I sort of understand why people don't like low year - high milage cars. To me, when I see a high mileage car like that, I think one thing: They're highway miles.

This means that for a lot of this cars life it has been sitting in 6th gear just cruising at it's most efficient pace. Shit, my 2005 jetta had 215,000 miles and the only work I ever did on it were the regular timing belt changes, 1 set of new brakes and the first clutch is still great. High milage low year cars have comparatively less cold starts, they're generally being taken care of regularly since they're actually being driven, and they've been sitting at red lights idling a lot less.

Just my two cents.