Reply to: Car buying - age vs mileage

[woody1]

My car is 21 years young and has about 95k on the clock. Current issues pending my attention are a rusting rear wheel arch and a broken air conditioning compressor. Recently had to sort a wheel bearing, roll bar link, and some play in the steering rack.

Even if it averages £1-2k/year to keep it on the road, it will be less than the annual depreciation on a 3-5 year old one.

Some replacement parts from the manufacturer are very pricey. For example, I recently had to have the ABS pump replaced on mine. £2k from Audi but I picked up a used part from a breaker on eBay for £79 and got the local garage to fit it for just over a hundred quid. You can also get parts like this reconditioned for a few hundred quid.

However, according to the local garage, in recent years manufacturers have wised up to this and, on newer cars, many parts are paired with the ECU. Fitting a used one from another vehicle won't work. Yet another reason for hanging on to an old banger.

[ladymuck]

My car is 21 years young and has about 95k on the clock. Current issues pending my attention are a rusting rear wheel arch and a broken air conditioning compressor. Recently had to sort a wheel bearing, roll bar link, and some play in the steering rack.

[Paracelsus]

How about a 4 series GC for something sporty with the practicality of 4 doors and a big hatchback? More of a tourer given the weight, but by all accounts having one of the spicier engines in it makes up for that, and it's seated fairly low.

Age v mileage - I wouldn't put too much weight on age if it's been maintained well. My car is getting on for 19 years old and it's only just starting to become a PITA - rust, bushings going, pipes corroding etc. 200k miles. The main issue with age, besides rust, will be brittle plastics, which engine bays seem to be full of these days. But not too big an issue to resolve usually.

[woody1]

Agreed. I'm still working & earning decent money but we have a 15 year old car with 100k+ miles on the clock and I plan to keep it going as long as possible

Barring any catastrophic failures, and as long as it's reliable enough, it's usually cheaper to keep it going. Certainly in my case, the annual depreciation on a newer TT would be far more than it costs me to keep mine on the road.

And, as the mechanic at our local garage said to me, sometimes it's better the (old) devil you know.

[Snooky]

It's the price you can pay for taking early retirement. In our case so early, I'm embarrassed to say how young we were.

And it's a question of priorities. We'd rather splash the cash on holidays than on a car that will spend most of its time just sitting on the drive doing nothing (other than deteriorating).

Agreed. I'm still working & earning decent money but we have a 15 year old car with 100k+ miles on the clock and I plan to keep it going as long as possible

[woody1]

SLK worth a look?

Problem is lack of practical hatchback. Would be great as a 2nd car but we've gone down to one car. My wife used to have an MX5 but I had a Merc estate at the time so it was fine. Although she did have fun taking our German Shepherd to the vet once.

[b0redom]

SLK worth a look? I bought (a very old) one last year because I needed an emergency runabout after my Galaxy exploded. I was looking at potentially selling it and the bottom seems to have fallen out of the market, so I decided to keep it.

[woody1]

Are parsimony-shaming INKSPE replies a thing of the past now?

It's the price you can pay for taking early retirement. In our case so early, I'm embarrassed to say how young we were.

And it's a question of priorities. We'd rather splash the cash on holidays than on a car that will spend most of its time just sitting on the drive doing nothing (other than deteriorating).

[Snooky]

My TT is 18 years old (57 plate, 39,000 miles). Age related problems (corrosion, stuff seizing up/perishing) are compounded by living near the sea, and not being able to garage it.

If I used the car more I'd get one under 3 years old, but doing only 2000 miles a year I can't really justify spending £25k+.

Are parsimony-shaming INKSPE replies a thing of the past now?

[woody1]

+1.

I got rid of my 10 year old VW last year, since it was too expensive to keep going. Milage was low; age-related failures were the problem. In the last 18 months of ownership - flap actuators on the heating system, exhaust recirculating valve, clutch slave cylinder plus the usual brake discs, pads which corroded long before they wore out.

My TT is 18 years old (57 plate, 39,000 miles). Age related problems (corrosion, stuff seizing up/perishing) are compounded by living near the sea, and not being able to garage it.

If I used the car more I'd get one under 3 years old, but doing only 2000 miles a year I can't really justify spending £25k+.

I could get something different but nothing much else takes my fancy. Not many sports cars/coupes have the practicality of a decent hatchback. Everything seems to be SUV these days which I'm not a fan of. The current TT was discontinued last year and is apparently being "superseded" by an SUV.

[Protagoras]

There's no easy answer to this one. An older car is an older car - regardless of milage, things wear and perish, especially rubber stuff - so seals, bushes etc. But also rust etc, it's been exposed to the elements.

+1.

I got rid of my 10 year old VW last year, since it was too expensive to keep going. Milage was low; age-related failures were the problem. In the last 18 months of ownership - flap actuators on the heating system, exhaust recirculating valve, clutch slave cylinder plus the usual brake discs, pads which corroded long before they wore out.

[BlueSharp]

Ah, 2014. Audi TT Mk3. It was mostly only a facelift of the Mk2 which I currently have, unlike 1->2 which was much more extensive.

In that case it would be B or C. I'm always sceptical of low milage old cars but can't articulate why I'm sceptical and think there is a drop off on prices if I own a car when it hits 100k miles.

[vwdan]

There's no easy answer to this one. An older car is an older car - regardless of milage, things wear and perish, especially rubber stuff - so seals, bushes etc. But also rust etc, it's been exposed to the elements.

I think a 10+ year old car will start to show its age - you also may have issues with tech, Android Auto etc, if that's important to you.

But, of course, miles are also miles - I certainly wouldn't want something with 90,000 on unless it was a cheap runabout

Out of your list, I'd probably be looking at B or C.

[woody1]

The only 2014 I can see on AT with that kind of mileage is the pre-facelift and in St Austell.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...o=2015&fromsra

That's the one, but I didn't even spot that it was pre-facelift. Doh!

The "black edition" styling probably threw me. Although TBH the differences between 2 and 3 are pretty subtle.

I'm not overly bothered, although I believe 3 was when they switched from timing belt to chain, which would be a plus.

[WTFH]

Ah, 2014. Audi TT Mk3. It was mostly only a facelift of the Mk2 which I currently have, unlike 1->2 which was much more extensive.

The only 2014 I can see on AT with that kind of mileage is the pre-facelift and in St Austell.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...o=2015&fromsra