223K is a lot of miles. Anytime you buy a used car that is beyond it's factory warranty you are taking on the mechanical failure risk that the manufacturer no longer thinks it makes business sense to do so. Even a very well maintained car at 223K miles will need repairs eventually. A car is a working machine and it will start to wear out the day it comes out of the show room. I don't think the need to rebuild an automatic transmission every 150K miles is unreasonable. A well maintaind diesel engine is worth at least 300K miles. Of course with a used car you really don't know for sure how well it was maintained. Other items such as bearings, seals, ball joints and parts made from plastic and rubber will fail as you get higher up in miles and they all won't fail at the same time.

If you don't mind doing your own maintenance and repairs a high mileage car might be a good deal. I don't mind spending a couple of hundred every few months on my Benz. It is paid for and I keep just enough insurance on it to protect my liability. It is a hell of a lot cheaper then a new car.

TimK

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EPA 609 & 608 HVAC Certified
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83' 300D Turbo - 300K + Miles
00' 1.9L TDI Beetle
85' 6.5L Turbo, GV-OD, GMC Suburban,
67' 2.5L Diesel NA - Land Rover Series IIA

Here's what you do if it's so cold your diesel fuel gels. Smear some on some toast and stay inside until it warms up outside.