Best way to judge Wear & Tear on a vehicle?

[Crazy Dazz]

As a general rule lower kilometres are obviously desirable, so the odometer reading combined with the strength of the service & maintenance history is a good indicator.

But there are so many problems with modern electronic clusters, changing them out has become common, which makes me suspicious about some of the cars I have seen. Cars that claim to have moderate kilometres but have flogged out components.

In the days when cars "clocked" at 100k, my ole Dad always reckoned the tip was to look at the wear on the brake pedal, as that was something few people thought to replace.

What would you look at, if you thought the kilometres weren't legit?

[FormulaFG]

Brake pedal is actually pretty clever idea.

Wear and tear on the drivers seat from constantly getting in and out over the years. Not much help if there were seat covers on I guess though.

The steering wheel, how smooth has it become? They leave the factory with little dimples and stuff in them but over time your hands smooth them out.

[marty351]

^^^^ as above, check for looseness in the indicator stalk, wear on ign key (if its original), carpets/mats,compare door handles with passenger and rear handles and my favourite to tell for neglect/lack of service- remove oil cap and scrape finger as deep as possible on the inside of the rocker cover. Clean oil and no deposits are a positive sign.
Hope that helps.

[2011G6E]

I agree...brake pedal rubber. Possibly also the carpet under the accelerator pedal...that used to be a good indication. General "looseness" of fittings is another good guide...however given the way some of the things in our G6E were fitted and just banged shut loosely (no "soft close" on things like passenger roof grab handles, etc) it's kind of hard to use that as a guide sometimes.

Basically, look anywhere that will be an obvious spot for wear over time...carpets, the side of the drivers seat where you slide in and out, indicator stalk, even printed lettering on buttons and things like that.

[The Yeti]

There's no 1 thing, it's a combination of all the above, how the doors close the ware on the floor mat all sorts of things.

To adjust a Denis Denuto quote

It's the "feel" of the thing

[pottery beige]

pm hulk he knows the bizz

[HULK_I6T]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

pm hulk he knows the bizz

Apologies for the belated reply.

Communal/emergency vehicles: An obvious check would be to look at the service books for the original owner, if it's the police, a rental car company, govt or a taxi company then you know the car has been thrashed. Any sort of communal use, intermittent drivers etc. I'd just turn and run if the owners manual showed up these type of owners. But If your willing to take the car on despite the original owner (police, rental, govt, taxi) then make sure you buy it for a steal of a price to cover for the additional maintenance costs and costs to refreshen the car.

Company car: If a company car it could also have been thrashed but you might be lucky. Do your checks.

Private owner cars: The best car will always be a low km car and when you can speak to the original owner and person who was the driver of the car. Then you can ask pertinent questions and get a feel for the owners car care regime. Don't be adverse to pay a bit of a premium for a proper car, they will reward you with lower maintenance costs in the long term.

Poorly serviced cars: Also look for any cheap mods or non genuine parts added. It shows the owner tried to skimp on fixing the car properly (p platers etc) and may have tried to cheap out on servicing too. If a p plater was the regular driver of the car id run away also but this is just my own personal opinion. If your just unsure just stick to the km rule, the lower the better, assume all cars are abused, the car with less abuse (km) is likely better. If you don't trust the km go to the original owner rule.

It really is a jungle out there, best of luck.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by HULK_I6T

Private owner cars: The best car will always be a low km car and when you can speak to the original owner and person who was the driver of the car.

You would hope so being low km's but again I've seen some poorly maintained in bad condition, I've seen some higher km cars in superb condition which is a credit to some owners who look after them.

[Taily]

Wear on door hinges (door dropping or flogged out checkstraps), indicator stalk loseness and a wear pattern beginning where it is touched to turn right/lanechange, carpet is a good one, brake pedal possibly (as some folks still cannot let go of left foot braking), those tiny (read millions) of chips in the windscreen (not the larger stone chips) will give you an idea maybe in what type of environment the car has operated (ie; how sandy/salty etc).

Different cars will wear differently more dependantly upon how they are used (ie; you wont cause wear to a car the same way I might) etc....

Failing that, as PB suggests, just ask Hulk. He's been there and done that on every car there ever was!

[Itsme]

What age of vehicle are we really talking about?
You compare it to other same models that you know are in VGC.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by trublu

What age of vehicle are we really talking about?
You compare it to other same models that you know are in VGC.

That's the thing, the car is over a decade old, it looks and feels to be in "reasonable condition for its age," albeit slightly more worn in places than the average I have looked at. BUT showing under 100kk. Conceptually not implausible, but yeah doesn't gel with the feel of the car.

[commonrails]

Check out as many of the same make and model possible and you will soon work out who's who in the zoo.

[ebxr8240]

Don't believe klmrs on any Jap import !!

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Don't believe klmrs on any Jap import !!

Or any E series or AU, in an AU you can just swap over the cluster lol.

[T-Pak Addict]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Or any E series or AU, in an AU you can just swap over the cluster lol.

Well pretty much any car with the right tools and equipment for that matter...

I changed the cluster (and got it modded) on my car, did the right thing and got the correct kays put back on it...
Don't think anyone would believe my car had 95k on it, so got it changed back to 530k which it had at the time....

My car wears its kays like a badge of honour...
6 years it suffered at the hands of crap drivers, many passengers and drunk people.... It now lives with me, gets treated with love, kindness, never wants for anything, its needs always met and it pays me back with getting me around to where ever I need to go... Every time....

