What low mileage expectations you all have! I bought my Volvo Torslanda with 180,000 miles on the clock. It has just passed 330,000, and still runs well. The engine has had no attention apart from regular oil and filter changes.
The car is in daily use on an 80-mile round commute.
I don't think that is exceptional - I have heard of later Volvos doing over 400,000 miles just like their predecessors. The record for a 240 currently stands at about 800,000 miles, and the World record (P1800, like the Saint) is 2.5 million.
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I drove an MB W126 300 SE earlier this year, when looking for one myself. With no engine rebuild and not even a gasket replaced, it had done 370k and was as sweet as a nut. Significantly, its oil had been changed at 6k intervals on the dot and, of course, it had seen 50k a year regularly.
I had no qualms buying a similar car with 130k on the clock.
In the 1970s you got shot of cars when they breached 50k. These days, 100k is surely early middle age at worst. With regular servicing and oil changes most modern cars should surely be good for 200k. But there's the rub: how many of them enjoy regular servicing and oil changes throughout their life? I've heard enough reports of cars being found short of several litres of oil, etc., to reckon that there's a lot of neglect out there. And I have to say that, full MB service history notwithstanding, the lubricant that came out the back axle of my W126 looked as if it had never been changed (main-dealer servicing . . . pah).
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I have some early fifties copies of Autocar where a 30,000 mile engine rebuild is taken for granted in articles about various Austins and Morrisis(Morrisi?).My own car is a mere stripling showing just over 4,000,second time round of course,second engine too.
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kevls, if your Golf is a Mk3 (which I assume it is), my girlfriend has had some relevant experience, as we recently sold her L-reg 1.4CL.
The car was bought from the original owner in 1998 with 55,000 miles on the clock, and when sold in October it had 141,000 miles on the clock. All on the original engine, gearbox, clutch and exhaust (except the back box).
Only expenditure over that period, apart from servicing by the book (and, towards the end, an oil and filter change every 5000 miles as well) and other expected consumables such as tyres, was a new exhaust back box last winter (the old one literally fell off one day), and then £500-worth of cooling system-related expenditure (thermostat housing, head gasket and waterpump), caused primarily by a crack in the thermostat housing going unnoticed until too late and the head gasket blew.
When it was sold, the car was running exactly the same as when purchased - it sounded a little diesel-like at cold idle, but then so does it's replacement, a 2001 Skoda Fabia 1.4 16V.
So, regular servicing (including frequent oil changes) would be my recommendation, plus the type of use you give the car helps - my girlfriend is a mobile hairdresser with at least a 75-mile round trip each day, so everything has time to warm up properly.
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thanks to you r welfare and everyone for the replies. i get my cat serviced 6000 miles at a local garage, my vw golf is mark 3 hardly burns any oil. engine very quiet and still feels solid as the day it came off the production line.
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and then £500-worth of cooling system-related expenditure(thermostat housing, head gasket and waterpump), caused primarily by a crack in the thermostat housing going unnoticed until too late and the head gasket blew.
Yes keep an eye on the thermostat/ cooling system. I had a K-reg Golf 1.8 CL and the head gasket went and the head cracked at about 75k miles.
Instead of a new head I took the risk of having it welded and skimmed; saved a couple of hundred quid and it was fine for another 20k miles, then I sold it.
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"a 30,000 mile engine rebuild is taken for granted"
Indeed. It's interesting to speculate what changes have wrought such improvements. I imagine that it's a combination of metallurgy and petrochemistry (both fuel and oil), but I'm guessing, and there may be some unsung advance that should be credited. Possibly improvements in machining and/or engine design, now that stresses and strains can be precisely computed, although I should think that mostly optimises material use, rather than improves longevity.
Maybe filters have improved, too - IIRC, air filters used to be wire wool dipped in oil...
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