I have a Suzuki Vitara, 93,000 miles. 2008 vintage. Petrol.

Nothing has ever gone wrong with it apart from a cylinder ignition coil, which the nice AA man fixed for me for £70. (the usual consumables, brakes, tires etc)

I am superstitious about cars with more than 100k on the clock.

I need it for work, 50 mile round trip each day.

Should I just keep on truckin’ or get another one before stuff starts going wrong ?

I can afford a new car. Am I being ridiculous ?

My last car did 250k.

Do you mean new-new or new-to-you new?

Of course you need one. Yours is a deathtrap. I’ll give you £50 for it.

Am I being ridiculous ?

Yes

When stuff starts going seriously wrong then look at replacing.

Unless you buy brand new, an old reliable car is better than another less old new-to-you car you know nothing about.

I’ve taken most cars I’ve owned past 200k a couple to 300k. A modern car is suprisingly well put together, keep it, service it and carry on unless you want a new car. I’d rather put 250 miles a week on something that had already taken a decent depreciation hit than something new.

Don’t forget buying second hand you could be buying someone else’s problems. saying that my last three cars have cost £250, £550 and £1000 all been great and two of them had 180K on them. My last one was low mileage 98K.

I bought it at three years old (off some posh guy who replaces their car at the end of the warranty – nice for some) it had 30k miles on the clock.

Has run perfect. Although the wheels are a bit corroded but I am told I can get that fixed easily enough.

I get it serviced every year, sometimes I let them do everything.

I am looking at buying brand new (I know, I know, don’t start) or “new-new” as they incorrectly say.

I can afford a new car. Am I being ridiculous ?

tbh 100k is as good a reason as any other to change a car If that’s what you want to do.

It’s your money, after all.

sometimes I let them do everything

😯

Well you know, put the expensive sparkplugs in. Still not a euphemism.

I am looking at buying brand new

There’s nothing like that new car smell.

Which you can buy in a bottle –

http://shop.petrolheaddetailing.co.uk/products/chenical-guys-new-car-smell

Would recommend getting a new one

No matter how much you like/love/trust your old car a new one will be way, way better

If we’re talking new-new – then get new! 😀

Should I just keep on truckin’ or get another one before stuff starts going wrong ?

Keep the thing running until the scrap man takes it away – saves a lot of money. Just decide how much is the maximum you would throw at a repair vs scrap it. If you have cash in the bank, then no panic as within a week you would be able to have pretty much your choice of nearly new car from any dealer, should the old one die suddenly.

I can afford a new car. Am I being ridiculous ?

No, in your position I would save enough to buy a new car or big deposit, and spend the money on things that are more important – like holidays, charity and nice bike bits.

I brought home a roll of carpet underlay in my 9 yr old estate car and ended up leaving it in the back for a couple of days.
Car smells like new!

I’d get brand new or even consider a lease. Leasing will give you trouble free motoring.
A trouble free second hand car might be great for someone, but maybe not a someone who needs to bank on future reliability over a 50 mile commute. My last privately owned commuter had over 250k kms on the clock and was still going strong when I sold it.
It’s you peace of mind.

I am superstitious about cars with more than 100k on the clock.

Maybe you should get the car exorcized by a witch doctor to drive out those evil spirits 🙂 ?

100k is a round number, who cares. My Audi felt like a new car and had 110k on the clock, only sold due to divorce.

If you want a new car buy one, I imagine if yours is in decent nick you’ll get a decent price. Cars these days are very well made and will go for many more miles. Your choice but no need to sell

The phrase “Better the devil you know” is never more true than with cars.

I’ve never had a car with less than 100k on the clock.

You could always cover up the offending 6th digit?

You have a nice reliable car, that’s cheap to run, doesn’t go wrong and you know the history of, and you’re thinking about changing it because it might go wrong one day.

If it was me I’d jsut keep going until it did go wrong, then I’d probably fix it a couple of times (unless it was something terminal), until it was regularly/expensively going wrong.

New cars go wrong too, in fact new-new cars can sometimes have more teething issues than new-used cars with the gremlins pre-dealt with.

If you can afford a new car then there’s no harm in waiting, just as there’s no harm in buying a new one just because you want to, but I’d still stick with the old one.

But then I’m not you and you’re not me…

I’m sort-of in the same situation, but I’m superstitious of 176,000 miles, which my car will reach tomorrow 🙂

The car is reliable. I have money in the bank to replace it if I need to. Keeping it until it breaks is clearly the cheaper option, it saves me money, but that’s only important if I need the money for something else, right ?

So really, if you want a new car and you can afford it, and it’ll make you happy, then why not ?

At least you’re thinking about it before stuff goes wrong, rather than fat rewards and having chucked cash after cash into something you have an attachment to (and know). Haven’t bought a new-new car since 1988 I think, but on the whole have been OK with used cars. Could always get them checked by your local garage on approval.