[HULK_I6T]

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by HULK_I6T

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Meh, buy my Focus, been washed less than 5 times in 3 years, had 60kg of cow **** in the back once and a lawn mower a few times and one of my toolboxes in and out daily.

[T-Pak Addict]

Its too hard these days to accurately judge based on kays sometimes but you have to take each car on its merit. Yeah sometimes it is just "the vibe of the thing". I have seen some 200k cars that are just pristine in every way and others that have just had such an uncared for life..... It comes down to the previous owner.

100k cars are just too hard to pick, by 200k they are dead easy to see whats been looked after and whats not... Years ago I had a friend I got into an argument with just on this very issue me telling him I would prefer a higher kay car (200k+) over a 100k car anyday. Here was my reasoning... by about 100-150k there are a lot of parts that start to give up the ghost as it were, shocks, bushes, waterpumps, hoses, niggling electrical issues etc ect by 200k most of these parts have been or should have been replaced. So you can tell with just one drive how good the car feels at 200,000 it will either drive like a pig or drive pretty dam good.

A few people that have driven my car can't believe how well mine drives (drives tighter than theirs) and mine has just been run in at 572,000 kays

[T-Pak Addict]

how do you determine a car has been poorly serviced??
I do all my own servicing, replace all my own parts as needed... oh I don't have a rubber stamp in my book..... must be poorly serviced....

There is always an exception to the rule.....

What is a cheap mod??
I bought XR6 springs for my car for $50, actually I have a lot of cheap mods....

My car therefor is rubbish...
I don't know how I can live with myself for putting everyone at risk...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gls09kO-8DE

[T-Pak Addict]

Your wisdom just shines in this thread Hulk.....

[BradEL]

Look at things like gear shifters, handbrakes, pedals, carpets, seats, armrests, door handles, hinges ect.

[dogfish]

Hey Hulk_I6T I don't mean to sound like a knob but I reckon they're taking the **** out of you, do you not realize????????
If not that is rather amusing,
If so that is more amusing as you answer so honestly and childlike as if a deer in the head lights sorry dude but the stuff you put up about used cars etc is pretty common place bud I don't think that many people here are going "Hey Bruzz I got a cool new Ex Filth car and it's got all the bells and whistles and I only paid 70 grand for it SWEEEEEEEEEET, never been over 100kph or revved harder than 3 grand".
But I suppose at least people remeber you even if they are taking the ****.

[Jastel]

One of the best cop cars I ever had was driven by the Inspector of Police...but I knew that before I bought it.
One of the biggest lemons I had was an original one owner little old man private sale.

They are general rules but there are exceptions to all of them.
Modern cars are not able to abused as much, the electronics wont let them, they can still be driven into and over things by the driver but.

[Road Games]

Originally Posted by dogfish

Hey Hulk_I6T I don't mean to sound like a knob but I reckon they're taking the **** out of you, do you not realize????????
If not that is rather amusing,
If so that is more amusing as you answer so honestly and childlike as if a deer in the head lights sorry dude but the stuff you put up about used cars etc is pretty common place bud I don't think that many people here are going "Hey Bruzz I got a cool new Ex Filth car and it's got all the bells and whistles and I only paid 70 grand for it SWEEEEEEEEEET, never been over 100kph or revved harder than 3 grand".
But I suppose at least people remeber you even if they are taking the ****.

I think the internet warriors should pull there heads in .. just sayin'

as you were...

[dogfish]

XR6menace if you're refering me as an internet warrior I'd be thinking you're wrong. I'm hardly ever on here for a start as it is so over policed and secondly poor ole Hulk answers sincerely when people are just geeing him up, I was merely asking if he detected the sarcasm in other peoples posts.
So I have no qualms if I ever met him or you for that matter to tell him exactly to his face what was written here.
A few of the other members that know me personally on here would vouch for that.
I'm not afraid to tell it how it is in actual real life even if it comes at a cost to me.
So as i said before if you're thinking I'm a keyboard warrior you'd be thinking WRONG.

[MercuryT]

For mine the drivers seat gives away true Ks gave away the Ks when compared to passenger.

Recently drove an imported R33 GTR with "80Ks" - seat was really worn (and other like pedals and gear knob) and when asked about history etc "it's in Japanese, I just went off Odometer". Haha.

[T-Pak Addict]

I am the 2nd owner, previous owner had it serviced once a month, inspected every 12 months... So should be a good one...

[Cobra]

Brake pedal condition might be fine if the car is driven on the highway a lot, same with anything in the interior, so to use it as a basis of how many km it has done can be flawed. The owner may get in and out 20 times a day and drive 10km, or they could drive 600 odd km a week like myself, mostly on the Northern Expressway, hardly touch the brake pedal and get in and out of it twice a day. But I guess if the interior is flogged out, but the odometer says it's done stuff all kays... that's when the alarm bells should be ringing.

There's a huge difference between correlation and causation. There's no exact science to determining just how well a vehicle has been looked after. Nor does a well looked after vehicle preclude it from being subject to problems at some point down the track. All I can recommend is to drive the vehicle, be observant of the owner, ask (without being rude) what sort of driving the vehicle has done. If it has a towbar, ask what sort of towing it has done. You can usually get an idea from the owner if they're talking **** or not by how they answer your questions, rather than what the answers to your questions are.

[T-Pak Addict]

yep "its the vibe of the thing"