Which would you buy?

[ad_car_08]

I'm in a bit of a quandary at the moment, over two MR2's. Both are the same price....

First is a 2004 Sable Grey, 125k miles, full service history, MOT until next April

Second is 2003 Silver, 83k miles, not full history but 'loads', 12 months MOT

Do I look at a newer car with more miles, or go for fewer miles....   s:? :? s:?

[1979scotte]

If both have plenty of history get on your back and look underneath.
Pick the one with less corrosion.
If either has lived near the sea avoid.
Just learnt of another late model low miler that needs a new subframe.

[Topdownman]

I would start by driving both as that could make the decision much easier.

I also like to judge the owner and how genuine they are, how long they have owned it, why are they selling etc.

[1979scotte]

Sorry assumed driving them went without saying.

[Treboeth]

Got to be Silver over Sable much better colour  s;-) ;-) s;-)
Lower mileage sounds good, but as above a good drive and check over is needed.

[Tomo70]

Tyres can tell you an awful lot, if they have scrimped on tyres they have scrimped on service.

[krazysteve]

Tyres can tell you an awful lot, if they have scrimped on tyres they have scrimped on service.

so true....

[MR TWO]

To answer your question (notwithstanding all the above advice is good)  I'd take 50,000 less miles if the cars are comparable. The age difference of one year on a ten year old car isn't anything important imo.

[ad_car_08]

Thanks for your advice. I was looking at one of the stickies to see whether there were any real differences between the two years - the 04 had safety/support/bracing revisions if I remember the information correctly?
I quite like the Sable - a little more uncommon it appears? Correct me if I'm wrong?
The car will effectively be a second car - a play thing at the weekend and I plan to strip it for some track action. I favoured the 04 plate because the chap said it had full service history and I thought the revisions/extra bracing would be advantageous over the 03, when on track?

[cptspaulding]

Don't apologise & really thoroughly check the service history on both cars.

FSH means at least every year.

[MilesH]

Thanks for your advice. I was looking at one of the stickies to see whether there were any real differences between the two years - the 04 had safety/support/bracing revisions if I remember the information correctly?
I quite like the Sable - a little more uncommon it appears? Correct me if I'm wrong?
The car will effectively be a second car - a play thing at the weekend and I plan to strip it for some track action. I favoured the 04 plate because the chap said it had full service history and I thought the revisions/extra bracing would be advantageous over the 03, when on track?

Make sure you check for the extra bracing on the 04 car. I have had a couple of 04 cars and one had the extra bracing and one didn't. I think it depends when it was built as there may have been a delay between Toyota building and registering the car so some of the 04 plate cars were actually built just before the change was made on the production line.

[ad_car_08]

So I looked at the 04. Looked pretty tidy for its age, and had Toyota stamps until 2014.
One thing that concerned me was rust by the radiator mounts. Is that common?
The seller just said it was surface rust, but looked more substantial than just surface rust...
What're your thoughts?