Run a car to end of its life
Discussion
SWoll said:
FFS. So at that point the car is "thrown away"?
No, it just goes into the used car market and gets picked up by someone else, rinse and repeat until it's beyond economical repair. Without people buying/leasing new cars there would be no choice for those with reduced budgets.
This virtue signalling by people who run old cars always makes me laugh. If it suits you great, but some of use like the latest tech/safety and rely on our cars to earn a living so like to be covered by a manufacturer's warranty.
No, it just goes into the used car market and gets picked up by someone else, rinse and repeat until it's beyond economical repair. Without people buying/leasing new cars there would be no choice for those with reduced budgets.
This virtue signalling by people who run old cars always makes me laugh. If it suits you great, but some of use like the latest tech/safety and rely on our cars to earn a living so like to be covered by a manufacturer's warranty.
I can remember what car doing a write up of their Saab 900- in the late 80's. It must have been the press car- the point being, they took it to 100,000 miles and then an extensive article on the parts/servicing required. all laid out for a big photoshoot.
the amount of parts was staggering !!!!!! as another point I can recall my parents saying you couldn't even get a car in the 60's/70's to high miles before the whole thing had rotted apart and needed effectively throwing away.
I have a few cars myself- but weirdly one constant has been a Mondeo. Bought at 8 mths old. 10 years later, still have it. Nothing has gone wrong ever.
Barring changing tyres, brake discs/pads and its annual service- that's it. It's enormous, has enough toys inside (to be fair I only want to listen to Absolute 80's and R6, so my aspirations are fairly low) , is really low key and not flash (I don't want a flash car in my job as I park in some seriously dodgy places) and just will not fail. I don't even like Ford's (it took me 20 years to buy one) , but this car has been amazing. it's now at a point that I should sell it, but why ? It'll be a cracking car for someone !
the amount of parts was staggering !!!!!! as another point I can recall my parents saying you couldn't even get a car in the 60's/70's to high miles before the whole thing had rotted apart and needed effectively throwing away.
I have a few cars myself- but weirdly one constant has been a Mondeo. Bought at 8 mths old. 10 years later, still have it. Nothing has gone wrong ever.
Barring changing tyres, brake discs/pads and its annual service- that's it. It's enormous, has enough toys inside (to be fair I only want to listen to Absolute 80's and R6, so my aspirations are fairly low) , is really low key and not flash (I don't want a flash car in my job as I park in some seriously dodgy places) and just will not fail. I don't even like Ford's (it took me 20 years to buy one) , but this car has been amazing. it's now at a point that I should sell it, but why ? It'll be a cracking car for someone !
I have an old 52 plate Mk4 GT TDI with 185k on it.
I fully intend to run it as long as I possibly can, it’s solid underneath, I’ve just purchased refurbished front subframe and rear axle and intend to fit all new suspension at the same time effectively giving the car a fresh lease of life.
Too many throw away decent cars that with a little bit of rectification work can still be used cost effectively
Mrs MRT has a 2006 R32 with 126k on it, it’s about to get the timing chains replaced, new clutch and Flywheel done in order to keep it going as long as possible.
It won’t be that long before cars we take for granted become obsolete imo
I fully intend to run it as long as I possibly can, it’s solid underneath, I’ve just purchased refurbished front subframe and rear axle and intend to fit all new suspension at the same time effectively giving the car a fresh lease of life.
Too many throw away decent cars that with a little bit of rectification work can still be used cost effectively
Mrs MRT has a 2006 R32 with 126k on it, it’s about to get the timing chains replaced, new clutch and Flywheel done in order to keep it going as long as possible.
It won’t be that long before cars we take for granted become obsolete imo
Yes, I bought a Seat Exeo at 6 months old with 3,400 miles on tho odo for £15k about 8 years ago. Prior to that I used to keep changing my cars every few years but I am glad I kept it going.
It's now on 80k and drives the same as it did when it was new. Never given me a problem and outside of servicing I've changed the rear brake pads and that is it.
Still a good looking car i think but I am biased.
I'm glad I kept it as the savings in keeping on top of renewing it has meant I was able to:
-buy and restore a Corrado VR6
-currently restoring from a shell a Golf GTI mk2
-light resto of a Golf GTI 16v mk3 and
-another Corrado 16v.
