Long term owners..

[Happy Jim]

Hit 17 years in the Cobra Rep recently, it just does everything supremly well, turns heads, pootles around on sunny bimbles, screams across europe and scares the crap out of me on a track - can't think of what else would do all of that and put a smile on everyones face.

Jim

[RB Will]

Ben_P1 said:

Yes, Impreza P1 owned 12+ years. Number 67/1000 with only 39k miles on the clock.

It's rarely driven and more of a garage queen now but I have no urges to sell it and I doubt there are many left with so few miles.

Snap! Have had my P1 12 years too. mine is no 88 but had 95k on it. No plans to get rid any time soon but its my weekend car.
Average lifespan for my daily driver is probably 2-3 years. Spent a little more on a nicer one this time though so should probably push it to 5+ just so the depreciation doesnt hurt too much

[Pinkie15]

'51 plate Toyota Corolla Verso (T Spirit trim), bought at 9 months old as an ex-Demo.

Does (did) everything supremely; brought the 2 youngest home from hospital, never broken down, few holiday trips to the continent, etc...

To be fair though, has been laid up for the past couple of years. Needs a new clutch and radiator. Keep trying to persuade the eldest it'd be a great first car for her when she starts driving in a few months.

MiL's Jazz is a 54 plater; she doesn't drive anymore, but has been priceless recently following a prang in my current motor and no courtesy car cover on my insurance. Has only covered 39k miles. Otherwise the BiL uses it when he's in the UK.

Had my '99 620 Ti since Feb 11, but that's also been off the road for past 3 -4 years. Looking to get it road legal in the next few weeks though.

[Pica-Pica]

Willy Nilly said:

kieranblenk said:

Has anybody on here kept a car longer than say, 10 years and what was it about that car that earned it that right to stay in your ownership for so long?

I bought an S reg Civic in 2002 and ran it until 2014. It was a very reliable and easy car to own so there was no need to change it. The car was pretty much at the end of its useful life when I swapped it. I subscribe to the "look after it and run it into the ground" school of thought.

Yup. Most of mine have been for 10 years plus. Last one was an E36 2.5 I6 for 19 years. Rust got the better of it, and the general fear that it would breakdown eventually on some regular long runs. 146k miles. 5 speed manual, great flexibilty, almost vibration free naturally aspirated engine. I would have loved to have the same car again from new. Perfect car. Latest 3 series (F30) is a bit bigger than I would ideally have liked. I will keep that until we are all forced into EVs in 10-15 years time.

[JuniorD]

I have driven my daily car for 14 years. I keep it primarily because I find the whole car buying process a depressing, risky pain in the hole that should only be done out of absolute necessity. When (if) the car reaches 200k miles I'll reassess, which on current mileage and usage will be in 8.75 years' time

[SturdyHSV]

I had my 1.2 Clio for ~12 years, technically the other half used it more in its twilight years, but I still used it for commuting for about 6 months prior to it finally being sold.

Kept it because it was totally unkillable, still did an indicated 50mpg and despite having a number of services that could be counted on one hand, just kept plodding along. Was actually sad that it didn't quite make 150,000 miles, was about 148,500 when it was sold.

I'm keeping the Monaro forever as far as I'm concerned, 7 years in so far, perhaps I'll post back in here in a few years when it qualifies

[Cotty]

I have had my BMW E30 325i for about 15 years. Originally bought to do long distances taking me to kart tracks all over the country. When I stopped karting I got into the club scene and started modifying, just mild stuff but kept my interest. Used to go to shows and meets all over the place, even did a bit of drag racing. These days I hardly drive at all but can't bare to sell it.

[VladD]

I've got a mate who's got a Pug 205 GTi (1.6) that he's has since 1991 or 1992. He's not a petrol head in the PH sense of the word (he never opens the bonnet to top anything up) but he does keep it MOTd and serviced. He loves that car, but it doesn't get much use these days. It's quite scruffy now, so he may get it restored back to its former glory at some point.

