What determines "End of life" with cars?

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by Vesper Martini

There is in fact a regular contributor on this forum that loves his - just don't refer to it as a Deawoo

That's probably me that you are referring to. Yes, we have 3 in the family, one V6 & two 4-cyl, two of them with over 200,000 km on the clock. I wouldn't have a Diesel (any brand) as a gift.

I am in the trade (repairs & parts) & most of the dramas we see with Captivas are with the early ones, Series IIs are a much superior car (as it is with many brands I guess).

There are far worse cars on the market than Captivas, where do I start ?

Dr Terry

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

That's probably me that you are referring to. Yes, we have 3 in the family, one V6 & two 4-cyl, two of them with over 200,000 km on the clock. I wouldn't have a Diesel (any brand) as a gift.

I am in the trade (repairs & parts) & most of the dramas we see with Captivas are with the early ones, Series IIs are a much superior car (as it is with many brands I guess).

There are far worse cars on the market than Captivas, where do I start ?

Dr Terry

Calling a series II superior is like saying a turd sandwich is better than a giant douche. They are without fail the worst quality car introduced into the australian market in the last 2 decades. By far. I have known 3 people who owned one, and every single one of them was hot garbage, plagued by problems.

There are probably about a handful of ones built that weren't absolute junk. They should put them in a museum or something.


My missus car, which I mentioned earlier, is a late 2014, which is I think even further on than series II. I'm wondering how many litres of petrol is a good starting point for a bbq.

[Sprintey]

Something I read here (maybe Franco wrote it) about the bangers being taken off the roads - got me to have a look at the 90s Fords on gumtree. There's some really good original cars that are absolute bargains, tho more of the 'common garden variety' stuff.

EB-D XR8s have gone up to cray cray money (a few years ago, auto with 150k could be had for 5k, now asking up to 40). Goodness knows what a sprint is worth.

Pannelys have survived and ask more

If only I had more space! Original Fairmonts are inexpensive and they are really pleasant cars... Can still get rough XR6s in the 4-5k, at the time they shaded the XR8... Some of these deserve to be saved from 'end of life'

[asagaai]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Funny you bring that to the conversation. When I met my ex-mrs she had the exact same car, but in 1.5 auto.

The thing was an absolute wreck when I met her... mis firing engine, body dented to the clapper, you unlocked the passenger door by giving it 3 hard hits just below the door handle, dodgy brakes, leaking exhaust etc. Didn't even have 100k on it.

She didn't care for it one bit, parked it anywhere, passed it around to all her friends. Didn't have an airbag either if I recall.

Her father proudly driving around in a brand new BMW that was always kept in showroom condition. I just couldn't get how a father could blindly allow their only child drive around in such a dangerous heap.

My second daughter was given a good condition Mazda 3 with only 98,000 km on it, fully serviced, few minor paint scratches on rear bumper etc, but really a good car.

She had just finished high school, was not working a lot an d drifting, partying with the dregs, coming back home all hours, drinking, taking god knows what -and was uncontrollable. Really rocky times....

Anyway, one night she was out driving with her bottom of barrel dreg mates and crashed the front of the car into a pole, next morning said oh it was only a small accident. I had a look and the front bonnet was crumpled at front, with a broken front grille.

I popped the bonnet and there was rather massive damage to the front internal bars and crash bar, they had been punched inwards in the shape of the power pole, and the punched in bars only just missed the radiator.

I was late for a work commitment and said do not drive the car, the bonnet catch looks suspect, wait for me to get home to have a closer look.

She then drove the car down a 90 kph freeway while I was at work, the bonnet flew up and smashed windscreen, crumpled in front roof, front bonnet mangled.

I then had to attend on side of freeway, had to smash the bonnet with a hammer, used wire to tie down the bonnet crawling underneath car with cars wizzing past at 90-110 kph.

At home I secured the bonnet with wire, and my wife took the car to some inbred wrecker who replaced the windscreen, and did "body repair work" to reshape the front bonnet and roof. They remarkably fixed the front bonnet latch.

The car looked from outside a wreck, crumpled roof, crumpled bonnet, cracked front radiator grille. For safety reasons, I used wire to insure the bonnet being tied down in event of the latch failing.

Because my daughter took the car for granted, was disrespectful, and was living a gap year in some fantasy land on drugs etc, I refused to buy another car for her.

So there I was driving my immaculate FGX XR8 and then new Fiesta ST, and I suppose people judged me as that ****ty father.

But her Mazda was mechanically sound, but in her instagram, fake pouty lips fake world she started hating driving the car because it ruined her image.

My wife was on at me to buy another car for her but I refused, she had to live with her consequences. Anyway, she seems to be growing up- got a well paying part time carer's job and took out a bank loan and has bought a Hyundai I30.

And would you believe it, she is taking great care of the car, too busy working to party.

