When to replace your 'banger' when it just won't die?

Stoke

almillar wrote: »

I don't know what mileage you're doing but unless it's stellar save yourself a few quid on the oil filter change twice a year and buy an air filter!
Lupos are good cars - too good - VW made them too well, and too expensive, so they didn't sell very well. Then they tried to sell us the Fox, which went the other way.
If you want it to fail, you're servicing it too well!

Indeed. I looked at a Fox and the Lupo (both second hand) and was kind of surprised how cheaply made the Fox was. Recycled pop bottle dash. So I took the Lupo which was cheaper to buy and also cheaper to insure.

They're seriously well made. It's never failed an MOT in its life. That might just be pot luck, but it looks nice going through the MOT history and seeing not one failure and only a few advisories. Haha, well I wouldn't say I'm ultra keen with the servicing, but basically, when the service light comes on, I change the oil and filter and an oil change on these cars is obnoxiously easy. I use an extraction tool, which plugs onto the battery and sucks all the oil out in about 10 minutes. I then jack it on one side (axle stand under the wishbone ofc), get the old filter off, get the new one on, it's one of those processes that I can probably do now in less than half an hour if I rushed, but more likely takes about 45 minutes when I grab a cup of tea etc. I've been doing that ever since I bought it. I use £15 for 5 litres fully synthetic oil from CarParts4Less (mail order EuroCarParts basically).

londonTiger wrote: »

the lupo gti are very good pocket rockets and have high values. Though your diesel should be above average (more than a petrol lupo)

I think part of the reason why they are so durable is that their engines are adapted from larger golf and polo engines so they wont wear as easily as they are used in a much lighter car.

I'm pretty sure it much be valued much higher, it's a diesel and very light car, it must get extremely good mpg.

I love the GTI, but they hold their value seriously. Mine gets great MPG, I love it for that. It's just boring and old and I'm getting one of those itchy feet feelings :P

securityguy

The point being that for the experienced car owner, cars of the past ten or fifteen years are massively, massively more reliable and long-lasting than older cars: galvanised panels, accurate and swarf-free manufacturing, synthetic oils. But many people get their caronomics from their dad, who got it from their dad, and the idea that you change a car every three years to keep reliable transport, and indeed the folk memory of changing the oil and coolant for winter and summer, dies very hard. Look at he way in which people who aren't interested in cars think that low mileage is a good thing worth paying for, Look how incredibly cheap things like 100k 10 year old Octavias are, which in practice will probably do another 10 years and another 100k with little more than routine servicing.

These aren't your father's car, but people run them as though they were. I owned early 1970s cars in the mid 1980s, so I know just how frayed, and indeed rare, a fifteen year old car was then, whereas now you wouldn't pull up behind a car on an 01 or 51 plate and go "wow, that's rare and old to see still on the road".

jimjames

securityguy wrote: »

These aren't your father's car, but people run them as though they were. I owned early 1970s cars in the mid 1980s, so I know just how frayed, and indeed rare, a fifteen year old car was then, whereas now you wouldn't pull up behind a car on an 01 or 51 plate and go "wow, that's rare and old to see still on the road".

That's a very good point. Obviously there are still some exceptions, Fords of that age in particular with rust forcing them off the road, but others that are 15 years old can still look almost as good as new. I have a 51 reg Golf with 145k miles, nothing wrong and having run another to 250k I can't see any reason why it won't keep going when serviced. I've needed to do some maintenance so this year it's had new brakes all round, new suspension but I see those as items that could need doing on any used car. Driving home yesterday there were MK4 Golfs in front and behind so certainly not a rare car and lack of maintenance and accidents I'd expect to be the main cause of scrapping them.

parking_question_chap

Keep it, not worth trying to save a hundred quid each year. You might end up with a car that the owner is selling because its about to go pop.

Lupo was a good car, more so than the Fox that replaced it.

I cant drive home from work without seeing several 15+ year old Vdubs.

[Deleted User]

It sounds like the perfect car!

lincroft1710

Stoke wrote: »

So, I've always been one for bangernomics

I still get really good fuel economy, it's not failed an MOT since I owned it.

I service it myself,.

Even so, I still routinely get sort of 60+ MPG and the car never brakes down.


Any tips?