Last few cars have all managed 100+k — 115, 108 and again around 115 I think. The last one should have bene retired 10k less than that though..

I’d not bother, it’s a reliable car, it’s doing its job and keeping it will save you money.

If you’re really flush and looking for an excuse for a new car, though, then go for it.

matt_outandabout – Member
Should I just keep on truckin’ or get another one before stuff starts going wrong ?

Keep the thing running until the scrap man takes it away – saves a lot of money. Just decide how much is the maximum you would throw at a repair vs scrap it. If you have cash in the bank, then no panic as within a week you would be able to have pretty much your choice of nearly new car from any dealer, should the old one die suddenly.
I can afford a new car. Am I being ridiculous ?

No, in your position I would save enough to buy a new car or big deposit, and spend the money on things that are more important – like holidays, charity and nice bike bits.

My thoughts exactly. It probably will reduce what you’d get for it second hand when it goes past 100k miles as it’s a nice round number, but then again you’ve got about 150k kms on it so wait until at least 200k kms surely?

I would certainly put money into bikes and stuff and be ready to go out car shopping when something does go wrong rather than just in case – it sounds like you’re looking after it and if you’re not getting big bills on top of routine servicing you probably aren’t too hard on it, so it’ll keep going for a long time yet (probably).

My car has done about 145k, will probably think about replacing it in another 100k miles.

It’s 2l, naturally aspirated, hard suspension, does about 32mpg, no over the top electronics no frills and I love it.

I may buy a second car in that time, but that’s only because I have a hankering to waste money on an M3/M5 at somepoint in my life.

You could always cover up the offending 6th digit?

6th digit? That still takes you up to nearly a million miles. 😉

My experience of modern cars (2000>) is that the mechanicals tend to go on for well over 100k if you keep on top of servicing, it’s the trim that starts failing. I only got rid of my Fiesta at 133k because I was fed up of the plastic bits constantly falling off, mechanically it was almost like new! My mum’s Suzuki Alto was the same after 12 years, mechanically solid but everything else was falling apart. My sister’s Mitsubishi Colt is going the same way too and that’s 10 years old and had a very hard life. My dad’s 15 year old Yaris is the exception, everything’s like new in that. Apart from the odd scuff and stone chip it looks like it did at 3 years old!

The major killer of cars is structural rust, if you have none of that then keep it until something fails bad enough to either cost a bomb or kill it. That’s what will most likely happen to my Skoda, should be good for 150k 🙂

My dad’s 15 year old Yaris is the exception, everything’s like new in that.

Sadly, our Yaris is the only modern car I have had terminal mechanical problems with – and like you, the rest of the car had another 12 years in it…

Yes, buy a new car and give me your Suzuki please.

Thanks.

For the sake of the economy you need to buy a new new car. Preferably British.

(says the man who’s never bought anything with less than 70K on the clock! – but that’s just not being able to afford any better).

So I’ve just gone through this dilemma. Currently we’re a 2 car family. A 2002 Toyota Corolla and a 2005 Mazda 6 Estate.

Neither car has cost us anything other than oil and brake pads/discs in the last 6 years for the Corolla/3 years for the Mazda and I’ve literally just put some part worn tyres on the front of the corolla. Both reliable, both boring and both getting a bit tatty from parking dings and the wife generally not looking after hers inside.

The Mazda estate has saved me numerous skip hires whilst sorting out the gardens and refurbishing a kitchen from back to brick to new units and the boot is covered in oil from a leak but it is just bombproof.

But with 2 young kids we’ve decided to go to one car that’s more modern and a nicer place to sit. I pick it up tonight.

The trade in price for the Mazda….£300. Looking on Ebay I wouldn’t really have got any more selling privately despite it having 11mths MOT. I should have kept it until it broke but that could have been forever….and the Corolla will be driven by cockroaches come the apocalypse.

If you like the car, and it’s not rotting, then it’s probably worth keepin’ on truckin’.

I was a bit nervous when my Land Rover’s warranty expired, but decided to see what happened, and to have it serviced at an independent 4×4 garage. It’s now done over 215,000 miles. It’s needed some repairs over and above routine servicing in that time, but overall it’s been reasonably cheap motoring in comparison to replacing it with a new version every few years. Even the larger bills have been less than a couple of months’ finance on a new vehicle. Apparently, it hasn’t really depreciated in value over the past few years either.

doos. what engine and mileage?

2.0l petrol. 139000 miles.

Went to the dealer tonight.

My 17 year old petrol Almera (160,000 miles) has just been serviced. The garage has advised it is now rusting away (would fail the mot) and I should look for a new car asap.

Dammit, was hoping to get to 200,000 miles

Buy a carbon fibre Mondraker Foxy instead