The most reliable car you ever had?

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My present day Octavia estate

Granted, it's had wear & tear items replaced
Tyres, brake-pads, discs, shock absorbers, springs

Knocking on the door of 140,000 miles
First year in our ownership saw it cover almost 35,000, as wife was driving to Cardiff/Newport, & Coventry 2 -3 times a week in it
(hence first set of 4 discs & pads @ 70,000 miles..... m-way braking)


But, it's only let me down once in 7 years, & that was due to a faulty Bluetooth unit, that drained the battery so much, that not even the dash-lights came on


EDIT @ 11:35

It had another 4 x discs (& full pad sets) last week, due to safety, as much as anything
 
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screenman

Legendary Member
2 X Citroen Zantia and 1 x Citreon Picasso all 3 went to 185,000 none of them had an oil change or anything like a service from the day I bought them all 3 had around 70,000 on purchase. The Picasso had one set of front pads as a major item the other were about the same, never an mot failure.
 
A red G Reg montego, bought it for £440 and gave it to my mate over a year later. Probably the best car pound for pound I’ve owned.

Saying that though, I bought a Toyota Corolla station wagon when I was in New Zealand, absolutely fantastic, cheap to run massive car, perfect for me at that time. I gave it to my mates cousin when I’d finished with it 20 years ago, wouldn’t surprise me if it was still going

We, as a family had a rover 214 automatic with a Honda engine, the car fell apart after years of the kids being moved about but the engine was still right on the money.

Of all the BMW’s, VW,s etc company cars, the Skoda superb is right at the top of the pile. Not flash but does everything I need it to do better than the rest. If I have to buy a car, it’ll be a Skoda or Honda

Now, a van is another matter and possible thread

I’ve always wanted a van to fart about in
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
My present day Octavia estate

Granted, it's had wear & tear items replaced
Tyres, brake-pads, discs, shock absorbers, springs

Knocking on the door of 140,000 miles
First year in our ownership saw it cover almost 35,000, as wife was driving to Cardiff/Newport, & Coventry 2 -3 times a week in it
(hence first set of 4 discs & pads @ 70,000 miles..... m-way braking)


But, it's only let me down once in 7 years, & that was due to a faulty Bluetooth unit, that drained the battery so much, that not even the dash-lights came on


EDIT @ 11:35

It had another 4 x discs (& full pad sets) last week, due to safety, as much as anything
My colleague just sold his 2001 TDi Octavia Estate, 230k miles, still on it's original clutch and exhaust...tbf it spent much of its life not being a town car, its had 2 or 3 sets of discs and the usual other stuff and he said it did have a problem a few years ago but generally a splendidly reliable car.
A bit gutted really, I considered buying it myself but one of my other colleagues brought it as a commuter, hes treating it well, gets 65mpg driving it carefully, he'll probably get plenty more life out if it.
You have a way to go yet all being well...:okay:
 
My colleague just sold his 2001 TDi Octavia Estate, 230k miles, still on it's original clutch and exhaust...tbf it spent much of its life not being a town car, its had 2 or 3 sets of discs and the usual other stuff and he said it did have a problem a few years ago but generally a splendidly reliable car.
A bit gutted really, I considered buying it myself but one of my other colleagues brought it as a commuter, hes treating it well, gets 65mpg driving it carefully, he'll probably get plenty more life out if it.
You have a way to go yet all being well...:okay:

I'll back that up
As you imply, mine's still a baby, at just short of 140,000miles
Mine, too is on its original clutch & exhaust

In the last year, since SWMBO bought a car purely for herself (Toyota C-HR 'hybrid') she's not driven it, so I keep tabs on the MPG
Over that time, I reckon that it's averaged 60MPG

My last top-up (brimmed) was at 350 miles, & the figures worked out to 64.7MPG
It included;
- a return trip to Birmingham
- daughter to Selby, then drive home, back to Selby, in evening to collect her - to find out that her train wasn't running, so over to Hull Paragon, for her, & home from there
- and quite a bit of local 'running about'
 

Slick

Guru
J Reg Ford Escort that everyone said I shouldn't buy and when I did, everyone said I'd regret it. One guy was convinced the bottom end was about to drop out of it despite it being only a year old with just a few thousand miles on it. Fast forward over 10 years and I've done over 100K chasing work on every industrial site in Scotland before bombing up and down that A9 heading offshore when the motor could sit for 3 weeks or more before I bombed it back down the road for a few days before repeating the process. Not sure of the exact timescales, but I remember giving it to my brother in law for hee haw and buying my first brand new motor which was a 51 plate Astra. Hated it and sold it soon after.
 

perplexed

Guru
Location
Sheffield
Probably the Renault Laguna estate (2Ltr diesel), and the Toyota Auris (1.6 petrol) have been the two most reliable cars we've had. Nothing apart from the usual wear and tear items, tyres and stuff.
 
A red G Reg montego, bought it for £440 and gave it to my mate over a year later. Probably the best car pound for pound I’ve owned

the Skoda superb is right at the top of the pile. Not flash but does everything I need it to do better than the rest. If I have to buy a car, it’ll be a Skoda

Now, a van is another matter and possible thread
I’ve always wanted a van to fart about in

1. The Perkins Prima diesel is still well-regarded as a transplant for a 'series' Land Rover
(if you can find one)

2. 'Ditto', I'd have a Superb estate now, it's a bit of a bummer, as the only diesel is the 1.6TDi
Would love it as a 2.0TDI (150BHP), 4x4, 6-speed

The 2.0TDi is available in the Octavia, but, the only 4x4 estate is a petrol:banghead:
The Scout is a 2.0Tdi (180BHP), but only as a DSG 'box :rolleyes:
I think I'll keep mine for another few years, till it gets 'beyond economic repair'

3. Me too!
Next-door-but-one have a '05' VW T5 (8-seater/130BHP) bought new, & it's a wee beastie
I'd really like it on my drive instead

Work-collegue has a T4, & that's nice enough too

On a slightly madder view of the T4/T5, there's a garage in Wakefield that does this to poor, innocent, T5's:wacko::wacko:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_3yNadcCOc



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9PveodrqTI
 
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sheddy

Legendary Member
Location
Suffolk
2 litre diesel Montego, over 10 years (same engine ^^^ ?)
When tailgated, used to change down a cog & boot it to demonstrate 007 smoke screen.

1x failed front wheel bearing.
 
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