Why do you change cars?

[Bas V]

When I was an employee I changed cars after my lease period, unless something (like a kid) came inbetween. When I started as a self-employed about 8 years ago, I bought a used V70 D5 as it was representative and reliable and suitable with kids. After about 4/5 years I really wanted an automatic transmission for traffic jams. After a little health setback I treated myself to that with a V60 PIH. I love the PIH-concept. As you might have read I had some issues and so I decided it had to go. We looked at our wishes again, kids a bit older so some more space was on the list. Et voila, in came the Passat Variant GTE. We hope to drive it some 3 years or so and when I turn 50 I would like to treat myself again with a full EV. So that’s how it goes at our crib. Quite rational I guess.

 

[stevec67]

Like the optimist falling off the Empire State Building and saying "All right so far" as he passes each floor.

That's the theme of "La Haine" . If you don't know it, look it up, it's superb. "C'est comme le mec qui tombe du 15ēme étage. Tout le long de sa chute, il se dit "Jusqu'a ici, tout va bien. Jusqu'a ici, tout va bien." Mais c'est pas la chute , c'est l'aterrisage. "

 

[Bob Edwards]

For a while I did 3 series BMWs - I'd buy it, fix it up, drive it for a while, and flip it to start anew.

I changed my mind after seeing my mother, son, and young daughter in her car seat in a 2009 328i x-drive - it was just way too small. And after doing some math around gasoline and mileage, I wound up with a 2018 Accord EX with 4k miles. Not as much fun to drive, needless to say, but MUCH roomier, MUCH more efficient/cheaper to run, almost certainly safer, and I love that everything works every time I push the start button.

No plans to change it - I have a cancer battle to win before I think of anything like changing a car I really like.

 

[MUTTY1]

Great little car. Mine had a Mini engine and box fitted but after dismantling it for a rebuild which I never got round to I gave what was left of it to the Berkeley Owners Club.

Probably for the best: it would be lethal with that sort of power and an Ncap of -5

 

[tones]

That's the theme of "La Haine" . If you don't know it, look it up, it's superb. "C'est comme le mec qui tombe du 15ēme étage. Tout le long de sa chute, il se dit "Jusqu'a ici, tout va bien. Jusqu'a ici, tout va bien." Mais c'est pas la chute , c'est l'aterrisage. "

Indeed, it's not the fall, it's the sudden stop at the bottom...

 

[Chops54]

Probably for the best: it would be lethal with that sort of power and an Ncap of -5

Yeah but I bloody loved the damned thing

 

[Hook]

For a while I did 3 series BMWs - I'd buy it, fix it up, drive it for a while, and flip it to start anew.

I changed my mind after seeing my mother, son, and young daughter in her car seat in a 2009 328i x-drive - it was just way too small. And after doing some math around gasoline and mileage, I wound up with a 2018 Accord EX with 4k miles. Not as much fun to drive, needless to say, but MUCH roomier, MUCH more efficient/cheaper to run, almost certainly safer, and I love that everything works every time I push the start button.

No plans to change it - I have a cancer battle to win before I think of anything like changing a car I really like.

Smart thinking. Looking forward, new wheels would be a great way to reward yourself for beating cancer!

 

[sq225917]

I keep them until the cost of service repair in any one year goes above total cost so far divided by age of car.

 

[MUTTY1]

The only car I ‘looked after’ was a new 2CV. Maggie was going to do 70 miles a day, five days a week for three years so I needed a plan. I covered it in Waxoil. It went from a light green to a something like a military camouflage job over time. It was a laughing stock, but when we decided to sell it after four years I rinsed it off with white spirit and it looked like new. It’s sad there are so few around now. We had two and nothing failed in 100k; not bad for Citroen

 

[linnfomaniac83]

Very good question and some interesting answers! I bought my Audi A2 1.4TDI because of the Aluminium body with proven and widely used mechanical components.

Seven and a half years; 128,000 miles later my A2 still keeps going. Total mileage is now about 254,000 miles.

I have no intention to replace because I cannot think of anything else with that level of real world economy and reliability.

My car is eighteen years old.

I followed one earlier, always loved their styling, particularly from the back. My ex Mrs had one years ago, loved it… too small for me now really (lots of flat loading space in the Golf when I need it). Look after it and it’ll pass 500,000 miles.

 

[linnfomaniac83]

The only car I ‘looked after’ was a new 2CV. Maggie was going to do 70 miles a day, five days a week for three years so I needed a plan. I covered it in Waxoil. It went from a light green to a something like a military camouflage job over time. It was a laughing stock, but when we decided to sell it after four years I rinsed it off with white spirit and it looked like new. It’s sad there are so few around now. We had two and nothing failed in 100k; not bad for Citroen

They’re pretty bomb proof to be fair, and easy to work on… but they’re very utilitarian and seriously underpowered in today’s traffic… and have been for a long time, so it’s unsurprising that they fell out of popularity… the good news is that those that are still on the road are in the hands of enthusiasts who will keep them going, even if it’s only to take them to a few car meets/shows a year.

 

[linnfomaniac83]

One thing I suspect is happening is people may hold onto their cars longer than usual in this current cycle while they wait and see how the whole EV things plays out.

I’ve said that my next car will be either plug in hybrid or full EV… could be a few years away though. I do quite like my brother’s BMW 330e but I’m not ready to throw that kind of money down on a car when I own mine outright. My next car is likely to be a 330e Touring though, I’m a big lover of hatchbacks and estates, they’re still the most practical cars available, a roomy family car most of the time, with a low tide height (so no horrible body roll), and a van when needed (about 15% of my driving).