I still have all of them plus a mk4 TDI that i've kept on top of mainteance (181k and still going strong) and have spent less in that last 8 years than I would have on renewing 2 family cars with new ones.
The trouble is I don't think they'll ever get to the end of their life with me as I maintain them to tip top conidtion. The mk4 was meant to be a hack but since it was rust free I've renewed all of the suspension, bushes, intercooler, brakes, refreshed the alloys, cut and mopped the body. It's got a couple of bumper scracthes that I'll leave.
I've learnt how to weld this year and have decided I'll buy some cars that have become MOT failures becuase of minor rust or running gear repairs (but costs the same as a car payment or two to fix) and sell em on. Cars (older ones like i have) will last 30+ years with mainteance pretty easily if you're hands on.
It's now on 80k and drives the same as it did when it was new. Never given me a problem and outside of servicing I've changed the rear brake pads and that is it.
Still a good looking car i think but I am biased.
I'm glad I kept it as the savings in keeping on top of renewing it has meant I was able to:
-buy and restore a Corrado VR6
-currently restoring from a shell a Golf GTI mk2
-light resto of a Golf GTI 16v mk3 and
-another Corrado 16v.
I still have all of them plus a mk4 TDI that i've kept on top of mainteance (181k and still going strong) and have spent less in that last 8 years than I would have on renewing 2 family cars with new ones.
The trouble is I don't think they'll ever get to the end of their life with me as I maintain them to tip top conidtion. The mk4 was meant to be a hack but since it was rust free I've renewed all of the suspension, bushes, intercooler, brakes, refreshed the alloys, cut and mopped the body. It's got a couple of bumper scracthes that I'll leave.
I've learnt how to weld this year and have decided I'll buy some cars that have become MOT failures becuase of minor rust or running gear repairs (but costs the same as a car payment or two to fix) and sell em on. Cars (older ones like i have) will last 30+ years with mainteance pretty easily if you're hands on.
Edited by _Mja_ on Monday 1st March 16:58
I've tried but I don't do the mileage and I'm too obsessed about fixing things the moment they're not working perfectly. The closest I got was a Volvo S60 that was starting to go electrically funky and an autobox that would only engage drive after several seconds with a violent lurch, because it had so many stupid and repeating failures over such a short space of time that I became fed up with trying to keep it nice. Finally got rid when it started setting off the alarm in the night, the door locks entered the second round of immediately unlocking when locked and the gearbox deteriorated to the point where you could take bets on whether you'd get Drive or a differently-labelled neutral.
Of course it turned up a few weeks later at one of those "back of industrial estate" dealers and kept going another five years, presumably motivated purely by spite and the refusal to rest until it had ticked "dashboard display module failure" and "ineradicable SRS warning light" off the P2 Volvo electrical failure bucket list. Either someone replaced the gearbox or refurbished the valve body at some point, or it turns out there's a tolerance for the behaviour of cars in their twilight years that I just don't have.
Everything else I've either got bored with or life has moved on before it died. I've had at least 2 cars where the overall condition improved over my ownership...
Of course it turned up a few weeks later at one of those "back of industrial estate" dealers and kept going another five years, presumably motivated purely by spite and the refusal to rest until it had ticked "dashboard display module failure" and "ineradicable SRS warning light" off the P2 Volvo electrical failure bucket list. Either someone replaced the gearbox or refurbished the valve body at some point, or it turns out there's a tolerance for the behaviour of cars in their twilight years that I just don't have.
Everything else I've either got bored with or life has moved on before it died. I've had at least 2 cars where the overall condition improved over my ownership...
My wife does this.
MG ZR - engine went boom after 14k - write off!
Ford Focus - bought new immediately following the MG thing, probably worth about £6 now but still going strong.
That's her entire car history of 20+ years.
My Dad also does this. He finally replaced his Austin Allegro a few years back, I think he's had 3 cars in his 50 years of driving.
Strange to think many new-ish drivers now have been conditioned to off-load their new car after 3 years once the warranty runs out.
MG ZR - engine went boom after 14k - write off!
Ford Focus - bought new immediately following the MG thing, probably worth about £6 now but still going strong.
