I mean your daily driver, not something that was a second car for occasional use.
Longest - Mondeo 1.6 diesel, six and a half years before it went to the scrapman after I added 100k to the 70 it arrived with.
Shortest - Rover 20, bought to replace the Mondy for a heady £300 and scrapped after one week when the head gasket went.
|
Total time - about 15 hours.
I picked it up at about 5pm. Got home, realised that the brand new car was, in fact, a just superseded model. Returned it at 8am. With a letter, not a nice letter, but a letter. Stopped the cheque.
Bit of huffing and puffing, but they swallowed.
|
|
Current car..(Golf 2.0 TDi DSG) bought new in 2006, maybe change for another new car in a couple of years depending on cash flow.
|
Longest I've kept a car which I owned as was "my" car; I think it was the Phaeton at 2 years ish.
If we can we count motorbikes? I totalled a brand new Honda 250 driving it home from the dealers.
|
Nissan Almera (N16 1.5 petrol - I couldn't find a 1.8). Nine years. It knocked into a cocked hat the Focus it replaced.
The boot space easily accommodated MIL's wheelchair the Focus couldn't.
It easily out-handled the Focus it replaced.
It didn't cost any where near the £1K the diseasal Focus did for a replacement injector pump.
If anyone can point me in the direction of a rot-free 1.8, petrol, manual, Almera, I'll probably buy it, if it's reasonable!
|
Ever wondered how accurate Wikipedia can be.... how's this for a recent edit on the Ford Focus Mark 1:
"Ford of Europe introduced the Focus in 1998 to the European market as a replacement for the Ford Escort. The decision to name the new car the "Ford Focus" was made in early 1998, as Ford's senior management had been planning to keep the "Escort" nameplate for its new generation of small family cars. In 1997, the car has been widely used as a mobil stall to sell crispy chicken rendang in Europe. A last-minute problem arose in July 1998 ...."
Clearly a reference to the MasterChef chicken rendang debacle.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Focus
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 8 Apr 18 at 23:24
|
Longest; Citroen C8 bought new in October 2004. Still running OK. Completely failed to replace it with Jag XF (or S-Type) last year.
Shortest; Vauxhall Victor sold about 10 days after I bought it in '73 or '74; I bought a nearly new Fiat 128 Rallye on impulse. I don't buy cars on impulse any more ...
|
|
Master van. 16 years and counting. Shortest - can’t remember!
|
|
Come to think, the one we've kept the longest so far is my wife's Qashqai, 8 years and counting. Looked at another way though, I've kept quite a number for fewer years, but for a lot of miles. Never quite managed to go over 200,000 without bottling out, but I do know people who have.
|
At risk of repeating myself here, but my current Japanese barge is getting on 16 years old.
Shortest would have been a Wolseley 6/80 at around 18 months, and it was off the road most of that time.
|
|
What's yours CS ? ( you don't often hear that from a Scotsman by the way ) ;-)
|
Shortest - Renault 16 Company car, 1978 3 months - written off after being in middle of 5 car nose/tail shunt on M1 when driver at front in lane 3 thought "I want to get off at that junction" and stopped suddenly.
Longest Cortina estate started as company car, bought after 2 years & run 3 more.
All other cars have been company cars replaced at lease end every 3 or 4 years
Wife & daughter do better on that front
Wife 1st Golf, Mk 2, ex demo bought at 6 months old when oldest son was 4, passed to him when he turned 17, passed to little brother 3 years later, sold after 2 years making 18 years.
Wife's 2nd Golf,, mk 4, bought new March 2001 still in use at 125k + miles 17 years later.
Daughter's car, also Golf Mk 4, was my mother's last car, bought new September 1999, inherited by daughter in 2011 on 36k miles, still in use at 76k miles nearly 19 years later.
Wife & daughter emotionally attached to cars, will be terminal event before either changes.
Then of course the Commer was Father in law's, bought 18 months old in. 1976, bought buy us 1988 but "weekend" cars are excluded.
|
My wife's previous daily driver was a 99 Astra 1.6 8v, which she kept for 16 years. OK it was our second car but she used it for her short commute for all that time.
Hardly ever went over 3-5 miles a day - plus a once a month Italian tune up by me. Annual oil changes. Short journey problems? None, only a couple of exhausts in all those years and the engine still ran very quietly when we sold it and bought our son's 2010 Corsa from him. Bad decision...... no way will it run for 16 trouble free years.
