Reliability of cars vs age of car

Ive always been fortunate enough to be able to afford a reasonably new car, or drive a company car, which was normally less than 4 years old.

I currently drive a lovely Golf R Estate. It’s pretty near perfect for me. Nicest car I’ve ever owned – driving it really puts a smile on my face.  But it’s 5 years old, when I would normally be thinking of changing. I’m pretty sure I cannot afford to change to a new Golf R.

my car only has 40,000 miles on it, so a change is not urgent. But if I was to keep my car for another 5 years, would it really be less reliable than a newer car? Are there any stats on this? The thought of getting up at 04.30 in winter to drive to the airport for a fortnightly business trip, and my car not starting is the fear that has contributed to my desire for a newish car.

What is the thinking? Anyone have any facts and figures?

Keep on top of servicing, at your mileage rate there will be plenty of life left in it. I’d expect a Golf to do at least 150000 miles. My Passat, 2018 plate has done 75000 and is a dream to drive still. Any car can breakdown, just keep the one you have and look after it.

I suspect the vast majority of the driving population drive cars older than yours completely uneventfully. My wife’s car is a 60 with about 65k miles plate and has nothing spent on it other than service items and tyres. My car is a 13 plate with 140k miles and according to the receipts received when I bought it has only suffered from a missing sunglasses holder.

Keep on top of the servicing and that Golf should easily be good for another 100k+ miles.

Stay in the airport hotel the night before and use public transport?

I’d keep the car for another 10 years until petrol sales end or sell it now and buy a cheap electric car?

My 16yr old Skoda never failed to start. The tyres kept going flat instead

My Golf’s 12 years old with 287k and it has never not started. It’s eaten one turbo, one clutch, one window regulator and a clip on the exhaust other than consumables from new.

Our fleet.

2004 Volvo V70 – 207k miles, failed to make progress once (my error) in those miles.

2004 Berlingo – 113k miles, faultless, will still be running when only cockroaches are left to drive it.

2005 Cayenne – 170k miles, owned for newly a year, feels like it will last forever or until it drains the world of petrol.

A 5 year old Golf @ 40k miles – effectively brand new! Keep on top of it – don’t skimp on parts or servicing, keep the underside and wheel arches/liners clean and it’ll last for (nearly) ever.

203k, 19 year old BMW. Only time it’s failed to proceed was when the battery gave up at 17 years old.

Keep on top of servicing and maintenance (NOT the same thing!) and it’ll just keep going.

I run two cars…

My ‘new’ daily is a 17 year old Civic Type R with 125,000 miles on the clock.

My ‘old’ daily is a 22 year old MG TF – only got 60,000 miles on this one!!

A well maintained car is a reliable car – mine have niggles but nothing serious.

Last year I swapped a 5 year old car for a 10 year old car for the sake of—- reliability  It’s down to the specific model  of each car and preventative maintenance not age

Look after it and it will last. 22 year old Nissan on 150k  Thinking of changing for a van based people carrier next year.

I think breakdowns of any car that leave you properly stranded is extremely rare. Most of the time faults will still leave you able to drive the car. Maybe in your case the 4wd might not work or something, but the car will still work.

I drive a 15 year old renaultsport Clio. I’ve had various problems with it, but no more than I’d really expect from a car this age that gets ragged round racetracks too. None of the faults have prevented me driving it.

Sold my wifes 13 year old polo at 100k miles last year, again, various little niggles but nothing to stop it driving.

I’d guess that most problems with newer cars are electrical gremlins that can often be fixed by simply clearing the fault code, so it’s worth getting an OBD reader and leaving it in the glovebox.

I’m more bothered about new cars, they seem riddled with problems.

Indeed my gut feeling is that so many modern cars have more problems!

Keep on top of servicing and it will be fine for many more miles to come.

I have rarely owned a vehicle less than 3 years or 30k, and most have been north of 80K/5+ years. We have had three issues ‘on the road’ in the last 23 years of usually having two cars which needed breakdown or working around –

-one the handbrake of the Volvo would not release at motorway services (volvo was 10yrs and 160k in at that point) – so called breakdown
– one the turbo on my Touran started playing up on holiday, so ended up on a slow holiday (was 8 years and 130k old)
– one this month where the accessory belt on our 10yr old/30k Transporter started breaking, so a local garage a day later fitted me in for a new one.

