I need to decide whether to buy a VRS for about £5500 with 75k miles on it or a £7500 car with 20k miles on it. What are your opinions?

I understand that if I buy the more expensive car then I will lose the extra money spent in depriciation but then it would still be under skoda warranty so you'd hope to spend less on repairs etc. I cover about 12-15k miles a year so not a huge mileage but it would mean the cheaper fabia would be at 100k in a couple of years, then again it would make the 20k mile car no longer a low mileage desirable car.

Is 75k miles on a 55 reg'd car anything to worry about? The cambelt hasn't been changed yet but would be before purchase so there's no concern there. The remote key doesn't work unfortunately so I guess there would be other little niggles and expenses that are yet to be discovered.

Any opinions greatly appreciated as I don't know what to do haha...

75k is nothing on a pd engine, just make sure its full service history, no knocking on suspension, no remap otherwise turbo could be tired, look for excessive stone chipping, worn drivers seat bolster, etc etc etc,

i would save the coin tbh

I'm a firm believer in buying the best I can afford and come time to sell in the future yo'll still have a car with 55,000 miles extra.

Only you will know what the cars are like and how they've been looked after some wear their mileage better than others but now is definitely the time to buy and the dearer car should be bought for a lot less than the screen price anyway.

75k over 3 years seems a lot of miles and cambelt changes are recommended every 4 years or 60k miles, whichever comes first, so the owner missed that by 15k miles. If you've got the money I'd be more tempted by the 20k car. What year is that one?

Have a look in the 'for sale' section on here. You're more likely to find a car that's been better looked after and serviced properly.

But that's just my opinion …

Just realised it was a diesel Fabia. Sorry, I've got petrol Octavias on the brain. 75k is fine for a diesel but that's still 25k a year road use :eek:

Haha yeh i thought it seemed high, its had two owners, second was Volkswagen i think so i'm thinking plenty of motorway miles. The car was last serviced at 58,000 miles i think which might explain why the belt was not done. Though, 58 - 75 seems a long time not to have a service..?

20k car is a '56' plate. Unfortunately I need to trade my car in so cant look in the for sale section :(. The newer car's company offered me £500 less for my car however there car is very good value.

Though, 58 - 75 seems a long time not to have a service..?

Yes, 70% too many miles. Services should be every 10k. Whilst I agree that the engine should be fine at that mileage, remember a car is more than the engine Hard to make a decision for you without seeing both cars, and without knowing hoe muhc 2k means to you.

Spoken to the dealer with the £7500 car and he said that it had come down from £8495 since they got it and that the 7500 price was non-negotiable, this isn't such a problem however they've offered me £500 less for my car so in effect it would be a £2.5k difference.

Going on what you've posted about the service history on the 75k Fabia I wouldn't touch it... as already pointed out the service intervals are every 10k and the last one was well overdue.

Going on what you've posted about the service history on the 75k Fabia I wouldn't touch it... as already pointed out the service intervals are every 10k and the last one was well overdue.

Seems a valid point because parts could have been worn etc, also the guy said they'd service it but I get the impression that means they'll change the oil lol. Does sound a bit risky.

I would go for the lower milage one aswell, maybe more money but may save you in the long run judgeing by the services that have or have not been done on the 75k one.

Is the high milage one black reg no yk55txu? If so it was sold last thursday at British Car Auctions Volkswagen finance sale,might explain why "Volkswagen" is on log book as an owner.It was on BCA,s website as only having 5 stamps in service book.

Spoken to the dealer with the £7500 car and he said that it had come down from £8495 since they got it and that the 7500 price was non-negotiable, this isn't such a problem however they've offered me £500 less for my car so in effect it would be a £2.5k difference.

Prices are always negotiable! Especially in the current climate.

why not buy shiftys car?

I need to decide whether to buy a VRS for about £5500 with 75k miles on it or a £7500 car with 20k miles on it. What are your opinions?

The answer is simple enough to me........at 75k miles the best part of it's life is over. At 20k it's best years are ahead.

That £2k difference could be a false economy.

In the future you may well be stuck with a high-mileage car, but the 20k one will still have some life left in it.

Remember that the real cost of a car is what you pay for it minus what you sell it for. Your chance of recovering some of the cost is much better with the 20k one, and that is the clincher for me.

From some of the posts above it sounds like the higher mileage car might have a bit of a chequered history.

It if was my money, I'd go for the lower mileage car and maybe ask the dealer if he can give you another couple of hundred for your px.

You know the patter, "Its the car for me", "I love it", "A fine example of Skoda at their engineering best", "Everything is perfect about this car", then ask him to do a bit better on the px.

Best of luck.

Cheers guys does sound like the general consenus is to go for the newer lower mileage car for many different valid reasons.

Is the high milage one black reg no yk55txu? If so it was sold last thursday at British Car Auctions Volkswagen finance sale,might explain why "Volkswagen" is on log book as an owner.It was on BCA,s website as only having 5 stamps in service book.

Number plate was NJ55KHK but ur probably right in that this car may well have also come from Volkswagen finance.

I'd check both cars out personally and fully.

According to the service book it's missed a service but the garage may not have stamped the book? It's a possibility.

Has the 20k car got a service history?

25k road use per annum? it happens, I was averaging 13k per annum in my Felicia.

Mileage doesn't make a car desirable (ok it does sometimes) a couple of people on here have Furby VRS' nudging 100k

On a sidenote my sister has a M reg Micra with no history behind it, the only time records started was when she left the car at home and I started keeping a record.

55 is already 3 year old and the 56 will need an MOT next year.

It all depends on how long you plan to keep the car as well.

Personally I'd check both cars out thoroughly before making a decision.