[Closed] What present day car will be a solid and reliable car in 10-15 years time?

In 15 years we'll all be driving hydrogen powered hover-cars, and the fossil fuel powered internal combustion engine will be but a distant memory

Petrol Honda?

Is the right answer. I bought my 2 litre v-tec engined Honda 10 yrs and 2 months ago. It's been faultless. In fact it's still faultless. So much so that it's become boring.

Phew Binners, that answers that.

Or petrol Toyota. Least troublesome cars I've ever owned, although you move a portion of expense to opex from capex if you do big miles 🙂
I would normally add Nissan to that list too, but a friend has had issues with his Qashqai. Worth a look?

Having had Fords I wouldn't buy one expecting it to last. My S Max is coming up on 8 years and has just needed the DMF and clutch replacing.

While I tend to believe owners of Hondas and other such vehicles when they proclaim their faith in the potential longevity of their vehicles, what I don't tend to trust is the trim.

It's fine to say that a car might last for many years, but if the doors close with a light 'kch' as opposed to a robust 'thwump' (a universally-recognised test of excellence and durability!), it just doesn't command the level of confidence asserted by current owners.

If I was looking for a long-term car, I would almost certainly be scouring the ads for a Volvo.

My FRV is at least as well built (and the doors even more "thwumpy") as the 5 Series or the V40 that I had before it

If I was looking for a long-term car, I would almost certainly be scouring the ads for a Volvo.

Conversely, the only Volvo I've owned was the most problematic, badly put together money pit I've ever owned.

It was a 440 though.

My petrol toyota is now 16 years old.

In the last 8 years it's had tyres, oil, new cam belt and new plugs/leads.

I honestly don't know what'll kill it

We're hoping the Hyundai i10 Wifey bought new the year before last will still be with us in 10-15 years. 20 months and 15k miles trouble free so far.

IIRC The two cars mentioned above from reputable manufacturers were both collaborations with the same (3rd) manufacturer...Volvo and Nissan collaborations with Renault.

I have a petrol Honda - 13 years old, still looks good when cleaned up, still runs well and even has the original exhaust on it, it 'may' need a new one in the next year or so though.

Downsides are that it's thirsty (but it is an Type-R variant) and it eats tyres, but a more sensible model is unlikely to be as bad.

I'm on my second Honda Accord Tourer (diesel 2.2i Type S) and I have to say it's fabulous. I had a petrol 2.4i 2004 model before this one and it never missed a beat. You get quality engineering and all the gadgets for the similar prices to basic (and ubiquitous) German estates.

Including my wife having had a Civic, we've owned 3 Honda's so far and they haven't ever broken down or had any major mechanical failure. The new Civic Tourer is nice plus the petrol version returns circa 70mpg!

Pretty much any modern car unless they're seriously neglected and undergo average use should last for 15 years.

For bulletproof I'd go petrol 4cyl 2wd manual toyota with minimal electrical equipment.

My focus is 10 next year.

Still on the original front disk and pads at 85k it's that boring.

I wouldn't bet against anything getting to 10 years old these days, '05' plate cars aren't exactly rare to see - 15 years, will depend on how you look after it, I personally think it's still rare for some massively expensive fault to come up and effectively write off a car, although it does happen.

I'd go for a petrol, just because I think the momentum is going that way. Yes there's that whole DPF thing with diesels, but if you do the right sort of driving for a diesel it's not usually a problem - and it's not like coil packs don't shit out on petrols and cause pain and suffering in the wallet.

You could probably buy a Yaris or an Auris and it will last a very long time if you look after it, but they'll be easy to 'write off' at 1 years old simply because they're not worth much - a 10 year old Yaris is a £500 - £1000 car.

Toyota...

Most unreliable car I've ever owned? Toyota Land Cruiser. And not the flimsy little one, but the full-on 4.2 straight-six turbodiesel.

Which just goes to show, even the best have the odd Friday car and that what's right today is only as good as its [i]current[/i] track record.

Emissions laws will stymie the "car for life" idea IMHO. Plan for change. Change is good.

Given that the worst car I've ever had is still with us after 10 years, and just got through its MOT last week, I suspect anything will last 10-15. Saab 9-3 diesel. DMF, clutch, lots of springs, electrics - all had issues although none so expensive as to be terminal yet as most parts now seem to be OK priced.

Why not buy what you want to drive and just look after it?

"Change is[s] good[/s] expensive and unnecessary - and if it came to a japanese style age limit on cars - i'd find a way to go car free.

