The summit has been reached...

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

bulletin number HUK000000001117

 

You've got google as well!

 

Fault diagnosis depends on whether the clutch is shuddering because the clutch discs have polished themselves to buggery or it's actually broken - that's when the car doesn't just shudder but literally jolts forwards or backwards. Honda have modified the starter clutch but it's heartening to know they won't just wash their hands. That's how it should be, fit for purpose etc.

I heard a sad story about an A4 Auto with the Multichronic box that was playing up. Audi refused the claim because the car had done 81'000 miles when it was due an oil change at 80'000. Horrible bastards. But they don't care - for every lost costumer they have ten more new ones.

[Volksy]

Only if somebody was stupid .

 

Nail and head there.

 

The cars are doing far better than say, buying a new ADO16 and running it till it dies.

 

It's not the vehicles. It's the owners.

[fiatdaft]

No bluejeans a 2 minute call to the honda service department in our groupwhen we had some issues last year with a couple,the audi is the owners fault for not getting it done in time.

[ruffgeezer]

It isn't really rose tinted specs though, I've been working on cars since I was 16, from Bmw dealers to scrap yards and between, there are some cars that are fairly new now, that will, eventually, be uneconomical to repair on the basis of a headlight bulb replacement! That is utterly fucked.

 

 

Only if somebody was stupid .

 

 

Not so sir, take for example the mk2 C5, to get at the sidelight bulb (H6W halogen FFS!) these blow with alarming regularity, oh and have a habit of cooking the bulb holders too, around £6 for the bulb, £30 for the bulb holder, and oh yes sir, we will need to remove the battery for the passenger side one.

 

Your average punter is not going to know how all of this shit works, from headlamps out (mk3 mondeo) to hatches in the arch liners (Astra G), they are getting more and more difficult, we are starting to HAVE to charge labour on some fitments, just on time taken alone.

[fiatdaft]

Not going to write the car off though is it.

[ruffgeezer]

At the moment, no, once it gets a few years older, and is circling the drain?

 

Oh and don't get me started on dual mass flywheels, whoever decided they were a good idea needs a shoe in the shitter.

[fiatdaft]

If a bulb is going to write the car off,the rest of it must be completely fucked,any decent sized bill depending on the owner's situation can write off a 10 year old car,same as it always has been.

[M'coli]

Still, it's a farce that the cost of changing a bulb could be more than the car's worth...

[fiatdaft]

Just like in the good old days when your 3 year old ado16 had failed its first mot on rear subrame corrosion,now thats a farce.

[willswitchengage]

Rot/rust had generally been eridcated, like smallpox, by the mid 90s - cars no longer needed to be only driven in summer (not this one though) filled with waxoyl to survive. What is generally being pointed towards here is that sort of "golden" age where manufacturers still made simple cars but ones that didn't rust.

[fiatdaft]

They still rust,just not as noticable or quite as bad.

[Cavcraft]

While it'd be sort of sad to see (because it'd waste of a good car) I think if I saw a car in a scrappy that'd been weighed off because the headlight bulb had gone, I'd laugh at the thought of the owner being such a moron and them having their pants pulled down when they financed the next car they bought.

[Rusty Pelican]

Theres good and bad points to both arguments.

Old cars tended to rust before your eyes , be a bit unreliable but at least when it conked out you could look under the bonnet , recognise stuff and fix it yourself.

You didnt need a computer just to tell you whats wrong , you could work it out yourself.

Old car manuals would guide you step by step and even if you had very little mechanical skills you could probably sort most of it out.

You could retro fit bits from other cars , for example all Lucas wiring colours were the same irrespective of the make of car it went into , understand one and they are all the same .

New stuff sounds better if you think about.

Theres next to no rust.

They are generally more reliable .

200,000 miles plus is not uncommon whereas older stuff especially from the 70s and before barely managed 100,000 before it was knackered,

You dont have to check the oil weekly , top up the rad or anything else , cars even tell you if the tyre pressures are low so you are redundant , just get in go thats it.

They are megga safe now with airbags , crumple zones and are even designed so your less likely to kill them that actually walk instead of drive .

 

My problem is i like to know whats going on , i want to be in control and not have a computer do everything for me

I want to be able to see out . I sat in a new Jag last week at a car show , 50ks worth , first thought was i need to sit higher , cant do that coz my head would hit the roof , second thought was where the fuck is the bonnet , car seemed to end at the bottom of the screen , then the same looking in the rear view mirror ( although it had cameras for reversing such is the shite vision ) , then theres the screen pillars , like giant RSJs blocking my vision

I bet id get used to it though but quite frankly i wouldnt want to .

It was lovely inside , all leather and fake wood but i felt unattached to it completely .

 

You pay your money and take your choice, theres no right or wrong either way , for me though its got to feel like i belong and that 50k Jag or any modern ive sat in and driven wasnt it

[fiatdaft]

If they had to scrap a car because of a headlight bulb,the chances of them getting finance wouldn't be to great!

[Cavcraft]

If they had to scrap a car because of a headlight bulb,the chances of them getting finance wouldn't be to great!

