Ten year old cars.

[PhilA]

Better design, hot-dipped coatings that get inside everywhere, not just where the painter's gun was pointed. I think the only reason cars from the fifties lasted better was there was physically more steel to rust through before it started to hole.

 

Exhausts last better because emissions are better- plus the whole system runs hotter now with the catalytic converter burning at the temperature it does. Helps keep the acidic compounds down and dry out any moisture that may sit inside the pipework. You rarely smell the particular "I'm following an Escort with a VV carb" over-rich exhaust any more.

 

I have a galvanised pipe on the Renault.. it's in perfect condition apart from where it was seam welded together, along that edge it's all bran flakes.

 

Maybe the climate's changing. I have found three places where there's enough rust to warrant thinking about doing something to it. For the most part the sunshine here helps keep cars less rotten as it warms everything up to the point the water vaporises and blows away. All the cars I had in the UK had wet mud somewhere (usually front wheelarches) that seemingly never dried thoroughly, and they went bad in those spots.

 

--Phil

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I've just spent a happy half hour on the dvla vehicle check site. I'm not very good at remembering numbers ,but of the ones I could, from 20/30 years ago of cars I owned( or company cars ) nearly all have long gone.

Shortest life was from 01/08/85 to 10/07/91 for an XR3i, I crashed it twice when it was less than a year old, so it did well to last that long,probably joy ridden or ringed.

But 14 years for a S3 XJ6, 16 years for a Twin Plenum Vitesse ,17 years for aXJ6 2.8 S1, 14 years for aMk2 Mexico and these would all have fallen into the enthusiast/ classic arena by the time they were scrapped. The only one from back then that I can remember the reg of and is still taxed is G853ABY aHi-Line 635 auto in glorious metallic beige first registered on 02/02/90 and still going strong(I hope).

I also discovered my first car a mk2 Cortina never went back on the road after my younger brother finished with it in 1983 - 13 years and a genuine 45,000 miles- although 1 careful owner for 10 years was rather undone by two tearaway 17 year olds afterwards.

 

 

Edited to add,I just rembered my dad's Land Rover from when I was a kid,RGC576 first reg 03/05/56 tax due 01/12/14 !

[forddeliveryboy]

It's not so much steel thickness as quality which seems to affect things. I had a '96 W124 MB which was trying to work out how to destroy a decent design through corrosion. It was struggling, but struggling hard - rust everywhere. Mid to late 80s 124s rarely show much serious corrosion, even though they're years older. Same goes for 2cvs. Anything built after '85 is utterly, utterly shite - and the crap metal isn't just limited to the construction. Cheap alloys in the engines and gearboxes mean the cars are as crap as their UK reputation, very often. Build was just as bad, with suspension geometries so out of kilter that those in themselves created premature chassis corrosion, due to the stress.

 

But everything today is shite, almost every mechanic I meet tells me. Find the best of what's been made, whether late 80s or mid-90s Audis, mid-80s Saabs, mid-late 90s BMWs, mid-90s Jags, Peugoet 1.9 Xantias and 406s or whatever and cherish it. I've just bought an 80 TDi estate and it makes later Audis feel as if they're made of cardboard.

 

At least with the old cars you had/have the choice whether you want to look after them or not.

With the new stuff you are 100% at the mercy of big corporations, if it can be called mercy what they have for you.

 

So, so true.

[Volksy]

I understand, but I think nowerdays it's become, not what you know, but who you know,

 

I'm happen to know an absolute wiz on vehicle diaogs. he's in his late '60s, but has changed his trade. He saved a certain VW polo from scrapping with a hidden fuse for the ABS, rather than £1k that the Bosch place wanted for the pump as the OBD2 was telling them.

[Guest Breadvan72]

My one concession to modernity and "starts without swearing" motoring is a 12 year old Alfa 156.  As far as I can tell it has no rusty bits.  My wife has a 1996 Pug 205 rattletrap smokemobile, purchased from some dodgy geezer called garethj.  This also appears to be unrusty, and sailed through its MoT with no snags (unlike the Alfa, which predictably needed new front suspension bushes).

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

They're talking about electric handbrakes on Pistonheads again and this thread was linked to:
 

So thanks to BMW reinventing the steering lock from a manual reliable thing to an unreliable electrical thing made seemingly of cheese, I'm sat in a car park waiting recovery.

.... How much £££ will BMW shaft me for to fix a problem that shouldn't really be occurring on a 6 year old car?

 

Update - have tried key in , key out , wheel jiggles as mentioned here and in the 1,000,000 other threads about same issue across the web - completely dead, red wheel warning light.

 

New column , cas unit and £1100 later my car is good. No contribution from BMW seemingly on basis history isn't completely BMW franchises - but I'll take this up with BMW UK direct as I'm struggling to see what work is done on the column and sealed CAS units during a routine service.....

 

Thousand pound bill for a stuck steering lock.

[STUNO]

A lot of the problems with electrics etc is caused by the repairers not actually knowing how to repair anything, all they can do is replace what the computer tells them is not working, that gets expensive.

[Squire_Dawson]

The problem also is that many components are 'sealed for life' and have been for sometime. They are not designed to be repaired, but replaced whole. The modern car now has a design life of 7 years, any longer and it's just luck or a plethoric bank balance keeping it going.

 

BMW and some of the sorts who drive them always raise a laugh. Woman came into the filling station today, new-ish 5-series with personalised number plate. She dispenses £7 worth of diesel.

[dollywobbler]

Ah yes. My neighbour's 56-plate BMW 3-series suffered the steering column of doom. Think he only got charged about £700 though. The steering lock on my 2CV failed a while back. Thankfully, I've already disabled the steering lock so I was able to hotwire it and get home.

[Rusty Pelican]

Well Ive got a BMW and its been absolutely and boringly reliable , all i changed last year were 3 crankcase breather pipes for the grand total of 26 notes from BMW , oh and an oil / oil filter and air filter for 36 notes.

It was made in 1986 though 

[HMC]

It's not so much steel thickness as quality which seems to affect things. I had a '96 W124 MB which was trying to work out how to destroy a decent design through corrosion. It was struggling, but struggling hard - rust everywhere. Mid to late 80s 124s rarely show much serious corrosion, even though they're years older. Same goes for 2cvs. Anything built after '85 is utterly, utterly shite - and the crap metal isn't just limited to the construction. Cheap alloys in the engines and gearboxes mean the cars are as crap as their UK reputation, very often. Build was just as bad, with suspension geometries so out of kilter that those in themselves created premature chassis corrosion, due to the stress.

 

+1 on the w124s. Lovely design but add corrosion issues to key bits and it can all end in tears. Take the multi link rear. Very elegant design but thats a lot of bushes to wear. Subframe mounted, to the underbody on metal perches, which a a favourite grot spot on the later model years. Thats fine, just drop the subframe, but if youve got an estate watch out for the SLS pipework. Oh its all brittle and corroded. Id have another tomorrow but how the later ones can rot depresses me.