Low mileage or lots of reciepts?

Looking for another commuter car.  All over the board as, being a car guy, I can find value in pretty much anything.  Budget's under $3k.

Recently, two Caravan's have popped up on potential radar and thought I get the hive's opinion on something.

2007 T&C - one owner since new, Mobil 1, garage kept, maintained by a "master tech", 221k miles, though.

2005 Caravan - former postal van, only 63k miles.

Both are around the same price.  Which would you choose?  High mileage but supposedly long history or very low miles, with only assume history being a former government vehicle.  I've only seen the Caravan, haven't driven either as I won't be pulling the trigger on anything until closer to the end of the week.  Besides, not really looking for a Caravan (or van in general), but these seemed interesting and the difference in mileage v. history made me wonder. 

I "think" I'd lean towards the higher mileage one, just based on ads right now, but would drive both before deciding. 

-Rob

Postal van only has 63k, but that's a HARD 63k. Constant starting and stopping, turning on and off, running loaded most the time, and driven hard by people that probably don't care that much cuz it's not their personal vehicle.

221k is a little high, but is 2yrs newer and probably treated better overall and probably more comfort features than a fleet vehicle.

Would depend on time frame of keeping it. If plan is to drive it 1-2yrs, the lower mile option might resale better to general public due to their lack of understanding of how cars work. If planning to keep long term, the newer one would probably be a safer bet even with the high miles.

Short answer is get a Miata (or a Honda).

Keep looking. 

That postal van is the most ragged 63k mile vehicle I've seen. Avoid.

The T&C is probably fine, although the dash vent air thing means it'll stink inside. I can't stand air "fresheners" like that. Regardless, between those two, I'd take the T&C. If it were my money, the answer would be "neither." But in general, the more receipts the better. 

Your first reaction to an ex-postal delivery Caravan should be:

Pressing a minivan into service that should call for a serious commercial vehicle chassis means it's likely to be pretty beat. Looking at the condition of the driver's seat, I have to wonder if it's had a visit from Speedometer Sam to be reporting 63,000 miles, or if it's just had 263,000 miles' worth of abuse logged in a mere 63,000.

The high mileage heavily maintained one is still sketchy, but not on the same level. However, an ex-postal Caravan is a hard level to reach.

T&C - offer $1900, drive it till something pops and buy another one.

Should be able to get 12-18 months out of it.  

$100/month is doesnt buy you much.  

Yep, if it's down to those two I'm making a lowball offer on the T&C and seeing if he bites.  Otherwise, put your reel back in the water.

If those are the only choices, recipts. 

I'd say receipts if it were medium mileage. But that's... higher than I'd want for the acquisition of an appliance.

But echoing the general sentiment, that one seems like the less bad choice if forced to pick.

Thanks for the replies.  Not forced to pick either as I'm wide open and have some time.  Just found the differences interesting and was curious what the hive thought about it.  Sounds like I should keep looking, regardless, which I was.  There's also an '07 Focus with less thank 100k miles, a rebuilt title '07 Accent that looks nice, couple of Scion XD's and various GM trucks and SUV's.  I'm not particular to a specific make/model.  Kinda want an appliance (so probably a Toyota), but wouldn't complain if it was fun-ish or practical (like a van or truck).

Basically, severe Automotive ADD.......

-Rob

I recently bought a minivan because it had really low miles. In retrospect, I would have been better off with a well-maintained one with higher miles.  

If i was looking for something fun and $2k I would buy the most ragged out used up high end car I could find and expect it to be dead before my permanent plates arrived.  

Receipts over low miles any day.

Low miles means everything is over due and likely never touched. On an older vehicle, that means plenty of things could be corroded in place or rusted. It’s a ticking time bomb. 

Receipts, though, tell you how thorough someone was, and who did the work, and how quality the work was. When it’s a billion different receipts for the same repair, but from a different shop each time, you know those other shops didn’t fix it. Or the owner cheaped out on maintenance.

Receipts tell you if you should run. Miles can’t. 

221,000 miles.  On a Caravan.  Is your meth dealer feeding you bad stuff?

First off, I agree you should look for something else. But given those two options, I would choose the ex-postal van.  I think 220,000 miles from that era Chrysler van is a ticking time bomb. Given the year it could be highway miles or it could just be a bunch of miles ferrying kids around town. 

I think the postal van will go to at least 100k miles, but pushing a van to 260k miles is pressing your luck. Also, I think you can negotiate more on the postal van more than a passenger van. 

My wealth of experience with bmw has left me a FIRM believer in maintenance being far more important miles. Lol

I just finished driving something almost identical to the 1st one  with 214k miles on a 2000-mile round trip to Colorado which included going to the top of Pikes Peak with 6 people inside. I also hit 105mph in it right before the trip started. I mean, it's not like i had absolutely ZERO concern for loading it down and flooring it up to 14k ft of elevation or for flooring it until it exceeded the speed limiter of the chevy truck that was annoying me, but the concerns were fairly low.

Why? Because i've worked on Chrysler vans for over 15 years now and as an actual professional auto technician with 12 different ASE certs that are becoming a pain in the ass to recertify because i have so many, i know that that particular year range and drivetrain are pretty bulletproof and that i could easily fix anything that was actually likely to go from fine to broke in 2000 miles. I packed some tools in the stow and go compartments and never touched them. Floor it up a bigass mountain, floor it into triple digits, 200 and i dont even care how many thousands of miles. Whatever. They're great vehicles. Would I daily it if it was just me inside it? No, there are more interesting options including my two older Chrysler minivans with turbos.  I mean, if i could have fit 6 people into my Porsche Cayenne or Mazdaspeed6 I might've taken one of those instead. But even if i had a chauffered tour bus it wouldn't change the fact that these are good vehicles. 

That postal van is a good example of why cars need hour meters on them too. My uncle had a 5 year old ranger that showed 9k miles on it but he drove it 2 hours a day each way in stop and go traffic and it lived a hard life

Antihero said:

That postal van is a good example of why cars need hour meters on them too. My uncle had a 5 year old ranger that showed 9k miles on it but he drove it 2 hours a day each way in stop and go traffic and it lived a hard life

A lot of vehicles keep track of this via OBD II, I don't think you can see it via the generic readers, but I remember where (which makes) I saw it..    Probably on the Cobb for my Rx-8 and maybe on the Audi tuning package?