high mileage cars

[Unregistered]

I am a prospective owner (and former owner and member). What are peoples views of high mileage NSX cars. Is an AA inspection sufficient to provide assurance along with full service record?

[nobby]

hi mate

welcome back! :)

the general opinion is that a well looked after 'mile muncher' should not cause the owner any problems. Service History is ESSENTIAL and ensuring that there is adequate history on timing belts, crank pulleys etc etc. If there is little or no history then advice is always to walk away

with regards to an AA insepction, some people rate them, others dont. I have never had any experiences with them. Detailed service history should prove to be very accurate and also give you an example of how well thae car has been looked after too. If I were you I would look to someone on these forums and ask them for assistance in viewing a car. Fortuneately I was able to contact a member on here who is local-ish to me to help me source and view a car

plenty of discussions on NSXPRIME with cars well into the 500k mark and still going.

i'm sure other members with better knowledge and experience will offer more advice.

Kaz's car if you check out his recent Health check thread, has over 120k on it.

Good luck in your search

[NSX 2000]

I would pretty much second what nobby has posted, the problem with an AA inspection is the engineer is VERY unlikely to have ever seen one before. Members on here are a friendly bunch and I'm sure someone would be happy to go and view one with you :D

HTH

Paul

[PeteM]

Service History is ESSENTIAL and ensuring that there is adequate history on timing belts, crank pulleys etc etc. If there is little or no history then advice is always to walk away


When I see Quotes like this I tend to have a chuckle to myself and smile.

I have been brought up around cars have a friend who owns 2 garages and personally know at least 5 car salesman ( a mix of both new and 2nd hand cars) and have a bit of automotive experience.

Now people will tell you that a full service history is essential, well full service history will make a car more desirable and get you the best price for your car when you come to sell it / trade it in, even more so if it is "main dealer" history. When buying however full service history alone in no way guarantees that the car in question is a good example. My favourite tell tale sign for the care taken of a car is simply the make of tyres it sits on, personally I wouldn’t buy a city located car (prone to dents scratches) or a car that has lived by the coast (salt corrosion). Full history rightly or wrongly gives the majority of people peace of mind and a belief that a car is a good example (normally non-mechanically minded people). I have seen and driven cars that have a "full service history" and they look like they have been banger racing and drive as such. Any mechanic will tell you similar stories.

What I am trying to say is that a car should be taken at face value and how they physically drive, this will tell you far more about how the car has been looked after as opposed to just relying on a full service history. Some Car dealers I have experienced I would not trust with a petrol lawn mower never mind a complex piece of engineering such as the Nsx. My wife’s car for example had full VW service history and when we bought it from a main dealer we asked for the cambelt to be done to which they agreed. Well 3 years later the water pump failed and when the mechanic went in to replace it he also noted that the cam belt had not been previously replaced.

Now speaking from experience I bought my Nsx from a trader with the last 3 years of history missing. The car was straight and honest in my opinion but I decided to contact the previous owner and ask for the reason for missing history and he then passed me on to the previous owner to back up his story. I bought the car knowing that I would do all the essentials initially as I would with any car I buy with service history or not. For this car I had replaced all fluids, filters, cam belt, tensioner, water pump, harmonic balancer pulley, spark plugs, various gaskets, cam plugs and tappets adjusted.

I now own a high mileage Nsx with new history from the day of my ownership knowing exactly what has been replaced. Now I know you can argue that specialist cars should all ways have "full history" I just wanted to highlight that this doesn't mean it's a good car and if it's not got history it doesn't mean it's a bad one.

Good luck with your search you will never regret buying and owning another one.

p.s I am not trying to offend anyone!

p.p.s Would anyone walk away from owning Kaz's car due to lack of "main dealer service history" ?

Regards
Pete.

[Papalazarou]

Another thing to bare in mind and something that Pete highlighted is that stamps in a book does not mean full history. It is not a guarantee that the schedule has been totally adhered to. The last three cars I've had all had missed the time limit on plugs but not on mileage. Whether this was the advice of the dealer not replace and whether it matters I don't know.
My S2000 was 5 years old and had missed two services, but had only covered 14000 miles. It had had an easy life and the original owners hadn't serviced it because it wasn't being used. My point is that the car was in great shape despite the patchy history.
My experience is that normally the dealer is a little confused about the schedule and on the whole many owners are either I'll advised or decide to omit certain parts of the service on the grounds of price or because they're selling the car on in a few months. Take the cambelt service for instance. Would you fit a water pump if you were going to sell the car a few months down the line? Perhaps not. Would you fit plugs on a six year service under the same circumstances?


