Optimum time to change my car?

My car is 16¾ years old and has just 135,000 miles on the clock.  Is it time to change?  What is the optimum time to change my car?

I hope you like the photo of my car?  Pretty cool, eh?  I took the photo recently as it was having some new tyres fitted.  The tyres, by the way, are Michelin Cross Climate.  I use these all the time these days, they grip very well on frozen, snowy roads and seem to perform well at any time of year.  They also seem to wear pretty well – they clocked up over 35,000 miles on the front.  As it’s a front wheel drive car, I thought that was pretty darn good.

I digress but only a tad.

As I will allude to, I feel we are at the crossroads with the Toyota with the dreaded rust starting to show.  I’ll get to that it a minute, please bear with me while I think this through.

A brief history with my cars

When I was younger, I had some terrible heaps of junk which frequently broke down and cost lots of money to have repaired.  They were always bought for £200 to £300 as that was all I could afford.  Those early experiences have seared themselves on my mind and I cannot bear the thought of being stuck on the hard shoulder with a clapped out car, ever again.

These cars included my first car, a 1973 Ford with a rusty floor; the carpet got wet when I drove in the rain.  Next were a succession of two Renault 12 cars, which actually weren’t too bad but the mechanic said they were fiddly to repair.  Then an Austen Montego, a truly terrible car.  I had an estate version with a 1.6 litre engine.  Quite a roomy car and modern looking at the time but very badly made and no wonder British Leyland went out of business.

Arguably the most disastrous and costly car was a Saab 95, which we had for about 4 or 5 years.  The Saab was my worst financial decision, ever.  Sure, it was a fast and powerful car but ridiculously expensive to run with every service costing £500 or more.  The need for a new gearbox and then a turbo changed my mind completely and it had to go.  It averaged only 28mpg.

Since then we have gone to the opposite extreme in the form of Honda and Toyotas.  These cars are both rather boring to drive, but very functional.  Above all they are very reliable and cost effective to use, year after year.  We have had them for a long time; our daughters both learned to drive in the Honda!  The Honda averages 52mpg and the Toyota 46mpg.

Optimum time to buy a car?

It has been said the most cost effective times to buy a car are:

1. New, or nearly new from a main dealer.  Sometimes dealers will sell newish cars at knockdown prices because they are chasing a sales target, a new model has arrived and they need to shift old stock, a customer has a good relationship with the dealer etc.  We have never done this but I know it can work for some.
2. Two or three years old.  At this point most cars will have dropped in value by a huge margin and will still be in good condition, well serviced and a sensible point to buy a car.  We have done this ourselves and the last was the Honda at just 10,000 miles.
3. Old, banger age.  Cars at ten years old, or more, are probably out of fashion and many are completely knackered.  They can be had for pocket money rates i.e. under £3000.  However, there are some are good cars out there but increasingly a gamble because of the age.  You might be lucky and buy an oldish upmarket car (Jaguar, Mercedes etc) for a fraction of the new price and it might run well for many years.

We bought our Toyota at stage 3.  Hardly a luxurious executive car, but a good solid, sensible car.  It has proved itself to be very cost effective.  It has broken down once – a broken drive shaft – a bit of a freaky fault.  Otherwise it has always performed perfectly and quite economical.  We average 46mpg which isn’t bad for a fairly heavy, medium sized car with a 1.8 petrol engine.

Rust!

When the car had the last MOT, the Toyota dealer commented on some rusty suspension components.  Our trusty friend and independent mechanic said

“Rust will eventually finish the car off.  I can keep the engine going alright but you need to spray some Waxoyl on those suspension components”

Trouble is, I had hoped to keep the car going for many more years to come but I have now questioned this.  The plan in my head is to keep the car going for as long as petrol is available, especially petrol in the village.

So last week I jacked the car up, took off the rear wheels and set to work.  To be honest, I was shocked at the amount of rust lurking there.  The body work seems fine but there is a lot of rust over the suspension components.

Thoughts of troublesome cars have come flooding back in my mind.  I find it quite stressful.  I hate the thought of shelling out on a money-pit of a car.  I think replacing some of those rusty components could be expensive and a difficult job.

So, should I cut my losses and sell the car?  Should I take it in my stride and simply keep it going for as long as I can?

Knowing how a replacement car will cost money – it’s not as if we are living in times of good returns from money right now which will hurt us even more.

Actually, I think we will press on with the car, the rusty suspension might not be as bad as it looks.  Everything else seems to be working alright, it drives nice and smoothly.  At least we can replace it if we need to at the drop of a hat and the Honda should keep us going in the meantime.

So how long should a car last?  It turns out 14 years is normally about the limit before a car is scrapped.  The Toyota is now 16¾ years old and has 135,000 miles on the clock.  On the bright side it always starts first time, it has always been well serviced and everything works.  My head tells me it should carry on for a good number of years.

Besides, I’ve just had new Michelin tyres.  Can’t possibly change it now.