What problems are known to you?

 

There is no magic number. These are very long life vehicles IF properly maintained. The maintenance is not difficult and the repairs are not, either. But, if you let things stack up and reach the point of no return, then there you go.

 

problem areas vary by model and year. For example a 5 cylinder likely has a timing belt, a 6 cylinder may not. Early 2000-2004s had issues with ETMs, later years did not. Early AWD had issues with bevel gears and some had issues with the GM sourced transmissions but later years did not. Some 2012s have issues with oil consumption etc. You can read posts by model and year to get a sense of common complaints and repairs. Also what's your definition of high miles. For me, 250K seems to be about the time :-)

As Tony points out, the key is to have the car properly maintained so if buying used for something that's not CPO, you should consider three things a) does the car come with a full maintenance history b) what does the Car Fax report tell you about prior owners and reported serving (most dealers report service events, indy's rarely do) c) get a professional inspection done that includes putting the car on a lift.