Spend Money On Keeping A High-Miler On The Road, Or...?

[Prufrock]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus68

I was kind of asking generally, rather than actually considering replacing my own.

I'd rather keep my cars (and bikes, when I rode) than replace them. My Corolla had 276,000km on it when I sold it ((60,000 or so on it when I bought it).

I prefer the practice of spending the money on keeping a car you like running, so long as it's fundamentally sound. It'd be nice to have a year here & there where it cost nothing more than ins, tax, diesel, and routine maintenance, but with older stuff, you do expect more maintenance/repair costs than a newer lower-mileage car.

Agree with looking after your car being a factor. The phrases "run it into the ground" and "it'll go forever" are common, and each interesting.

Running a car into the ground is not what I'm talking about here. Running a car into the ground involves driving it hard ("mechanically unsympathetically"), not adhering to some sort of maintenance schedule, crude-bodging rather than quality repair, etc.

Most cars will "go forever" if they're looked after, and you're of the mind to keep it on the road rather than replacing it once costs start creeping up.

In my case, I'd like to have been doing more preemptive work all along (as I've done with all my cars & bikes when in full time permanent work), but circumstances have restricted that for me, though I have looked after the fundamentals. Mine is a 2461cc diesel (apparently with an Audi-built engine), it's a 2000-registered car, but it's the newer late-2000/2001+ model.

I'd like to think that my V70 will be still on the road on its 20th birthday, and I'd be thrilled if I was in the driver's seat on that day.

I disagree with much of this -

most cars will not go forever (see my 3rd and 4th owner comment, as once they join the multiple ownership club the owners cannot afford the maintenance.
Newer cars, let's say those in the 5-10 year old category will often (in my experience) need much more money spending on them than a cared for older car (say a 700/900 - I'll stay with Volvo for obvious reasons).

Fleet cars (majority of new cars sold in the UK are company cars), when they reach the second owner/used market they'll be defleeted when maintenance is due (dual mass flywheel, maybe DPF issues).

Digital cars are more complex, AND more complexity equals less reliability and therefore less durability.

I have doubts about our V70 lasting until 2023: the 745 is already approaching 30 (in 2016).

Jon.
700/900 Register Keeper VOC.