Reliability of cars vs age of car

The irony of a few years old Range Rover Evoke (not to mention the latest versions of my van awaiting repair for diesel emission problems) failing it’s emissions test for the third time, while my 20 year old van was on the ramps and passed (Bosch EGR) with ease as it always does! My friend the MOT tester said it would pass the latest emission standards, yet I get to pay the top rate of tax because my vehicle is the planet/baby killer extraordinaire.

64 plate gti here. all red letters. ;-) i think about changing it but it is such a capable car in every way. nothing around that will cart 3 dogs around and bimble about, or do 4 hours on the motorway in such a relaxed manner, and then empty out and do a track day at combe so well. adaptive cruise and a dsg box. bloody brilliant. annoying rattle from the dash though. :D

67 plate Suzuki S-Cross approaching 140k. Bought new and serviced regularly. Would normally replace around now but it’s been so reliable that I just can’t see the point.

I’ve looked at a few newer cars but they just seem to be over complicated e.g. hybrid systems that don’t seem to add much more than weight and complexity or “driving aids” like lane keeping or speed warnings that are annoying and in some cases seem to actually make the car less safe.

I’ve never owned a car with fewer than 50k on the clock and they’ve rarely let me down.

My previous car was a mk3 Mondeo, a spring broke about 200m from home. I owned it for 100k miles and that’s the only time it couldn’t take me on an intended journey.

My current car is on 170 miles, it failed to start recently. That was my own fault, I’d been ignoring battery and service lights for a few weeks because “I was going to get round to it”. It was drivable after a jump start but either repeated v low voltages or the jump itself cooked the FRM so various electrical bits didn’t work. £30 fix. It’s had other things go wrong, like a couple of reluctors and abs sensors and a radiator fan but nothing that made it unusable.

Tldr –  ime cars from the last 20 years are reliable enough that I’d  not pay the premium for a low mileage car and if I owned one with 50k on the clock I’d be hanging on to it.

I wouldn’t worry at all with the age and milage of your Golf, just like everyone else has said.

And unlike everyone else, seemingly, I’m pretty unlucky when it comes to cars.

* Y reg mk 1 Focus with about 100k, engine mount sheared with an almighty bang, fortunately at about 20mph. Pushed it to a nearby garage.

* 09 C3 Picasso with about 70k, weird fault eventually traced to the fusebox, would just cut the engine out some times. First time on the M1 with new baby in the back. Went home on a recovery wagon.

* 08 Mk 2 Skoda Octavia, automatic/memory seat module went insane when I was driving it home from the dealers and started trying to push me into the steering wheel on a dual carriageway A road. Just about managed to avoid dying, fixed the module myself after the seller was typically useless.

* 08 Honda FRV, brake caliper seized causing steering wobble on dual carriageway about 100 miles from home. Wheel was practically smoking when I pulled over. Recovered on the back of a waggon.

* 65 Ford SMax, engine block cracked which lead to lots of non starting and an AA recovery, seller reclaimed it and refunded me my money (thankfully!).

These were all sequential too!

So if a Jonah like me would be happy to “risk” the Golf I reckon you should be fine ?

2008 Lexus.

I bought it from the auctions with 35k on the clock in 2015.

It’s now got 100k.

Apart from a new front discs, pads and batteries, it’s had nothing replaced.

It went 2 years between services during COVID.

The known major  problem with Mk 7.5 Golf R’s is related to the water pump which is a leak rather than catastrophic failure so as long as you keep an eye on the fluid level it is unlikely to strand you. Batteries seem to last about four or five years so if you haven’t changed it yet that might be an issue. Another less common problems are with the DSG gearbox and the Haldex unit, both of which can be ameliorated by regular servicing. All of the above are expensive- the water pump is often around £1k for example, but your car is still eligible for the VW All in cover- 2 years services, 2 years warranty and two years recovery for about £800 although they often have deals on.

I have a similar age Golf and intend to keep it. Mk. 8 Golf R’s are anecdotally much more glitchy, mostly with their software like most MBQ EVO VAG products on that platform

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

Statistically, yes.

But most 10 year old cars *aren’t* looked after, many haven’t been serviced to schedule, or bits are replaced in a make do and mend manner, rather than “by the book” (that doesn’t mean in a main dealer BTW).

We’ve got cars on the system at 15+ years old which are still only flagging minor and service issues.

Once they go “off system” and we only see them after Fred down the arches has had a go at them, it’s a different story.

