How long should a car last?

drdog_2

One reads/hears alsorts of figures about how long a car should last - and whether its age or miles.

So a well looked after car that has not been thrashed - how long will it last? What is the best cars for longevity in terms of age, and in terms of mileage?

Retrogamer

It's too hard to say.
Some cars will last longer around town driving / short trips than others, but might not fare as well as other vehicles on longer motorway journeys.

Likewise with other stuff. What the weather is like, how smooth the roads are, how good the driver is, how often it's serviced and with what oils ect. Some cars are badly designed as well.

A bit like "how long is a piece of string"

Captain_Flack.

It will last longest if you buy it from car giant.

tim9966

There is no set figure, but a lot of cars won't make it to 15 years old before they need to be scrapped, unless they are really low mileage, and have been hidden away.


How long an engine lasts can be done to how it's serviced. A very rough guide could be 10,000 miles for every 0.1 litre, so a 1.2 may last 120,000 miles, and 2.0 may last 200,000, but this is a very rough guide.

TrickyWicky

How long is a piece of string?

There are so many factors to take into account. The make, model, the drivers style, the roads its used on, the way it's stored, the design of the engine, the rust proofing, the gear box strength, etc.

Lets face it. If you look after any car properly it will out live you. If you underseal if every winter, polish it every week, never thrash it, service it every 6 months etc it will live forever. If you abuse it like a mad man it won't.

Even cars with bad engines and gearboxes can live an eternity if you are happy to replace the engine / box when it needs doing.

Ultimately the only thing that sees any car being scrapped is the owners neglect / refusal to look after it properly.

drdog_2

Yes there are many factors, such as how well its looked after, and manufacturer. But there are some elements that age regardless of care and treatement - plastics, wiring, bits that move/flex - wiring looms, motors, hinges. I ran a Citreon Xantia for many years until the heater matrix developed a leak - now I suppose I could have replaced that and kept the car going longer, but there was something intermitteent about the electric windows and I felt that maybe the car was coming to the upward slope on the likelyhood of faults bath tub curve.

So maybe the question could be supplimented by what parts ultimately make a car beyond repair and when does taht typically happen?

TrickyWicky

Again you're asking the impossible to answer. Every car has different faults and different motorists have different ideas of when a car is dead.

If you drive a peugeot you might decide it's knackered when the clutch is shot. If you drive a renault it might be when the head gasket goes. If you drive an Audi you might decide that it's never going to die while it's still cool and replace everything to keep it alive. If you drive a volvo you probably don't care while it still starts and moves.

Again, you can't really put a firm answer on the question you're asking.

vaio

Think Trigger's broom, he'd had the same one for 20 years

But in that 20 years it had had 13 new heads and 17 new handles

in_the_Cotswolds

There's cars from the the 30's and WW 2 Jeeps still going. Depends on how much time and money you have. Someone is still driving a 1972 "L" reg Hillman Hunter around here.

gilbert_and_sullivan

The simplest cars looked after and maintained the best will last the longest.

But people don't want simple, they want lots of toys and electronic goodies, and every one thats fitted is one more to go wrong.

Quiet_Spark

drdog wrote: »

So a well looked after car that has not been thrashed - how long will it last? What is the best cars for longevity in terms of age, and in terms of mileage?

My neighbour has a 1972 registered RS1600 MK1 Escort that is immaculate and performs better than the day it rolled off the production line.


By contrast another neighbour has an 05 Focus that is just about f**ked and isn't worth two bob.




I'd say it all depends on how well the car is looked after as to how long it will last.