How young/how many km would be reliable?

[Free_to_be_me]

Hey everyone.

I'm getting everything planned out while I work on finances. I'm excited to start the van life!! I don't want something that breaks all the time, needing constant repairs. So my question is What year do you recommend I strive for? And how many kilometers? My current car is a 2009 Mazda 3 and is in excellent condition, so perhaps 2009 and up?
I'm hoping to spend $7000-8000 to buy it. Then $2000-3000 on solar panels and insulation, etc.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Gideon33w]

Head on over to the mechanical section and read my sticky on full size vans. I also wrote one on minivans and common mechanical info.

 

[djkeev]

With rare exception, ANYTHING you buy used will need more money invested for repairs.

How much? Who knows? Too many variables to pin a number to.

Dave

 

[caretaker]

definitely a case by case type of thing.

 

[user 37446]

In general, for years the new car dealers would wholesale anything over 100K and sometimes 7-8 years as well. Basis was the mistrust the public had over older technology drivetrains that were needing major repairs at/over 100K miles.  That's not an accurate view "across the board" anymore but the old ideas die hard.

I've done well buying cars at that age and mileage level, trade-ins at a new car dealership that were 5-7 years old and 75-100K (miles), which would be 125-150 k's.

Go with what you feel comfortable with. There's some who would never spend over $2000, they drive "throw a way" vehicles, but that's not your comfort level.

Nothing wrong with staying at the age level you described, our forum founder Bob went all the way up to a 2015 as he wanted reliability for years to come.

Depending on what kind of vehicle you are looking at, in 2010 GM started putting in 6 speed transmissions in their trucks and vans, Ford had 5 speeds. Ford upgraded their suspensions, brakes and payload on their vans in 2008, and also fixed their poorly designed 2 piece spark plug in 2008. Each brand had a refresh cycle time that you may want to acquaint yourself with... GM improved the brakes on their full sized vans in 2003, and changed from the 5.7 to the 5.3 V8, which gets better mileage... so each needs to be read up on, as a previous poster suggested.