Average life span

n3il_2

Of a car, if kept full services, looked after etc, how many miles on average do petrol and diesels go on for, I know diesels are known to go for a lot longer.

I'm also guessing that the make/model makes a different to, when I was searching for a new car I was interested in a T regd Honda civic 1.4i it was advertised as fsh, well looked after etc but it had 110 thousand miles on the clock and that put me off, but my mate told me I was daft cuz that car had a lot more years/miles in it cuz it was a Honda and they're made well.

Notmyrealname

Its not the make and model so much as the type of journeys. My current car is on 165k with no major issues but spent the first 90k hooning up and down motorways in 6th gear and in my ownership it has done very little pottering around town - maybe once a week, with the majority of the 17k a year being out of town and motorway.

A car thats done 50k around town on short journeys will be more knackered than one thats done 100k on long runs.

jase1

I believe the average lifespan of cars in the UK is 13 years.

I firmly believe that any car will run for 15 years if looked after, and many will last longer.

Cars are usually scrapped these days for no other reason than they're worth £200 and something goes wrong that'll cost £300 to put right.

TrickyWicky

Your title and post are a bit confusing.

Do you mean the lifespan in years of a car or the MPG (Miles Per Gallon) or the engine life?

For a Honda 110k is nothing. Same applies to Volvo, Toyota, Mazda, BMW, Audi. There is also more to consider than just the make, age and mileage.

Supposing you find one of the above brands, just 50k but never serviced. It'll be trouble. On the other hand you might find a car thats got 200K on the clock, one owner, serviced at the main dealers every 6 months with no expense spared. Which one would I go for? The 200k.

You also have other things to look out for: Cambelt - Is it due, has it been done, is it overdue? - Thats a very important part of a car and if it snaps your engine is scrap metal. Some cars have a cam chain which pretty much means you don't need to worry about it for 200k or more. If that was done you need to be sure the waterpump and tensioners were done too.

Couple of years back there was a Ford Mondeo sold with over 500K on the clock. Think it went for a couple of grand (can't actually remember) but clearly being a motorway car most of its life it probably didn't give its new owner much hassle.

Again, this partly depends on the make of the car. If you go for a cheap european car (Renault, Citroen, Peugeot, VW, etc) 100K could be considered "high maintenance" territory. The brands I mentioned above tend to have robust engines. A lot of people swear by Audi and BMW but their engines will never outlive those of a Volvo many of which use the same gearboxes as Toyotas which are also pretty indestructible. Honda you can pretty much imagine as being the same as Toyota but with a different name.

Average age of a car is probably 13 years in the UK. Not many folks are interested in keeping them alive after that before sending them off to be melted down to be made into a fridge (which then contains bits of carbons and all sorts of other lovely stuff that you store your food inside!). As for miles, that will always vary. Some cars will make it to just 20k and get written off whilst others will exceed 300k, get sold as "never missed a beat" and as soon as someone else buys it, the thing will blow its engine to bits. Others won't even get the chance, they'll get sent away as scrap because the owner wants something new or can't be bothered spending money on it and then there are those that will sit on someones drive SORN year after year with little wrong other than the rust thats slowly eating it.

I think what I'm trying to say is hat your question is very vague and expects a simple answer from a lot of variables. 100k for a well maintained Honda is nothing to worry about. I've had two cars with over 100k on the clock and never gave it a second thought before buying them. The only thing I checked was things like the cambelt and other service items before handing over the cash. If the engine is reputable mileage is not much of an issue.

One other thing to check, the number of owners. The more previous owners, the more careless they're likely to have been with the car as its gone from one to another. That said, my current car cost me £550, had 110 on the clock, 6 or 7 previous owners (more than any other car of a similar age that we've had) and it never missed a beat until 1.75 years later when it needed some work doing to it due to years of neglect. £200 for parts, few hours of DIY and it was alive again.

If I were to recommend anything to you, it would be to do your research. Don't just buy the first car you see and like, go away, research it, find out its weakpoints, the costs of repairing them, look at the average mileage of cars for that age, engine and gearbox reliability etc. Ebay is a great way to do research on cars like that because it shows you the mileages, previous owners etc.

