Good luck,gd management or gd Toyota ? | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Sat 4 Oct 2003 15:04

Good luck,gd management or gd Toyota ? - Bob the builder

Or a mix of all three ?? ......Forgive me for feeling rather smug. My run-out model (Oct 97) 2.0l top-of-the-range Toyota Carina CDX has just sailed thru its latest MOT. At 81K miles it's still on original clutch,gearbox,exhaust,battery, pads and shoes (yes really). I had it new from a supersite for £12K. In 6 yrs it's had three Mobil 1 oil changes (DIY) per year, a cambelt change at 54K and is on its third set of Michelin tyres. It's had one new headlamp bulb, a new backlight of the dash clock, and a few sets of wipers.Apart from the cambelt change and MOTs, it's never been near a garage. Nothing has dropped off or gone wrong. My oil changes (French supermarket Mobil 1 @ £19 a tub and filters £3 apiece) I reckon have cost me £400 over 6 yrs. The cambelt change cost £120. Wiper blades and bulbs, say £40. The car has all the bells & whistles and has carted a family of five plus assorted trailers all over Europe. The local taxi firm would gladly still give me £2K+ for it. Cheap motoring or what ? An "old man's car", acceleration akin to a London bus, and a design out of date maybe ! But what a car ! So, B/roomers, have I just been lucky ???

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Sat 4 Oct 2003 19:30

Good luck,gd management or gd Toyota ? - Hugo {P}

Just you wait till someone writes it off for you!

Hugo

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Sat 4 Oct 2003 20:31

Good luck,gd management or gd Toyota ? - nick

Well, Bob, I'd say a bit of luck, but mainly a good choice of car and good servicing. Run-out models are usually a good choice, the problems have been ironed out and they usually have all the bells and whistles in order to shift them. Are you going to keep it until it goes pop?

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Sat 4 Oct 2003 21:02

Good luck,gd management or gd Toyota ? - Aprilia

Not untypical of many Japanese cars, I would say.

My wife's Primera is a similar example to your Toyota. Its an April 98 car, so 6 months newer than yours. Still on original discs and pads.

Its only had:

Replacement rear seatbelt retractor (at 2 years old, under warranty).
2x coolant changes.
2x set wiper blades
1 set new tyres
Oil and filter 2x each year (GM synthetic at £2 a litre)
Few air filters and fuel filters
Annual brake fluid change.
1 Pair front indicator bulbs (the yellow coating faded).

All done DIY. Very cheap motoring, I would say.
Its never failed to start, misfired or misbehaved and its never garaged - always stands outside. At last MoT HC was 50ppm and lambda = 1.00.

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Sun 5 Oct 2003 12:02

Good luck,gd management or gd Toyota ? - Bob the builder

Well Nick, I just don't know !! Being a tight-fisted northerner, I like cheap motoring. To replace what I've got, with similar and all the bits on, a new motor -say Mondeo - would set me back around £12-14K. Now I haven't got £10K sloshing around in my bank a/c doing nothing !! So, I can go into debt (which I don't like) or tootle around in my trusted Carina until either someone writes it off (thanks Hugo !) or bits begin to drop off. Talking to other Toyota owners, that's usually somewhere around 150K miles !!!! Cheers, Bob

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