The car that I am looking at has 106,xxx miles and I was wondering if it is near repair (based on miles) or will last me another three to four years at least? Is that A LOT in your opinion?

 

The 4.2 is very reliable providing it was taken care of. Does the owner have the service records? You need to make sure the timing belt, water pump, and tensioner were changed. If I was buying it I would also want the front control arms and tie-rods changed since they wear out and squeak and get sloppy (it was about $1000 when I had mine changed).

 

I think that the 2003 4.2 V8's and above went away from timing belts and use timing chains. I'd give up some gas milage to get more horsepower and NO timing belts [sm=signs007.gif]

 

The 4.2 is very reliable. I'm at 78k and have only had scheduled maintenance and minor warranty work completed. Just make sure that the owner has all the service records. They are great cars to drive. Especially on the highway!

 

Just making sure if it sound like a solid deal. I do not know the typical life span of this car so I was wondering what that was?

 

Depends on how much you're willing to invest in maintenance...in terms of cash-dollars...in terms of relative to value of car, etc.

I faced a similar decision, was looking at cars wth lower miles but that meant eating the timing belt job. Found one that was pristine, cheap and had the timing belt service done, and I decided to go with it. Validated that the prior owner was an older real estate salesperson, and spoke with the dealer that did all the maintenance first. 2002 4.2L blk/tan $12K.

I think the real question isn't whether it will hold up, but whether your risk-tolerance is such that you need to think about ponying up $1K or more for an aftermarket warranty, or not.

 

to re-iterate others comments....VERY RELIABLE vehicle when taken care of. If you stay on top of maintenance and dont beat on itthese cars will last 200k or more. Watch out for possible tranny issues though. It would be a good idea to do a full service at that mileage.