Reliable reliable reliable

gilbert_and_sullivan

Spot on Jase, Mitsis and Hyundai/Kia older models get ignored, can't for the life of me understand way.

scheming_gypsy

wibs wrote: »

IS it worth getting one that is say ten years old with low mileage or can I expect things will start to fall apart due to its age?

Depends on the sellers definition of low mileage. 45k on a 10 year old car would be low mileage but a lot of sellers will advertise a car with 'low mileage' because it hasn't averaged 12k a year.
A low mileage (for its age) can be coming right up to part replacement time. Cam belt and water pump might be still be original and ready to be replaced and a lot of the other parts could still be the originals. You're usually better to look at what car it is and its reliability , receipts and service history and any common faults and see if they've been replaced ... etc

Strider590

portly1 wrote: »

No car no matter what age or mileage will be guaranteed to be fault free in time.

Personally I look for servicing by a main reputable dealer.

The problem with cars that see only low mileage is that most (95%+) owners think they can skip servicing or only go for interim services.

So to put that in simple terms, 95% of people are stupid.....

As for dealership servicing...... Try taking an older car to a dealer and seeing how the "mechanics" treat it.
They deal with brand new cars every day, when they get something more than a few years old, there are very few of them that will treat that car with any respect at all.

Dealership "mechanics" also have strict targets to meet, so they take shortcuts whenever they have to. It's not at all uncommon to take a car for a service and them not even lift the bonnet (but at least they stamp your service book).

This ain't a dig at the mechanics/technicians, it's a dig at the idiots that manage them.

A._Badger

Strider590 wrote: »

The problem with cars that see only low mileage is that most (95%+) owners think they can skip servicing or only go for interim services.

So to put that in simple terms, 95% of people are stupid.....

As for dealership servicing...... Try taking an older car to a dealer and seeing how the "mechanics" treat it.
They deal with brand new cars every day, when they get something more than a few years old, there are very few of them that will treat that car with any respect at all..

I don't think that is a safe generalisation at all. I have a 10 year old Honda which recently developed an aircon problem. It hasn't been near a main dealer for several years, but I took it to one recently in an attempt to get it fixed.

I could not have been better treated, nor could the car, and I stood there and watched while they worked on it.

In fact, I was so impressed that I'm even thinking of taking it back to them for routine servicing under Honda's quite reasonably priced service scheme, which doesn't seem to me to be a lot more expensive that I have been paying for an independent (who wanted £75 more for the aircon fix than Honda charged!).

Sorry to come across like a Honda fanbois but the car has been faultless from new (it still has the original exhaust system!) and at least one of Honda's main dealers seems to be a decent place to do business.

I guess my advice to the OP is obvious.

DKLS

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Spot on Jase, Mitsis and Hyundai/Kia older models get ignored, can't for the life of me understand way.

Mainly as the older hyundai and kias were hideous to drive and made from monkey metal, it took them a long time to start building decent cars.

Although the Mitsi evo VI was

wibs

thanks everyone for your contributions so far

I must say I am surprised at the suggestions to get my Polo fixed. He garage I use who are normally pretty cheap quoted me approx £1500 for the gearbox (its an automatic) so was shocked someone on here mentioned £500. Also the car has 88K miles on it would people still recommend getting it patched up or maybe move onto something newer?

Also I hadnt realised the low mileage on an old car isnt necessarily a good thing, though I still dont quote understand the reasons - is it because a lot of parts may need replacing seems to be what scheming gypsy is saying?

jase1

DKLS wrote: »

Mainly as the older hyundai and kias were hideous to drive and made from monkey metal, it took them a long time to start building decent cars.

True enough in the case of Kia especially (I'm not sure I'd recommend any pre-2005 Kia, Magentis excluded), although Hyundai was building cars that were strong mechanically from around the late 1990s onwards -- still not the best to drive but passable.

To be fair even the 1980s Hyundais were rugged things (the Stellar was a popular minicab for a while) -- mainly due to the fact that all the engineering was Japanese.

Any 2000s Hyundai would get my vote, as would any post-2005 Kia that is a Hyundai under the skin (so no to the Sedona, for example). Mitsubishi are in a different league altogether though -- their cars are as strong as anything Toyota puts out.

LandyAndy

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201307127794229/sort/default/usedcars/transmission/automatic/model/323/make/mazda/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/radius/1500/page/1/postcode/sp61ej?logcode=p

Dull to drive but, in my experience, very very reliable.

forgotmyname

My cars got 170,000 miles on it now... Same age as yours and still going strong.

I have the oil changed every 6 months or 6000 miles and a full service each year, No matter how little mileage has been done.

A used gearbox with a short warranty £100 - £250. Reconditioned from about £600 or so.

Your garage probably do not have a clue how the gearbox works. And would rather just replace than fix the actual fault which maybe a sticky valve costing under £20.

You need a specialist auto gearbox repairer.