That's her entire car history of 20+ years.
My Dad also does this. He finally replaced his Austin Allegro a few years back, I think he's had 3 cars in his 50 years of driving.
Strange to think many new-ish drivers now have been conditioned to off-load their new car after 3 years once the warranty runs out.
Edited by ch37 on Monday 1st March 17:03
SWoll said:
FFS. So at that point the car is "thrown away"?
No, it just goes into the used car market and gets picked up by someone else, rinse and repeat until it's beyond economical repair. Without people buying/leasing new cars there would be no choice for those with reduced budgets.
This virtue signalling by people who run old cars always makes me laugh. If it suits you great, but some of use like the latest tech/safety and rely on our cars to earn a living so like to be covered by a manufacturer's warranty.
Often a case that those with the tightest budgets turn to PCPing or leasing a brand new car, because they can’t afford to buy a used car outright. It’s a strange old world when it’s more accessible for some to rent a brand new car than buy an older car, but I guess that’s the changing face of how we buy cars in the UK. No, it just goes into the used car market and gets picked up by someone else, rinse and repeat until it's beyond economical repair. Without people buying/leasing new cars there would be no choice for those with reduced budgets.
This virtue signalling by people who run old cars always makes me laugh. If it suits you great, but some of use like the latest tech/safety and rely on our cars to earn a living so like to be covered by a manufacturer's warranty.
I bought Mrs TT's last car as a surprise - An Audi A4 1.9tdi in 2001 when it was just over a year old with 15K on the clock. Had it indie serviced early in its life and then mostly DIY and it was up to 191K in 2018 when we (I) decided to let it go as so much was going wrong with it that it was hard to keep up. Sold for £500 and last MOT expired in Dec 2020. 
I have a Rover I've had for 21 years (now 51 years old) and a TVR for 14 Years but the 2007 Lexus only had 4years. However can see no need to change it for the forseeable. At 14 years old and 102K miles it drives like a new car and gives little trouble.
We do have a Jazz (our third) and as reported earlier in the thread they are pretty robust particularly the Gen 1 cars up to late 2007 and although we've only had it 3 years (2007 car) this one will be run into the ground I think
I have a Rover I've had for 21 years (now 51 years old) and a TVR for 14 Years but the 2007 Lexus only had 4years. However can see no need to change it for the forseeable. At 14 years old and 102K miles it drives like a new car and gives little trouble.
We do have a Jazz (our third) and as reported earlier in the thread they are pretty robust particularly the Gen 1 cars up to late 2007 and although we've only had it 3 years (2007 car) this one will be run into the ground I think
I certainly don't. I've never bought a car less than 5 years old, never kept a car longer than 3 years and have sold every single one in working condition to be used by someone else.
I'm sure there is logic to buying new and running forever but I would just end up getting distracted by something else and selling a new car after a year or so and losing thousands.
I'm sure there is logic to buying new and running forever but I would just end up getting distracted by something else and selling a new car after a year or so and losing thousands.
I went from a company car to 45 ppm in 2010. I bought a nearly new bmw 320d touring and did 187500 miles in it
Tyres front brake pads and services but absolutely nothing else
I p/x’d last year for a new one because my local garage said they had loads of them in with blown turbos and engine trouble.I don’t like it. Bmw have gone soft. It just doesn’t feel sporty at all. I’m already getting itchy feet and wish I’d kept the old one
Tyres front brake pads and services but absolutely nothing else
I p/x’d last year for a new one because my local garage said they had loads of them in with blown turbos and engine trouble.I don’t like it. Bmw have gone soft. It just doesn’t feel sporty at all. I’m already getting itchy feet and wish I’d kept the old one
I bought a D22 Nissan Navara new back in 2004, just under £20k all in and still have it although since last September it is now not my daily.
It has 173k on the clock and still goes to the main dealer I ordered it from for servicing. It just tramps on and I’ll keep it until the final day it gives up, I asked MOT chap last October if it will pass another year as it went straight through then, he said yes.
It has 173k on the clock and still goes to the main dealer I ordered it from for servicing. It just tramps on and I’ll keep it until the final day it gives up, I asked MOT chap last October if it will pass another year as it went straight through then, he said yes.
