How long would you say a brand new car will last?
Discussion
Hopefully a topic for interesting discussion.
If someone was to go out tomorrow and buy a brand new car, how long do you think it would last before it was finally old and battered and consigned to the scrappy?
Naturally cars are owned and driven by different people - a "yummy mummy" sort who's more interested in fake eyelashes and fairy dust stickers instead of service schedules and mechanical sympathy may only get a few years out of her car before it expires, having never been serviced. Then again, a PHer or another mechanically-minded individual may get many decades out of a car, eventually selling it on still running fine. Then again, there's also build qualities - I'd expect some luxury cars (an S-class, for example) to have a higher expected life than, say, a Vauxhall Corsa.
Care to share your thoughts? Personally, I'd say 10 years is when you'd start to see some of the more abused models of a given car start to become prevalent in scrapyards, although with modern improvements against rust, corrosion etc, maybe I'm wrong?
If someone was to go out tomorrow and buy a brand new car, how long do you think it would last before it was finally old and battered and consigned to the scrappy?
Naturally cars are owned and driven by different people - a "yummy mummy" sort who's more interested in fake eyelashes and fairy dust stickers instead of service schedules and mechanical sympathy may only get a few years out of her car before it expires, having never been serviced. Then again, a PHer or another mechanically-minded individual may get many decades out of a car, eventually selling it on still running fine. Then again, there's also build qualities - I'd expect some luxury cars (an S-class, for example) to have a higher expected life than, say, a Vauxhall Corsa.
Care to share your thoughts? Personally, I'd say 10 years is when you'd start to see some of the more abused models of a given car start to become prevalent in scrapyards, although with modern improvements against rust, corrosion etc, maybe I'm wrong?
Piepiepie said:
Im pretty sure i see more S reg Corsa's around than 6 or 7 year old S Classes.
They would have sold many, many more Corsas than S classes, even though a lot of the Corsas have died.Typically a car was "supposed" to last around 10 years or 150,000 miles; certainly that's around the designed lifetime on supposedly "sealed for life" bits. However, that's with normal levels of abuse. Most people don't drive sympathetically, so if you are careful the car will last a lot longer.
Piepiepie said:
Im pretty sure i see more S reg Corsa's around than 6 or 7 year old S Classes.
I'm going out on a limb here, but I think they may have sold one or two more Corsas over here than S Classes.On the OPs question, I'd expect pretty much any modern car to last at least 20 years/ 250,000 miles economically if it were at least put through some servicing schedule.
Electronics and ancillaries tend to be weak areas these days, rather than mechanicals and structures.
The average lifespan of a car is 13.5 years
I think most on PH would get more than that given the chance.
I think most on PH would get more than that given the chance.
you need so many different lengths of string.
I am a petrol head, all my cars are serviced bang on time, and looked after. However the engines and gearboxes are normally knackered by the time they go.
Yet others will have a broken car within 6 months.
Others will have a car that will be prestien condition for 20 years.
I am a petrol head, all my cars are serviced bang on time, and looked after. However the engines and gearboxes are normally knackered by the time they go.
Yet others will have a broken car within 6 months.
Others will have a car that will be prestien condition for 20 years.
Its about economics. When a car gets to about 10 years old and IME starts to have a series of small failures - airbag lights coming on, ABS playing up, various sensors starting to play up - it quickly becomes uneconomic to repair.
Take a focus as an example. At 10 years old and 120k miles it may need a clutch, an airbag light may be on, some of the bushes may be worn and it might need a cambelt. Rather than putting it through an MOT, it could well be cheaper to weigh it in and spend a grand on another one with a year's ticket.
It'll get worse as the MOT rules tighten up on things like airbag lights IMO.
Take a focus as an example. At 10 years old and 120k miles it may need a clutch, an airbag light may be on, some of the bushes may be worn and it might need a cambelt. Rather than putting it through an MOT, it could well be cheaper to weigh it in and spend a grand on another one with a year's ticket.
It'll get worse as the MOT rules tighten up on things like airbag lights IMO.
I'd say 13 years is pretty much the limit with your A-B commuter type cars that nobody cares about. As said above, S and T plate cars that you see going about are pretty much completely shagged out now.
Its different for performance cars that attract enthusiasts. A greater proportion of these will last a fair bit longer.
Its different for performance cars that attract enthusiasts. A greater proportion of these will last a fair bit longer.
tim2100 said:
you need so many different lengths of string.