Hondas all the way , had 4 and not one ever caused me a problem

having had Fords I wouldn't buy one expecting it to last. My S Max is coming up on 8 years and has just needed the DMF and clutch replacing.

You know a clutch is a wear item, don't you? 🙄

So in 10 years time I'll be driving a petrol, manual Honda. Good to know!

Ironically I'm looking a 2012 Honda Jazz this week as a replacement for my wife's Touran.

Looks like I'm ahead of the game!

I have a 56 plate mk 5 Golf gti, owned from new and driven fairly 'enthusiastically' by me. I've done just shy of 100.000 miles and aside from routine servicing have only had two trips to a garage, for a smashed window after a break in, and for a broken suspension spring. Even with my bikes travelling inside the car the interior has held up amazingly well. My only ongoing concern is whether or not to have it chipped!!

You know a clutch is a wear item, don't you?

On a Ford maybe. In 20 years of driving bangers I've only ever needed one clutch replacing, and that was on a Fiesta. Current car is 16 years old and the original clutch shows no signs of wear whatsoever. I fully expect it will do another 5 years - if the car is still going then. This is the difference between something fairly average, and something so well engineered that even the 'wear items' are capable of outlasting the life of the car itself. Which I think is what the OP is looking for!

I would normally add Nissan to that list too, but a friend has had issues with his Qashqai.

I'm a big fan of Nissans, but they're half owned by Renault these days. I don't know what that equates to in terms of facts, but I can't imagine it is a good thing when it comes to reliability...

Prius - there were loads in Mongolia, driving around the battered roads, all surviving and the majority pretty old ones too.

Landcruisers as well, Lexus 570s last forever

You know a clutch is a wear item, don't you?

On a Ford maybe.

Had the flywheel thingie go on a Toyota before. Since it's a massive ball ache to get it all apart they said "you might as well have the clutch done at the same time".

Got rid of car...

You know a clutch is a wear item, don't you?

Ive had hondas now for the past 7 years, in that time I've serviced, had tyres and bought an exhaust due to damage from grounding.

My current Accord is 16 years old and is looking like it's at the point where it's going to have to go as it needs a couple of bushings,a wheel brearing, discs/pads all round and some CV boots etc. I could spend the 700 ish but as it's worth about 1000 it seems easier to get shot of it. It has been faultless for 40k miles but it's got 130k on it now and running gear is starting to go and many parts are Honda OEM and not cheap (wheel bearing is 280 fitted for example). I'm going for a CRV with around 80k on it should get one for about 3k and I'll expect at least 5 years trouble free out of it. Hondas are justifiably popular with tightwads like me as they just keep ticking with the minimal intervention. I use it as my family long distance, dog and bike carrier and have a small, new supermini for daily use..

digga - Member
...Emissions laws will stymie the "car for life" idea IMHO. Plan for change. Change is good.

I think this will trump all the other possibilities.

I went through the same thinking process after my last car-for-life started getting wonky (Volvo S80), and after looking at all the alternatives, I simply bought another.

I considered a hybrid, but I figure battery technology advances will obsolete anything currently around.

[i]My focus is 10 next year.

Still on the original front disk and pads at 85k it's that boring.[/i]

How is that even possible? Do you do mostly motorway driving and live close to the junction? 😕

My soon-to-be-ex-wife drives my old 2004 Hyundai Terracan. I reckon it's got a good 10 years left in it. The downside is high fuel costs in a 2.5tonne 2.9tdi brick!

Honda Jazz. Although my mum and elderly aunt drive one, therefore they're known to me as the Honda Spaz, they're bloody amazing cars for MTB/Surf functions. Simple petrol engine, what's not to like? Just grow a beard so no-one will know it's you and park round the corner.

Petrol Hondas were phenomenal. I had a 2.2 VTEC Accord to 234,000 miles and everything was sweet apart from the back end slowly rotting. Engine was absolutely amazing. Modern Hondas are just a bit well, crap really, which is a MASSIVE shame. We have a 10-year old Civic Type R and this is the first year we have had to spend any money on it other than dropping the oil - wheel bearing.

The most future proof car would have to be something like a Tesla (if you can change the batteries to the obviously more advanced ones the future will have). Diesels are dead any day now and any petrols without a small engine and a turbo will be following them (and I can't see them having any longevity anyhow).

Rockape - perfectly possible - somehow on my 234,000 mile Honda, I only ever changed the front discs once (I had it from 140,000 miles). I changed the oil and filter every 4000 miles because I'm pedantic too but that's all.

