# Got a 7-8 year old Car?



## robertdon777 (Nov 3, 2005)

Well you should scrap it now.

Quentin Wilson on the BBC this morning talking about electric cars and the probable need to replace the batteries after 5 years, quote by Quentin:

"Well a petrol/diesel engined car will need a new engine after 7-8 years"

That's why the general public think 60,000 mile cars are high mileage!

What a prat!, I'll go and order 2 new engines then for 2 of my 20+year old cars. And get saving for the other 2 which are 6 years old now - it's going to get expensive all of a sudden for me if it's true what he says:lol:


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

Funny how my old project mk3 golf had 145K on it and was 20 years old on the original engine.


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## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

I take less notice now of mileage as i did about 10 years ago


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

I spoke to someone last night about elec cars.... he didn't understand that they still use dirty power, even though he plugs it in at night...

he couldn't answer "where does your electricity come from then?" 

the reply was... the socket...

yes, these people are saving the world... 

:lol:

Old QW was right on one thing though... these cars are far to expensive, and they should have zero VAT on them....

:thumb:


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

oh bugger, i've just put a deposit on a 12 year old 206 with 86k on the clock .... what a load of crap, but with everyone wanting low mileage cars I suppose that makes them better bargins for the people who don't get put off by them.


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## zaphod (May 7, 2007)

And with what, generally speaking, does the man in the street buy another car if, theirs is 7-8 years old (if they have a car) ?

Hasn't QW looked out of the economic window, recently?

I am sorry, but IMHO, he is talking utter bilge. Rather a car with higher mileage that has been properly serviced, and maintained, than a car that has very little, that hasn't.

We should not forget that, thanks to that scrappage scheme, a lot of well built vehicles have gone, in favour of cheap and nasty, poorly constructed ones, that only benefited industries in the far east.


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## Stezz (Apr 29, 2011)

And he calls himself a motoring expert....yeah right

My previous car was a 13 year old Escort and the only fault it had was a faulty idle control valve.


I think he needs to find another job


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## Multipla Mick (Feb 5, 2006)

I thought old Dracula Wilson was always banging on about the merits of second hand bargains, even the "leggy" ones. Load of piffle, new engine after 7 or 8 years? Don't think so, not given the average annual mileages and so on. The local telly recently featured a local Councillor who had just clocked 500,000 miles in his Audi which I think was about 12 years old, and it appears to be still going strong.

I see they're fixing the problem of expensive battery replacement after a few years in electric cars by leasing the batteries to owners, so your expensive electric humabout isn't suddenly rendered virtually worthless after three or four years. But it is still an expensive fixed cost each month owners will have to pay out regardless of how much use they give the car.

Now they just need to sort out the high cost, crap range and performance of leccy cars. Oh and generating the power in the first place.

And if leccy cars are cheap to run now (after you've paid for the thing) with zero road tax and stuff, think on. If they do solve the problems, if there is mass take up allowing the purchase price to come down and so many more people use leccy vehicles, will the govt stand there cheerily waving goodbye to all that tax they received from evil fossil fuels? Will they chuff, they will start hammering leccy cars with new taxes as soon as they can make up ways of doing it.

Gone a bit off topic, bit of a rant, soz...


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## Kriminal (Jan 11, 2007)

mba said:


> I take less notice now of mileage as i did about 10 years ago


^ same here. I would never have touched a car with 'higher than average' mileage on the clock, back then.


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Thing is, the used car market needs a boost. Fewer and fewer cars coming through as fewer and fewer people buy new ones. Had this recession not started, people would still be buying new cars in droves, and the used car market would still be thriving.

Maybe, as a used car dealer, Mr Wilson wants some cheap cars to buy and sell?

I better put my car for sale then. It's apparently knackered (but boy does it go well).


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## Multipla Mick (Feb 5, 2006)

mba said:


> I take less notice now of mileage as i did about 10 years ago





Kriminal said:


> ^ same here. I would never have touched a car with 'higher than average' mileage on the clock, back then.


Exactly. Manufacturing standards, engineering tolerances, quality of materials used and so on in engines and gearboxes, and the same with oil technology, means engines can do far higher mileages before wear sets in. Thinking back to say a Morris Marina, and 100,000 miles on one of those would make you think twice. But even then a top end rebuild would probably be enough engine wise, but the rest of the car would be rotting away or be clapped out, something else that doesn't happen these days.