Yes.
Bought several 407sw on ex demo miles until about 300k which was about four years. Then they either got weighed in if they were terminal or ebay.
Currently have a 3.5yo i40 estate going well on 174k and a C4 Picasso on 183k. Couple of Toyota hybrids on 120k but they're only a couple of years old. And a 2.5yo Galaxy approaching 120k. All of which will be weighed in or ebayed when the time comes.
Bought several 407sw on ex demo miles until about 300k which was about four years. Then they either got weighed in if they were terminal or ebay.
Currently have a 3.5yo i40 estate going well on 174k and a C4 Picasso on 183k. Couple of Toyota hybrids on 120k but they're only a couple of years old. And a 2.5yo Galaxy approaching 120k. All of which will be weighed in or ebayed when the time comes.
Definitely seems a Dad thing.
My Dad bought his Mercedes E320 cabrio new in 1993 and I went with him to collect it from the factory.
Until last year it shared the garage with his 1976 Triumph TR7 that had 40k miles in the clock. One day on the phone he announced he had sold it for £500. FFS. Hoping he doesn't do similar with the Merc in a moment of madness.
My Dad bought his Mercedes E320 cabrio new in 1993 and I went with him to collect it from the factory.
Until last year it shared the garage with his 1976 Triumph TR7 that had 40k miles in the clock. One day on the phone he announced he had sold it for £500. FFS. Hoping he doesn't do similar with the Merc in a moment of madness.
Muddle238 said:
Often a case that those with the tightest budgets turn to PCPing or leasing a brand new car, because they can’t afford to buy a used car outright. It’s a strange old world when it’s more accessible for some to rent a brand new car than buy an older car, but I guess that’s the changing face of how we buy cars in the UK.
I think it's related: you can walk out of a dealership with a brand new functional car for £129/month, which can be offered for that price because it's made out of tightly integrated modules that are cheap to mass produce and assemble. But when that car is 7-8 years old it can easily stick you with a bill for £600 for that very same reason: it's optimised for easy and reliable assembly, not for taking apart and replacing individual parts. Two things go wrong in a year and you may as well have had the new one.Worth noting that when you're on a limited budget unpredictability and costs coming in chunks is a much bigger problem than a larger but stable amount; maybe that new unexpected bill comes before you've saved up from the last unexpected bill, and now you have to borrow, but of course the fees on the borrowing take you from a small net positive per month to a small net negative.. "this will be £129/month for the next 3 years and £299 for the servicing plan" becomes very attractive in that context. And you get a new car, not one full of someone else's farts and wet dog smell! This is something not to underestimate, the uplift from having one nice and substantial thing in a situation where most of your stuff is old, hand-me-down, or own brand.
Of course it might mean some disapproving glares as you drive past the old people's home and maybe the odd codger squinting to check which model of phone you have or if they can sniff out a Sky subscription from a 300 yard distance, but I suspect maybe 0.001% of people who buy a new car actually care about that.
(Having said that, I have resolutely failed to follow my own advice on how sensible deals on solid, reliable cars and thus spent most of my life slowly hiding service invoices where I can't see the figure at the bottom. However I did at least stop being angry about the people who did lease them around the point I started to wonder why exactly it was I could virtuously buy my recent second-hand car outright so much more cheaply than my forebears could, relative to purchasing power.)
I bought my X3 new in 2015
Normally id change every three or four years but a couple of things made me decide to keep it
Firstly, it’s brilliant at what it does and fits our needs perfectly and the obvious replacement would be another one. I just can’t bring myself to lay out another 20-30k to continue driving something essentially the same but newer.
As it approaches six years old it’s got 64k on the clock and is like a new ( ish ) car inside and out and when not being used sits in the garage
It’s now essentially a free car as it’s paid for ... so for now it stays the intention being long term
Secondly, technology is changing so fast and the options are continually improving that it seems sensible to wait out to as close as 2030 as possible before jumping into a replacement, at which point the X3 will be 15 years old
Therefore I sit and wait and see what happens in the world of cars and taxation ... and well of course because of Covid it’s hardly getting worn out
Normally id change every three or four years but a couple of things made me decide to keep it
Firstly, it’s brilliant at what it does and fits our needs perfectly and the obvious replacement would be another one. I just can’t bring myself to lay out another 20-30k to continue driving something essentially the same but newer.