But where I am heading is one should be careful judging, unless you have walked in those persons shoes whom you are judging for a good week

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Something I read here (maybe Franco wrote it) about the bangers being taken off the roads - got me to have a look at the 90s Fords on gumtree. There's some really good original cars that are absolute bargains, tho more of the 'common garden variety' stuff.

EB-D XR8s have gone up to cray cray money (a few years ago, auto with 150k could be had for 5k, now asking up to 40). Goodness knows what a sprint is worth.

Pannelys have survived and ask more

If only I had more space! Original Fairmonts are inexpensive and they are really pleasant cars... Can still get rough XR6s in the 4-5k, at the time they shaded the XR8... Some of these deserve to be saved from 'end of life'

You don't see many EF/EL XR cars around anymore.

I saw on Facebook Marketplace, someone had an ED Faimont Wagon - factory V8.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/7080...14510682019621

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by asagaai

My second daughter was given a good condition Mazda 3 with only 98,000 km on it, fully serviced, few minor paint scratches on rear bumper etc, but really a good car.

She had just finished high school, was not working a lot an d drifting, partying with the dregs, coming back home all hours, drinking, taking god knows what -and was uncontrollable. Really rocky times....

Anyway, one night she was out driving with her bottom of barrel dreg mates and crashed the front of the car into a pole, next morning said oh it was only a small accident. I had a look and the front bonnet was crumpled at front, with a broken front grille.

I popped the bonnet and there was rather massive damage to the front internal bars and crash bar, they had been punched inwards in the shape of the power pole, and the punched in bars only just missed the radiator.

I was late for a work commitment and said do not drive the car, the bonnet catch looks suspect, wait for me to get home to have a closer look.

She then drove the car down a 90 kph freeway while I was at work, the bonnet flew up and smashed windscreen, crumpled in front roof, front bonnet mangled.

I then had to attend on side of freeway, had to smash the bonnet with a hammer, used wire to tie down the bonnet crawling underneath car with cars wizzing past at 90-110 kph.

At home I secured the bonnet with wire, and my wife took the car to some inbred wrecker who replaced the windscreen, and did "body repair work" to reshape the front bonnet and roof. They remarkably fixed the front bonnet latch.

The car looked from outside a wreck, crumpled roof, crumpled bonnet, cracked front radiator grille. For safety reasons, I used wire to insure the bonnet being tied down in event of the latch failing.

Because my daughter took the car for granted, was disrespectful, and was living a gap year in some fantasy land on drugs etc, I refused to buy another car for her.

So there I was driving my immaculate FGX XR8 and then new Fiesta ST, and I suppose people judged me as that ****ty father.

But her Mazda was mechanically sound, but in her instagram, fake pouty lips fake world she started hating driving the car because it ruined her image.

My wife was on at me to buy another car for her but I refused, she had to live with her consequences. Anyway, she seems to be growing up- got a well paying part time carer's job and took out a bank loan and has bought a Hyundai I30.

And would you believe it, she is taking great care of the car, too busy working to party.

But where I am heading is one should be careful judging, unless you have walked in those persons shoes whom you are judging for a good week

This is why I tell people not to let their kids buy some clapped out ****box 1997 VSII Holden Caprice as their first car, they fold like pancakes in accidents and unless you got children of the corn they're going to be out being free range adult children with all sorts of lip fillers and chemically enhanced world they live in.

'Modern' cars (and by I mean anything from mid to late 00s like an FG) are a lot nicer to be in crashes with then the 1990s stuff, so what done that sort of damage in her Mazda 2 she would have come off a bit second hand playing those games in old ****boxes like my Caprice.

I t-boned someone in a not at fault accident at around 90km/h in my first LV Focus when I was 19 and I walked out of it with burns from the airbag gasses and a real nasty bruise from the seat belt yanking me back into the seat.

LV Focus is Franco certified for free range adult children

I appreciate you shared your story.

[asagaai]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

This is why I tell people not to let their kids buy some clapped out ****box 1997 VSII Holden Caprice as their first car, they fold like pancakes in accidents and unless you got children of the corn they're going to be out being free range adult children with all sorts of lip fillers and chemicals.

'Modern' cars (and by I mean anything from mid to late 00s like an FG) are a lot nicer to be in crashes with then the 1990s stuff, so what done that sort of damage in her Mazda 2 she would have come off a bit second hand playing those games in old ****boxes like my Caprice.



I appreciate you shared your story.

I saw a video clip of a VN commodore loaded up with sand bags in the car to approximate the weight of 4 adult males inside, and it was slammed into concrete at 60 kph and then 100kph.

It was shocking how the car folded and pancaked compared to the same car doing those crash tests without the sand bags inside.

Saying that I was involved in a high speed frontal crash in a Cortina TD 4.1 with my 2 brothers when I was a kid, and for the speed of impacts the car crumple zones surprisingly could not have performed any better....

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

That's probably me that you are referring to. Yes, we have 3 in the family, one V6 & two 4-cyl, two of them with over 200,000 km on the clock. I wouldn't have a Diesel (any brand) as a gift.

