Brendan Hughes

Well, Dad's finally got his new car, and apparently his Mondeo went to the scrappy in the sky.

It was P reg, I think that makes it 1996, GLX diesel. Average mileage in a rural area, so A-roads and B-roads in SE England. He always treated it as a workhorse, it might have seen a wash and vacuum once a year. It was serviced by a local guy but if not broke it wasn't fixed.

I remember him paying about 12k for it, s/h maybe 2 yrs old. It lasted 11 years and then was fit only for spares (I don't know the details, maybe some enthusiast could have taken it but he couldn't be bothered to advertise).

I'd have thought modern cars would go on a bit longer than that? (yeah yeah, I know it's a Ford...)

austinwrx

er- think it did well at 11 yrs, (seeing as its a Ford!)

bet the fact it was diesel helped no end----- it would have given up well before then.

in all seriousness, what are the old cars you see on the road

japanese or german. there you go. ford, vauxhall, may make reasonable cars now, but 10 years ago- they were rubbish compared to german stuff.

still wouldn't entertain anything ford/vauxhallish ever, even now. its just wrong

only other point is citroen and peugeot made fantastic diesel engines in their cars- which would see zx's, 206's, etc going on forever and ever.

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

I think you'll find there's a serious lack of enthusiasm for P reg Mondeo Diesels

Seriously though, I got rid of my workhorse Mondeo of the same age last year. It only had 58k miles, but it only realistically had another year left in it. Cost me £200 to Mot and I sold it for £470.

It all comes down to repairs needed at Mot time. If it costs a good proportion of the cars worth to fix, then whats the point. Fleet and Hire market vehicles such as these are particularly disposable due to low values. Scrap yards are full of them.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

looked after they will go on longer than that, I think a lot of it is that nobody really wants to drive a P reg Mondeo, hence why even decent ones are not worth much so if something doe go wrong even if in reality it could be fixed its just not economically viable.

Nowt wrong with Fords, we have the new Galxy and its far better built than the Previous VW Sharan, better than my Saab 9-3 (but then thats a Vauxhall) and doesnt seem a million miles off the current German stuff, ok an Audi has a nicer, more cohesive interior but I wouldnt say they were vastly better built.

People nowadays have lost the make do and mend mentality, I at 37 am probably one of the last generation to have bogged up cars, done their own repairs on some old shed I saved up for, nowadays its a case of getting a job then getting finance for a new 206 or whatever, why bother running an old Mondeo when you can have a brand new car that doesnt need money spending, ultimately it will cost you more but its even payments rather than nothing for 11 months then bang, a grand come MOT time, especially coupled with the fact that most people cant even change a wheel.

I make the most of this though, have bought a Golf Diesel for peanuts when selling a Merc A class, the owner wanted rid as it looked ratty and dirty, good tcut, fixed bits on it, little bit of paint, it will be in the trader for £500 more than I paid for it, recycling in action, I get some fun and exercise (honest I love it, suns shining, the smell of autoglym, spanners everywhere, trips to the motor factors, radio on, start on the tinnies at six and do another hour)

Devildog

It was probably still servicable Brendan, but not worth the hassle for a dealer to sell on to the trade.

Convenience as much as anything else - these days even cars are disposable.

brickboy

Wot DD & Jacko said above ... when I were a lad, people would do anything to keep their old sheds on the road but very few people would want to drive around in a P-reg Mondeo.

You still see a few mark 1 mondeos around, and the bodies are usually sound, it's the plastics that look shabby. But if the clutch goes then you might as well chuck the car away as it's a £250 - £300 job to fix.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Most repaired them because they were easy to repair. Now with all the electronics you've got no hope.

I'm sure modern cars are meant to last around 10 years and if you get more well done.

We've just bought a R plate mondeo with 130,000 on it for cruising up and down the motorway though, can't fault it. Bodywork is wrecked but electronically and interior can't be faulted.

5t

lozgti

Good thread.

Cars have become as disposable as TV's.Most people have new/nearly new cars and treat themselves to another before the old car has even got into its stride.Every 3 years or so? 30k miles done? 2nd hand market is now mega cheap there are so many cars about

Bought a 4 year old Nissan X trail (petrol) with 60k on the clock.I'm sure it will be good for another 100,000miles carting the kids around for the next few years

I think there is something cool about not having a new car.I plan keeping our 2nd car an MX 5 for the next 25 years

Dream Weaver

Old cars are OK, but they can be a right pain at times and a big drain on your time/money especially if you do all the work yourself like I do on the 205.

It has a leaking sump again, so it needs sorting out but I don't have the time/patience so it will go to the garage to be done - in the meantime its not as usable as it should be so the draw of a modern car is strong once more.

what would scooby do

My 1986 Golf GTI runs like a new car still

slim_boy_fat

Probably could have gone on for much longer, over £1000 a year in depreciation.