75000 miles in my mazda 2009 plate.  I bought it at 29000k and 10yrs old

I’ve done brakes and a wheel bearing…

My t4.. 210k  having some issues as I’m not using it much anymore but its 1998….  I’ve just put a battery. Ignition switch and exhaust on it.  I’d happily do 1000miles in it tomorrow

My newish 5 series… rattles… and needed a 3k replacement dash cluster….

I’ve got a 2016 Volvo. Less rattles and better built than some new cars.

I had until about a year ago, 07 Plate Mazda 3 that I owned from new so about 16 years old when I sold it. It never once failed to start apart from when batteries died (twice in its lifetime).

Indeed my gut feeling is that so many modern cars have more problems!

They’ll also often alert you to their problems so you can get them fixed before they become bigger problems.

You’ll get some issues with unreliability in older cars, especially with particular models. I wouldn’t be worried about anything less than 10 years old that’s been well serviced and maintained. You’d be unlucky to have a proper breakdown.

A 5 year old golf which has never given you a problem so far is more likely to be reliable than a brand new car.

It has proven itself to not be a lemon, and still has masses of life left before age will lead to unreliability.

My current car is a Golf GTI that I bought last year at 6 years old and 60k miles – that’s pretty new by my standards!

As others have all attested, the fact of the matter is that it’s not the 1980s any more.  When I was first driving, a car with 100k on the clock would be knackered with the bodywork more hole than steel.  These days so long as you keep it in clean fluids 100k is practically a running-in period.

The R might get a bit more wear than a “standard” VAG product if its thrashed hard every drive, but we are a fan of Audis in this household. Scheduled maintainence only and 100% reliability up to at least 100k miles. Still econically viable well beyond that.

Another Golf driver here.

It’s 16 years old and only done 93,000 miles,  about 25,000 miles in the 4 years I’ve had it.

No, issues in that time nor with the 2 previous owners (mate of mine and his friend before him).

It was supposed to be a stop gap (needed a car pdq after leaving a job with co car) but costs under £1k a year tax, insurance & service so I see little point in changing. HR cocked up my leaving payment, the extra £  covered buying the car so I regard it as free!

Our 2014 Octavia just ticked over 150,000 miles. Other than regular servicing and maintenance the only big ticket item was a new DMF at around 130,000. Got the clutch done at the same time.

Typically answer for age vs reliability is the bathtub curve. If there’s something materially wrong, it will break early in life. Things then settle down into a fairly static level of breaking, or more appropriately not breaking, before things break more as they get older and fatigued.

Golf Mk4 V6 here, 2002 plate so 22yrs old with 105k on the clock.

I bought it in 2010 with 40k on it, in all the time I’ve had it it’s never let me down.

Keep it regualrly serviced, replace parts as they wear out.

I know I need a new car, but I can’t think what to replace it with!

My considered view is that cars get old with years these days, not milage as long as you keep on top of the servicing. And those years are likely to be 15 to 20 with modern corrosion protection and quality engineering.

A 5 year old, 40k mile Golf is barely run in.

2012 Seat Leon, 65k.

2016 Ford Transit Connect, 130k.

Both nowhere near needing replacement. Edit- come to think of it, both still on their original batteries!

Our previous 3 cars

02 focus. Sold it at 2018 (no longer going)

07 fiesta sold it 2022 (still going)

14 focus estate sold it last month eco boost engine dues it’s wet belt imminently 74k on the clock

No major issues. The focus estate cost a fair bit at the last service for brakes and multiple exhaust sections.

We now have a newish Octavia with more bells and whistles so hopefully that proves as reliable.

Our fleet.

2004 Volvo V70 – 207k miles, failed to make progress once (my error) in those miles.

2004 Berlingo – 113k miles, faultless, will still be running when only cockroaches are left to drive it.

2005 Cayenne – 170k miles, owned for newly a year, feels like it will last forever or until it drains the world of petrol.

A 5 year old Golf @ 40k miles – effectively brand new! Keep on top of it – don’t skimp on parts or servicing, keep the underside and wheel arches/liners clean and it’ll last for (nearly) ever.

I actually thought about you yesterday, I was replacing the door check on a MK7 Transit and though “this is amateur hour compared to @RustyNissanPrairie “

2006 BMW 330i touring on 96k here. Bits are wearing out and it’s getting a bit age knackered rather than mileage knackered, but not broken down yet on me. Worth maybe £3k but very hard to justify spending the £20k plus to replace it with a worthwhile replacement of similar ilk for 5k a year usage.

