200K Miles too many buying a used Honda?

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Looking at a 2008 Acura MDX private party for $5000 USD.

Pictures seem like it was well taken care of. Owner claims he has service records etc.

Wanted to get some opinions before driving 2 hours just to look at it.
 
200k is 200k no matter how you shake it. Even if the engine or trans are decent they could blow up anytime. Plus the suspension will have 200k on it as well. Plus that vehicle has a timing belt that is probably due.

For 5k I would look for something with lower miles.
 
Seller claims majority is highway miles. Married but don't have kids (isn't beat to [censored])
 
200k in the Northeast? All highway miles? I'd bet the average vehicle speed is about 27mph. You can do the math on how many hours that was.

Agree with Jimzz... 200k may be fine on the engine and tranny, but northeast winters will have been a rough 11 years on the underbody and bushings.
 
Just ran the VIN on carfax. It has roughly 50 service records mostly at the Acura dealership. The pics look like the thing was babied.
 
You don't say which version but I looked up the Sport editions that sold at auction and one with 291K miles sold for $4,400 and one with 160K for $6,500. So $5K seem to be a good deal. The only thing that would worry me is the transmission. At 200K it might go another 100,000 miles or blow within 1,000 miles.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
You don't say which version but I looked up the Sport editions that sold at auction and one with 291K miles sold for $4,400 and one with 160K for $6,500. So $5K seem to be a good deal. The only thing that would worry me is the transmission. At 200K it might go another 100,000 miles or blow within 1,000 miles.


I'll be checking the dipstick for color/smell. Also driving it and checking for shift quality. With all the acura service records, I would think that the dealership did drain and fills fairly often.
 
Personally I would not be afraid of 200,000 miles. I would check his service records for what has been done and go from there. Test drive it and
give it a good underbody inspection. It is surprising how little you get for 5 g these days for that type of vehicle.
 
If in decent condition a 2008 MDX is reasonable buy. Great price at $4000.

I have a 2007 MDX with 193k and never had a more reliable vehicle including 95 Civic.

$5000 is small coin if vehicle is well taken care of.Also not a big chunk of money to risk either.
 
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You should probably find an Acura MDX forum where the talk about that model year to see what the long term pitfalls could potentially be. I've know people who keep their vehicle spiffy clean but were less than stellar on ongoing maintenance. If it's been well maintained mechanically and still looks darn good in person, you may have found a winner. And is it the original owner?
 
Just tossing this around in my head for the past few hours. I think the gas mileage might be a deal breaker. Is that weird? Right now, my wife would be driving the 05 odyssey 20 miles to work and back (she just started full time after stay at home mom stint). She'd get high 20's on the highway. The MDX is 15 city 20 highway... ouch. I was all but convinced on buying this pending a positive test drive experience/check out.

Now I'm leaning towards hunting a CR-V again. Ugh, car buying truly sucks.
 
Originally Posted by ediamiam
You should probably find an Acura MDX forum where the talk about that model year to see what the long term pitfalls could potentially be. I've know people who keep their vehicle spiffy clean but were less than stellar on ongoing maintenance. If it's been well maintained mechanically and still looks darn good in person, you may have found a winner. And is it the original owner?


Carcomplaints.com

2008 model year was very good according to that site. Very few complaints/issues for that year.
 
Lots of Kool-Aid drinkers in this thread. It's a 2008 Acura not a 1998 Honda, it's not worth paying the premium for especially at high miles where other brands with similar miles will be a lot cheaper.
 
Car Angel guy on YouTube has a video on verifying if a car was a highway mileage car. One thing is to look for is lots of chips/dings on the front means lots of highway driving. Look and see how bad the brake pedal is worn. Less wear on brake pedal equals more highway miles.

You have verified service records which say a lot. The owner can get you a copy of the dealer service records.

I'd at least do the 4 hour road trip. Pick out a couple of great places to eat. Get an audio book or some podcasts. You and your wife make it a date trip.
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Would $4K be a great price for you?

Have a mechanic check it out before you go.
 
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Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
200k in the Northeast? All highway miles? I'd bet the average vehicle speed is about 27mph. You can do the math on how many hours that was.

Agree with Jimzz... 200k may be fine on the engine and tranny, but northeast winters will have been a rough 11 years on the underbody and bushings.



I live in nj and my average velocity is 40 mph.

If you look at book values a car with 200k miles and 300k miles are nearly the same.

Offer 3500 and settle for 4000. If you put 40000 miles on the vehicle, you got your money's worth.
 
I wouldn't. There's going to be more issues with rotten seals, bushings, and other suspension parts with age.
 
"Is 200K Miles too many buying a used Honda?"

If it happened to be the Accord that my step-daughter and husband have owned since new ( '08?), it would be about 150k too many miles. At about 210k, I have no idea how it still usually runs. Mostly short trip mileage as well. I seriously doubt that it has had more than 8 oil changes in it's life. Likely zero coolant or sparkplug changes. Various things got fixed when they became total failures, like totally lunched brakes ( a few times) and clutch. It's a testament to older Honda reliability, but also indicative of a huge demographic of vehicle owners.

With some real evidence of maintenance and a significantly low price, I'd say go for it, if you think you can get the last two years of life out of it.

My B-I-L, just traded an '08 MDX with 240k on it that had minimal annual maintenance done on it. It still ran but everything was about at life's end. He got a new MDX.
 
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Someone else mentioned the CRV is a noisy shoebox compared to the MDX/Pilot, I tend to agree. My wife has owned a 2008 CRV for the past five years, it is noisy, it does feel cheap, there's nothing special about it, however it is [censored] reliable. Probably more reliable than any car I've ever owned - and I've owned primarily Hondas and Lexus - the CRV is a noisy little SUV, but it's as trouble free as you'll ever get...to the point of being downright ridiculous. And it's just so cheap and easy to maintain, with pretty good fuel economy (averaging 26). The newer ones get even better file economy, my dad has a 2019, he's averaging 32, and if he drove on the highway once in awhile it'd be higher. They're good in the snow, they're practical, they're is some room in the back when you fold the seats down, you sit at a good sight level, it handles pretty well, it gives you half decent acceleration...I mean if you're look for an all around practical commuter...there's a reason why these things sell like hot cakes.
 
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