old cars and new cars

Matt82

Matt82

Matt82

Soldato
Joined
13 Mar 2004
Posts
16,649
on this board there is a good split between those tho swear by old tech cars and those who wouldnt live without new tech.

i just wanna know why youre in either camp to see people's thinking

for me i prefer older. i like the stuff that i saw as "cool" when i was going up. newer cars seem to detach you from the experiance of driving IMO. i need to tinker with stuff too and because its cheap you dont have to care about it so much. when ive had dear cars in the past i used to worry endlessly about bad things happening... with a cheap snotter you can dump it anywhere and if the worst case happens its not too heart breaking

newer cars are easier to live with though
 
If you have to drive from A to B every day for work then a new car wins every time. However, driving for the sake of driving, generally old cars are better, unless you can afford some of the more serious new stuff.
 
On the whole older cars are easier to work on and do stuff yourself on. Parts are often cheaper too, and you can usually buy a secific componant rather than the whole assembly.
 
I don't like old cars as they smell of dog, creak and rattle and unless you are a concourse enthusiast, begin to look shabby. They also lack important features.
 
My car doesn't smell of dog, creak or rattle, and is slowly starting to look tidy due to hours of tinkering.

Saying that, if I crash at speed I am doomed.
 
Well, there's "old" and then there's "really old"

I don't mind old cars at all, in fact, a few of the old cars I have owned have been very high specced both in terms of gadgets and engine and have been 15+ years old. None creaked particularly, smelled, or fell apart, just required maintenence as expected.

I wouldn't be able to live with a very old car on a day to day basis though. Weeeknd car, sure!

By very old I'm talking considerably older than 15 years - mechanical eveeything and cruise control was but a dream.
 
Brand has a big impact too, over the last 5 years ive owned my current 1997 Honda Prelude SiR, a 1994 Toyota Supra TT, a 1996 Honda Prelude Si-Vtec, and a 1995 Proton (Mitsibishi) Persona. In that time nothing needed fixing, service was done on schedule and tyres were replaced as needed.

In the last 5 years my mother has had to spend more fixing her 2001 Rover 75 than I spent buying my 1997 Honda and the Rover is starting to rust, my fathers 2002 Volvo S80 currently has a four figure bill looming to pass the MOT, my friends 2003 Citroen Saxo became an uneconomical repair in 2009 and to top it all off another friend bought a brand new Hyundai Coupe in December last year for more than I originally Paid for my Supra TT, it has less 'toys' than my current Honda, it cant keep up when I boot it, and its had to visit the garage twice for repairs.
 
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I like A/C Climate Control Cruise Control Electric Windows CD Plaper Intermittent Wipers Decent Headlights Airbags ISOfix points, all of which are hard to find let alone find working in older cars.

If I had a weekend / garage car to polish and bring out on sunny days then it'll be a Alfa Romeo Spider then I wouldn't care about the above, but as I drive in the sopping rain on the M25 my first points count more.

In the 110k miles my Mazda has done all it's needed was a clutch and a £20 A/C pipe and a regas, my 1984 Escort 1.3l did 80k and it ended up as a rusty wreck that eat wheel bearings, had a clutch or two, blew a headgasket and genrally needed constant maintenance.

If you think that a modern car will only need service items up to 100k then i think it's no comparison if you need the car every day
 
I do like the mod cons of new cars, but I'm seriously considering going back to a 40-50 year old beetle or 20-30 year old golf if the right car at the right price comes along.
 
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The only electronic safety feature my car has is ABS (unless you count an air bag as well?) and I've been very tempted to disable it on several occasions.
 
Henry8601 said:
If you have to drive from A to B every day for work then a new car wins every time. However, driving for the sake of driving, generally old cars are better, unless you can afford some of the more serious new stuff.
Click to expand...

Can't say much more than that really. IME older cars seem to have more character, especially cars from the '80s!

Yes, they can rattle a bit and are far behind today's standards, but who cares? You're usually having too much fun driving to care about the quality of the plastics of the door handles etc!

If I had a long commute I'd really want modern comforts and gadgets though.
 
Depends, I much prefer an older car as a 'toy' because they are just so much more fun to drive than newer cars, you actually feel like you are part of the driving experience compared to the largely disconnected feel of newer cars.

However, for a sensible, daily family drive then newer cars win out. Generally newer cars are more comfortable, better equipped and just an all round better proposition.
 
What are we classing as new btw? I think I'd class most cars released around a max of 5 years ago as new, although I've never really given it much thought.
 
I prefer older cars from a driving point of view, imo, theres many electronic "aids" that actually detract from the driving experience.

That said, I'm happy my 328i has ABS. Not too bothered about lack of traction control etc.

As for HGV's, the more aids the better!!!
 
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