Stick half(?) the monthly payment into a savings account somewhere and use that for service/spares/repair/whatever/looking after the car and the chances of it letting you down are not significantly worse than a 6 month old car (which do occasionally fail).

Gone are the days when 100k miles meant the car was only good for the scrap heap.

Service it properly any you’ll be fine, I’m not saying main dealer here, just someone who knows what they’re doing. I use an ex-VW guy for ours, much cheaper and doesn’t try and rip me off at every opportunity. Currently have a 12yr old golf @ 84k and 5yr old Passat at 60k, both behave the same as they did when we got them 8 & 4.5yrs ago respectively.

The golf costs less than £500 all in for servicing, insurance & VED and easily does 55-60mpg (1.6d, record is 72mpg on the 3hr trip to my parents) so it’s hard to justify replacing it.

Up to 10-12 years is usually okay, but after that things really do start to go awry.  Water pumps sensors, electrics, rust, AC, bearings, suspension, rubber parts drying out, etc.  And once they’re over 15-18y parts start to become rarer and expensive.

Agree with mert.  Old cars are cheaper to buy but they still cost the same to service and maintain – or at least they should.  Fitting cheap parts to a car just because it’s old is just exacerbating the problem.

I just replaced all the suspension parts on my 10 year old car, by and large it feels like new now.  This is why it’s good to have a car you really like because you’ll be more inclined to look after it and it will last longer.

@RustyNissanPrairie what engines in your Berlingo?

2.0 HDI, they are fairly rare but I deliberately sought one out when buying my Bling-no. Mines a Peugeot partner Escapade (30mm more suspension travel than a Berlingo / normal Partner and big steel sump guard).

The 1.6 had early turbo issues hence why I went for the 2.0.

It’s running a Stage1 ECU @130hp – will sit at motorway speeds all day and still 50mpg+. Great little car/van thing as long as don’t value street cred.

You don’t see anywhere near as many cars broken down on the side of the road as 20 years ago. Take a look on Autotrader at the mileage on some cars. The German cars seem to wear their miles well.

Our 20 year old fiesta has only ever had one breakdown, the cable on the alternator jiggled loose so the battery went flat.

Other than that it’s mostly just been consumables and servicing.

Even accounting for a slightly accelerated number of consumables (i.e. more than none in the first 100,000miles) the last 10 years the average garage bill has been less than a month’s finance on a new fiesta, and there’s probably less than one a year on average.

Even the MG which is 50 isn’t “unreliable”. It tends to need a lot more TLC but it always starts and most breakdowns are 50p fixes because something rattled loose (there’s very little to actually go wrong!).

I’d keep it, regularly serviced Golfs last for ages. I wish I’d kept mine and properly run it into the ground just to see how long it really lasted. I traded it in at about 170k and 11 years old, still had a good trade in value as well. In that time it had needed new front suspension and timing belt changed, that’s about it for expensive repairs. It was making new noises and creaks at that point but still running well. I now have a Seat which doesn’t nearly feel as solid and it’s already needed a few expensive things doing to it and has recently developed a new clunk, so not too happy with it!

Gone are the days when 100k miles meant the car was only good for the scrap heap.

I been having that conversation with family and friends (mainly the oldies) about my current car for a few years now, a 2013 Fabia 1.2 12v.  I’ve owned it from new so I know exactly how it’s been treated, what’s been done servicing-wise etc.  Ever since it clicked over 100k they’ve been predicting impending doom, catastrophic engine failure and me being stranded in the middle of nowhere.  This just got worse as I passed 150k and to shock when I ticked over 200k a few months ago.  Up until last Thursday I hadn’t had a single failure of anything, just normal service parts (front brakes twice and rear drums once, new shocks all-round, fluids and tyres).  It took until 104k for the first bulb to blow!  The alternator died on Thursday evening but didn’t leave me stranded, the battery got me home easily and even to work and back again Friday (3 miles in total).  Changed the alternator Friday evening and it’s back to 100% again for just over £200.  That’s £0.0015 per mile of unforeseen costs, less than 1 monthly payment, in over a decade.

Your Golf should easily be good for another 5+ years if you look after it.

You don’t see anywhere near as many cars broken down on the side of the road as 20 years ago.

You do but it’s mostly punctures these days, either due to no spare tyre on that car or the driver would rather get the AA/RAC bod to do it as they don’t know how to/can’t be arsed.