Yes,

1) just read the above and reflect how many car owners would like to be in this position.

2) the other man's grass is always greener

bigjl

securityguy wrote: »

The point being that for the experienced car owner, cars of the past ten or fifteen years are massively, massively more reliable and long-lasting than older cars: galvanised panels, accurate and swarf-free manufacturing, synthetic oils. But many people get their caronomics from their dad, who got it from their dad, and the idea that you change a car every three years to keep reliable transport, and indeed the folk memory of changing the oil and coolant for winter and summer, dies very hard. Look at he way in which people who aren't interested in cars think that low mileage is a good thing worth paying for, Look how incredibly cheap things like 100k 10 year old Octavias are, which in practice will probably do another 10 years and another 100k with little more than routine servicing.

These aren't your father's car, but people run them as though they were. I owned early 1970s cars in the mid 1980s, so I know just how frayed, and indeed rare, a fifteen year old car was then, whereas now you wouldn't pull up behind a car on an 01 or 51 plate and go "wow, that's rare and old to see still on the road".

Not 100% accurate.

My parents bought new most of the time, had two cars since the early 80's and more often than not the cars were owned for around 6 years, both did significant miles and the cars were usually Main Dealer serviced by the supplying dealer.

On retirement there was a reduction to one car, changed after 3 years due to he need for more comfort, that car was then kept till the scrappage scheme (11 years) that car was a three door and as my parents mobility got worse they bought a one year old Qashqui so the pervious car was owned for 4years.

You are correct about vehicle longevity, though I suspect longevity had been put on the back burner in the last 8-10 years with the focus being on recylability instead.

I have heard engineered in lifespans of 150k miles or 10 years mentioned enough times to consider there may be more to it than urban myth.

Though in fairness in years gone by the main killer was rust.

The Clio we got rid of last year was a 56 plate with no rust on the body, just a little surface rust on the front subframe which could easily have been sorted out.

The Berlingo is an 07 so 9 years old and again has not a spot of rust on the body.

The refinement of cars has also improved.

I drove from the Scotland to London in a T plate Allegro, 65mph was about as much as you could stand due to noise and my own mechanical sympathy. At the time that car was just under 15years old. I can't imagine the journey would be as long and tiresome in a 51plate Focus!

My point being that certainly longevity has been improved but I think the improvements in refinement is a more significant point to consider.

There are still many 7/8/9 year old cars that are completely knackered due to lack of servicing or driver abuse.

jdybnsn

My husband has the same problem - he is doing a 600 mile weekly commute (yes that's right 600 miles !) in a 2001 Toyota 1.4 Yaris, which is on the cusp of 200,000 on the clock !
Apart from tyres & brake pads, & regular servicing, shows no sign of giving up.


It outlasted my from new 2007 Toyota Auris 1.6, which suffered catastrophic gearbox failure before, it reached 100,000, and also had a water pump go shortly before that ! Yes, it was regularly serviced, along with the Yaris, which I also drive too on occasion - before you start looking at how the Auris was run/driven !!


The sub frame however is starting to degrade and the last MOT mechanic advised us it might struggle to pass future inspections. However, whilst it is still whizzing up & down the country with annoying reliability, he just cannot bring himself to change it.
Better the devil you know I guess and a feeling that things just aren't built as good as they used to be !

Bigphil1474

I ditched my old Rover (04 plate) last November for one reason only - the heating finally went from only working when it felt like it, to not working at all, and it was going to be a real pain to fix.
Mechanically it wasn't great to start with but didn't get much worse (took a couple of minutes of chugging each morning before it started purring), and some of the electrical bits stopped working, like the radio, passenger window, demister etc. It also didn't have a key hole for the door lock on the doors, and the remote was getting temperamental, and the boot never locked with the central locking, and the wiring to the reversing lights kept getting cut due to the stupid Rover design, and the back seats didn't lock in place properly without a good kick, and the fog lights had a mind of their own. Other than that it was spot on. It cost peanuts to maintain roadworthiness and the tax wasn't too bad, insurance was okay. Just didn't fancy spending another winter driving around in a car that was freezing cold all the time rather than some of the time. If that hadn't happened, I'd still be driving it around today.
I'd think about of all the money you are saving by keeping running it tbh.