Japanese ReCon cars odometer

[scin]

I have noticed that many Japanese Re Con BMWs mileage is very low for 4-5 year old cars.... Just wondering if anyone has concrete evidence to show that these have been tweaked (will the diagnostic computer be able to verify the true mileage?) or are Japanese cars generally just not driven that much????Looking at the wear of the interiors, it seems plausible that the indicated mileage could be authentic.Seeing as I already own the car, and should have asked this question before...... I am kinda late, but it's always good to know! My year 2000 car showed 39,000 km for 5 years.

 

[davis]

i also...i get my car just 17000km .cant believe it for 5 year car..

 

[scin]

Davis,

is that 17k or 170k??

 

[fabianyee]

doing a MODIC diagnostic shud be about to give u the approx. mileage...

 

[portse7en]

To good to be truth!
If 20 out of 100....we could consider japanesse people dont like "travel" much. But if all japanesse re-cond cars have below than 50,000km, that means they tweaked the speedo meter.

My year 2000 (UK spec) showed 90,000 km for 5 years. (nearlly come to 100K )

 

[tkew]

20 buck to change the mileage any model, most of it changed coz almost all the cars had the same mileage 30K -50K. UK model might have higher mileage coz the distance and week end drive

 

[scin]

Portse7n,

90k for 5 years is believable....

17k for 5 years is a bit hard to believe.

Where does one go to change the mileage....for 20 bucks?

 

[tkew]

the used car dealer use to do this, some workshop have this gadget. i know my fren did this to his car before selling it off, up north.

 

[E34EuroTouring]

All tweaked guys. There is no way, unless there is full service history from local BMW dealer with stamps and written ODOmeter reading plus receipts of each and every service record printed by computer from that dealer.

This is the downside of re-con Japanese imports. I don't understand why the importer cannot demand the original history papers becuase the Jap govenment needed proof before the car can be exported.

At least since these cars had 1 to 3 years factory warranties, they should be ok as BMW parts are engineered strong, except some rubber hoses. Any Jap BMW over 10 years is likely to be junk.

 

[davis]

ya 17000 km....i also don believe....5 year car where can be 17k..now i use there month also 15k already...haha :cry:

 

[aaron]

Guys,
i have a 1990 car with 63000 km
and a 1980 Jeep with 49000 km

It depends if you use the car or not.
In Japan, i hear that they use cars for the weekends....not many drive to work.

 

[portse7en]

Originally posted by aaron@Oct 31 2005, 03:41 AM
Guys,
i have a 1990 car with 63000 km
and a 1980 Jeep with 49000 km

It depends if you use the car or not.
In Japan, i hear that they use cars for the weekends....not many drive to work.

Quite a reasonable reason. They dont use much car, so not much milage!
Anybody lives in Japan before or study or work over there? May be you guys could give your experince or knowledge .....pleaseee

 

[Iqlima]

When I bought my R32 from auction , it have mileage over 50000 for 6 years. And most car we bought and sell from auction have 10000++ per year.
Most car come from main city have lower mileage than urban for obvious reason.

 

[leonard]

I can confirm at least mine is not the genuine mileage! My 318 yr 2000 Japan spec. showing 14,000 km when I bought the car. However, the dealer forgot to take out the service sticker pasted at the door near the lock. There are quite a number of service stickers pasted on top of each other and the last one showed 60,000+ km. So I guess the most could only be say 80,000km.

 

[scin]

Yeah.... Kinda figured as much!

Just wanted to hear other peoples stories.

 

[scin]

Update:

Just spoke to a Japanese friend of mine and she says that people there hardly drive their cars. Mostly on the weekends. It's extremely costly to pay for highway tolls, bridge tolls, parking etc etc. Just to cross a bridge on a weekday costslike RM30+... and to travel from the city to the airport (one way) is like RM200+.....
Not to mention the price of fuel!!

She feels it's quite possible to have low mileage cars.

 

[anxious]

Over the CNY weekend I met my colleague's Japanese client and he confirmed that Japanese rarely drive to work and use their cars during the weekend. His 2 year old car only has done 14000km.

He also stated that cars are disposed b4 they reach eiher their 3rd or 5th year as there are mandatory inspections done in Year 3 & 5 and such inspections are quite expensive.

He also told me that a car with over 30k km was considered high mileage.

 

[tamade7]

Read your LCM mileage and you will know.

 

[guru]

on the import AP.. the actual reading will be on it(the papers they ship with the car to bolehland)

another way to find is diagnostic. apparently it is not possible to tipu the diagnostic. all bmw service centers got this tool.

if your car only done 17k over 5 years, then what's the point the previous owner buy it in the first place?

I think we walk more than 17k over 5 years(if you're a golfer or play football), average only 9kms a day. I guess if you played golf everyday then jog 3-4 kms everyday or played football twice a day for the full game.

 

[tamade7]

They tempered the mileage in Japan before they start the paperwork. Friend of mine got an e39 with only 20k++ km. Just like all other believers that it is the actual mileage. Then got its LCM read and came up as 80k++ km. That is for a 4 yr old car. 80k++ km is still good for a 4 yr old car so it's all good. Mileage alone does not represent the condition of the car entirely. What is important is the service history.

on the import AP.. the actual reading will be on it(the papers they ship with the car to bolehland)

another way to find is diagnostic. apparently it is not possible to tipu the diagnostic. all bmw service centers got this tool.

if your car only done 17k over 5 years, then what's the point the previous owner buy it in the first place?

I think we walk more than 17k over 5 years(if you're a golfer or play football), average only 9kms a day. I guess if you played golf everyday then jog 3-4 kms everyday or played football twice a day for the full game.