If he's buying it to drive once in a while and wants to sell in near future to get into something else I would go lower mileage.

PPI for both

 

Bore scope the higher mileage car

 

PPI x 2 for sure, but if I could lower my OD by 50k miles for $7k cash? NB

 

I bought an 83k mile car, and I too would say go for the lower mileage one. I've spent >$15k on maintenance, repairs, and preventive maintenance in the last 3.5 years and 20k miles (and that's with doing a reasonable bit of the work myself). Granted mine is an 05 and I upgraded the IMS, but I think the $7k difference will easily be recouped in lower maintenance and increased resale as long as the car is owned for a few years.

 

I'd be curious to know the breakdown of what all you did for the 15k, if you wouldn't mind sharing.

I also would likely go for the lower mile car, if they were the same otherwise. It depends on what your friends goals are. 7k goes a long way towards upgrades, gas, tires, and mods if he is just looking for a fun driver. 7k can also be a significant percentage of the cars total cost at this point. If the high mile car has been well looked after, they can be a real win.

 

As others have said, personal choice. A mere $7K premium for a 29K mile car vs. one with 78K miles, all or most aspects of service history, options and condition being equal would make it an easy decision for me in favor of the lower mile car. Yes there are stories about cars that haven't been driven enough having problems but on the flipside, we rarely if ever hear of low mileage cars with no problems. Just the bad stories of low mileage cars.

So I'm not a believer in the notion that cars that's spent much of their life in the garage necessarily means trouble ahead as long as it's been serviced/maintained on schedule.

As long as the low mileage car has solid service records and passes a thorough PPI I personally wouldn't be concerned.

 

My opinion, maintenance is gonna be the same on both of these due to age, not milage. I'd have the one I'm more interested in, receive and invasions PPI, meaning bore scope.

 

Lower mileage one. He can drive it for 30k miles and then sell it for more than he bought it for. If he buys the 80k mile one it will be over 100k miles when he goes to sell it after the same mileage and there's a metal barrier and price reduction at that mileage. Both of them are going to need water pumps if they haven't been done - the lower mileage one in the next 10-15k miles and the higher mileage one at the same interval if not sooner. If the high mileage one has never had the pump replaced, it could go tomorrow. If MT cars, higher mileage one is also probably close to a clutch and will need plugs and coils, so he may be quickly chipping away at that price differential. The suspension will also be fresher on the lower mileage one.

 

The lower mileage car is a better deal for a lousy 7k ...This does not mean the higher k car is a bad car at all but for the price difference the lower K car is better unless you can show the other seller the minimal price difference of the two and get him to lower the price of the higher K car where it becomes more attractive !!

 

For resale alone the lower mieage is the one - all other things being equal. The bulk of potential buyers now and in the future will always prefer and pay premium for low mileage, low number of owners, garaged, OPC FSH, over-wintered, etc. Whichever of these you can list will help when you come to sell. Last year I bought an 06 35K mile car averaging around 1500 miles per year for last five years and I have still spent money on it - more preventative but some things deteriorate over time and not just through use. I'm averaging 1K miles per month and it's good to know after 4 years I should be on around 85K for a 20 year old car.