Cheers,

James

[JQD84983]

Whether this was the advice of the dealer not replace and whether it matters I don't know.


James makes a good point. My car went for service last week and the dealer said it was due a major service (500 quid as opposed to 250) so my dad asked why when the mileage was not near the expected major limit. Dealer said oh its no problem a minor service will be just fine.

Also with the AA inspection I think some people are missing the point. The AA are looking for standard stuff like accident damage, wear on ball joints etc. which is not dependent upon being an NSX expert. I think they are useful because you get an idea if there is something hiding away that perhaps a novice would not spot.

Regards

John

[markc]

Well said Pete, an excellent post and a bit of necessary realism for the prospective purchaser of ANY secondhand car, much less an NSX :)

As you say speaking to, or even better meeting, the previous owner is a great tip. If they talk and behave like a plonker would you buy from them? These guys put Nankang's (cheap tyres) on their BMW M5 :)

Regardless of any apparent history, do your homework and take along someone you TRUST to know something about cars and specifically the make model you're after OR place yourself at the mercy of the motortrade!

As ever Caveat emptor :)


Also with the AA inspection I think some people are missing the point. The AA are looking for standard stuff like accident damage, wear on ball joints etc. which is not dependent upon being an NSX expert. I think they are useful because you get an idea if there is something hiding away that perhaps a novice would not spot.

Exactly, they also do stuff like test the oil and water for gases/deposits etc that indicate invisible faults and internal wear. However much like having a house survey they can really nit-pick to cover their arse so even an extensive "fault" list is not necessarily the end of the world for prospective buyer or indeed a reason for the seller to halve his price!

Short of serious chassis damage or major engine/gearbox faults most things eventually get "fixed" by proper maintenance anyway so don't dismiss what you believe to be a largely honest car that might bit be missing a bit of history or be looking a bit tired.

Cheers

Mark

[Unregistered]

Thank you for all the help offered. Anyone in Suffolk?

Neil

[AR]

Agree with what has been said regarding history. My car is overserviced, yet it ponly goes into Honda for major things. It does have a FHSH complemented by my own servicing.

[mutley]

I'd like th echo some of the statements above, Yes FSH is good, and I wish my car had one, but sadly it doesn't but I'm not overly bothered. I have now got 116K on the clock and todat I drove from Bedford to Edinburgh without as much as a hiccup.

As with some members here, I'm happy enough to do most of the stuff myself, although now that I am back down south, I'll be investing in a a Kaz Health Check.

Hope you find a car soon and come back nto the fold.

Jim

[bernev]

I agree with a lot of the above. My NSX has only done 10,000 miles in its 14 years. I am the second owner. It had a Honda service history by the same selling dealer and had the MoTs to back up the story. But it was not a full history by any stretch. The timing belt was 2 years late and it didn't even pass through the dealership between 2000 and 2002 except for 2 MOTs. But did I care? Not at all. Its condition showed that this was a truly exceptional car which had never been out in the winter and, despite the time interval, had oil changes at least every 1000 miles. I bought it immediately, even paying over the odds. Mind you I demanded that the supplying dealer (to me), Honda Chiswick, do a full fluids/plugs, etc service and fit new A022s. This was five years ago. I now find myself in the same situation as the previous owner. A maximum of 500 miles a year (usually no more than four outings over the summer) and then back to bed. The car is then treated to regularly turned tyres and engine start ups and regular air con and radio checks. I even get it serviced from time to time. But the dealership (who has done it from new) has often turned me away saying that there wasn't any point in doing an oil change (even) because of the lack of deterioration.

There is a lot of talk about cars falling to bits as they get old. I accept to a degree that a car that is stored may deteriorate but it will not not do so any quicker than a used car if the storage conditions are correct and it is looked after while in storage. Similarly, I can vouch for the fact that old stored cars - I have two - do not just fall to bits. Clearly, when buying, you need to inspect any car carefully but I would much prefer to buy an outstanding car which has not been used much to one that has been used regularly for short journeys or in the city even if the latter has a history and the former doesn't. Getting an immaculate NSX serviced, even with all of the majors done, is not going to cost more than £3k - and this would get you a perfect car which you can personally vouch for. And when you look at the overall cost this is not a lot to pay. After all, my NSX is now increasing in value and I wouldn't let it go for less than £30k. And it will only continue to go up, as the NSX's significance to the motoring world is recognised. This may take 10 or more years though.......!