Hey all,
I'm a prospective FiST buyer from down under (howdy from Australia!) looking at purchasing specifically a 2017 FiST as my first car even though I'm 27 (late to the party I know) as it's ticking all the right boxes for me. This is my first post here and after spending many hours reading the countless helpful posts by everyone in here in addition to a bevy of YouTube videos with reviews, tests, what-to-knows and such about the car in addition to tasteful mods etc. that people have done to them, I'm actively looking at 2017 examples for purchase as these are seemingly the "best" options with least likely to go wrong. Australia got the refresh/facelift with the 2017, Sync 3, etc.
There are a few that I've shortlisted, but something I wasn't really able to find advice on here on is how well the car ages, specifically around the age of the primary example I'm looking at purchasing. This example is a 2017 FiST available for around $12k AUD (roughly $7.8k USD at the moment) and is $2k AUD ($1300 USD) to $4k AUD ($2600 USD)+ below virtually all other examples for sale at the moment. It's completely stock/unmodified, in seemingly great condition judging by listing photos and has only had a single owner that uses it for long highway travels to/from work. The potential catch with this one is that it has just passed 250k kms or about 156k miles and while it was serviced "recently" according to the buyer, I'm hesitant to purchase it given the amount of use it has had and what potentially even lightly tuning/modding the engine might do given my potential to use it well into the 350k+ kms/200k+ miles era.
Other examples here in AU are available with much less use, generally between 100k to 150k kms (around 63k miles to 93k miles) but are going for around $15k to $16k AUD (around $9.8k USD to $10.5k USD or so) with some light/initial mods pre-done to them. Basically, I'm not sure if I should attempt to negotiate down these more expensive, less-aged examples and see what I might be able to manage to get one for or if the more knowledgeable folk on here think it could be worth risking it on the cheaper well-used example.
As it'll probably matter, prior to purchasing any example I was planning on having a professional inspection done regardless of the one that I purchase but specifically on the cheaper one given its age. This inspection includes a test drive, report on driving performance, condition report of the engine/tyres/wheels, visual inspection of the interior/exterior/engine, a post-inspection phone-call with the inspector, a vehicle history report and a walkthrough video of the interior/exterior/engine and any key findings as well as an engine start/idle/off video in addition to a ton more. Then, assuming it's probably safe to still go for the cheaper example, my own personal inspection and test drive with a more mechanically-inclined friend and a checklist I've compiled based on posts on here and videos on what to check.
Assuming I can find one I'm happy to buy, the first thing I'll be having done on it post-purchase is a major service at a Ford dealer to ensure everything is up to scratch.
Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
I'm a prospective FiST buyer from down under (howdy from Australia!) looking at purchasing specifically a 2017 FiST as my first car even though I'm 27 (late to the party I know) as it's ticking all the right boxes for me. This is my first post here and after spending many hours reading the countless helpful posts by everyone in here in addition to a bevy of YouTube videos with reviews, tests, what-to-knows and such about the car in addition to tasteful mods etc. that people have done to them, I'm actively looking at 2017 examples for purchase as these are seemingly the "best" options with least likely to go wrong. Australia got the refresh/facelift with the 2017, Sync 3, etc.
There are a few that I've shortlisted, but something I wasn't really able to find advice on here on is how well the car ages, specifically around the age of the primary example I'm looking at purchasing. This example is a 2017 FiST available for around $12k AUD (roughly $7.8k USD at the moment) and is $2k AUD ($1300 USD) to $4k AUD ($2600 USD)+ below virtually all other examples for sale at the moment. It's completely stock/unmodified, in seemingly great condition judging by listing photos and has only had a single owner that uses it for long highway travels to/from work. The potential catch with this one is that it has just passed 250k kms or about 156k miles and while it was serviced "recently" according to the buyer, I'm hesitant to purchase it given the amount of use it has had and what potentially even lightly tuning/modding the engine might do given my potential to use it well into the 350k+ kms/200k+ miles era.
Other examples here in AU are available with much less use, generally between 100k to 150k kms (around 63k miles to 93k miles) but are going for around $15k to $16k AUD (around $9.8k USD to $10.5k USD or so) with some light/initial mods pre-done to them. Basically, I'm not sure if I should attempt to negotiate down these more expensive, less-aged examples and see what I might be able to manage to get one for or if the more knowledgeable folk on here think it could be worth risking it on the cheaper well-used example.
As it'll probably matter, prior to purchasing any example I was planning on having a professional inspection done regardless of the one that I purchase but specifically on the cheaper one given its age. This inspection includes a test drive, report on driving performance, condition report of the engine/tyres/wheels, visual inspection of the interior/exterior/engine, a post-inspection phone-call with the inspector, a vehicle history report and a walkthrough video of the interior/exterior/engine and any key findings as well as an engine start/idle/off video in addition to a ton more. Then, assuming it's probably safe to still go for the cheaper example, my own personal inspection and test drive with a more mechanically-inclined friend and a checklist I've compiled based on posts on here and videos on what to check.
Assuming I can find one I'm happy to buy, the first thing I'll be having done on it post-purchase is a major service at a Ford dealer to ensure everything is up to scratch.
Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
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