It’s known faults as well though that need to be avoided & with a new car you’re less likely to be out of warranty. I bought a 7yo Volvo V40 with 78k miles & fsh which on the face of it should have been great, turned out it was using 1l of oil every 2k miles & would have cost me many £££ if I hadn’t bought it from a main dealer with warranty.

But if I was to keep my car for another 5 years, would it really be less reliable than a newer car?

No.  Beware of reliability stats as some of them include people who are angry that the rear heated seats don’t heat up to full power any more alongside people whose engines caught fire.  Cars not starting is pretty rare these days, it’s usually down to a dead battery – people forget that these are consumable items with a finite life.  Get it tested regularly and change early, it’ll be fine.

What you have to remember is that whilst older cars do have bills – even normal maintenance items can add up at higher mileages like wheel bearings, cam belts etc – but they are MUCH cheaper than the cost of a new car, and there are no guarantees.

In 2009 I bought a 2006 Passat 2.0 TDi.  In 2011 my neighbour bought a 2006 BMW 530d with a lovely 6cyl diesel, and he paid the same as I did.  From then on, we both paid the same for the same age cars but his was far nicer. He still has it, and whilst it’s now a bit scruffy it’s still a 5 series with 6 cylinders.

The only reason I changed my last car was it was written off at 80k/ 10 years, by a HGV. Hopefully next time it’s written off I won’t be in it.

Also remember, if the car is paid for, it’s not costing you big dollars a month to buy it. That goes a very long way with an older car for maintenance. Even with some big bills, in 22 years, the cost of a ‘big’ bill has been less than 2 months lease/PCP etc on a newer car.. the rest is in my pocket.

Whilst I love cars, I can’t say driving in the UK brings a smile on my face these days. Traffic etc.

The “I change my car after four years” thing is, to me, just mental.

If your washing machine was working fine, would you change it? I bet you wouldn’t, I bet you would keep using it until it had a problem, then decide whether that problem warrants either a repair or a replacement. A car is just another appliance , so the same, er, applies.

Age will kill mine but that’s a Transit, rust is the issue, although its 11 years old and still just cosmetic thankfully. Mechanically it’s sound. Golfs tend to suffer much less from tinworm attack.

As above look after it, keep on top of the servicing and you’ll be fine. You have the advantage that, having had it from new, there haven’t been any previous owners treating it badly.

I was replacing the door check on a MK7 Transit

I bet even that part had rusted!!!!!

lovely 6cyl diesel

no diesel can be lovely

Shogun 120k bought at 14k, tyres and brake pads oil change original battery.

Grandis 125k bought at 12k tyres, brake pads, oil and a clutch masterslave

Quashqui 75k bought at 6k tyres and one shock

Navara 30k from new still got two years on warranty will be run into the ground

I bet even that part had rusted!!!!!

🙂

Its actually not in bad shape, chassis is sound and was cleaned and treated (Dinitrol) to delay the inevitable year before last and didn’t have any rust last year. Sills are the only likely problem but I’m injecting those with Dynax S50.

Which, as it’s a 13 year old Transit that’s spent its life next to the sea is quite surprising. But then, I keep chucking rust treatment at it.

Condition is such a big deal, though. It impacts reliability a lot, because what we really mean when we talk about reliability is partly does it break, but partly how big a problem it is when it does.

So, frinstance. I have a 20 year old Subaru. But it’s a fairly recent JDM import so it has next to no rust. It’s still a 20 year old Subaru so it’s not especially reliable but when it needs work, it is so easy. Before that I had a slightly newer Mondeo that had lived in Scotland all its life, it was probably more reliable but every single time I had to work on it, the mapp torch and the bolt extractors and the big hammers came out before I even started. So the exact same fault or wear item could be 4 times as big a problem.

No facts and figures either but just drove a 20 year old 1.6 8v Astra estate, fully loaded with roof box to and up Alpe Duez, then on to the French south coast, then back home, as we have done a fair few times now.

It’s thrown the odd warning light occasionally due to a sensor or ABS not liking driving out of the Euro tunnel train, for whatever reason but , as mentioned it’s usually batteries or lack of maintenance that stops cars.

The other thing is the clutch if it’s manual..