Silk wrote:akirk wrote:having just bought a 43 year old MGB GT I know that virtually any garage in the country can strip it down and rebuild it...
But you're looking at it from the point of view of an enthusiast. You may not want to hear it, but for most people, an old MG is an over-rated pile of junk, that no one in their right mind would want to own in preference to a modern car. Modern cars don't need stripping down and rebuilding every couple of months and are quite capable of going 'round the clock twice with not much more than regular oil changes and a few bushes and filters. Modern cars usually end up in the scrapyard because the latest repair bill exceeds the cost of replacement, not because they can't be fixed because some computer chip has failed.
Although, at first glance, you would think that new cars with all their gizmos, turbos and emissions stuff would be a disaster waiting to happen, but I doubt there is any evidence to back this up. Time will almost certainly show that the current crop of new cars are more reliable than those that went before and there's no reason to believe this won't continue to be the case.
Sorry , but I can't agree .
Having grown up with Mercedes-Benz since childhood : I remember my dad buying his first one in 1964 and we've had every generation in the family since then ; my first car was a 220/8 from 1970 handed down from my dad when I passed my driving test in 1975 , and I've gone through every generation since then - those cars from the 1950's/60's/70's/80's were reliable when new and continue to be now , with proper maintenance .
I made the mistake of buying a 2003 S203 C270CDI at a cost of £4000 : BIG mistake ; I'd had one Diesel car before , which was a W124 E250 diesel , and it was a good car . This later car was nothing but trouble : in the two years I had it all five diesel injectors failed , not a cheap matter at close to £300 each , the electric door locking mechanism in the drivers door failed ( £70 ) , the tailgate wiper failed (£200 ) , what would have been a £12.50 ball joint in the front suspension on an earlier model failed , needing the whole suspension link arm replaced at £170 , latterly the swirl flaps in the inlet manifold failed with a likely parts cost of £400 - all the prices I have mentioned are parts only , labour would have been more - never in my 40 years of motoring had I had so much trouble from one car , or so much cost to repair - the idea had been to buy a cheap to run diesel car - it did return circa 50 mpg , but the repair costs over my 2 years ownership more than wiped out the fuel savings . If that was my experience with the car at 10 years old I dread to think what it would be like at 20 , 30 , 40 or more years old .
I replaced it with a 1993 190E , bought for £250 , I've replaced the engine due to a failed cylinder head gasket ( £200 used engine from a club member was the cheapest option ) and plan to overhaul the brakes , but otherwise has been trouble free in 18 months , and anything that goes wrong I can fix myself . I also swapped the C270 for a 1993 300SL-24 which I knew would need work - so far I've replaced the steering wheel as the original had been removed leaving SRS and horn inoperable ! I fitted a new battery and am about to have a new exhaust system fitted on Tuesday due to the original 22 year old one being rusted out ( can't complain at that ) before the MOT ; otherwise that car has been reliable over the last 3 months and I'm confident I can fix anything that might go wrong as it's just a W124 under the skin .
All of my older cars are/were simple mechanical things and can be kept running by any competent home mechanic ; the newer stuff is often beyond even the main dealers who , if anyone can , ought to be able to diagnose and fix them - if they can't do so now , what hope is there in 20-40 years time ? Since new cars often need individual parts being coded into their systems , even a trip to the scrappy ( as I can currently do with my existing cars ) won't be an option in the future , so once the run of the mill six years after discontinuation parts availability expires , these cars may as well be scrap metal .