Average age of cars

[Richard_FM]

When I visited Portugal in 2009 there were still plenty of 1980s cars around, not so many when I was there last year.

At one time Ireland was good for spotting older cars, supposedly a fair amount of cars on the roads before the 1990s were second hand British ones which had been offloaded by dealers from across the Irish Sea.

The location scenes in Father Ted show a fair amount of chod, it's easy to spot the second hand imports with 1987 format plates, but with earlier years than 87.

[Knotty Ash Towers]

2 minutes ago, Richard_FM said:

When I visited Portugal in 2009 there were still plenty of 1980s cars around, not so many when I was there last year.

At one time Ireland was good for spotting older cars, supposedly a fair amount of cars on the roads before the 1990s were second hand British ones which had been offloaded by dealers from across the Irish Sea.

The location scenes in Father Ted show a fair amount of chod, it's easy to spot the second hand imports with 1987 format plates, but with earlier years than 87.

A lot of the older stuff in Ireland disappeared when they brought in more stringent vehicle testing and even worse, a scrappage scheme...

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Knotty Ash Towers said:

There's loads of stuff from my first trip to Cyprus that still sticks in my mind over 30 years later. I remember seeing 5 Mazda 1500/1800 sat outside someone's house, a MK 1 Alfa Romeo Alfetta with 3 headlights, loads of 60's & 70's Japanese cars that we didn't get here, a Y-reg Isuzu Piazza, which I assume was a prototype, Moskvichs with really thin steering wheels, etc, etc.

When I revisited, I found Limassol barely recognisable, but I am grateful that I managed to go back.

I think it was the second time I went to Cyprus, probably around 2001/2ish, we rented a villa not far from Paphos. Lovely place, and well out of the way tucked up amongst some olive groves. To get to it was a long farm track which was just dirt and very old cobbles. On the entrance to where the villa was a 70’s Datsun Cherry in a very faded shade of purple. It’d not been on or even near a road in a long time but it was absolutely mangled! I think it had broken down and just got left where it expired. Then over the following decades the farmer had rammed it out of the way whenever he saw fit! It always seemed perfectly the kind of thing the Cypriot’s would do!

 

An awful lot of the buses and trucks in Cyprus and Malta were ex UK ones. Being RHD made them ideal so when UK operators finished with them and sent them to auction or sale many were hoovered up and exported. Particularly in Malta, loads of the buses were refurbished with new locally built bodywork. 
I really wish I’d gone over to Malta before everything started to disappear really. 

[Knotty Ash Towers]

Just now, danthecapriman said:

I think it was the second time I went to Cyprus, probably around 2001/2ish, we rented a villa not far from Paphos. Lovely place, and well out of the way tucked up amongst some olive groves. To get to it was a long farm track which was just dirt and very old cobbles. On the entrance to where the villa was a 70’s Datsun Cherry in a very faded shade of purple. It’d not been on or even near a road in a long time but it was absolutely mangled! I think it had broken down and just got left where it expired. Then over the following decades the farmer had rammed it out of the way whenever he saw fit! It always seemed perfectly the kind of thing the Cypriot’s would do!

 

An awful lot of the buses and trucks in Cyprus and Malta were ex UK ones. Being RHD made them ideal so when UK operators finished with them and sent them to auction or sale many were hoovered up and exported. Particularly in Malta, loads of the buses were refurbished with new locally built bodywork. 
I really wish I’d gone over to Malta before everything started to disappear really. 

The Cypriots dumped things wherever they liked!

When I went to Malta the older cars tended to be Morris Marinas & Itals, mostly diesel, Hillman Hunters, Lada Rivas and 1970's Datsun Sunnys & Toyota Corollas.

[Metal Guru]

6 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I think the first time I went to Cyprus was about 97, and there was absolutely loads of old stuff around. I remember after we left the airport and got onto the roads to go to our hotel you could see all sorts of old stuff from the 50’s to the 80’s driving around or parked up. The first full day I was there I was just leaving the hotel and could hear something big and meaty coming up the road. It was on a hill so the trucks and buses would be a bit laboured on the way up. Eventually it arrived though and was an early 70’s AEC truck with a big rectangular tanker body on the back. The sight and sound of it was something else to me! 
Stuff like that was everywhere though. Mk1 and 2 Transits were pretty common still, Cortina’s of all generations. Loads of old Datsuns and Mercedes. 
When stuff eventually died though it just got left on bits of waste ground gathering dust and gradually being covered by bushes and grass.

My mum lived there in the early 70’s while my grandad was working at RAF Akrotiri, but in general it still all looked much the same as she remembered it. In recent decades though it’s really starting to modernise, with lots of new building work going on in certain areas. It’s totally unrecognisable now. It’s ‘progress’ of course but it has the effect of removing individuality and character.

Certainly with Malta and probably Cyprus too, the old vehicles disappearing was largely air quality regulations being pushed onto the governments and them pushing for the old stuff to be replaced. The old stuff was all easy targets and they didn’t fit with the new sleek modern look the overlords want.

Obviously importing anything to any island adds significant costs. So the first source of car parts will be scrapped cars already there, but that’s a finite resource and when that runs out, importing new parts probably isn’t very cost effective.