The Astra is still shown as Mot'd, doing about 10k per annum since we sold it.
Shortest series were in my early company car days when cars were changed at 45k. Had a J reg Rover 1.4, a K Cavalier Diplomat 2.0 petrol and an L reg Mondeo 2.0 petrol. I was so glad to stop that 200 mile round trip a day commute!
|
Shortest: Porsche 911 (996) 6 months. I just didn't gell with the car. And if you're not enjoying a car like that there's no point in owning it. I didn't even need to wash it during my tenure as all the mileage was in the dry!
Longest: 2CV - 15 years and counting. But as this is not a daily driver I don't think it should really count. The longest daily driver we have had was a Citroen C8. Bought new in 2003 and sold in 2013.
|
>> Shortest: Porsche 911 (996) 6 months. I just didn't gell with the car. And if you're not enjoying a car like that there's no point in owning it.
What's that thing about "never meet your heroes" ? I'll almost certainly never own a 911, so to me they will always be the one I should have. Probably best if it stays that way. ( I keep telling myself ) ;-)
|
About half an hour. Without proper consultation, in about 1981/2, I bought a circa 1977 3 litre Ford Granada Automatic. I got it home and my consultant blew a fuse. She told me to take it back! I did.
I knew the seller, a dealer, pretty well so he accommodated me.
SWMBO must have had a crystal ball as the car had a major gearbox failure in the hands of the next owner.
Longest - the 10 years we kept our much loved Skoda Fabia 1.9 Tdi. Bought new in Marbella and part exchanged, privately, for a SEAT Alhambra tdi for our return to the UK.
Last edited by: Roger. on Mon 9 Apr 18 at 19:17
|
46 yrs and counting. No longer in everyday use but insured and road legal. Motorcycle about 23 yrs now. Modern bike 15 yrs. All still here.
|
>> What's that thing about "never meet your heroes" ? I'll almost certainly never own a
>> 911, so to me they will always be the one I should have.
>>
The Boxster S that preceded the 911 was far more enjoyable - like chalk and cheese. I should never have sold it but we needed a new kitchen(!!!). If you want a Porsche, a Boxster/Cayman is what you want!
|
Driving down the A65 yesterday towards Skipton a newish 911 was heading in the opposite direction. With a bike rack on top with two bikes. I immediately thought of Runfer and how much he would enjoy that.
I’ve never driven a 911, but ‘looked after’ a friends ‘05 Boxster 3.2 when he was overseas for extended periods. Very different to my 330 convertible which I had at the time, although they were a similar age.
I really like the look of the Cayman, but my manky hip, elderly Mother, and occasional need to carry lots of gear and passengers rule it out.
Trip computer on Barbie mobile currently showing 28mpg, even 29 on occasion, and that’s not pussyfooting around, albeit open road motoring and no city driving.
Last edited by: legacylad on Fri 13 Apr 18 at 09:48
|
A 911 with bike racks does sound fun. Fundamentally flawed though. No tailgate to open so you can sit on't back step to eat your lunch.
Now, a Panamera estate might cut it. ;-)
Actually, I've already chosen my "money no object" all rounder, it's the new E Class estate all terrain.
Guess I'd better get that lottery ticket bought eh?
|
|
Isnt it an old man trait to keep choosing a string of cars of the same type and make? bit like M&S slippers syndrome?
|
Probably, just trying to decide if that bothers me...nope...I'm cool with it.
;-)
|
|
Your dad thought he was cool too.
|
It's a good place to be.
;-)
|
22 Citroens, age 65, slippers yes. Is there any hope?
:-))
|
I disagree about cool Runfer I'm afraid
Cool is in the eye of the beholder ( think Top Gear cool wall).
They are French and therefore quirky rather than cool IMO and build quality not great.
Why do I say this?
My shortest time of ownership was a Citroen BX..just under 20 hours before it was returned in a cloud of black smoke to the main agent for a refund .
Longest was a VW Polo saloon which I kept for 18 years.
|
|
A 10yr old 1966 Viva HB 1159cc auto. What were we thinking... sold after a week.
|
|
My son has just told me about his pal ( they're 18 ) who bought an old Yaris yesterday morning for not very much, spent yesterday afternoon deciding he hated it, and sold it last night to another friend. That sort of thing was not uncommon in my youth but seems less so now.
|
What's The Longest/Shortest You've Kept A Car? - Duncan