I think part of the issue isn't reliability but serviceability.

DMF/clutches mentioned above along with some other single high price items which, for an older car, may be uneconomical to repair (despite being something that usually would just be repaired). You're always going to get the odd thing or two wearing out in 10-15 years time, but as long as you can complete the journey with it broken and get it repaired at a reasonable cost, you're on a winner.

I'm going to just say my car (I hope) will be solid and reliable in 10-15 years, unless either of my kids has put it in a ditch by then.

With a bit of care I think any will. In '93 I bought a Clio which I kept for 10 years and swapped for a Berlingo which I kept for another 10 years. Neither gave me a spot of bother, one diesel, one petrol.

I only bought the Berlingo because I was doing more cycling and the Clio was a faff for fitting bikes in and only sold the Berlingo as Mrs B and I wanted a camper van (which is less practical then the Berlingo for bikes!). I expect to keep it 15-20 years.

Assuming petrol still exists a nice little series 3 Landrover. It won't be any more knackered than it was in 1970 and it will be just as repairable. Assuming of course that the nannie state lets us do such a thing.

Series 3 land rover? If you ou used it daily that steady stream of 'update/restore' money would be needed more regularly.

It's not 'reliable' just more basic.

Sadly cars are becoming more and more complex. Soon we'll see idrive failure writing off a perfectly usable BMW. ECU issues etc on other cars.

Petrol Berlingo
Aygo's?
Most(?) Pre-2010'ish Japanese car

Are on my list

One other thing to consider: Car clubs and taxis might just work out a ton cheaper, depending on your expected mileage. Off in the dim and distant future, there's also likely to be autonomous vehicles, so you can whistle up a car and just go. 10-15 years time, the market for cars might be quite different, and owning your own could be an even less affordable proposition.

A couple I know in London have ditched their car and gone for cabs, Uber and public transport, with occasional car club rental if needed. Admittedly, they're living a very urban life, but it works for them. They also can (and do) rent very, very nice cars for weekends away, and it all still ends up costing a shedload less per year than the Civic Type R (maintained to OCD levels of shininess, admittedly) they reluctantly sold on.

My X reg Accord is still going fine ,bought 2 years ago with 54000 on the clock now has 104000 on it .The best thing is that it cost £400

300TDI Defender thats been rebuilt onto a galv chassis with a galv bulkhead. Good for +50 years.
End of thread.

I see this has gone away from the OP, and become just a list of old cars that have done well. The question is, is there a car you buy today, brand new that will be around in 10-15 years and be considered reliable. The answer.......none. The phrase " they don't make them like they used too" has never been so apt today.

Hence a rebuilt Defender from one of the decent refurb places - new seats/interior trim, new/rebuilt oily bits, galved steelwork and electronic free engines.

http://www.landroverrestoration.com/1996-defender-90-refurbishment

andy8442 - Member
I see this has gone away from the OP, and become just a list of old cars that have done well. The question is, is there a car you buy today, brand new that will be around in 10-15 years and be considered reliable. The answer.......none. The phrase " they don't make them like they used too" has never been so apt today.

This.

You see a lot of manufacturers nowadays touting 10/15year anti corrosion warranties etc, the reason being they'll never be claimed on due to them being on the scrap heap by then anyway worthless because of expensive electronics,engine,gearbox faults.

Hence a rebuilt Defender from one of the decent refurb places - new seats/interior trim, new/rebuilt oily bits, galved steelwork and electronic free engines.

http://www.landroverrestoration.com/1996-defender-90-refurbishment

I've actually become aroused.

So to make it reliable your going to completely strip down a vehicle and change its chassis?

With that thinking you could keep any pre electronics car on the road indefinitely when it has your wallet at its disposal. 😉

The phrase " they don't make them like they used too" has never been so apt today.

It is starting to look like the Mid 90's - Early 2000's were the optimum time for vehicle longevity.

I've just been looking for a new-to-me banger, there seem to be countless suitable vehicles around. Loads of 10-12yo old cars still look pretty stylish, well beyond the traditional tatty A-B banger.

I'm thinking back to my Parents 1972 Ford Cortina which was scrapped at 6 years old, rusted to **** with two perforated wings before that.

Surely the best car for the future is the one you desire, far more likely to look after it and to have a car for a long time is surely better than to demand the natural resources for a new one every few years? If it is what you desire, you will look to fix it at a far higher cost than just a mode of transport. You'd ditch a Prius at every hint of a big bill, but a 911?