[danthecapriman]

9 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Obviously importing anything to any island adds significant costs. So the first source of car parts will be scrapped cars already there, but that’s a finite resource and when that runs out, importing new parts probably isn’t very cost effective.

Absolutely. Even in the UK parts for some old vehicles became problematic to get hold of. AEC engine parts were one such example. Over in Malta they probably did have stocks of used bits from dead vehicles but they tended to re-engine them at that point. Lots of the AEC and Leyland Ergomatic trucks they loved actually had DAF engines in them towards the end! 
The Routemaster buses suffered the same issues. The original AEC and Leyland engines just wore out and parts to rebuild them became expensive or non existent (particularly the AEC engines) so that coupled with emissions regs meant re-engining them.

A few of the Malta trucks have been re-imported back to the UK as classics and restored and they are mechanically very much ‘bitsa’s’!

 

I wonder if the countries like Cyprus and Malta have had improved supplies chains etc since they joined the EU? Meaning the old make do and mend approach isn’t needed anymore.

[sierraman]

I’m going to Cyprus in a few months I’ll let you know what chod is on the roads.

[Madman Of The People]

The average age of a car on US roads now stands at 13 years, and getting older.  Nearly all the affordable cars have been discontinued and manufacturers now offer nothing but horrendously expensive trucks and SUVs.

My personal fleet: 11 years, 2015 Ford Escape (Kuga) & 15 years, 2011 BINI Cooper

Wife’s car: 9 years, 2017 Honda Pilot

Daughter’s car: 16 years, 2010 Mazda 5

Son’s car: 8 years, 2018 Buick Regal (AKA Vauxhall Insignia)

Extended family is also running older chod…

Mother: 19 years, 2007 Ford Taurus

Sister 1: 13 years, 2013 Toyota Camry

Sister 2: 10 years, 2016 Ford Fusion (Mondeo)

Brother 1: 18 years, 2008 Audi A4

Brother 2: 6 years (Posh Git!) 2020 Ford Ranger.

 

[AnthonyG]

Hey @Madman Of The People, do the Japanese/Koreans still not offer ‘sedans’ ? Surely you can get a Corolla & Camry, and Civic and Accord? I know Nissan are up shit creek without a paddle but I assume the Altima is still a thing? Do Kia still do the Optima? 

I know the Yanks have given up and I think it’s only GM with the Chevrolet Malibu and maybe one Cadillac now for 4 doors. The rather nice Lincoln Continental launched circa 2019 has been dropped, and the equivalent nice big Cadillac (DTS?) is China only.

I believe Stellantis have replaced the Dodge Charger with an electric powered version and are now frantically trying to retrofit a petrol/hybrid into it now the govt have binned all the EV subsidies 😄!!

[High Jetter]

2001 A4, 2008 broken Porter, 2009 Auris, 2011 Combo van. 10 year rule?

[Madman Of The People]

On 15/01/2026 at 17:01, AnthonyG said:

Hey @Madman Of The People, do the Japanese/Koreans still not offer ‘sedans’ ? Surely you can get a Corolla & Camry, and Civic and Accord? I know Nissan are up shit creek without a paddle but I assume the Altima is still a thing? Do Kia still do the Optima? 

I know the Yanks have given up and I think it’s only GM with the Chevrolet Malibu and maybe one Cadillac now for 4 doors. The rather nice Lincoln Continental launched circa 2019 has been dropped, and the equivalent nice big Cadillac (DTS?) is China only.

I believe Stellantis have replaced the Dodge Charger with an electric powered version and are now frantically trying to retrofit a petrol/hybrid into it now the govt have binned all the EV subsidies 😄!!

The Asian manufactures are still offering C segment saloons and hatchbacks in America; Civic, Corolla, Mazda 3, and so on.  But the affordable B-segment cars are almost all gone.  Fiesta went away in 2019.  Chevrolet Sonic, Honda Fit, and Toyota Yaris fell by the wayside in 2020.  Hyundai Accent and Chevrolet Spark departed in 2022.  The Kia Rio went away in 2023.  The Mitsubishi Mirage left us in 2024 and the Nissan Versa soldiered on until 2025.  BINI hatchbacks are still available but I would hardly call them affordable.  Fiat 500e is EV only and they struggle to shift around a thousand a year over here.  It makes me wonder why they even bother at all?

If you want an American saloon, your choices are the Cadillac CT4 (3 Series rival) or CT5 (5 Series alternative.)  Both sell poorly because the Germans dominate what remains of the premium saloon market.  The new Dodge Charger Daytona saloon is EV-only for the moment, but an inline-six petrol is in the pipeline.  And that's it.  Two Cadillacs and an electric Dodge.  That's your lot!

The non-premium D-segment is represented by the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata, and Kia K5.  No American-badged alternatives remain.

The car makers have all collectively decided they would rather sacrifice volume for higher profits on more expensive crossovers, SUVs and trucks.  This, I think, has contributed to people keeping their old cars much longer.  Personally, I spent nearly $5,300 a couple of years ago repairing the transmission in my Kuga rather than scrapping it because replacing the car with something comparable would cost at least twice as much!  Prices are crazy and everyone is skint, so we're all driving old bangers over here!