I am a petrol head, all my cars are serviced bang on time, and looked after. However the engines and gearboxes are normally knackered by the time they go.
Engines and gearboxes can be rebuilt over and over again.I am a petrol head, all my cars are serviced bang on time, and looked after. However the engines and gearboxes are normally knackered by the time they go.
Not saying this is financially viable for the average car/car owner, but the OP never mentioned budgetary constraints.
My BMW is just over 11 years old. I didn't buy it new, but if I did I would prefer to plead ignorance to the depreciation and just never sell it. So I would eventually own it outright and then probably just keep it for a while as the daily car- and add a weekend/project car (kit car perhaps) to the driveway.
As it happens I do own it outright and have no reason to change. Adding another car (project to become weekend fun car) is always on the cards, but the BMW will most likely stay with me for another couple of years yet.
In summary, for as long as I still like the car- if it was a boring and slow 'a to b' car, then less than a year. If I liked the car enough, then over a decade.
As it happens I do own it outright and have no reason to change. Adding another car (project to become weekend fun car) is always on the cards, but the BMW will most likely stay with me for another couple of years yet.
In summary, for as long as I still like the car- if it was a boring and slow 'a to b' car, then less than a year. If I liked the car enough, then over a decade.
6fire said:
Its about economics. When a car gets to about 10 years old and IME starts to have a series of small failures - airbag lights coming on, ABS playing up, various sensors starting to play up - it quickly becomes uneconomic to repair.
Take a focus as an example. At 10 years old and 120k miles it may need a clutch, an airbag light may be on, some of the bushes may be worn and it might need a cambelt. Rather than putting it through an MOT, it could well be cheaper to weigh it in and spend a grand on another one with a year's ticket.
It'll get worse as the MOT rules tighten up on things like airbag lights IMO.
+1 Take a focus as an example. At 10 years old and 120k miles it may need a clutch, an airbag light may be on, some of the bushes may be worn and it might need a cambelt. Rather than putting it through an MOT, it could well be cheaper to weigh it in and spend a grand on another one with a year's ticket.
It'll get worse as the MOT rules tighten up on things like airbag lights IMO.
In my time in the motor trade (in service departments and selling parts), I would say most cars end up being scrapped due to electrical faults, excessive corrosion, or fairly run-of-the-mill jobs (clutch, cambelt, etc) that suddenly cost more than the car is worth. I can count on one hand the number of cars I've seen scrapped in the last eight years that had suffered a major mechanical failure.
The real killer in the future is going to be parts availablity. If an ECU or sensor packs up on your 15+ year old car, where are you going to get a replacement? The manufacturers don't stock these things forever these days. On top of this, the next problem will be finding someone to perform the programming that is often required. I've already come across cars that can't be programmed on current dealer diagnostic computers (or on the various aftermarket computers), so unless you find a dealer who still has the older computer (and like any computer, these don't last forever!), your pretty much stuffed...
I bet that we start to see some real death traps appearing as people can't get the easy finance that was available to get a new car and due to all the outstanding debts that they are trying to pay off they can't afford the maintenance.
I know one person who was happy to drive around with an unserviced car with near bald ditch finders and ineffective brakes for months so that they could afford to go out partying.
I know one person who was happy to drive around with an unserviced car with near bald ditch finders and ineffective brakes for months so that they could afford to go out partying.
Cheers for posting guys - some good reading here, goes well with a beer on the night before the first day back in the office!
Do you think that the recent rise in PCPs and leased cars will result in more cars having an early death? A leased car driver will probably just rag the thing around for three years without a care about it before giving it back and getting a new car. I don't know what happens to old lease cars but I'm guessing they perhaps lead harder lives than cars that people buy outright.
Do you think that the recent rise in PCPs and leased cars will result in more cars having an early death? A leased car driver will probably just rag the thing around for three years without a care about it before giving it back and getting a new car. I don't know what happens to old lease cars but I'm guessing they perhaps lead harder lives than cars that people buy outright.
I work with a woman who bought a new Micra 6 years ago. In those 6 years, it covered 70,000 miles, was never serviced once, only had the oil topped up (not changed) when the check oil light came on, had every single panel scraped, crushed and crumpled and yet it was still rumbling on. It didn't sound great, or even what you would call "healthy" but it never once let her down and stopped her from getting to work.
Cars have to be built for tough lives, as a form of idiot-proofing to protect them from the general population.
Cars have to be built for tough lives, as a form of idiot-proofing to protect them from the general population.
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