Everyone knows that a car runs better if used regularly. But what is regular use? I have always thought this to be a weekly run of 20+ plus which, after warming up for 3 ? 4miles, takes in a variety of roads to exercise the gears and brakes and includes a few miles at the permitted maximum. Or is this showing my age and being slightly OCD?
The reason I ask is that one of my neighbours has an eight year old Vectra, which he has owned for five years. The weekly mileage is about 9 (!) taking in three short journeys. With their annual holiday the yearly mileage is below 1,000! To \my knowledge the oil has been in the car for over three years and it is still on the original cambelt. Total mileage is around 67,000.
|
As long as you aren't planning on buying it, it's not yoyr problem... lol
My 'regular use' is a 80 mile commute to work each way. Car warms up nicely during the 1hr 20 journey and I never have to replace exhausts. Maybe my regular use is a bit excessive though...
|
|
Speaking to a pal yesterday. He had to have a new exhaust back box on his 2002 Mondeo TDCi recently. Not very disappointed as it has just clicked over 226k. Everything else non-consumable is original.
|
|
|
"1hr 20 journey"
You're doing well to average 60mph. Not much traffic to contend with, I imagine!
|
|
|
|
|
Just shows you how tough a Vectra is ..... until the cambelt snaps.
|
|
|
I have a 9 year old Vectra with about 60k on the clock that I inherited from my father three years ago (at 36k). I haven't taken it more than half a mile outside the congestion zone sinece Christmas. It went up to the North of Scotland last July, the Alps last December and otherwise currently it pootles around in town, occasionally. B&Q, the tip, Tescos. It can have the engine restarted 10 times in a 3 mile morning.
It's on its original cambelt, coolant, hydraulic fluid. The oil does get changed once a year ish. It possibly needs a new EGR valve... but has done for 30k miles, it misfires a bit and can be a bit lumpy to drive. It may need its idle valve cleaning. There's a funny rattle at low revs since somebody charged me £220 to change the alternator which failed at the wrong end of the country. It needs its hydraulic fluid changing (which will be done soon). It gets an annual clean for a tenner before its MOT, and sometimes has a bucket of water thrown over it at the six month point. It has a slightly cracked rear bumper for which I got more cash from the insurance company than the car can possibly be worth.
Who cares; it's a modern car. They're designed for 200k+ miles.
Edited to add "tough"? I don't think so. It's a pants car and I'd be shot of it except with the list of faults it's unsaleable. I'll have the cambelt changed if I take it abroad this summer.
Edited by Mapmaker on 18/04/2008 at 12:11
|
|
Quite right Mapmaker. Cars are a lot tougher than they used to be. I mentioned here once before that I bought a Mondeo Mk11 1.8 diesel estate from my ex-employer. It had done 18months and nearly 80k as a rep's car without so much as an oil change. Got it v cheap and my wife ran it for a further 2 years ( albeit now with proper care ) without a hitch. Traded it in at a Ford dealer without a murmer.
|
Cars are a lot tougher than they used to be.
Whenever someone says "They don't make cars like they used to." my reply is "Thank goodness for that."
|
>>Whenever someone says "They don't make cars like they used to."
Does anybody ever? If you google the phrase, complete with quotation marks, you get a mere 2,500 hits. And from a brief survey ALL these comments agree with you...
|
And from a brief survey ALL these comments agree with you...
Thank goodness for that!
|
|
|
|
![2020 Volvo XC40 1.5 T3 [163] R DESIGN 5dr](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/07cd3783823333e37283018748fee1e3/80dd0a2527b42aab2f8b05c1fe0eb245.jpg)
