‘Modern engines’ can go back a long way now, 80’s onwards could do 100k+ it was normally rust that got the car first. I think only my 80’s Polo’s and Fiestas came with tachos that only went to 99999 before rolling over.
I have 4 cars that all run as intended, 3 are tax/mot insured the other is having work done but not engine related.
1989 Golf GTi 8v 97k - having suspension and brakes done.
1989 Golf GTi 16v 139k
1994 Corrado 2.9 VR6 210k
1999 Toyota Altezza RS200 118k which is my daily car.
So with general maintenance and basics like checking the fluid levels more often then a new car which you rely on the dash to tell you to look it’s not difficult. Welding is the expensive part.
Years ago (mid 90s) I worked at a firm where we ran Toyota Hiace vans hard. Bought new and serviced by the dealer reguarly we used to get them up to about 350,000 miles and they would still go well. Everything on them was worn and wobbly but they rarely let us down.
Where I work now we run a motley collection of Nemo / Bipper and Fiorino vans for the plant ops. These get hammered by most of them and I’m sure they get serviced once a year at MOT irrespective of how many mile sit may have notched up and some do a lot more than others. Some of them are up to around the 180,000 miles.
Most of our vans leave us when they have failed an MOT for excessive rust or been written off. We did auction one the other week rather than spend £1400 on a new turbo and oil pump.
So some sort of maintenance now and again seems to be the key.
Those Hiace vans are really a 2WD Hilux chassis and running gear under a van thats remarkably rust resistant.
Probably the most reliable durable van ever made, 20 year old versions still selling for silly money, can be found now and again with the 3 litre turboDiesel Prado/4Runner lump stuffed under the bonnet.
But yes, servicing is the key to making anything last, if someone has the good sense to check and top up the fluids now and again between services the skys the limit.
My old boss who had the best maintained fleet in the county by a country mile, whom i learned much from, always said ‘‘oil is cheap engines gearboxes axles and downtime cost a fortune’’.
Have a Skoda Roomster just clocked up 130000 miles apart from having to change a few Door locks and seatbelt pre tensioners runs nicely and has an engine known to be reliable, just a shame I can no longer take it into London without paying £12.50…
Gave my 2010 MK4 Mondeo to my parents at 10 years old with 155,000 on the clock. That had a cambelt change at 125,000 miles. It’s now 12 years old with 172,000 miles on, still on original clutch, injectors, turbo and EGR valve. It would have been on it’s original DPF filter but it failed it’s first MOT ever this year for a rust hole in the DPF filter - that’s not bad for a DPF filter on a car - 172k/12 years old.
Car previous to that was a 2004 MK3 Mondeo which I bought at 3 years old with 90k on, ran it for 5 years and sold to a mate with 168k on and it only ever failed one MOT in it’s life at 155k with a sticking rear caliper.
Nothing more than regular servicing and fixing the odd thing as it came up.
The days of most cars being end of life at 9/10 years old and 70,000-80,000 miles finished in the 1980s.
Just scrapped a 2006 Ford Fiesta 1.4 D with 189000 miles on it . Sills were rotten and holes in the boot and the floor pan . Engine was going like a train and on its original clutch , it was serviced regularly and good oil used , never used a drop of oil. Don’t cut corners on servicing - I had a good mechanic who I trusted and he knew that if something was needed just to get on with it and fix or replace it . If you want it to last - look after it .
Juddian:
My old boss who had the best maintained fleet in the county by a country mile, whom i learned much from, always said ‘‘oil is cheap engines gearboxes axles and downtime cost a fortune’’.
One of my old bosses said something similar - “Grease is cheap - use plenty of it .”
Conor:
The days of most cars being end of life at 9/10 years old and 70,000-80,000 miles finished in the 1980s.
Ironically the values of anything with an old school pushrod engine in it says otherwise.
Any multi cam multi valve variable valve timing modern engine is a lottery.Any type of major engine issues will generally make the car an economic write off.
While can probably tear down and rebuild something like a V8 Rover or 4.0 Litre 6 cylinder Jeep motor over a weekend.
They’ll easily manage 100 k miles and engine parts are cheap enough to make 20 year+ examples of Disco or Grand Cherokee still viable to run.
Used prices prove it especially in the case of Rover V8 powered versions of Range Rover and Disco.
