How many miles are too much?

[Lalyly]

I'm contemplating buying a van for trips around the country. I can't afford something expensive so around 2k-3k would be the budget. 
I'm kind of scared of older rigs because I never owned one from the '90.
How many miles should it have to be in a good condition and still get more out of it?
I found one that I really liked inside, kind of a camper van, w/ 2 couches, one sink and microwave. But it's got 184k miles on it, the owner doesn't know how many owners before... He said no big issues w/ it just age related. It's a 1995 Chevy G20.
Or should I look for one owner, w/ less than 100k miles on it, but for more money?
I'm not handy so I need something kind of reliable w/ normal maintenance from the mechanic.

 

[cyndi]

If they maintenance records aren't available, I wouldn't buy one with that many miles.

After 100,000 miles large repairs/replacements become maintenance. I've put $6,000.00 into my 97 that I purchased with 117.000 miles. I was hoping shit wouldn't go wrong, but I knew that odds and had a fund for for it. This is a well maintained van, with many parts having already been replaced. I'm the 3rd owner and it came with the maintenace records from the day it left the showroom floor.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

If you're not able to do your own repairs and want to travel around the country I'd try and find the newest with least amount of mileage you can find. Or at least one where you know the full history and what's been done to it as far as repairs go. A $3,000 dollar vehicle can get very expensive if stuff goes wrong half way across the country. Nickel and dime repairs, I like to call them add up quick if you get a bad run of them one after another....fuel pump, tie rods, ball joints, radiator, alternator, starter, battery, thermostat, gaskets, shocks/struts, tires, power steering pump, brakes, etc. Sometimes you can find a used vehicle that's recently had a lot of those things already done, which could save you the hassle of having to do them in the near future.

 

[ArtW]

I'll take the other stance as a guy who's bought only older, high mileage vehicles all my life and had few major issue
Usually I buy Chevy products, but my current Ford Ranger has over 130k miles when I bought it, and I've been from Tx to NC and back in it, hauling 800 lbs of motorcycles and 400 lbs of men and riding / camping gear
That said, I am well versed in auto maintenance / repair AND have a good eye / ear for good vs bad running vehicles, and most of my vehicles are $1k and below purchases

However, I maintain, condition trumps mileage, every time, I've seen nearly pristine 200K mile cars that ran like factory new, and I've seen raggedy 30K mile cars that probably wouldn't last another year

We have one person here whose vehicle, a 2008, with less than 100K miles, has needed a $3k repair, while my previous car, a 2001, was purchased from a Taxi company with 330K on the clock and sold 5 years later when I needed a truck with 380K on the clock
In that time i replaced a steering rack, battery, and a starter, and my ranger has needed nothing at all outside consumables

 

[Lalyly]

Thanks for the advice. I think that Chevy is not a good pretender....
I need a reality check because I released that so many vlogs and posts portray the van life like a series of sunshine and butterflies.I love the idea of a van but maybe saving some more money would be better.
We have a pretty good truck, but I'm not so found of it's drive-ability and having to live in the truck bed doesn't appeal to me. Beside moving from driver's seat to the truck bed in a parking lot is not so stealth or safe (being a woman).

 

[ArtW]

If the truck has sliding rear glass, and you put same in a camper shell, you can move from bed to cab without getting out, just food for thought
And being a woman is no less safe than being a man, in fact men tend to be victims of random violent crime 5x more frequently than women, despite the claims of fear mongers

 

[Lalyly]

I never tried. My 10 yr old can fit and I'm rather small. And yes, I've seen campers shells w/ front windows. Will have to give it more thought, it's the cheapest way, after all. The truck gets ~15mpg and some of the older vans get 10-12mpg so it would be more fuel efficient. 
In the same budget I could get a truck camper, but not sure if the truck can handle such a load...

 

[frater secessus]

One thing about the 90s: if you get something 1996 or later it will have the standard OBDii port for doing diagnostics and monitoring. Some had OBD* before that but it wasn't necessarily standardized.

 

[ArtW]

Depends on the truck and the camper

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I'll take the other stance as a guy who's bought only older, high mileage vehicles all my life and had few major issue
Usually I buy Chevy products, but my current Ford Ranger has over 130k miles when I bought it, and I've been from Tx to NC and back in it, hauling 800 lbs of motorcycles and 400 lbs of men and riding / camping gear

I had a 2000 Ford Ranger that i bought with 140k on it and it was one of the best vehicles I ever owned.  If you have an eye for the mechanic ability of a vehicle that will certainly cut out a lot of your risk.

 

[Lalyly]

One thing about the 90s:  if you get something 1996 or later it will have the standard OBDii port for doing diagnostics and monitoring.  Some had OBD* before that but it wasn't necessarily standardized.

I read about the magical year, that it's better to be 1996 or newer. 
So it's like a win-lose situation w/ older cars. Will have to give it some serious thought.

 

[Goshawk]

One thing about the 90s:  if you get something 1996 or later it will have the standard OBDii port for doing diagnostics and monitoring.  Some had OBD* before that but it wasn't necessarily standardized.

The problem with OBD was that at the same time it was created, the engines were all made stupidly more complex.  More parts to fail to cause trouble. So the best path is to get a few years after OBD started. Nothing wrong with just saying 2001 or younger for a vehicle.

Else do the reverse and look for something really old like 1980s or 1970s that has been completely rebuilt.  Old are very simple to work on and many parts can be found.

1)  All the front end joints, bearings etc rebuilt (maybe $1000 or more)
2)  Shocks, exhaust, tires, brakes all rebuilt and not too old.  ($1500)
3)  Engine is not too old (200,000 on an engine will start to show problems) ($4000 to replace with labor and warranty)
4)  Transmission works okay. ($3000 to replace rebuilt with labor and warranty)
5)  Air condition and heating works okay.
6)  Various pumps and valves and gaskets all work okay and have been replaced if old (another $1500 or more)

people just do not understand RISK when buying. You need to have $5000 in the bank the first year after buying a used vehicle (just for parts and labor), because stuff will fail and strand you. Sure you can have a $5000 credit card too, as long as you have means to pay that back; while saving for the next $5000 in repairs on year two of ownership.

 

[ArtW]

You need to have $5000 in the bank the first year after buying a used vehicle (just for parts and labor), because stuff will fail and strand you. S
Lol, never owned a new car, never had 5K in the bank ever
being careful when buying older is good, but 5K? that's paranoia, my cars don't cast that much

 

[Goshawk]

You need to have $5000 in the bank the first year after buying a used vehicle (just for parts and labor), because stuff will fail and strand you. S
Lol, never owned a new car, never had 5K in the bank ever
being careful when buying older is good, but 5K? that's paranoia, my cars don't cast that much

But ARTW you likely inspect the hell out of a car. You likely check about twenty thing, given lots of mechanical experience with vehicles. Many here don't even look to see if there is fluid leaks after taking the vehicle for a test drive. Plus many don't look at maintenance receipts to see if there is a pattern of actually fixing things that go wrong on the vehicle.

Unless you are a practiced shade tree mechanic, you have a coin flip change of getting a junk vehicle. Tuesday all the vehicles are great. Wednesday all the vehicles are junk. Coin flip.


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