As i tend to run my car for a long long time before changing,i was just wondering if anyone had advice on the best cars for corrosion resistance (standard steel bodied!) i.e current models/models up to 10 years. Are there any particular makes that stand out above the rest?
ta
Edited by Pugugly on 24/02/2009 at 23:26
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No contest on the worst .. MERCEDES !
Had a 2001 X reg rust bucket which they replaced piece by piece until I lost the will to live.
Having been promised this was so rare it was unheard of anywhere else in the western world, I bought an ML though not from a dealer. Yep, it's rusting away on the tailgate. Mind you, it is a 2004.
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Mercedes and Ford from very late 1990s to mid 2000s.
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My 2001 Skoda Octavia was fully galvanised, any stone chips on the bonnet just stayed as bare metal.
My current '97 Escort is the best car I have known for corrosion - it's corroding on both rear wheelarches and the bottom of most of the doors :-)
Dave TD
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Best car for resisting corrosion in my experience has been Volvo. Worst have been Ford Escorts.
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Seen any rusty Subarus ?
Me neither (except for one local old J-reg banger that looks like touch parking is the norm).
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Seen any rusty Subarus ?
Years ago I remember going to the NEC Motor Show and someone with a very early (and ugly) Subaru parked it in prime position in the car park to protest at Subaru and the size of the rust holes on what was only a 3-ish year old car. It was shocking.
Many modern cars (inc. Mercedes) are galvanised (fully or partly) and yes Mercedes did go through a phase of poor rust proofing in the mid 90s through to early 00s. PSA cars seem well rust-proofed - Mum has a 14-year old Xantia estate that has absolutely no rust.
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Seen any rusty Subarus ?
Seen any Subarus more than 5 or 10 years old?
They must all have crashed or blown their engines!
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Seen any Subarus more than 5 or 10 years old? They must all have crashed or blown their engines!
Yes loads around here. Not seen any rusty ones either despite being close to the sea. Other than modded ones, not heard of any blown engines but lets not let facts get in the way of a good bit of waffle.
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>>My 2001 Skoda Octavia was fully galvanised, any stone chips on the bonnet just >>stayed as bare metal.
I wish my 2002 Audi's galvanising was as effective. I have rust starting on the lips of both front wings. Audi say its due to stone chips being untreated and wont repair. Car has been in family since brand new and never had any paintwork anywhere near that area.
I agree with Ford though - we looked for a good Puma and gave up eventually. There are plenty of 2009 Ford KA's that will be quietly rotting away as well. Even seen rusty Focus's up to about 2004 as well - door bottoms and wheel arches on older ones.
Visually, Peugeot and Citroen seem to resist corrosion quite well, Renault less so.
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I have a Peugeot 406 Coupe, built in 1999. Not a spot anywhere. Mind you paint came with a warranty for 12 years
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French cars are generally excellent in this respect. See plenty of 10-15 year old 106s, 306s, Clios and Meganes/19s with no rust at all on visible panels. Friend has an H reg 205 that still has no visible rust. Good luck finding a Ford, Vauxhall or even a VW that's 20 years old and not suffering from tin worm anywhere that you can see.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 23/02/2009 at 21:38
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My 1990, H reg MX5 would appear to be rust free.
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My L reg Audi has no visible rust even with the touched up stone chips
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Ditto my M reg Volvo 940. Plenty of much older rust-free 740s around so I think it should last a while yet.
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Ford Ka and Pumas were surprisingly vulnerable
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I converted to Peugeots about 20 years ago. Since then I haven't seen any significant rust worse than a stone chip needing touch-up. To be fair, I don't think many 'modern' cars rust except after poor bodywork repair - any that do must have been real Friday jobs. The most recent vehicle I have suffered rust with was a Maxi, about 1977 I would guess.
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OK...my 1952 Jowett is rust free as well !
Ted
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Every Ford we have ever had seems to rot, my dads is now bubbeling above the wheel arch.
The worst car by far though was the Lada, I have a pic of it during its last year, it came out of the factory cream, by 10 years old it was orange and gray!
Best car for rust resistance was the Punto, it was 6 years old when scrapped due to an accident but not a spec of rust anywhere.
The Escort was not bad, I scraped the wheel arch rust off each year and treated it with K-Rust and hammerite, it never got any worse and the arches were solid even 5 years after the rust had started to set in.
My dads car history has been 2 X Morris Minors, 2 X Minis, 2 x Ladas, 1 x Punto, 1 X Escort and 1 x Fiesta.
My history has been 2 x Fiestas.
I think my dad would agree apart from the Punto the Morris Minors were the best cars in terms of rust protection, it was the engines which died on both. His other cars rust has usually killed them.
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.......... my 1952 Jowett .......
Is it a Javelin or a Jupiter?
Edited by L'escargot on 24/02/2009 at 03:54
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Is it a Javelin or a Jupiter?
>It's a Javelin, Snail.
Ted>
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No one seems to have mentioned Toyota. There aren't many rotten ones on the roads. Perhaps we still see them as the typical 70's Japanese rust buckets. Mine is almost 12years old with over 130,000 miles and there's a chap around the corner who has two rather old E30 versions from the late 70's.
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I saw a Taxi Avensis on the MOT ramp having welding work done once. Toyotas do rust, I think people just get bored of them before they can rust [sorry!].
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This is a subject dear to my heart. (Dear to my wallet as well, I suppose.)
I've owned 3 cars, a Citroen which didn't rust, and two Fords (a Fiesta and a Ka), both of which had severe rust by the time they were 5 years old.
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The French-cars-are-rubbish brigade is conspicuously silent in this thread - quite the reverse, in fact ...
:-))
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>>quite the reverse, in fact ...
Yes, rust is the least of your worries!
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> Rust is the least of your worries!
I have no worries, N-C, based on my last 20 years' experience - only based on contributions to this forum ...
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Ha! Maybe I should start a "Whats the worst and best cars for electrics" threads! I have nothing against French cars though :).
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Mid-nineties Escort. A work colleague had one that needed welding for its first MOT!
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I was given a 1989 Suzi SWB 1600 Vitara by someone who'd lost interest in it. It was rotten all over, even the chassis. The body looked good on the outside. It had a dealers name on the number plate from a seaside town in Ayrshire so I guess it lived in sea spray. I kept welding it, the tester kept failing it, chucked it away in the end...great engine tho' My current LWB TD hasn't got a spot of rust, even at 15 yrs of age.
Ted
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seen plenty of ka's with rust around the rear wiper washer and they were not even 3 years old!
My old focus used to rust around the door mirrors but that was a common problem of the mirror vibrating onto the door housing and rubbing the paint off thus causing rust.
Mother in laws merc SL - only done 16k miles on a W plate and the roof is rusting. Not bad for a £69k car !!
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