Reading this with some sadness as my 52 plate Mondeo TDCi sits forlornly on the street, with symptoms of a failed DMF. (Starter been failing to engage, now its a barely audible high pitched whizz from the starter).
182k miles, still (or did 🙁 )drive lovely.
£600-£700 to fix. 🙁

Fix, good for another 100k then.

Reading this with some sadness as my 52 plate Mondeo TDCi sits forlornly on the street, with symptoms of a failed DMF. (Starter been failing to engage, now its a barely audible high pitched whizz from the starter). 182k miles, still (or did )drive lovely. £600-£700 to fix.

Assuming it *is* the DMF and can be sorted for £700 its worth doing isn't it? Another car will cost you at least £700 plus a couple of weekends sourcing it.

"
So to make it reliable your going to completely strip down a vehicle and change its chassis?

With that thinking you could keep any pre electronics car on the road indefinitely when it has your wallet at its disposal. "

Not really .... how many new/OEM/Pattern parts do you see for sale for a vauxhall chevette ?

I propose a Nissan Micra K10. There are so many compared to everything else of that age. They go on forever, our local garage, a do everything garage and special tuning engineering workshop reckon it's the most reliable car they know of!

k10 ? where are they hiding them ? i have not seen one in the uk for donkeys

in west africa i see them by the bucket load - and nissan bluebirds, corollas , old peugeots ......everyone of them beyond ****ed.

Rarely see old hiluxes despite them being the car of africa in the laymans eyes. - see more old Range rovers - rarely see defenders or series. The most common modern car is the new toyota hilux or the mitsubishi pajero / baby land cruiser.

outofbreath - Member

I'm thinking back to my Parents 1972 Ford Cortina which was scrapped at 6 years old, rusted to **** with two perforated wings before that.

My grandad fixed that problem by replacing all the steel with isopon and chicken wire.

trail_rat - Member

k10? Where are they hiding them?

He'll mean K11.
Or he could have said MkII, like we all used to, when we all knew what we were talking about. 😆

This being stw I swapped my survivor of an A4 (1.9 tdi stil going strong with a new owner) after passed 200k possibly cos I got bored as much as anything for a Fabia which can be serviced with a hammer a pound shop diy kit and to date seems at least as bullet proof as the a4.

The amount of wealthy neighbours running them into double figure years also bodes well.

I have a 21 year old MX5 that I fully expect to still be going strong in another 10 to 15 years time.

I'm still driving around in a 1990 Mk2 Golf GTi. You can open the bonnet and see the engine rather than a plastic plate, it doesn't have a dash-mounted computer controlling its SatNav and air-con because it doesn't have ether. Or self-levelling headlights. Or an electrical sunroof. Or ABS. Because it doesn't have those either.

When bits break, which they do occasionally on a 25-year-old car, you just buy a new one - often a cheap pattern part made by the OE supplier and bolt it on and just carry on driving. If it does break down at the side of the road, the AA can often fix it instead of scratching their heads and transporting it to a garage.

The simpler the car, the longer it's likely to last. Oh, and bodywork that doesn't disintegrate helps too, how many Fiestas or Escorts from the 80s and 90s do you still see on the road?

Porsches and stuff I reckon.

Ive often though an earlyish 911 (galvanized body and air cooled engine) would make a practical bangernoics car if you didn't need the space.

It's been covered up there somewhere, but nothing you can buy today will be reliable in 15 years time, more sensors working to ever tighter tolerances with more legislation around them. (There is a possibility that some of the next gen stuff, sensor failure in the emissions control system will mean the engine is not even allowed to start).

The fact that a 10 year old toyota petrol is still going strong today means nothing, there will be almost nothing in common between the 2005MY car and the 2015MY car. Not even the nuts and bolts will be the same. Probably not even the toyota badge........

After a bit more thought the answer is a kit car.

There are different laws in different territories (Asia/U.S/Europe) but manufactures only have a responsibility to manufacture spare parts for a certain amount of time.

The vast majority of parts can be replaced or refurbished, so the longevity is probably down to the owners willingness to pay. Given that the average shelf life from showroom to scrapyard is 12 years there doesn't appear to much willingness.

I would suspect that one of the killers in the near future will be the big proprietary digital parts that control heating/ac/music/sat nav etc, the head units, not the sensors. These can cost five,six,seven hundred pounds to replace, never mind the labour costs. Then again it's hard to imagine a refurbishment industry around these.

Petrol Toyota
My RAV4 is 20 years old and still going strong.

