Why do I kill cars- no seriously why?

[Ozzie Osmond]

Just because you're not destroying engines doesn't mean the car isn't taking a lot of stick from an aggressive driving style.

Most cars in a modern scrapyeard still have a working engine and it's some other failure which has put them there.

[shouldbworking]

Do you have an OH that drives the car?

[trackerjack]

I wrongly (as it has turned out) thought this site was for motoring enthusiasts.
Oh how wrong could a man be.

[renrut]

hora said:

DR10 said:

What have your last five cars been?

Ford Focus
Toyota Yaris (dont ask)
Subaru Legacy Sportswagon
Subaru Forester
Seat Altea (I think)

I wouldn't have said any of those cars were particularly well known for being bomb proof. Even the Yaris wasn't Toyotas finest hour (that was probably the early 90s Corrolla and Carina)

[Chrisw666]

trackerjack said:

I wrongly (as it has turned out) thought this site was for motoring enthusiasts.
Oh how wrong could a man be.

How do you mean?

[davidjpowell]

Some cars are just waiting for money to spend.

The difficult bit is deciding whether after spending the money you keep the car to enjoy the benfit, or sell it and get it out of dodge, before the next bills comes along.

Had the decision to make with an E class last year, which had cost me a fair bit. Final straw was an injector blowing. Not the end of the road, but the end of what I was prepared to spend on it.

[renrut]

hora said:

renrut said:

I wouldn't have said any of those cars were particularly well known for being bomb proof. Even the Yaris wasn't Toyotas finest hour (that was probably the early 90s Corrolla and Carina)

I mentioned this about Subaru's and a few of Subaru owners lept up to defend the reliability record saying theirs were fine/not a squeek.

Forester forum paints a totally different story and big end bearings, head gasket, cv boots, window motors are common issues with Subarus

I don't think any manufacturer has an unblemished record these days. They're all chasing costs and occasionally go a bit far and take something that would easily see out 200,000 miles to almost guaranteed failure every 50,000 miles.

As for CVs - you don't have a particularly bad road you regularly travel down? My parent's driveway is a 1/4 mile dirt track full of ruts and that makes things fail in far earlier times than normal, e.g. CVs, exhausts, sumps start to leak, that sort of thing.

[Harry Flashman]

hora said:

I'm all over things like that. Slightest dip or noise and its investigated and replaced/solved. Cars serviced on the dot. No ditchfinders, no cheap oil.

They just seem to shed parts in my ownership.

I went through a phase like this - a few years where every car I bought had serious problems. Weirdly, it was my TVR that stopped the trend - since then, all good!

So, basically, go and buy a sports car with an awful reputation for unreliability, and watch it all go away. Your problem is that you're too sensible.

Hope that helps.

Edited by Harry Flashman on Wednesday 20th April 10:53

[nouze]

hora said:

I'm all over things like that. Slightest dip or noise and its investigated and replaced/solved. Cars serviced on the dot. No ditchfinders, no cheap oil.

They just seem to shed parts in my ownership.

Cars are like women, the less you care the more they love you

[stewjohnst]

hora said:

I mentioned this about Subaru's and a few of Subaru owners lept up to defend the reliability record saying theirs were fine/not a squeek.

Forester forum paints a totally different story and big end bearings, head gasket, cv boots, window motors are common issues with Subarus

Forum posts aren't a great sample indicator of reliability of anything, people generally post because they've had an issue...If 300,000+ Focus owners posted to say "bought a car, running well, nothing else to report" PH would crash under the weight of Cool Story Bro' pics...

Its like violent crime, etc - figures are lower than they were 10 years ago but because you see it on the news every day, nobody dare step out in the dark in case they get murderised to death by all the psychopaths in the bushes...



Maybe you could lighten the ownership experience by making a 'breakdown bingo' card and ticking them off as you go..."Yay, the big ends gone -but at least I've got a full house"

[jbi]

Do you ever change the oil?

[Whitean3]

W1 NER said:

Look at the headlights on that!

[miniman]

5lab said:

because, like you are with forks, you're massively fussy about the mecanical condition of things you own and can't accept a 10 year old car will have some 'issues' that aren't really a 'dead car'? a very slight gearbox leak, or a vibration through a clutch pedal are things the vast majority of us would just put up with. Jesus my 11 year old ford has no backbox, central locking doesn't work, turbo is on its way out, clutch bite point is very high, pulls to the left, vibration through the brake pedal and the airbag warning light wont go off - I think its mechanically in alright shape

This.

Many of your posts do suggest a car-based hypochondria.

[otolith]

I've heard of vehicle fleet owners trying to cut costs by keeping their cars longer, only to find that they were spending more on wear and tear and then disposing of cars with lots of shiny new parts. Perhaps you're just buying cars at a bad point in their lifecycle?

[Lord Flathead]

miniman said:

This.

Many of your posts do suggest a car-based hypochondria.

aka Carpochondria

[Chrisw666]

miniman said:

5lab said:

because, like you are with forks, you're massively fussy about the mecanical condition of things you own and can't accept a 10 year old car will have some 'issues' that aren't really a 'dead car'? a very slight gearbox leak, or a vibration through a clutch pedal are things the vast majority of us would just put up with. Jesus my 11 year old ford has no backbox, central locking doesn't work, turbo is on its way out, clutch bite point is very high, pulls to the left, vibration through the brake pedal and the airbag warning light wont go off - I think its mechanically in alright shape

This.

Many of your posts do suggest a car-based hypochondria.

That is a fairly good point, I could start a new forum looking for advice on the issues and potential issues with my Volvo.

ABS Light on, Airbags all out of date, funny noise when I start it, noisy fuel pump, headlight washers broken, remote central locking doesn't work, windscreen washers don't work, the exhaust is a bit noisy and the fuel filter would need cutting out to be replaced.

Anybody want to buy a car

[MadMullah]

some people just have bad luck with motors and others dont

i've bought some £100 motors back in the day and driven them for 10K without a single issue

my sis is notorious for bad luck in motoring. the amount of issues she has with her cars is unbelievable.

she does the whole i'm a careful driver and your not with me

and i just say lets see your garage bills then...

[ex vtskid]

I've bought cars some would shy away from - £1350 GTO Twin Turbo, 180k mile 330i, sub £2k Impreza and I can't say I ever had any problems with them apart from consumables. Only car I had a problem with was a Saxo VTS I paid top dollar for!

[MrQuick]

hora said:

I'm not a redliner'.

Well theres your problem, you're driving like a massive pussy bh.

Lose a tiny fraction of mechanical sympathy and start thrashing it harder, I mean by your description it can't really get all that much worse for you.

If anything does go wrong, well at least you had fun getting there and really won't be able to complain.

[DR10]

hora said:

DR10 said:

What have your last five cars been?

Ford Focus
Toyota Yaris (dont ask)
Subaru Legacy Sportswagon
Subaru Forester
Seat Altea (I think)

So what is wrong with the Focus? My other half has one, and we've (I've) sorted a couple of issues with it, but it just went through its MOT without a single advisory (2002/99,000 miles). What age/spec. is it?