 

True, they probably wouldn't be able to spell their own name on the form

 

RP's mentioned another good point there when he said about airbags etc. When all is said and done I'd rather be in a modern car if God forbid I had an accident, especially if my family were in it.

[Pete-M]

I sat in a new Jag last week all leather and fake wood

 

 

Heretic! Stone the unbeliever!!!!! Fake wood in a Jag?? Never!!! It's a Jag, not a Hyundai.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

,the audi is the owners fault for not getting it done in time.

 

A rather dour and dispassionate view! To be expected from main dealers however, and a free get out of jail card.

 

It's Audi's fault for making somnething which is basically not very good. If it cannot withstand going 1000 miles over a 40'000 oil change interval, it's clearly not much good.

[fiatdaft]

No they do set service intervals for a reason and ignore them at your peril,and as has been mentioned when you scrimp on servicing it can bite you on the bum !

[willswitchengage]

Like changing the cambelt on a PSA 1.6 diesel every 150,000 miles (or ten years)

[fiatdaft]

Or just don't buy one!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

No they do set service intervals for a reason

 

Of course they do.

 

You've clearly never heard of 'good will'.

[Spiny Norman]

In an attempt to drag this back to the question OP asked, given the number of Vauxhall Cavaliers and early Vectras still about I'd say they have a good chance of outlasting their more modern replacements.

 

Think there will be as many Insignias still around in 2032?

[willswitchengage]

The SMMT released lots of stats today. A few that may be of interest:

 

+ The average car is scrapped at 105,000 miles

+ The average car is 7.4 years old

+ Average annual mileage is a quite low 7900

+ The average mpg of a car sold today is 50.5mpg (12 years ago it was 38). This, is a load of shit. Arguably the most fuel efficient real-life car sold today is the Fiat 500, which seems to average about 43mpg according to Fuelly's histogram. Remarkably as well from that, its average mpg has dropped every model year since it was introduced in 2008. Bit of a tangent sorry but I thought that may add something

[Negative Creep]

That mileage one surprises me. I know 100k is still seen as a psychological tipping point, but most cars should be capable of coming on 200k if looked after

[Guest]

How's this one then.

The aforementioned Mercedes.

I paid £2000 for it. 141k, FSH, 2 prev owners.

Had it a week and went into limp mode, it's Badermatic.

Merc wanted £100+ to tell me what's wrong.

They suggested, cat £400+ EGR valve £240 odd, turbo £????, Boost pressure sensor, all in without the dreaded over £1000 plus labour at £sily amount per hr.

That would have been curtains for it to Joe Public

plus the charge light came on saying battery/alernator - another potential £500 odd.

 

As I am lucky, and I do sincerely mean that, enough to have a bit of skill and clver mates, I/We deduced a stuck EGR valve, a broken low tension wire on the charge circuit, a broken wire on the (turbo) charge pressure sensor and a worn through waste gate actuator vacuum hose.

Cost to fix? Nil apart from time and of course a voluntarily given drink to said mates.

 

In the real world, the parts fitters would have thrown bits at it til it worked and regardless of it a bit fixed it you'd be charged. Thats how it is in main dealers.

 

As an aside I know of a Vauxhall main dealer mechanic on £35k plus 15 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!

[fiatdaft]

Crazy taking a 2k merc to the main dealer!!!,thankfully there are good specialists around.

[RoadworkUK]

Crazy taking a 2k merc to the main dealer!!!,thankfully there are good specialists around.

 

I feel I have to wade in here, and will of course wade out again as soon as I can, but MB main agent fees pay me my meagre living.

 

We have a 1994 S600 in at the moment, it lives in a barn most of the time and is covered in moss and lichen. The guy who owns it sends it to us because that's the only place it's ever been. The other day it was firing on seven, it's now firing on 12. Not running right by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a good start. Cost wise, we'll charge him an hours diagnostics and a set of plug leads. It's probably had a dozen hours of workshop time, which we won't charge for because it didn't get us any where.

 

Thing is, though the value of a car depreciates, the cost of maintaining it doesn't. The S600 still has as many complexities as it did eighteen years ago, and they're all ready to expire whenever they want to. We frequently have cars in from independents who don't know where to turn.

 

Case in point; chap came in with a W170 SLK. Fearing our exhorbitant charges, he had taken his ESP / ASR light to his friendly Indy for rectification. A wheel speed sensor was diagnosed as faulty and duelly replaced. A week later he came to us complaining that the car was sticking in gear. Our tech was speedy to find an eBay special wheel speed sensor that was sending all kinds of crazy signals to the transmission ECU and locking the box into whichever gear it felt safest in. We charged £300, twice what the Indy did, and cured the problem.

 

We charge what we do because a) MB say we have to, and our overheads say we have to. We wade into battle with a major financial handicap over the Indies. If we could charge less, we'd love to.

[fiatdaft]

Hey i'm not slagging main dealers,i work in them aswell! but the specialist wasn't very special if they used an ebay part!

[RoadworkUK]

Hey i'm not slagging main dealers,i work in them aswell! but the specialist wasn't very special if they used an ebay part!

 

 

That's what SLK guy said!

[Negative Creep]

Whenever I hear someone moaning about main dealer prices, I do wonder if they'd researched that before buying the car?