 

[RJohan]

Don't know if this is a Saab weakness, but I remember an old colleague in Dulux Australia bringing back a Saab 99 (non-turbo) from a secondment in England in the 1980s. Lovely car, but then something went wrong with the fuel injection system, and it had to be expensively fixed. Then the garage guy said, "Oh, by the way, how's your gearbox?" "WHY????" asked my colleague. "Oh, it's just that a reasonable percentage of them die about this mileage." On asking how much replacement would cost, the dealer mentioned a sum vaguely reminiscent of the distance between galaxies. Suddenly he decided that it was time for a change - he didn't get much of a trade-in deal -. the Australian motor trade had heard about Saab gearboxes.

On the other hand, a colleague has run a 9-3 for approaching 20 years, and I don't remember her ever having gearbox problems.

For some reason SAAB seemed to never have gotten their gearboxes right. But the 9-3 had an Opel one, as the hole car just was an 1982 Ascona/Cavalier with the ignition key on the floor.

You should be happy, though. My 9000 Turbo was only a couple of years old when the box had to be swapped.

RIP, SAAB.

 

[James]

Just worked out that we've owned approximately 39 vehicles since I started driving 37 years ago. What's perhaps scarier is I've just realised I still have 11 of them!

I've owned six cars in 35 years. The last four over 30 years. If I count my wife/partner's cars we purchased together, the total doubles to a dozen cars. Three of those remain in the family.

 

[James]

No plans to change it - I have a cancer battle to win before I think of anything like changing a car I really like.

All the best for your battle. The car is inconsequential in the grand scheme of life.

 

[tiggers]

For a while I did 3 series BMWs - I'd buy it, fix it up, drive it for a while, and flip it to start anew.

I changed my mind after seeing my mother, son, and young daughter in her car seat in a 2009 328i x-drive - it was just way too small. And after doing some math around gasoline and mileage, I wound up with a 2018 Accord EX with 4k miles. Not as much fun to drive, needless to say, but MUCH roomier, MUCH more efficient/cheaper to run, almost certainly safer, and I love that everything works every time I push the start button.

No plans to change it - I have a cancer battle to win before I think of anything like changing a car I really like.

Good luck with your health and Hondas.... probably the best cars in the world if you want a combination of reliability and value for money. Not the last word interiors wise etc. but they are very well engineered in general. I've had 6... all have been uber reliable although admittedly 2 of those 6 are fairly recent.

 

[mikemusic]

Is that price for a rebuild or a new gearbox?

My mechanic off the top of his head.
Assume not new.
He used to know a guy that rebuild gearboxes and was very good, but may have stopped

When I bought this about 15 years ago it has just had a new gearbox, so I thought that would be the last thing to go.

My first Saab 900 (not 9000) had the gearbox and turbo go under warranty I'm glad to say.
2 years warranty and loads of problems.
2 more years and all fine. Should have kept it a lot longer

 

[nicetone]

I run my cars until they are buggered. The last few -
Jaguar S type - rust, no MoT.
Jaguar X type - dead gearbox.
Mazda mX5 - rust.
Mondeo - was still running when sold, died after 6 months. Shame.
Saab - like the Mondeo, generally worn out but lasted a year after sale.
Vectra - burning oil, leaking fluids, dead clutch. Horrid car.
Astra - was still sound when sold, albeit 18 years old, well used and needing an easy life for its autumn years. Died next MoT, probably for not much, it was basically OK. Shame, there was another couple of years before the corrosion would have got it or something like the clutch rendered it BER.

Well, similar story here.

I’ve never ‘changed’ a car. Every car I’ve ever owned (now on my ninth) I’ve driven until it was uneconomical to repair, then scrapped it. Always did my own servicing and, where feasible, repairs. I’ve managed to get high mileages out of some cars that were already fairly crap when I bought them, for not much. Having preferred bikes, I’ve always held a certain view of the worth of cars.

The mileage on the last car I scrapped, after 11 yrs of ownership, was regrettably lower than hoped for, just short of 170k (from 41k on purchase) – having taken a previous car from 109k to nearly 179k I’d been hoping to get at least 200k.

My present car, a 2017 1.8 petrol Honda Civic estate (or should that be ‘sports tourer’ – guffaw) purchased in 2019, a couple of weeks before its second birthday, is the most expensive and newest I’ve owned. An indulgence as it will likely be my last car. It is also the first where I can no longer smugly say to mates that my cycles (or my old bikes) are worth more than ‘the car’! It's also my intention to keep this car for as long as possible and again scrap when it becomes uneconomical to repair – problem is that with the plethora of electronics in modern cars (unnecessarily so in my view) that may be sooner than I’d wish for.

Back in 2019 when still deciding which car to go for and seeking info to narrow down the choice, a couple of Top Gear fanboys pigeonholed me as someone who poured over brochure specs changing cars every 3 years. ‘So sad’ one of them said; 'so wrong' says my record, and by comparison to his?!


@Bob Edwards – sorry to read this man. I gather there have been recent significant medical advances in the fight against cancer. Very best wishes for yours.

 

[tones]

Astra - was still sound when sold, albeit 18 years old, well used and needing an easy life for its autumn years. Died next MoT, probably for not much, it was basically OK. Shame, there was another couple of years before the corrosion would have got it or something like the clutch rendered it BER.

The rust was what got ours after 20.5 years - the cost of repairing the sills would have probably been around 10 times what the car was actually worth. But a great car that took us and our camping gear all over Europe. I didn't cry when it was wheeled away for the last time, but it came close - it was almost like losing a family member. It was still going strong, so no doubt it found a new life somewhere where there is no MoT.

 

[Mike Reed]

The only reason I change cars is because the current one claps out. Previous Renault 14 years and a very tidy Gordon Brown trade-in for a new Skoda which is now in its 13th year. Functionality, reliability and economy are and have been my only prerequisites in a car.