Ran a 1995 Golf TDI for 8 years, final mileage was 175,000 and sold it for £900, bought it for £5,500

The car is still going strong with close to 200,000 miles on it.

Basic servicing/consumables, engine mounts and brake pipes, altenator, power steering pump.

Probably the best car i have ever owned, and i have owned over 20 so far.

I would have thought a diesel mondeo would easily be capable of 200k miles.

skinters

There's definitely a much stronger market for keeping 'special' cars and a fading one for unloved models.
It's the same market that has you buying a new washing machine for £200 instead of paying a boy £150 to fix the 5 year old one which may fail again.

The difference with the cars is that they ARE better made I'd say but more and more expensive to fix relative to their value. 150k miles on a family saloon is nothing really but we've all been brought up to believe that they are dead at 100k.... It's the fact they are worth sod all by then that kills them, not that they can't run for double that.

That said, I do most stuff to my car myself, if I hadnt it would have fallen into the 'too much to repair' category many a time so I understand the lure to just get a new one.

Always recall the Glasgow taxi driver moaning about the Mondeo 500's
I thought it was a special edition but it was because they kept breaking and everything cost £500 to fix.

JoeyDeacon

We currently have a P reg Audi A6 1.8 Turbo with 97K on the clock and that is still going strong. It is currently 11 years old and I have no reason to doubt it still has years left in it. Bear in mind this car cost £26K back in 1997....

We also have an S reg Renault Laguna 1.8 with 83K on the clock and that feels a lot older than the Audi. It has never been looked after as it was owned by the Ministry of Defence for 5 years before I got hold of it. I never wash it, I used it to transport all our rubbish to the dump when I renovated our house and last changed the oil 2 years ago. The gearbox synchro on 3rd is a bit tired but apart from that it is fine. I estimate this car is worth £500 so as soon as it breaks down I am just going to get something else.

As has been stated above, cars are now disposible and once they get older it is more economic to go and get another one than to get them fixed. Rust used to be the reason most cars got scrapped but modern cars just don't seem to rust anymore.

Also I saw Renault are doing a brand new clio for £99 a month with a £99 deposit. When you can get a new car that cheaply most people are not going to bother repairing an old car. My dad is a mechanic so I have always repaired my cars, some people at work even see taking a car for an MOT as a hassle.....

delcbr

my red 91 plate mazda mx-5 still going strong still no rust very basic car.
only thing wrong is the colour its faded to pink.
i reckon u cant beat japanese for reliability and longetivity.....honda nissan mazda toyota.......daihatsu maybe lol

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

Minimum 150,000 kms per car, if more good!

We had 2 Volvo 850 T5 a bit more than 10 years ago, between them they did 600,000 kms! They only left 'cause they were company cars at the end of the day. I nearly kept one of them, but it was too big forwhat I needed at the time.

They dont make cars like they used to, even the late Golf IV was a long-lifer!

mart360

I have a 1997 seat toledo Mk 1 (facelift model) 1.9tdi

it has 138k on the clock.

Apart from consumables (oil, filters, tyres & a new back box) the only other major outlay was £350 last year for welding thats all ive done in 5 years of ownership.

The Mot guy said last year, mechanically its sound, sailed through the mot, but the bodywork is starting to let it down..

Realistically if the same repair as last year needs doing to the other side, then I,m looking at a £700 bill, as the fuel lines will need to be stripped out

so it will be off to the scrappy shame as its a nice car. (the cost of the repairs are prolly more than the cars worth now , I payed 1.5k five years ago


Mart

gallois

my dad has a P reg A4 tdi as his daily commuter, pump has just failed at 130k, (£1000 to fix) so done the electric pump bodge, £50 job done.

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

My old diesel laguna did 60000 miles without a service, and barring tyres sailed straight through 3 mot's. Only sold it because the exhaust system rotted and I was too lazy to fit one from the scrap yard. It's still going now

fatherpierre

I had a Merc 1979 116 280SE with 804 000 on it when I sold it. Mileage was genuine as it had done over 65k in its 1st year as a company car and up to 400k after 9 years.

Original gearbox and engine. It enjoyed a sip of oil but ran smoothly and would still pull hard into 3 figures with ease.

Probably dead now, but wish I'd have kept it to get it passed the million mark:

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

that sir is the stuff legends are made of

slim_boy_fat

Thats when Merc really could make cars!!

I have an E300TD Estate with 130k miles right now. Car goes very well, engine will probably last about 500,000 miles but it will have to have about 3 body shells on it over that period.

Still a great car and these days paint and body work does not cost too much so its worth it.