[greenarrow]

My wife had a 205GTI 1.9 from 2003 to 2014 and eventually we offloaded it as it was needing TLC, but we do miss it.

Why did we keep it? Because you couldn't buy a car like it any more and also it was fun the number of heads it turned. Even by 2014, these were getting rare and we used to get a lot of appreciative nods, especially from young lads who knew what it was.

If you've got something iconic, my advice is, keep it if you can because you WILL miss it when you sell!

[Dixy]

I bought My Elise new in 98, the Aston I bought in 2003 and the Land Rover IIa in 2005 and I was her second owner.

[Lee540]

Vauxhall Astra 1.8SXi, bought new in 2002, still in ownership by my Grandfather.. well over 200k.

[strain]

My first fiesta, 6 years as a daily, its still in the family now, been in the family for 12 years

Focus- 6 years
astra - 3.5 years


other cars havent lasted as long
mazda 6 4 months
vectra 2 years
Fiesta 12 months

It depends on the car really, my current shed is a 15 year old fiesta with 10 owners, I think I will be one of the longest owners for it!

[zygalski]

kieranblenk said:

... my dad had an Astra GTE for a month or two shy of 10 years in the 90s....

I've had my GTE for nearly 8 years now, as a daily driver.

[otolith]

I've had my Elise for 9 years.

[danzman1991]

I’ve only just been driving for 10 years

Longest I’ve kept a car for is 4 years - my weekend toy, a S1 Peugeot 106 Rallye (1995).

I’ve just bought a new daily, a BMW M140i - honestly think I’ll be keeping it a long while too - it just does everything brilliantly and I can’t imagine what I could even replace it with!

[nick30]

danzman1991 said:

I’ve only just been driving for 10 years

Longest I’ve kept a car for is 4 years - my weekend toy, a S1 Peugeot 106 Rallye (1995).

I’ve just bought a new daily, a BMW M140i - honestly think I’ll be keeping it a long while too - it just does everything brilliantly and I can’t imagine what I could even replace it with!

I had a manual M135i that I told myself I would keep for long term then got tempted to jump into an auto which I told myself to keep then I borrowed a M235i in red that I adored and now find myself in an M240i only a year in but I am in this one for the long haul. My daughters love it too

I'm hoping to do at least 10 years in it. Who knows.

[TR4man]

I owned this for 17 years



...and previously this for 11 years (part of that time, it was my daily driver!)

[Buggyjam]

Owned a BMW E36 325i for 10 years. It was 14 years old when I got it.

Why did I keep it? I develop an irrational emotional attachment to my vehicles. That’s not over riding though - the BM never gave me good enough reason to bin it, until then end. Part laziness too. The only other cars I really enthused about I couldn’t afford at the time.

Funny I loved that car and was enthusiastic about its engineering, but even during that period I thought BMWs seemed so consitantly driven by nob heads it was hard to ignore the stereotype. Didn’t bother me though I loved the car

[Mr. Potato Head]

2002 Lupo GTI, bought new.
Fingers crossed for another 16 years.

[AlexRS2782]

I've owned my Mk1 Focus RS for 12 years - bought it in Jan '06.
I'll have owned my 205 GTI for 10 years later this year - bought that in October '08.

I've had a few other cars around the 2 above but i've always stuck with the FRS and 205. The 205 mainly because it's fun to drive, pretty easy to maintain certain things myself and Miles @ Pug Racing sorts anything else out that needs doing which i'm not comfortable with. Apart from the odd hiccup it's also been very reliable compared to other newer cars i've owned over the years.

My mum's also had her '03 MG ZR from new so that will be 15 years in a couple of months time. Again, it could have been sold / replaced by a newer car, but it's always been pretty reliable, it's been well looked after, is easy to work on some things myself and the head gasket was only replaced as a precaution at 10 years old, not because it failed, etc.

Edited by AlexRS2782 on Wednesday 20th June 17:29