As it approaches six years old it’s got 64k on the clock and is like a new ( ish ) car inside and out and when not being used sits in the garage
It’s now essentially a free car as it’s paid for ... so for now it stays the intention being long term
Secondly, technology is changing so fast and the options are continually improving that it seems sensible to wait out to as close as 2030 as possible before jumping into a replacement, at which point the X3 will be 15 years old
Therefore I sit and wait and see what happens in the world of cars and taxation ... and well of course because of Covid it’s hardly getting worn out
I've mentioned in this thread my 3.2 Omega with 233k on the clock. My intention was to see how many miles I could get it to.
But yesterday I gave my phone number to a bloke with a 2.6 Elite with 93k on the clock.
He paid £7k for it in 2004, when it was 3 years old. List price was £27k in 2001. Hes doing 1000 miles a year in it.
If he decided to sell it to me one day. It would last me at least 10 years. The only downside is it being a 2.6 and not a 3.2
Is that 180 vs 218 BHP?
But yesterday I gave my phone number to a bloke with a 2.6 Elite with 93k on the clock.
He paid £7k for it in 2004, when it was 3 years old. List price was £27k in 2001. Hes doing 1000 miles a year in it.
If he decided to sell it to me one day. It would last me at least 10 years. The only downside is it being a 2.6 and not a 3.2
Is that 180 vs 218 BHP?
I bought a 57 plate E280 cdi with 22.5k miles in 2010 for £19k and then did another 165k miles. Full maintenance plan with MB, no significant issues apart from one suspension ball joint, then LY it needed £1500 spending on it, with no guarantees that it wouldn’t need more of the same to get it back to good working order.
Therefore faced with a c£3k investment on a car worth maybe £1.5k it had to leave us. I had hoped to get it over 200,000 miles
Therefore faced with a c£3k investment on a car worth maybe £1.5k it had to leave us. I had hoped to get it over 200,000 miles
I've had my E34 just over 20 years, it has now done 352k but is nowhere near the end of it's life yet. In fact it still does trailering duties as the SLS still works !
The Capri I've had for 35 years although I don't think that counts as I can't think of anything that survives from the original car
The Capri I've had for 35 years although I don't think that counts as I can't think of anything that survives from the original car
Edited by QuadCamCapri on Monday 1st March 19:01
RichardAP said:
I bought a 57 plate E280 cdi with 22.5k miles in 2010 for £19k and then did another 165k miles. Full maintenance plan with MB, no significant issues apart from one suspension ball joint, then LY it needed £1500 spending on it, with no guarantees that it wouldn’t need more of the same to get it back to good working order.
Therefore faced with a c£3k investment on a car worth maybe £1.5k it had to leave us. I had hoped to get it over 200,000 miles
I do sort of get the arguement that a £3k bill on a £1.5k can mean curtains but presumably you'd owned the car for most of its life, treated it well so to replace it with something equal would cost £20-25k for another 3year old similar car that will continue to plummet. I get it though as on more complicated cars you don't know where the expenditure will stop so have to step off at somepoint.Therefore faced with a c£3k investment on a car worth maybe £1.5k it had to leave us. I had hoped to get it over 200,000 miles
I like owning older, simplier cars that just don't have the massive bills to keep them going. Bodywork is the expense on those but modern cars have solved the bodywork issues and replaced with electronical systems that can cost thousands to sort. I need to find the sweet spot between modern bodywork techniques and simple mechanicals. An early 90s Volvo is probably the answer.
Lincsls1 said:
Pan Pan Pan said:
The idea of just throwing away any vehicle, that still has a lot of use left in it seems wrong somehow.
That's exactly what billions of us do across the world, over and over again.Once a car has lost its shiny new appeal and the Qdos that comes with it, we convince ourselves that a new one is needed.
"Its nearly 3 years old, its got 40,000miles on it now. Its going to start costing us a lot of money soon and it won't be reliable anymore." Load of nonsense.
Edited by Lincsls1 on Monday 1st March 12:31
Edited by Pan Pan Pan on Monday 1st March 19:16
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