Avg. miles brand new car

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Wed 7 Mar 2007 16:18
Avg. miles brand new car - Gabe
How many miles does the average brand new car do before things start going wrong? Am thinking of a japanese hatchback (Yaris or something similar). Cheers guys
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Wed 7 Mar 2007 16:28
Avg. miles brand new car - Armitage Shanks {p}
How long is a piece of string? There is no answer!
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Wed 7 Mar 2007 16:53
Avg. miles brand new car - Bouncy
Hi Gabe,

I purchased a Honda Accord back in '99 and sold it last year with a tad over 80k on the clock. Apart from the usual wear and tear items, tyres etc, it never missed a beat - in my opinion a great motor. I enjoyed living with the Honda so much that I replaced it with a CR-V which happily lugs round the Mrs, both kids, the dog and can even fit a Bouncy Castle in the back when my Renault van (newish) plays up !!!

Having said that, I think most brands of cars are good for a fair few miles (I know there are a few exceptions!) but the difference with the Accord was after 80k there were still no squeaks/rattles anywhere, the doors still shut with a solid thud and it still drove like new.

Steve.
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Wed 7 Mar 2007 21:51
Avg. miles brand new car - Happy Blue!
Several years ago (in 1996) I bought a 1993 Honda Accord which had 72,000 miles and a service stamp every 6,000 miles and 4 months. I sold it in 1999 having taken it up to 109,000 miles with only service items and a replacement radiator. It was sold to a minicab driver who drive it for a fair few more miles.

We have just (November 2006) sold a 1999 Subaru Forester which had 48,000 miles, The only thing to go wrong was the air-con condenser which got pierced by a stone (as did the Honda radiator!).



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Wed 7 Mar 2007 22:01
Avg. miles brand new car - Martin Devon
Renault van (newish) plays up !!!

Oh! you have renault van too

MD
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Wed 7 Mar 2007 22:15
Avg. miles brand new car - bristolmotorspeedway {P}
Since 1986 my Dad has had 4 Toyotas (2 brand new, 2 a few months old) and 2 Hondas (both brand new). In that time he has replaced one exhaust back box and nothing else bar consumables. Only one (a Mk1 Avensis) required any warranty work. My Mum has had 4 Toyota Corollas, all over 6 years old - I can't recall a single unexpected bill. Her current 91 Corolla drives and feels like a 3 year old car. Must say that the Euro-built stuff isn't a patch on the older Japanese-built ones for build quality, but they still seem reliable enough.
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Wed 7 Mar 2007 22:21
Avg. miles brand new car - cardriver
A firend has had carina for 14 years now and only item other than service stuff is one brake bulb.
On the other hand my brothers VW experience is posted on this site on the VW coils posting so I can see why you are considering Jap.
He is currently looking for an Avensis, i'm trying to persuad him to go Honda.
IMO Honda's are better engineered than most others. Channel 4 had the following to say:-

>>>Honda has an enviable reputation as an engineering-led company that sells nothing but very solidly designed and constructed cars (and motorcycles, and quad bikes, and lawnmowers...). The CR-V comes with a three-year, 90,000-mile warranty, and you'd expect the car to sail on for at least that long without any problems. It feels built to last.<<
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Thu 8 Mar 2007 00:00
Avg. miles brand new car - rtj70
Cannot comment on new Japanese vehicles but have experience of to VWs:

- VW Golf GTI 1.8T 1999 needed new gearbox from delivery with intermittent grinding noises. Also needed two new door locks and some turbo components replacing. Then also had driver's Recaro stripped down to fix some rubbing plastic that meant it squeaked all the time.

After the Golf was stolen after 6 months (so who knows what else would have gone wrong!):

- VW Passat Sport 1.8T needed a new turbo charger on day one - it sounded like a jet aircraft taking off... really. Garage said it was gearbox and swapped that at first and then admitted it was gearbox. Then the replacement locks again and a wistling through a hole in the door mirror that took 3 months of back and forth to resolve.

All in all new VWs in my experience had problems and sure if you're unlucky you could have any car with 0 miles with a problem.

The Passat went on to have more faults (failed air-con, airbag wiring) but then the current Mondeo has had three EGR valves fail, new clutch, common-rail injection leak, and numerous bushes go.... it is 3 and a bit years old though and done 49,500 miles.
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Thu 8 Mar 2007 10:11
Avg. miles brand new car - MVP
My father chopped-in his 14 year old Nissan Cherry 1.4 last year. Apart from service items and a new battery at 13 years, I think that was it.

Guess what make his new car is?
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Fri 9 Mar 2007 00:21
Avg. miles brand new car - Blue {P}
My 3 series is up to 8 years and 110K miles and there have been no major mechanical problems, yes the odd small niggle, but nothing baf.

My main problems with the car stem from trying to keep up with the bodywork which appears to have a bullseye on it to attract vandalism and accidents, but that's not really the car's fault, and I defy anyone to tell me that my car looks like a 110K miler! :-)

Blue
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Fri 9 Mar 2007 00:25
Avg. miles brand new car - DP
Focus TDDi LX 2002 - 1st (and only) fault at 60,000 miles - an irritating chirp from under the bonnet traced to a dry bearing on the auxiliary belt tensioner.

Megane 1.5 dCi 106 Dynamique 2005 - 1st fault at 3000 miles (traction control warning light flashing) and 2nd at 7000 miles (failed clutch switch for starting system). I handed the car back at 10k when I changed jobs, so can't comment beyond that.

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