HELP! I'm sick and tired of ridiculous motoring costs!

BeenThroughItAll

zaax wrote: »

10 year old cars are getting old in the tooth & will need a lot to up keep. Buy one that only 3-4 years old.

That's a little bit of an oversimplification. As long as they're looked after, 10 year old cars can be perfectly reliable. I've not had a car less than 8 years old in the last five years, and not one of them has ever broken down, had a major mechanical failure, or cost me thousands in repairs.


By contrast, a 3-4 year old car will still be depreciating heavily, and there will likely be a lot more to go wrong.

bazster

zaax wrote: »

10 year old cars are getting old in the tooth & will need a lot to up keep. Buy one that only 3-4 years old.

See above re my reliable relics.

Tobster86

True, it very much depends on the vehicle.

Many German/Swedish vehicles in their teens will eat more miles without problems than most newer cars, which are often about ripe for their first new turbo at four years old.

angelboy

forgotmyname wrote: »

Back box from europarts £100. So its not a main dealer item.

ABS sensore get replaced not re-programmed, I assume you mean a controller board?

It wasn't just the back box. The centre part, which had corroded, comes with the CAT. You can't buy one without the other. It had also gone at the back box - so two parts of the exhaust had failed, one that had to be bought with the CAT.

Yes, it must be the control unit not the sensor.

The Audi I bought had an impeccable service history. The last owner bought it from the very first owner once the warranty had run out so he had it for 7 years. He kept every bill, every service (done at a specialist VAG garage) and it wanted for nothing. I checked for the milky oil that's usual for these cars and he had the paperwork to say the fix had already been done. The interior is flawless, there was one small chip on the bonnet and a bit of wheel rash on the OS front wheel. The car was/is pretty perfect - especially for it's age. I went to see about 10 cars in all, from dealers and private and compared to this, they were all dogs with rubbish history.

Believe me, I did my homework on this. That's why it's so annoying that the turbo could be on the way out. It can only be dumb luck!

angelboy

Tobster86 wrote: »

True, it very much depends on the vehicle.

Many German/Swedish vehicles in their teens will eat more miles without problems than most newer cars, which are often about ripe for their first new turbo at four years old.

But it's statements like that that have caused me to be in the this situation. German cars - Audis/VW/Mercs/BMWs - supposed to be reliable - or so they say.

Japanese cars - can't go wrong - or so they say.

So why have I got a German & a Japanese car and they're both going wrong to the tune of ££££'s.

BeenThroughItAll

angelboy wrote: »

But it's statements like that that have caused me to be in the this situation. German cars - Audis/VW/Mercs/BMWs - supposed to be reliable - or so they say.

Japanese cars - can't go wrong - or so they say.

So why have I got a German & a Japanese car and they're both going wrong to the tune of ££££'s.

They're not, really. Exhausts rust and electronics fail. That's just a fact. It appears, however, that you are paying over the odds for getting things fixed.


Aircon doesn't really go wrong unless it's not been looked after or used properly. My 13yo Grand Cherokee still has ice cold AC because it's never been turned off in its life. Same story with my dad's 20yo motorhome - the AC has been on since he bought it, and has never been regassed or gone wrong.

angelboy

Since passing my test 21 years ago, I've had three Porsches and one Ferrari and the most expensive to run was no doubt the Italian. I had a manifold go one year and that cost me £1600 to fix (and it had two sides so lucky only one side went down). I bought a Capristo racing exhaust that I had to drive to London to have fitted and that cost me £3000.

Fair enough - I expect to pay big money for big cars - BUT C'MON - a bloody crappy Mazda and a 10 year old Audi. What's going on?

BeenThroughItAll

angelboy wrote: »

Since passing my test 21 years ago, I've had three Porsches and one Ferrari and the most expensive to run was no doubt the Italian. I had a manifold go one year and that cost me £1600 to fix (and it had two sides so lucky only one side went down). I bought a Capristo racing exhaust that I had to drive to London to have fitted and that cost me £3000.

Fair enough - I expect to pay big money for big cars - BUT C'MON - a bloody crappy Mazda and a 10 year old Audi. What's going on?

I'm not sure what your point is. Parts are expensive for Porsches and Ferraris?


Your levelling a blanket accusation at all Audis and Mazdas as unreliable and costly is somewhat unfair - it sounds to me more like you've simply purchased poor examples of each.


Maybe instead of complaining about having to fix problems which could occur with any car, you should just buy a couple of Porsches?

angelboy

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

They're not, really. Exhausts rust and electronics fail. That's just a fact. It appears, however, that you are paying over the odds for getting things fixed.


Aircon doesn't really go wrong unless it's not been looked after or used properly. My 13yo Grand Cherokee still has ice cold AC because it's never been turned off in its life. Same story with my dad's 20yo motorhome - the AC has been on since he bought it, and has never been regassed or gone wrong.

I didn't get the aircon fixed - I got three quotes, all around £800.

Same with the exhaust - I called around and found the best price.

The ABS control unit I've yet to pay for. The indy said that it could probably be repaired but it'd be about £300 + VAT + carriage - I called a competitor to find out the price and it was £285 + VAT + carriage.

I'm not just letting one garage 'rip me off' - I'm making my own enquiries and what I'm been told seems to be the same.

The Turbo on the Audi - no one knows if it's that exactly. The Indy hasn't priced it up - I've called a few places. Two have told me £1250 & £1200. Another said if it's the turbo then they can do it for £800 - all inc VAT.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

While the likes of BMW are perceived as reliable, that perception is based on cars of less than 10 years old.

The problems you get with older cars are to a certain extent beyond the control of the manufacturer, so the conditions it has been used in, the way it has been driven, and even to a certain extend the longevity of the materials it is made of.

Certainly one issue I have had on an old Merc is that the rubber bushings failed. Expecting rubber parts to remain in as new condition after 10 or more years is unrealistic.

So trying to run 10 year old cars, you are going to be in the game that many components are beyond their design life, either in terms of mileage or in terms of what they are expected to survive. Then there are cars that have design weaknesses that will catch up with them (like the Rover 75 positioning of the control electronics in what can become a water bath). I was told that the design life for a Range Rover gearbox is signed off for 150,000 miles. So JLR are comfortable what they will build will last that long, but anything beyond that is a bonus. So if a quality manufacturer is aiming for 150k miles, you'd question where a middle of the range manufacturer is targeting their mileage.

So you are into the world of good luck, combined with how the vehicle was treated, and to a certain extent being careful about the type of car you buy.

A newer car may still have design issues and may still have faults, but what you will avoid is components going over design lives so generally they will have fewer faults.