High-Mileage Odd Couple: 2003 Toyota Tundra vs 2009 Mazda 3

Welcome back! Today we’re looking at two vehicles that don’t have much in common except similar prices and similar odometer readings. Which one has enough life left in it to be worth it? That will be up to you.

We started this short week out yesterday with a pair of front-wheel-drive V6s, and I knew from the start it wasn’t a particularly fair comparison. Wagons and manuals both pull in lots of votes, and when you combine them into one car, whatever else is there doesn’t have much of a chance.

I’m kind of torn, myself. The Passat wagon would undoubtedly be the better car to drive, but it’s about one era of VW too new to be of any interest to me. I’d rather have a Quantum Syncro wagon than an early Passat. The Eagle Premier is a more intriguing car, but I imagine it’s not very exciting to drive. So for a conversation piece, I’d take the Premier, but for a toy that can double as a weekend stuff hauler, the VW wins.

We’ve looked at a lot of clean, low-mileage cars in the past on here, but the prevailing wisdom is that a car can have too few miles on it. Parts age, whether they’re in use or not, and a car that has been sitting around doing nothing is less likely to have had its maintenance kept up. High miles mean that someone used the hell out of a car, but also that they did what was needed to put those miles there, or else it wouldn’t still be running. These two fall into that category; let’s check them out.

2003 Toyota Tundra – $3,900

Engine/drivetrain: 3.4-liter dual overhead cam V6, five-speed manual, RWD

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Odometer reading: 238,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives great

Toyota conquered the small truck market in America by building nearly-indestructible little beasts of burden, but the full-size truck market was still dominated by American brands. Toyota’s first attempt to crack into that market was the almost-full-size T100, which sold well to Toyota fans but hardly put a dent in Ford, Chevy, and Dodge’s bottom lines. Its second attempt, the Tundra, has had more of an impact, but it’s still not nearly as common as its competitors, especially in long-bed work-truck form like this.

This is a base-model Tundra, with a single cab, a bench seat, and a 3.4 liter V6 engine mated to a five-speed manual. This engine has a good reputation for reliability and durability, like many Toyota engines, and it’s no surprise that this one runs like a top at well over 200,000 miles. It has a new clutch, and the air conditioning works, always a nice bonus on an old work truck like this.

Most Tundras you see are either extended-cab or crew-cab trucks, with shortened beds to make room for extra passenger capacity. But this one has a full eight-foot-long bed, just like other full-size trucks. The ability to carry standard 4×8 foot sheets of building materials may not seem important – unless you’ve ever needed to do it. Being able to close the tailgate with a stack of plywood or sheetrock in the bed is a really useful trick.

Someone, somewhere along the way, went to a lot of trouble (and expense) to apply those flames to this truck; they’re painted on. And on the side where they’re intact, they look pretty cool. Sadly, parts of them have been obliterated by a rattle-can repair job. My guess is that this truck started out as someone’s toy, then got pressed into service as a work vehicle by a second or third owner, and the damage just piled on.

2009 Mazda 3 Grand Touring – $3,700

Engine/drivetrain: 2.3-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: San Francisco, CA

Odometer reading: 237,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives great

The Mazda 3 (I can’t bring myself to type it as “Mazda3” with no space; it looks wrong) was the replacement for the 323/Familia/Protege range and a continuation of the blurring of lines between Mazda and Ford’s small cars. Honestly, I can’t keep who designed what straight, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter. It’s a good little car, and that’s enough for our purposes here.

This is the fancy “Grand Touring” version of the 3, powered by a 2.3-liter version of Mazda’s MZR four-cylinder, which was called the Duratec by Ford. It’s a durable and reliable engine; this one with 237,000 miles on it is not at all uncommon. We don’t get a whole lot of details about its condition beyond “runs excellent” and “passed smog,” but that’s a good place to start.

It has a pretty flashy interior for a 3, with heated leather seats and a bunch of other toys. There’s a cheap seat cover on the driver’s seat; with this many miles, I imagine it’s pretty worn under there. The rest of the interior looks good, though; my guess is that this car was used for commuting almost exclusively, so only one seat was ever really used.

And it’s a hatchback, which is the good-looking variant of the 3. The sedan was always a little gawky-looking. It’s nice and clean outside, and since it’s a California car, I wouldn’t expect the rust troubles that plague Mazdas in other climates.

Both vehicles have good reputations for lasting a long time, but nothing lasts forever. I think, and I imagine at least some of you will agree, that the asking prices are a little steep for cars with such high mileage. But as I have said before, I don’t set the prices; I just report ’em. Just for fun, though, let’s play a little game in the comments. Pick the vehicle you want, and post your best offer for it, based on its condition.

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)