I would have thought a Tesla Model S would be a safe bet for a fairly future proof car. It's ahead of the game already, mechanically simple and can be updated over the internet. There's a very good chance it will be kept up-to-date with future battery developments too.

Otherwise, something simple, ubiquitous and with a non-turbo petrol engine. Suzuki Jimny? It hasn't changed much since it was introduced in 1998 and lots of the early ones are still about. Mechanically robust, a couple of well documented issues but very reliable. It does mean you have to drive a silly small bouncy thing for 15 years though...

epicyclo - Member

After a bit more thought the answer is a kit car.

Good idea, in 10 years time it'll still be in bits in the garage.

My 20yr old Hilux turbo diesel is still going strong (touch wood), just sold a 16yr old VW T4 with zero faults.

Nothing rotary on the list would be my advice, My old RX7 was getting grumpy at 80k.

It's been covered up there somewhere, but nothing you can buy today will be reliable in 15 years time, more sensors working to ever tighter tolerances with more legislation around them. (There is a possibility that some of the next gen stuff, sensor failure in the emissions control system will mean the engine is not even allowed to start).

You sound like the sort of person who'd start a thread about buying a new car in case the other one went wrong at some uncertain point in the future. 😉 I disagree, it may have a couple of extra lights on the dash but I bet a statistically insignificant number of new cars will have terminal failure within that timeframe.

I didn't say terminal failure, i said reliable. There is a big difference between starting every time as opposed to needing a trip to the garage.

Current cars have a good few systems that might stop the car from running until they are replaced/repaired. Think Crank or Cam position sensors, but a dozen of them, all over the car. Next gen will be another step change (Euro 6C, Euro7 and so on.)

And it's not a "couple of extra lights on the dash" it's several hundred quids worth of emissions equipment (at cost, probably thousands at retail), thousands of hours of test and development all to support a stack of really really badly written environmental legislation (See the VW emissions cock up for evidence of that!).

FWIW, we run a 10 year old VW, not planning to replace any time soon, will wait until it dies, and a company car, which i get no say in the replacement of.

Sadly cars are becoming more and more complex. Soon we'll see idrive failure writing off a perfectly usable BMW. ECU issues etc on other cars.

I see this has gone away from the OP, and become just a list of old cars that have done well. The question is, is there a car you buy today, brand new that will be around in 10-15 years and be considered reliable. The answer.......none. The phrase " they don't make them like they used too" has never been so apt today.

Bull****

Have you ever driven a car from the 70's? I reckon mine costs about 50% more in 'stuff' as it takes in petrol (and by modern standards, it's a lot of petrol too). They were also (by modern standards) appallingly built, and used tech not far removed from a horseless carriage.

Ever driven a car from the 80's? It's not like the roads are still awash with Sierras and MK4 Escorts. The Japanese might have revolutionized reliability, but a lot of that was BECAUSE of EFI and ignition systems, not inspite of it. When was the last time you went out to your car to check the points? People moaned that some forks had 24h service intervals a couple of years ago "they're not fit for purpose, take 'em back", etc etc. Ignition points have a ~30 hour service interval! I kept a spare pair on my keyring!

90's? Maybe PD diesel engines had some kind of golden era if you ignore the health effects, but it's also the era that gave us the Rover/Honda K-series, catalytic converters that shook themselves to bits or got polluted by engine oil, and a whole heap of rust as chassis simply weren't built as well as the Japanese had shown us how to make the mechanical bits.

2000's? no much has changed since, My car's an '06 (an '03 model year) and TBH I can't see it dying of anything other than boredom before 2026 and mechanical the same bit's are still in the new version. 100,000miles killed a car in the 90's, it was bangernomics at that mileage, you can walk into a showroom these days and pay £10k for a car with 150,000-200,000miles on it!

Was driving the wife's '09 Kia Rio and had a bit of a Eureka moment. It exactly what we're talking about. Simple, no electric toys, loads of access space round the engine.

So far in 60k I've only done oil and brakes but both were trivial. No plastic tray hiding the engine.

Mind you, don't buy ours. The wife has no mechanical sympathy and regards driving it into things as perfectly aceptable.

Well, all things considered, I'm about to push the button on a Honda Jazz - initially for my wife and then as our only car when I look to go self-employed and become a one car household.

2013 Si model, 1.4i petrol engine, 5 speed manual box, pretty lacking in electronic wizardry really, 9500 miles on the clock and £7500.

I reckon that should see us through the next 10 - 15 years although, as pointed out by others, boredom of staying in one car terrifies me! Especially as I like changing my every 6 months or so (SH each time before someone cries "MintedJim" again).

