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I wondered if the other one might be HJ.
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People molly-coddle cars.
The difference between my oil-changing routine ? whenever I get around to it ? and somebody else?s is about £1,000 on a 150,000 mile car.
The difference between my servicing routine ? when its not running right ? and somebody else?s is about £2,500 on a 150,000 mile car.
And don?t tell me there?s £3,500 difference in the value of a car I sell at 150,000 miles and one with a perfect, or better than perfect, service history, because there isn?t.
I certainly hear of more people who lose their cars in an accident than who stuff up their cam belts.
I only lift the bonnet if the screen wash needs refilling and it can take me weeks to get around to that.
I own no car cleaning products whatsoever and if they really need mud shifting off them they get a car wash or a jet wash and can live with it.
I frequently start them for 10 seconds, move them around the drive and then switch them off again ? I?ve not had one fail to restart yet.
I?ve not had a car engine die on me since about 1980 when a Horizon I bought with dodgy big-ends for £25 finally let go after a further 15,000 miles.
I?ve had nothing rust on me since a 1976 Lancia Beta.
There is no chance of any balancing, tracking or anything else happening unless one or more tyres is being changed at the same time, yet I?ve not suffered from uneven wear or vague steering in 20 years - and you know when the brake need changing because they make horrible screeching noises.
I wouldn\'t know a dodgy damper if you hit me around the ear with one, and as far as I know I\'ve never had one.
Exhausts have their own special unique way of announcing when they need to be changed and you have a temperature gauge which will mention it if your using water.
Tyre pressures get checked at whatever service station I?m near when I have a) damn near run out of petrol and b) remember that one or more of the tyres looked a bit soft, yet again, I?ve not suffered from uneven wear or vague steering in 20 years.
I don?t waste time trying to fix something which is not broken, and which experience seems to show me is not likely to break.
And since I rarely sell a car with less than 100,000 miles on the clock and in fact the last had 160,000 miles on the clock, I have saved myself a fortune in expense, hours in time and endless frustration in effort and coordination.
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And since this is a subject I hit from time to time, here are some more of my sane and coherent discussions on the subject from a couple of years ago;
My cars get serviced when something doesn't work or they don't run right; they get an oil change if and when they get a service; virtually any noise can be ignored or covered by increased cd player volume and you get used to it in time anyway; the brake discs would need to be in pieces before they got renewed; the punctured tyre gets replaced on its own, the others can get used to it and who gives a stuff what angle the steering wheel is at as long as the thing goes in straight lines, except when you would prefer it turned corners; as long as the car is level and not making bangs, then the suspension is clearly ok; if it gets a wash, which frankly isn't that likely, it'll get the nearest, convenient automatic car wash and be grateful for it; it gets petrol from whichever pump I stopped next to from whichever gas station I happened to be near when the fuel light started flashing; and if I need to start it cold, move it 2 ft and switch it off again it can damn well get over itself and start again when I need it whether the cat likes it or not.
I think we worry too much. Its not like they're worth a groat after 5 years anyway.
And then we get upset with other drivers. I don't care if they keep their foot on the brake in traffic, my pupils are built to protect my retina, I don't mind if they driver slower than I want to, I just overtake them at some point; there's no point in jumping up and down about traffic jams, it only amuse the kids in the next car;
Personalised plates don't bother me, not that I have one; baseball caps backwards look uncomfortable, but they don't bother me. Speed cameras don't bother me, I just drive carefully in their vicinity.
I strongly suspect that two-jags, Tony Blair and the entire police force do not even know I exist and probably are not conspiring against me.
It doesn't have an air-freshener, it doesn't have any bits fitted to it that it wasn't born with; I neither love it nor hate it; I have absolutely no idea what it does to the gallon, on the basis that its going to do it anyway and my knowing about it doesn't make it feel guilty and do a little more; I have no idea what it does 0-60 and it might well be slower than next-doors, I wouldn't know;
I check the tyre pressures when one of them looks flat or the car wanders; I fill the windscreen washer when its empty, and i gets no cleaner, you just leave your windscreen wipers on longer and it scrapes the dirt off; on a cold day I start it, leave it running and go back in for more coffee and another cigarette;
It may well have a warning triangle, I've never looked and goodness knows whether or not it has any tools, I wouldn't use them if it did have. I am sure its got a spare wheel, but I have to admit I've never seen it, or the jack for that matter, its probably under the boot floor;
I have no idea what oil it should use, although I know what it does use and I suspect Tesco sell loads of it; And it gets shopping trolley dings, but so what, you can;t see them through the dirt anyway.
And, touch wood, it hasn't broken down, failed to start or done anything particularly weird and I do *loads* of miles. And my last car was taken over by my cousin and that's still going.
I think cars are a darn sight tougher than we give them credit for.
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Now I'm *really* glad I didn't buy your Omega estate, Mark. (Great big :-) to be taken with that, btw)
V
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I'm watching National Geographic channel at the moment (Air Crash Investigations) praying that the plane I'll be in on Tuesday hasn't been maintained at "Mark's Aircraft Services" ;-)
Kevin...
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Mark's wisdom seems largely pretty sensible to me. Cars are there to do for us what we want them to do.
I think I'd disagree on the cam belt. It is a *fact* that a rubber belt will not do 200000 miles over 20 years in the gruesome environment that is an engine. It is not a fact that a car will end up in an accident. A car where the engine is worth something is worth changing the belt on. A car where it isn't, is only worth changing the belt if you don't want to break down somewhere.
And I once hired an ancient Orion that suffered a cam belt failure at 7pm on a Thursday evening between Newcastle & its airport. & the AA wouldn't come to rescue me as the hire company's membership had run out... Cambelt failure is about the only instant catastrophic failure that a modern engine is likely to suffer.
But this faces me with a dilemma. My car cost £750. Service interval for belt is 80k. It was done 55k ago according to the service book. But Haynes recommends every 40 or 60k. The previous owner thought he'd had it done - but no history as it all goes to his accountant. It will cost £300 to change the belt. Do I do it, or do I not? I think it's the reliability issue that is going to get me & so I shall.
And I disagree on tyre pressures. A tyre that is visibly soft gives rise to dreadful handling. Mine get checked whenever I fill up with petrol when I'm not in a hurry - so about every 3 weeks, I suppose.
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And I disagree on tyre pressures. A tyre that is visibly soft gives rise to dreadful handling. Mine get checked whenever I fill up with petrol when I'm not in a hurry - so about every 3 weeks, I suppose.
And do you allow for temperature varients? Handbooks suggest checking the pressures cold - which isn't the case when you're at the garage forecourt.
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And do you allow for temperature varients? Handbooks suggest checking the pressures cold - which isn't the case when you're at the garage forecourt.
...which is why I spent a total of £30 on pressure gauge and plug-it-in-the-fag-lighter compressor. The ability to check and inflate your own tyres independently of garage forecourts is oddly liberating.
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>>And do you allow for temperature varients? Handbooks suggest checking the pressures cold - which isn't the case when you're at the garage forecourt.
Oh yes it is... 90 seconds at 20mph isn't going to make a material difference to my tyre temperatures.
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It is a *fact* that a rubber belt will not do 200000 miles over 20 years in the gruesome environment that is an engine.
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can you please enlighten us as to where you got this *fact* from ?
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Err... where's that coat?
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