My current car is only 5 years old, with 60k on the clock now - I've owned it since it was 6 months old and it had 3k on the clock when I bought it.

In the past it's been mileage, rather than age, which dictated a change. I had a 2005 Audi A6 Avant (1.9TDi), which did 130k miles in 4 years, and before that a 2001 Audi A6 Avant (2.5TDi) which did 146k miles in 5 years. A lot of the mileage was works mileage, so fully re-imbursed, but they had a max age/miles policy which meant the car had to be changed.

Interestingly, the 1.9TDi is still going fine locally, it actually 'lives' about 100 yards from my mother-in-law ! I spoke to the owner a few months ago, the car's now past 250k miles.

Used to keep cars for a while but gave up on that about 25 years ago. We found that after 7 years and 100000+ miles reliability could get unpredictable so instead of spending on repairs we decided to set 5 years as the limit and keep a newer car.

But about 4 years ago we inherited dads Micra, 7 years old and in perfect nick. We ran it for a year since it suited our needs at the time with not a single issue.

My Caterham was registered in 1993, just turned 25 years old. No rust but has the patina expected at that age, I am a user not a polisher. Mechanically its as good as any newer Caterham.

My third Honda Accord company car was a 2.0i. One of the best vehicles I have ever used and then owned. I got it in 1990 and bought it from the lease company in 1993 with 77k miles. We kept it for SWMBO and eventually her mileage droped to about 600 per annum so we decided to sell it on. It had by then 177k and was over 17 years old. Everything still worked perfectly, the doors closed with a nice clunck, the engine was still sewing machine like. We got £300 for it from a keen Honda fan. Still saw it arond until we moved and by then it would be 24 years old. My last car was a Skoda Superb Elegance 1.9TDi PD130. It lived up to it's name and was superb. Sold it last year at 12 years old and let it go for £400 again to an enthusiast of that engine. It had about 210k miles and original everything in terms of major parts and equipment. Like Rob my cars after 2000 were personal and I reclaimed business use mileage. I was not aware we had an age or mileage policy for personal cars although it seems sensible if you are visiting clients frequently. Cheers Concrete

Since 1993 when family responsibilities came along we've had 6 cars, usually with two on the road at once.

BX bought 1993 with 50k, scrapped 2005 somewhere well over 150k (not economic to repair)

Xantia bought new 2000 and scrapped 2013 at 155k (not economic to repair) - bit of a workshop queen but probably actually flat bedded only four or five times.

Berlingo bought new 2005 and traded 2015 at 155k. Had hoped to see it to 200k but was close to not being economical to repair. LEt us down three tines 2 clutch failures and failed alternator connection. Traded it for

My current 2011 Roomster bought at 70k now coming up to 100k and expected to do several more years. Never let me down

Berlingo 2 bought new 2013 and now on 78k. Never let us down and only out of course repair has been broken door mirror joystick.

A 205 bought in 1996 as a station hack. Traded for the Xantia.

All apparently very low mileage:

www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2012/...t

www.mbusa.com/mercedes/heritage/events_community/o...d

...and have a look on AutoTrader (some of the very high mileages look more like typos, seven figures rather than six....)

Kept a 93k clio from new for 21yrs never let me down apart from a flat battery once No major problems so just kept it going from first car to second Running it through the winter late at night after the gritters had been out did for the back wings overlapping with a 2004 focus for 10yrs The focus had no expense over sevicing other than tyres. I dont think there replacement 2014 focus ANDfiesta ecoboost will survive anything like that

You guys sure change your cars often. ... We don't have salt or snow on the roads here so rust is not a major problem although it still can pop up in various trouble spots.

Rust has been a major problem with the older cars I had, which is why I change more frequently these days. A problem with hanging on to a car for a long time is that may eventually go pop, at which point you need a new car, and it is harder to get a new one with a good discount when you can't take your time. If you have two or more cars, then that argument goes out of the window, of course.

expat, I did read a report once that showed the average life of a car by country.

The shortest was japan at just 7 years.

The Uk came in at 14 years average life but the longest was the USA at an average age of 20 years !

My problem is that I used to get bored with cars and want something new. But I've had a Pug 306 and 307 that I kept for over 8 years. Aside from regular services and the occasional set of brakes and tyres they just sailed through MOT after MOT with no issues.

I still keep in touch with the owners, the 1998 306 and the 2003 307 are still going strong.

Edited by Gibbo_Wirral on 18/07/2018 at 15:00

I bought my Citroen C5 2.2 estate as an ex-demonstrator at 6 months and 3,700 miles in May 2002. Traded it in last October with 137,000 miles covered. It had all the usual maintenance replacements you'd expect and needed a new DPF at about 90,000 miles (only £300 IIRC).

A DPF on a late-2001 car - that seems very advanced?

it used the Eolys liquid catalyst system to reduce the ignition temperature of soot in the filter, so none of the bother you get nowadays with interrupted regeneration cycles diluting the engine oil, and provided you could get the filter reasonably hot (about 400C, I think) it would start burning off the soot. That meant that even rather short trips could still do some DPF-clearing. Sure, you had to cough up for an Eolys refill every 50 or 60 thousand miles but that's part of the maintenance costs and it still seemed to me a far superior system.

PSA (and manufacturers who used their engines) had to fit Eolys systems because of the location of the DPF. The PSA design placed the DPF a distance from the turbo and because of the the DPF could not reach the 600 degrees required to carry out a regen. Eolys reduced the temp needed and all should have been OK. But older poorly maintained cars did not have the tank refilled and the DPF eventually blocked after the Eolys had emptied. We looked at a 2010 Focus with the Eolys system and asked about the cost and frequency of refills. At the time Ford specified a refill every 37500 miles (3 services) at a cost of about £300. At 75000 Ford specified and refill and replacement DPF costing well over £1000. The second would not have bothered us, we don't keep cars that long now but for less money than the Focus we bought a Kia Ceed with a zero maintenance DPF that had been designed to work correctly with the DPF right next to the turbo.

It was not a superior system, it was a system that was made necessary by the design of the car.

Some folks had their cars for a very long time which I think is great. I'm coming up to 4 years now on my 2012 SLK 250d and don't do many miles since retiring so hope to keep it for a long time. People I know are paying a lot for PCPs...think thats right..when you pay monthly and after your time is up give it back or pay to keep it, wouldn't suit me but each to their own. Financially hanging on to your car has to make sense.