New Vs Old...?

Conor_3

hougtimo wrote: »

hmm..i have to disagree. If I bought a newer car and a 20yr old fiesta was more reliable I would NOT be happy!

I currently drive a 2001 Astra 2.0 DTi - 60mpg, £120 a year road fund, £450 a year insurance (i'm 20)... Bought for £1800. It's done 19 months trouble free motoring for me now (3k a month), I really don't see how an older car can match this - I haven't met any that do!

I own a 22 year old Ford Capri that hasn't broken down on me for a few years now. Goes straight through every MOT. The only thing I can recall happening is the fuel pump packing up. Cost me a whole £9 for a brand new one and took 5 minutes to change.

You only have to look on this forum to see that cars under 5 years old have issues.

Conor_3

hougtimo wrote: »

It's high mileage yeah, (180k) - that by no means makes it a banger!

IMO a banger is noisy, unrefined & uncomfortable.

So my old 100,000 1993 MK1 Mondeo I bought for £350 wasn't a banger then as it drove extremely well, was dead quiet and had a load of toys?

Conor_3

sillygoose wrote: »

I would call any car that isn't 'current shape' a banger :whistle: but hey, shoot me.

Anyway, one very important issue that gets missed in this debate is time, mine is very precious and yes years ago I ran bangers on the cheap, I also remember the time it took, I did a lot of basic maintenance like brake pads myself. Taking it to some cheap bloke to weld the sills so it would pass an MOT, trips to kwik-fit for blowing exhausts, digging in breakers yards for starter motors. Cheap yes, good use of time? no. I am now lucky enough to have brand new cars provided every 2/3 years with my job. The last 5 such have very rarely been to a garage for anything other than routine service, one less thing in life to worry about.

Newer cars need brake pads. Brake pads last under 30,000 miles now they're non asbestos. Exhausts can blow by the time they're 3 years old. Starter motors can pack up on a car with 10,000 miles on that's spent all it's life doing short 1 mile trips to town and back. Since 1990, bodywork on cars has managed to last several years without needing to be welded.

big_gay_kirk

hougtimo wrote: »

It's done 19 months trouble free motoring for me now (3k a month), I really don't see how an older car can match this - I haven't met any that do!

quote]

my 25 year old Cortina has had no major breakdowns in the last five years... doing I'll admit a "mere" 14000 a year.... whereas the only (fairly) new car I ever had (a BMW 528i) ended up off the road three times during the 18 months I had it...every time with something fairly major... prize for reliability goes to the Pinto engined near classic..

Hintza

The point of running a banger/older car is that you minimise repair costs by doing it yourself.

Then you will get to that time in life when you just can'y be bothered anymore spending your saturday covered in oil.

Or

When you open the bonnet and wonder where the carb went. (Do youngsters know what a carb is?)

Conor it will happen even to you at some stage .

goldspanners

Hintza wrote: »

When you open the bonnet and wonder where the carb went. (Do youngsters know what a carb is?)

yes we do....

.....well if you consider me young?

Limey

I own a 1993 Celica and it has been extemely reliable (touch wood), my Mrs has a 1987 Mk1 MR2 which runs very well even after being a garden gnome for 4 years.

I can do virtually every job needed on the Mk1 and most on the Celica so the overall cost of running them is pretty decent. You can get up to 38mpg out of the MR2 as well. :j

Oh and I know what a carb is, I stripped and rebuilt the one on my Saab 96 about 10 years ago.

anewman

As Conor points out, most of the maintenance costs you'll have with any car whatever age. I'd imagine the £800 your mate has spent has been on fairly routine things like tyres, brakes, exhaust, driveshaft gaiters etc etc - things all cars will need at some point, no matter what age they are. Most of these types of things will be more expensive to replace on a newer car.

Most of the cost of going to a garage is labour anyway. Find the parts cheap on ebay etc, do the jobs yourself and you'll save wads of cash - also older cars are easier to DIY on. Most modern car that's still easiesh to DIY is probably the Skoda Felicia - (although the fuel filter is in the silliest possible place).

lovethymini

We call this practice bangernomics in our house;

Paying to keep an older car on the road in parts and labour, versus almost definate depreciation and possibly parts and labour on a newer car my dad always says most cars will cost a grand a year, be it in depreciation and or in parts and labour.

My mini is the only car I've ever owned that's actually gone up in value .
I did have an A3 which lost me £5k in 18 months and was in and out of the garage with so many problems, I'd never buy a newish car again.