Also there is a lot of paranoia over cars that have been written off as a Category D or C due to a accident. This doesn't mean the car was wrapped around the lamp post, split in two, blood everywhere etc. It usually just means that someone dented a body panel somewhere or the bumper needed replacing etc and because the costs were not far from the cars value, the insurers just paid cash and wrote it off rather than arrange for the repairs themselves. It doesn't mean the car is dangerous and can often mean that its actually NOT hiding something as it will be declared on the V5 if its a Cat C which is more serious than a Cat D that isn't on the V5. What I'm saying is that these cars can often be cheaper because of that paranoia but it doesn't mean they're any less safe.

jase1

You mention Volvo. Both of my cars are essentially the same as respective models of the Volvo S40 under the skin (one with a Mitsubishi badge, one with a Ford). Both have 100,000 miles and both I expect many tens of thousands more out of.

Despite the fact that the Ford is nearly four years newer, I would say that the Mitsubishi seems to have the stronger engine/gearbox of the two, and has the more solid build.

TrickyWicky

Misubishis are known for being very solid. Look at how many shoguns are still floating around that are years old! Fords... well engines and gearboxes are normally good for many years but the rest usually rusts away. I take it you've got the focus ST then eh? - Lovely Volvo lump in there, 5 cylinder 2.4 Turbo right?

Volvo engines and gearboxes (gearboxes actually made by Aisin-Warner typically who also supply Toyota with their gearboxes) will run to 500k with ease. As long as you do the very basics, oil, filter, plugs, and gearbox fluids you can expect a very long life from them. You can consider the engine to be just about run-in at about 150k so you should have no trouble getting a few "tens of thousands" of miles out of them

mikey72

Any car will last.

I've had Fiats that I've sold at 10 years old that have been good runners, I've a 23 year old Renault, a Vauxhall on 100, 000 miles, a Peugeot that did 160,000 miles in 14 years.
They all last nowadays, if they get past the first 6 years.
But nothing will last longer than an older Peugeot diesel engine.

They all do short runs, with no problem, interspaced with motorway runs.
In fact the Renault has only averaged 5k a year, so short runs haven't hurt it.
I change the oil at either 5 or 10k miles though, regardless of what the book says.
They don't see garages though, I look after them myself. So service history is poor.

forgotmyname

My old petrol mondeo had 150,000 miles on it and still ran sweetly, Much better conditioned than the new cars with approx half the miles on.

Lease car bought by its driver and kept for almost 2 years before i bought it. Every manual and receipt for all work done since new in the as new zipped wallet.

Thats what you need to find.

You want to avoid the one driven by someone that hates his job/gaffer/life and tries to kill it every journey.

If its a shed outside and in then avoid. The mechanicals will be far worse.

I have been to dealers and i always check the oil and fluids, One car i looked at CHEAP!!! But needed a few bits doing, Failed to register any oil on the dipstick.

2 Litres + missing from an engine that takes 4.3 litres, No thanks.

w211

My 2007 w211 (google it) 3.0 V6 CDi, is coming up to 180,000 miles, no problem whatsover. I rely on it for work, always serviced on the dot.

I also have a Honda motorbike - 2004 CBF600 coming up to 48,000 miles (not a lot for a car, but I think this is good going for a high-ish revving 600cc engine giving 76bhp), again no problems. Still on original clutch.

Had a 2006 Vauxhall Combo 1.7 CDTi, did 177,000 miles in it, in two and a half years, again no problems, serviced when needed (every four months). Had original clutch and gearbox.

Largely depends on how you drive/ride the vehicle. I find a lot of people have no mechanical sympathy, they ride the clutch, go over speed humps and pot holes at speed, brake/accelerate harshly etc.

TrickyWicky

w211 wrote: »

My 2007 w211 (google it) 3.0 V6 CDi, is coming up to 180,000 miles, no problem whatsover.

You got that out of a modern Merc? - Blimey you have done well!

SHIPSHAPE

I've had several diesel Mondeos that were on 160k + when i sold on, the one I have now is on 185k, no probs so long as they are serviced regularly.

I know a taxi driver who's mondeo was on 315k last time I seen him a year ago!