I'm pretty good with a spanner and enjoy it too, but then as the mechanic I use to help me says "there's no loyalty from cars".

You know a clutch is a wear item, don't you?

Yes dear. I'm also aware the last two I had replaced cost closer £200 than £1500 (other work as well, but the clutch and DMF was a reasonable chunk of that). Most of my other cars I'd have scrapped at that, but it's low mileage and decent nick so still worth a bit for resale or as a driver.

Sounds like a decent choice Jim. If you don't need grunt to haul stuff (or kids) about the small petrol engines seem the best balance of economy and service/repair costs.

[b]push the button[/b] on a Honda Jazz

'push the button' is a phrase that usually makes my teeth itch, but about a Honda jazz, a contender for the most sensible grey car imaginable .... 😀

edit - hang on, you can actually do it...

[img] [/img]

I didn't even know it had a button! Result!

Bloody Touran has died again, fault code is stating P0321 which is the crank speed sensor implausible speed - which I replaced 300 miles ago. Gutted as it's actually a really good car.

I've spent the last 10 years working in Automotive Tier 1 manufacturing so cars are my bread and butter but god they're frustrating!

The phrase " they don't make them like they used too" has never been so apt today.

You're right - modern cars are so much better. There was a reason why Ford odometers only went up to 100,000 miles...

Bloody Touran has died again, fault code is stating P0321 which is the crank speed sensor implausible speed - which I replaced 300 miles ago. Gutted as it's actually a really good car.

ransos - Member

The phrase " they don't make them like they used too" has never been so apt today.

You're right - modern cars are so much better.

Incorrect.

There's no reason why they can't be though.
As is the modern way things don't last because they are designed not to. There's no money to be made if things last forever.
Planned obsolescence.

Defender, last chance

The fact they are still making the same model 30 years on means it should last

Bull****

Have you ever driven a car from the 70's? I reckon mine costs about 50% more in 'stuff' as it takes in petrol (and by modern standards, it's a lot of petrol too). They were also (by modern standards) appallingly built, and used tech not far removed from a horseless carriage.

Ever driven a car from the 80's? It's not like the roads are still awash with Sierras and MK4 Escorts. The Japanese might have revolutionized reliability, but a lot of that was BECAUSE of EFI and ignition systems, not inspite of it. When was the last time you went out to your car to check the points? People moaned that some forks had 24h service intervals a couple of years ago "they're not fit for purpose, take 'em back", etc etc. Ignition points have a ~30 hour service interval! I kept a spare pair on my keyring!

90's? Maybe PD diesel engines had some kind of golden era if you ignore the health effects, but it's also the era that gave us the Rover/Honda K-series, catalytic converters that shook themselves to bits or got polluted by engine oil, and a whole heap of rust as chassis simply weren't built as well as the Japanese had shown us how to make the mechanical bits.

2000's? no much has changed since, My car's an '06 (an '03 model year) and TBH I can't see it dying of anything other than boredom before 2026 and mechanical the same bit's are still in the new version. 100,000miles killed a car in the 90's, it was bangernomics at that mileage, you can walk into a showroom these days and pay £10k for a car with 150,000-200,000miles on it!

Lot of truth in this I think. First car I ever had was 10 years old and became so dangerous to drive because of the severe deterioration of structural points (namely the suspension struts, which moved literally inches when going into corners) that even my stupid 17 year old self took it home and never drove it again. These days 10 year old cars don't seem all that old, and the fact that you can still pay thousands for fairly average ones reflects that.

It seems that cars now are more refined and more reliable than ever. More than a decade ago many people were complaining cars were becoming too complex and impossible to work on with all their electrical gubbins. This hasn't really been the case in my experience. Having a car that is capable of telling you exactly what is wrong with it is a huge advantage.

I've no idea about current cars. It seems cars are becoming less serviceable, favouring fast and effective manufacturing processes over the future maintainability. But what product hasn't suffered from that over the years, and for many a car is a disposable item. I'm sure there'll still be some reliable motors around in 10 or 15 years time, but like always, they'll be from models and manufacturers lucky (or well engineered) enough not to experience any major common faults.

If anything kills ageing old motors, I reckon it'll be the law. Tightened regulations on emissions and safety. Especially in an age were we may be seeing the introduction of autonomous vehicles.

Just for balance...

[img][url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5684/22475587523_517b391413_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5684/22475587523_517b391413_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/Af6g8H ]image1[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/46022382@N08/ ]wagendeal[/url], on Flickr[/img]