It seems to me that the only thing that is going to see modern cars going to the scrapper early is these damn computers and sensors all over the shop. Replacing some box of tricks will cost more than the car is worth, even though mechanically and structurally it will still be fit as a fiddle.


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## WhichOne'sPink? (Dec 13, 2011)

Multipla Mick said:


> Exactly. Manufacturing standards, engineering tolerances, quality of materials used and so on in engines and gearboxes, and the same with oil technology, means engines can do far higher mileages before wear sets in. Thinking back to say a Morris Marina, and 100,000 miles on one of those would make you think twice. But even then a top end rebuild would probably be enough engine wise, but the rest of the car would be rotting away or be clapped out, something else that doesn't happen these days.
> 
> It seems to me that the only thing that is going to see modern cars going to the scrapper early is these damn computers and sensors all over the shop. Replacing some box of tricks will cost more than the car is worth, even though mechanically and structurally it will still be fit as a fiddle.


This 100%. :thumb:

I think that people who buy electric cars fail to see the bigger picture when they do. Where does the electricity come from, what goes into the batteries and how long will it actually last? If people where told these things then maybe they would think twice and buy a decent second hand vehicle. Mr Wilsons words aren't really encouraging the general public to do this however.


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Thank god my car is only 6 years old.I had abit of a panic there for a second.

/ironic


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## Jiffy (Nov 21, 2009)

I'm running around in a 17 year old Xantia just now. It's only done 98k but my old 406 had the same engine and it was still fine at 197k.

Hang yer heid in shame QW!


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## Laurie.J.M (Jun 23, 2011)

What a load of old drivel, my Dad's 10 year Mercedes with just over 100k miles on it feels way better than my 4 year old Corsa which has done 35k miles. Based on what I've just said I think some of it is down to what the car is.


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

Bear in mind, didn't Quentin used to work with Clarkson back in the day... I expect that has tainted his view on Durability... I'd give a car 7-8months being driven around in a circle sideways whilst the big man screams "POWERRRR"!!!!! :lol:

Probably just trying to scare people into buying a new car... Therefore he is a journalist acting on behalf of the motoring industry!


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## Jace (Oct 26, 2005)

11yr old & 94k, guess mines like an extra from Logan's Run then


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## herbiedacious (Sep 27, 2010)

Well, l bet all the people who bought cars from Wheeler Dealers are feeling a bit sick!


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## rtjc (Apr 19, 2009)




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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

I better let my mate know, he's just bought an 8 year old TT with 70k on the clock and now we find out from an 'expert' it's ready for the scrap heap!! lol Quentin Wilson, what a bell end.

I always felt the scrappage scheme was just a thin veil of eco b*llocks to try and give the car market a boost. Saw plenty of good, working cars just scrapped for the sake of it. Remember talking to a chap in my local Renault dealership who said they had a girl trade in a Saphire Cosworth for a 1.2 Clio! 

Electric cars are a great concept that are hugely flawed. The biggest flaw being where they are powered from. It's no more green than current cars.


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

lol all my cars are 6 years old plus and have over 80k miles each on them well might as well fire for bankruptcy now lol!!


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## Grizzle (Jul 12, 2006)

i better warn my brother in law about his Mondeo ST24 then....


No wait one of the sweetest engines i've heard for a long time with 122k on the clock!!


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## kev a (May 23, 2011)

I cant help feeling he has been encouraged to say that to try and justify the added expence of the new range of electric cars.
He cant really believe that? If he has been picking up 6 year old cars in need of new engines then perhaps he isnt as shrewed as he makes out


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

He's just doing a Clarkson, saying something controversial to get his silly name back in the headlines, the fact the post is here says he's succeeding to a degree


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## ferted (May 7, 2011)

Well I got rid of a Honda CR-V in july last year and that was a petrol with 148k on the clock and it was still running fine,in fact I only got rid as I'd had it 4 years and wanted a change

The scrappage scheme was a joke,there's now shed loads of cars sat at 3 locations in the country slowly rotting away and some of them should never of been scrapped!!

RAE Thurleigh is a good example,take a look at the pics here
Crying Shame
Or this LINK to see just how many cars are sat rotting away!!


