And now Skoda are at it.

[Alex321]

You mean cars from 20 years ago last longer than cars 30-40 years ago? Obviously you can’t talk about how long cars built this year (now) will last.

Mass market cars built 30-40 years ago were doing well to last much more than 10 years, or 100,000 miles. Ones built 15-20 years ago are often still going strong, and my last 3 cars have all done well over 200,000 miles before getting rid of them.

But yes, we can't know for sure that cars built this year will last 15-20 years and do 200K miles, but I think the odds are most of them will.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Mass market cars built 30-40 years ago were doing well to last much more than 10 years, or 100,000 miles.

Source for that info ?

 

[Sharky]

Mass market cars built 30-40 years ago were doing well to last much more than 10 years, or 100,000 miles. Ones built 15-20 years ago are often still going strong, and my last 3 cars have all done well over 200,000 miles before getting rid of them.

But yes, we can't know for sure that cars built this year will last 15-20 years and do 200K miles, but I think the odds are most of them will.

The car we bought in 1990, Peug 505 est, lasted 12 years and over 200k. But was getting very tired towards the end. It's replacement, a Zafira lasted 21 years and about 180k and this too became ill in the last 12 months and has been scrapped.

My daughters motobility car, A Suzuki S Coss auto, failed in the first year, with a battery that wouldn't charge fully and wouldn't start. The RAC were very good and replaced the battery. Then about 6 weeks ago, it broke down on the M2 and wouldn't start. Still in the garage, waiting for parts to re build the engine. Done less than 4000 miles!

 

[Drago]

My Volvo has 45k miles and is 19 years old.

Assuming the engine lasts to 100k, which I'm told is likely for the 5 pot units, then it will have managed about 44 years. Not bad.

 

[Alex321]

Source for that info ?

Being around at the time and knowing very few people whose cars had lasted much longer than that.

The first few cars I owned, I was pretty pleased when they reached 100K miles, but by that time, they were needing loads of things replaced, far more than my more recent cars. And usually a fair amount of welding to keep bodywork together.

Even things like exhausts needed sections replacing pretty well every year, while I haven't had to replace any on either of our current cars, and very few on the previous ones.

And taking cars for an MOT in those days, it was a surprise on a 6-8 year old car if it passed without needing a few hundred pounds worth of work. Both our cars are 2015 models, so 8 years old, and both have had MOTs in the last 3 weeks. The only thing needed was new front tyres on mine - which I was expecting.

 

[Jameshow]

My Volvo has 45k miles and is 19 years old.

Assuming the engine lasts to 100k, which I'm told is likely for the 5 pot units, then it will have managed about 44 years. Not bad.

Estate ? Nice!

 

[Jameshow]

The car we bought in 1990, Peug 505 est, lasted 12 years and over 200k. But was getting very tired towards the end. It's replacement, a Zafira lasted 21 years and about 180k and this too became ill in the last 12 months and has been scrapped.

My daughters motobility car, A Suzuki S Coss auto, failed in the first year, with a battery that wouldn't charge fully and wouldn't start. The RAC were very good and replaced the battery. Then about 6 weeks ago, it broke down on the M2 and wouldn't start. Still in the garage, waiting for parts to re build the engine. Done less than 4000 miles!

Well done for getting 21yrs out of a zafira!

My parents had a 505, yours must have been a very late model? Good solid cars not as solid as the 504 but didn't seem to rust as much in UK climate.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Being around at the time and knowing very few people whose cars had lasted much longer than that.

Anecdote then based on statistically meaningless numbers.

 

[Sharky]

Well done for getting 21yrs out of a zafira!

My parents had a 505, yours must have been a very late model? Good solid cars not as solid as the 504 but didn't seem to rust as much in UK climate.

Yes, it was a 1990 Family Estate. An 8 seater. It was my firms car, 6 months before I was made redundant, but they let me buy the car and over the following decade, took us to many places in Europe.

 

[Alex321]

Anecdote then based on statistically meaningless numbers.

If you think there is any real dobt about it, then you did not grow up in the 70's (or earlier).

Cars in those days just weren't built to last the way they have been in the last 20 years or so. They were expected to rust, parts were expected to fail with much greater frequency. Recommended service intervals were half what they are now.

It wasn't just me and the people I knew, all the media regularly commented on it. British Leyland were a laughing stock for the "quality" of their cars. Ford, Vauxhall, Datsun (the precursor of Nissan) weren't much better. BL and Datsun in particular were known as rust buckets, but the rest were only a bit better.

There were some quality cars being built in those days, but really not among the mass-market cars. And certainly not in British built mass market cars.

 

[mikeIow]

To the original point…..the world is rapidly moving to a subscription model for everything.

To us older folk, it is highly irritating to have to pay extra for various options, and the thought that those are already built into the car absolutely makes our blood boil….

….but commercially, it does make sense 👀

A second owner might have heated seats and adaptive cruise on their ‘must have’ list (I do - amazing features!). They won’t have to seek those out, just pay a sum and hey presto!

People used to company cars are already used to features costing £x pcm….


As an aside: I avoided becoming a BMW driver, not just because I knew how to use indicators, but because the option list was bigger than the main car guide (back in the 90s).
I chose to get a Saab Aero, because it was ‘fully loaded’ - even with that brilliant ‘night’ button which dimmed everything but the essential speedo (& any warning lights!). Why doesn’t anyone else do that on cars?
Over 300k miles in 3 of them (9-3, 9-5, 9-5 estate). Lovely cars,

Then they went bust, so I moved upcountry to a new Volvo XC60….the new D4 with 8-spd auto, flippy magic headlights, heated everything and adaptive cruise. Even has a button to drop the rear headrests 🤪
Bought unseen - they only had the older D5 unit with a rather agricultural auto. But I took the leap of faith.
In our 10th year with it, almost 100k miles - still feels like new. Amazing vehicle!

If you plan to keep the car a long time, it is worth getting exactly what you want….from new. If you are less bothered, then usually a year old car will make sense. Unless discounts are bonkers.

We also got a Kona EV over 4 years ago. Absolutely love it. Too small for some duties, but does 75-80% of our work now. At some point we may change it…..but maybe not. Still some warranty left….not quite as solidly built as the Volvo. Maybe the next one will need subscriptions. I hope not 🤷‍♂️

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If you think there is any real dobt about it, then you did not grow up in the 70's (or earlier).

The 70s is 50 years ago but by the 80s and 90s (30-40 years ago) rust had been sorted and 200,000 and more miles not usual for diesels. Maybe you just bought shoot cars.

 

[Alex321]

The 70s is 50 years ago but by the 80s and 90s (30-40 years ago) rust had been sorted and 200,000 and more miles not usual for diesels. Maybe you just bought shoot cars.

BY the 90's I fully agree. Yes, my 30-40 years ago was forgetting just how far back the 70's and 80s were.

Not convinced about the 80's, at least the early 80's. I was mostly buying cars that were 6-8 years old at that time, and would rarely manage to keep them going for more than about 3 years. But that does mean that up until about 1990, I was buying cars built in the early 80's (or the 70's when I first started).

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Not convinced about the 80's, at least the early 80's. I was mostly buying cars that were 6-8 years old at that time, and would rarely manage to keep them going for more than about 3 years.

You must have been buying lemons if you couldn't keep a car going more than 3 years

 

[Alex321]

You must have been buying lemons if you couldn't keep a car going more than 3 years

These were cars that were 6-8 years old when I bought them, with 60-80K miles on the clock.