How long will my car go before becoming unreliable/expensiv?
Discussion
Ok, piece of string question I know, but I'm interested in people's experiences and thoughts.
I bought a (for me) quite expensive car a few years ago. It's an SLK 280 Sport which isn't everyone's cup of tea (girl's/hairdresser's/rich divorcee's car, should have bought a Boxster/Elise/Z4/MX5 etc etc) but for me it really works. I like two seaters, like a convertible, but like the fact that it's a hard top coupe with the roof up. And for the sort of long trips I do quite regularly it just eats up the miles effortlessly. Auto gearbox, auto light, auto wipers, auto dimming mirrors, sat nav guidance, Harmon Kardon hi fi to listen to, heated seats - it's a joy to do big distances in.
It was more than I intended to spend but it was perfect in every respect. It was like someone had gone into a car showroom three years earlier and said 'I want to buy a car for Ari, run it gently for three years, have it properly serviced, and then sell it to him for half price'. It had 30,000 miles on it.
The spec is astonishing and includes things that you rarely find like direct steering (two turns lock to lock). It's the right colour, has the right wheels, the right interior colours (black with red seatbelts), it is, as I say, just like the car hd been specced for me. I've got all the original paperwork and I think the options came to something like £12,000!
Now normally I like to buy a car at three years old then run it for a year or two by which time I've got itchy feet and change to another three year old car.
But I'll have had this one three years shortly, it still looks drives and feels like new, and frankly I can't find anything within budget to change it for. And whatever I find is going to be a compromise. It'll be the wrong colour and it'll be missing xenons or the hi fi or not have the direct steering or other bits I've now decided I can't live without.
I can't afford a new one to that spec (or even without the spec come to that!) because I didn't work hard enough at school and I don't want finance so leasing is out.
So, here's the thing. It's in good shape, it's not driven particularly hard, it gets serviced properly. But it's coming up to 60,000 miles and six years old, it lives outside most of the time, and because of the spec it has a million things that could go wrong on it.
So, that piece of string question - if I just keep it and run it and run it, how long before it starts feeling old/getting expensive to maintain/becomes unreliable?
Anyone done it, just bought a car they really liked and kept it forever?
I bought a (for me) quite expensive car a few years ago. It's an SLK 280 Sport which isn't everyone's cup of tea (girl's/hairdresser's/rich divorcee's car, should have bought a Boxster/Elise/Z4/MX5 etc etc) but for me it really works. I like two seaters, like a convertible, but like the fact that it's a hard top coupe with the roof up. And for the sort of long trips I do quite regularly it just eats up the miles effortlessly. Auto gearbox, auto light, auto wipers, auto dimming mirrors, sat nav guidance, Harmon Kardon hi fi to listen to, heated seats - it's a joy to do big distances in.
It was more than I intended to spend but it was perfect in every respect. It was like someone had gone into a car showroom three years earlier and said 'I want to buy a car for Ari, run it gently for three years, have it properly serviced, and then sell it to him for half price'. It had 30,000 miles on it.
The spec is astonishing and includes things that you rarely find like direct steering (two turns lock to lock). It's the right colour, has the right wheels, the right interior colours (black with red seatbelts), it is, as I say, just like the car hd been specced for me. I've got all the original paperwork and I think the options came to something like £12,000!
Now normally I like to buy a car at three years old then run it for a year or two by which time I've got itchy feet and change to another three year old car.
But I'll have had this one three years shortly, it still looks drives and feels like new, and frankly I can't find anything within budget to change it for. And whatever I find is going to be a compromise. It'll be the wrong colour and it'll be missing xenons or the hi fi or not have the direct steering or other bits I've now decided I can't live without.
I can't afford a new one to that spec (or even without the spec come to that!) because I didn't work hard enough at school and I don't want finance so leasing is out.
So, here's the thing. It's in good shape, it's not driven particularly hard, it gets serviced properly. But it's coming up to 60,000 miles and six years old, it lives outside most of the time, and because of the spec it has a million things that could go wrong on it.
So, that piece of string question - if I just keep it and run it and run it, how long before it starts feeling old/getting expensive to maintain/becomes unreliable?
Anyone done it, just bought a car they really liked and kept it forever?
You should get it to, and beyond, 10 years quite easily so long as you drive it sensibly and keep it properly maintained.
Budget £1,000 a year for maintenance (including tyres) and you should come away with plenty of change!
Budget £100 a year for maintenance and you will almost certainly get some nasty shocks.
Budget £1,000 a year for maintenance (including tyres) and you should come away with plenty of change!
Budget £100 a year for maintenance and you will almost certainly get some nasty shocks.
My car is a 2006 twin turbo petrol it's now on 192,000 miles all the main components are original and it's still reliable and has never let us down, it lives outside, it's well maintained but also well used.
Keep driving and keep servicing and your could be fine for another 130.000 miles!
Keep driving and keep servicing and your could be fine for another 130.000 miles!
Ozzie Osmond said:
Budget £1,000 a year for maintenance (including tyres) and you should come away with plenty of change!