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## Multipla Mick (Feb 5, 2006)

ferted said:


> Well I got rid of a Honda CR-V in july last year and that was a petrol with 148k on the clock and it was still running fine,in fact I only got rid as I'd had it 4 years and wanted a change
> 
> The scrappage scheme was a joke,there's now shed loads of cars sat at 3 locations in the country slowly rotting away and some of them should never of been scrapped!!
> 
> ...


The scrappage scheme was criminal really. I know it helped boost car sales at a time when the factories were suspending production and so on, but I wouldn't think it would've had a huge long term effect, could well be wrong though. Hardly a green measure either, given how much the politicians brow beat and bully us to be greener, it showed where the then Govt's priorities really lay, producing more cars vs saving the planet? Oh more cars please, saves jobs, gains us votes :thumb:


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## ferted (May 7, 2011)

Sure was,who did the scrappage scheme really benefit?
UK government made a few quid from taxes/VAT
No British companies benefitted though as we don't have a British car manufacturer
Ok so maybe a few British workers jobs were saved or redundancies were postponed but they all work/ed for foreign companies


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## theshrew (May 21, 2008)

The guys a plank - what a nobbler thing to say. 

If electric cars ever do take off i shall be waiting as long as poss before i buy one. Gotta have the sound of a engine.


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

60k some engines come alive then and break in, not to sure if they will be gone in that time, at 60k most cars need there cambelt changed to keep them running for longer service life.


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## ferted (May 7, 2011)

Trip tdi said:


> 60k some engines come alive then and break in, not to sure if they will be gone in that time, at 60k most cars need there cambelt changed to keep them running for longer service life.


Many a time I've heard people say diesels aren't run-in till 80k,never quite understood why though

Cambelts only need chagning as the rubber perishes over time and use
How often did cam chains need changing?
Sure they got rattley after a while but did they ever snap?


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

Chains don't snap, the rubber ones do snap.

I know Mercedes Benz engines run in at 60 k, thats what i was told my mercs.


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

I've just phoned the scrap yard to take away my cars....far to old, not sure how the engines have survived TBH....

 :wall:


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## Shug (Jul 13, 2007)

Trip tdi said:


> Chains don't snap, the rubber ones do snap.
> 
> I know Mercedes Benz engines run in at 60 k, thats what i was told my mercs.


Chains can snap, trust me (whole days work to rectify that one :wall: luckily valves and piston never met)
They do need replaced tho the service guidlines typically say at over 100k miles rather than every 40k like belts.


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

The Cueball said:


> I've just phoned the scrap yard to take away my cars....far to old, not sure how the engines have survived TBH....
> 
> :wall:


I've done the same thing to mine just to the safe side. It was an early Ferrari GTO in mint condition, but I can't trust the engine in it any more.

Better safe than sorry eh Quentin?!


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## herbiedacious (Sep 27, 2010)

That's the Queen,the armed forces and the Fire Servce f#cked then.


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## uruk hai (Apr 5, 2009)

robertdon777 said:


> Well you should scrap it now.
> 
> Quentin Wilson on the BBC this morning talking about electric cars and the probable need to replace the batteries after 5 years, quote by Quentin:
> 
> ...


I would be stunned if for one second he actually believed a word of that rubbish; perhaps in the same way Clarkson does he is saying something daft like that purely to get a reaction/attention ?


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

The Cueball said:


> I've just phoned the scrap yard to take away my cars....far to old, not sure how the engines have survived TBH....
> 
> :wall:


Well, the jaaaag, it is mostly falling apart no? :wave::lol:


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

RisingPower said:


> Well, the jaaaag, it is mostly falling apart no? :wave::lol:


shut it you!!!!!

only needs work on the brakes, engine, sills, rear subframe, new tyres...

:tumbleweed:

Good as new!


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

The Cueball said:


> shut it you!!!!!
> 
> only needs work on the brakes, engine, sills, rear subframe, new tyres...
> 
> ...


You mean, the actual chassis hasn't turned into rust dust yet?


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

RisingPower said:


> You mean, the actual chassis hasn't turned into rust dust yet?


ehhhhhhhhhhh










:thumb:


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

bigmc said:


> Funny how my old project mk3 golf had 145K on it and was 20 years old on the original engine.


Err my 205GTI has 135k and is close to 24 years old original engine....405 MI is 19 years old done 207k miles on original engine....

What a tool Quentin is...I used to like him on top gear but he really has jus become a compete "Richard head" now!


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