Pay for reliability, not mileage.

Hammyman

In a NY Times article about spending on tech, I saw the following comment and it got me thinking, especially as everyone in the UK seems to be obsessed by the MPG a car gets.

* Pay for reliability, not mileage. On a car, you'll spend more of repairs and maintenance over its lifetime than you will on a difference in gas.

So do they have a point? Obviously it doesn't mean extremes like a 70MPG VW Fox vs a 20MPG BMW740 but what about when the difference is less, say 10MPG and you're only doing 10k a year? Does it make sense then?

Kilty_2

Has some kind of leverage certainly - when you hear stories of people that trade an "uneconomical" car in for an "economical" one around the same age/price or even older/more expensive.

Hammyman

One interesting area in this is the second hand market. An economical shopping trolley will have a premium price - they don't depreciate much whereas a high MPG motorway munchers second hand value will drop like a stone. You could end up with two cars for around £4k, one being a shopping trolley only just above poverty spec and due to spending its life mostly around town only being a few thousand miles off some horrific bills and the other being a barely run in motorway muncher stacked full of toys with at least 50k before you're going to have to do anything to it.

Kilty_2

Yeah, I'd tend not to buy a 2nd hand shopping bucket (hence I bought brand new) - total cost of ownership is far lower unless you keep the brand new car for long enough it starts needing serious out of warranty repair.

Paradigm

You've certainly got a point Hammyman.

I got fed up with the Sierra/Cavalier type stuff some years ago & decided to go for something second hand but "up market" & have since stuck by this.

I started with an immacculate G reg (1989) Merc 300 se, 5 years old with 105000 on the clock. I sold it with 180000 some 4 years later in pretty much the same condition I bought it, all it had in that time was routine servicing... nothing fell off or broke! It even averaged 35mpg on a trip from the midlands to Looe in Cornwall with 5 of us + luggage!!!

Since then I've had a Lexus 400, Volvo TR5, Audi A6 & now a modified Saab 95... all bought for a bucket load less than new

Kilty_2

Paradigm wrote: »

I got fed up with the Sierra/Cavalier type stuff some years ago & decided to go for something second hand but "up market" & have since stuck by this.

You'll love this thread - http://web5.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=490109&mid=242444&nmt=Best%20Smoker%20Barges%20-%201%20-%205%20Large...

Paradigm

Kilty wrote: »

You'll love this thread - http://web5.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=490109&mid=242444&nmt=Best%20Smoker%20Barges%20-%201%20-%205%20Large...

Yep, you're right... I do!

Some serious metal there for not much dosh, so what if it costs a bit more in insurance & fuel! Plenty of indys about to service them for a fraction of main dealer prices & it's a different world when you drive the beasties..... live the dream

jase1

Always bought Japanese for this very reason. Sadly the uber-cheap biggish Nissans of old aren't what they were.

I've now moved to Mitsubishi -- reliability and low cost due to lack of recognition on the used market if it isn't a fire-spitting rally car or mud-plugging 4x4. Bought a Focus because of their reputation but not sure I'd do it again.

A four year old Lancer, while being far from the prettiest car in the world, is probably the best bargain on the market at the moment. £2500 sometimes for a 30-40,000 miler, strong, uncomplicated petrol engines that run forever and very good build quality.

And yes, buying the slightly larger cars (and saloons instead of hatchbacks in the non-premium sector) bags you a better deal -- a car that is built to last but which has done most of the depreciating it's going to.