I'd be very happy with that (tyres are £400 a set!).I put a warranty on it this year after a problem with a door mirror indicator looked like getting expensive. I paid to have it fixed, wasn't convinced that it was, plus it was a bit of a wake up to how little things can spiral in cost, so put a full Merc warranty on it which cost £800. Needless to say the car has been faultless ever since!
Which leads to another quandary. Assuming the warranty price goes up as the car gets older, and therefore working on an average of £1,000/year, is it worth it? I could run the car for another 4 years, have nothing go wrong and I'm £4,000 down. (Once it is 10 years old you can't warranty them).
It is piece of mind though. I had a heated seat element go in my previous SLK and that cost nearly £1,000 on its own to fix!
rallycross said:
My car is a 2006 twin turbo petrol it's now on 192,000 miles all the main components are original and it's still reliable and has never let us down, it lives outside, it's well maintained but also well used.
Keep driving and keep servicing and your could be fine for another 130.000 miles!
That's a great mileage, well done! The car is only three years older than mine though. I'm wondering whether I can run mine for another 10 years, say, without it becoming ruinous or unreliable. Keep driving and keep servicing and your could be fine for another 130.000 miles!
just look a the amount of slks still around
even the very earliest are still in abundance
I would put the warranty money in an account and draw on it if needed,
As the majority of warranties seem to exclude the things most likely to fail.
we have our 2nd SLK and they have been by far the most reliable cars we have had in the last 10 years.
even the very earliest are still in abundance
I would put the warranty money in an account and draw on it if needed,
As the majority of warranties seem to exclude the things most likely to fail.
we have our 2nd SLK and they have been by far the most reliable cars we have had in the last 10 years.
I bought mine (2001 model) in 2011 with just under 100K miles (96K from memory)
The practicality of a hard top convertible ticked a lot of boxes
it's my daily driver all year round and only ever lives outside.
It's coming up to 120K miles now all the engine has had is spark plugs and oil and filter changes.
Nothing has broken (apart from a fog light lens) or fell off it's still feels tight, it had a bit of rust popping thro in places on the arches but that's been treated and temp painted till I get chance to get it done properly.
I have no reason to consider replacement unless I want a change and I don't right now.
The practicality of a hard top convertible ticked a lot of boxes
it's my daily driver all year round and only ever lives outside.
It's coming up to 120K miles now all the engine has had is spark plugs and oil and filter changes.
Nothing has broken (apart from a fog light lens) or fell off it's still feels tight, it had a bit of rust popping thro in places on the arches but that's been treated and temp painted till I get chance to get it done properly.
I have no reason to consider replacement unless I want a change and I don't right now.
Ari said:
Which leads to another quandary. Assuming the warranty price goes up as the car gets older, and therefore working on an average of £1,000/year, is it worth it? I could run the car for another 4 years, have nothing go wrong and I'm £4,000 down. (Once it is 10 years old you can't warranty them).
See above. Take a cautious approach and the occasional big bill doesn't matter too much.B'stard Child said:
I bought mine (2001 model) in 2011 with just under 100K miles (96K from memory)
The practicality of a hard top convertible ticked a lot of boxes
it's my daily driver all year round and only ever lives outside.
It's coming up to 120K miles now all the engine has had is spark plugs and oil and filter changes.
Nothing has broken (apart from a fog light lens) or fell off it's still feels tight, it had a bit of rust popping thro in places on the arches but that's been treated and temp painted till I get chance to get it done properly.
I have no reason to consider replacement unless I want a change and I don't right now.
That's reassuring. Definitely want to see if I can run mine to 10 years/100,000 miles. The practicality of a hard top convertible ticked a lot of boxes
it's my daily driver all year round and only ever lives outside.
It's coming up to 120K miles now all the engine has had is spark plugs and oil and filter changes.
Nothing has broken (apart from a fog light lens) or fell off it's still feels tight, it had a bit of rust popping thro in places on the arches but that's been treated and temp painted till I get chance to get it done properly.
I have no reason to consider replacement unless I want a change and I don't right now.
I have a CLS, bought new and now 8 years old, just clicked over 100k miles. I have had it over twice as long, in fact nearly 3 times, the time I have kept any other car. I thought about changing it at 3, but the thought of what it had lost in depreciation, how well it still drove and how "solid" it still felt made me think again - and I go through the same process every 6 months or so, although depreciation is now negligible, given it's worth peanuts now.
It's not been faultless - 5 broken springs, inlet port shut down motor and exhaust manifolds, but the total cost of that is a fraction of what a warranty would have cost me, and/or the depreciation on one or two replacement cars. I look after it, although drive it pretty firmly a fair amount of the time, it has full MB service, it is Autoglym-ed to death, and acts like it will last forever.
Stick with it is my advice - 10 years is easily achievable.
It's not been faultless - 5 broken springs, inlet port shut down motor and exhaust manifolds, but the total cost of that is a fraction of what a warranty would have cost me, and/or the depreciation on one or two replacement cars. I look after it, although drive it pretty firmly a fair amount of the time, it has full MB service, it is Autoglym-ed to death, and acts like it will last forever.
Stick with it is my advice - 10 years is easily achievable.
Edited by Stegel on Thursday 11th December 08:40
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