I am in the trade (repairs & parts) & most of the dramas we see with Captivas are with the early ones, Series IIs are a much superior car (as it is with many brands I guess).

There are far worse cars on the market than Captivas, where do I start ?

Dr Terry

not you Bud

[Tassie f100]

There are far worse cars on the market than Captivas, where do I start ?

Dr Terry[/QUOTE]

Won’t take too much of your time to list them all

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

There are far worse cars on the market than Captivas, where do I start ?

Dr Terry

Won’t take too much of your time to list them all[/QUOTE]

Any Ford with a Powershift transmission.
Anything with a VW badge
FWD BMWs
MINIs
LDV
Great Wall
Foton
Haval
Mazda & Subaru Diesels
M/Benz MLs

If you want to go back a few years, anything French (they have improved in recent years), EA Fords, early Magnas.

Tell me when you want me to stop.

I know people who own some of the above & are happy with them, but there are exceptions to everything in life.

I've been in this industry too long & we have had some horrid cars foisted on us by ALL manufacturers. As I said, Captivas are are far from the bottom of the barrel. They do the job, they perform well & are cheap to run (for this size of 7 seat car).

Dr Terry

[GO FURTHER]

For the majority of car owners, "End of Life" is not when it requires major work, dies or becomes too expensive to repair.

Rather, it's when finances allow that shiny new model to grace their driveway.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

Any Ford with a Powershift transmission.
Anything with a VW badge
FWD BMWs
MINIs
LDV
Great Wall
Foton
Haval
Mazda & Subaru Diesels
M/Benz MLs

If you want to go back a few years, anything French (they have improved in recent years), EA Fords, early Magnas.

Tell me when you want me to stop.

I know people who own some of the above & are happy with them, but there are exceptions to everything in life.

I've been in this industry too long & we have had some horrid cars foisted on us by ALL manufacturers. As I said, Captivas are are far from the bottom of the barrel. They do the job, they perform well & are cheap to run (for this size of 7 seat car).

Dr Terry

You forgot VG Transit with push button auto - what an absolute turd those Transits were

EDIT: How good is the broken quote function

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

Won’t take too much of your time to list them all

Any Ford with a Powershift transmission.
Anything with a VW badge
FWD BMWs
MINIs
LDV
Great Wall
Foton
Haval
Mazda & Subaru Diesels
M/Benz MLs

If you want to go back a few years, anything French (they have improved in recent years), EA Fords, early Magnas.

Tell me when you want me to stop.

I know people who own some of the above & are happy with them, but there are exceptions to everything in life.

I've been in this industry too long & we have had some horrid cars foisted on us by ALL manufacturers. As I said, Captivas are are far from the bottom of the barrel. They do the job, they perform well & are cheap to run (for this size of 7 seat car).

Dr Terry[/QUOTE]

I'm getting forgetful in my old age. I didn't include anything from the Jeep, Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge family in my list. Turds all of them.

Dr Terry

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

You forgot VG Transit with push button auto - what an absolute turd those Transits were

Agreed.

Dr Terry

[Citroënbender]

32 year old dailied Pug, ~340K on original bores/rings/bottom end. End of life will probably be when a Craptiva smashes into it at the Colesworths carpark.

Last dailied Frog laid up by ZF band failure. Prior two laid up by impact with 2012 Corolla (not at fault) and 2013 A3 (mea culpa). Mechanicals have been niggly at times but never a deal-breaker; just knuckle down and sort it.

[Swordie]

Probably electronics on late model cars will be big factor contributing to eol. It sounds like you need highly specialised equipment to fix some cars. Makes it difficult for old school mechanics. Also when they have a collision what might not seem much can cause major problems due to electronics under the skin.

It will be interesting to see how long EVs will last.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Swordie

Probably electronics on late model cars will be big factor contributing to eol. It sounds like you need highly specialised equipment to fix some cars. Makes it difficult for old school mechanics. Also when they have a collision what might not seem much can cause major problems due to electronics under the skin.

It will be interesting to see how long EVs will last.

Guess EVs having a lot less mechanical wear parts,should last for a long time

[Franco Cozzo]

Further on from the clapped out paint, the Fiesta now has a swimming pool in the spare wheel well



The rear boot floor is absolutely soaked, the underside is covered in mould and the spare wheel well is half full of water.

Ford Europe, makes cars which steer and stop real well, not so sure about longevity

[XR Martin]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Guess EVs having a lot less mechanical wear parts,should last for a long time

Hmm possibly.
But there's no way a battery will be lasting 20+ years like an engine does.
I imagine most electric cars will be scrapped once the battery dies. So in reality cars will probably be disposed of every 10-15 years.
Did I mention that I still drive a 34 year old Mazda?
So I wonder what is more environmentally friendly over that period? Three or four electric cars, or one internal combustion car?

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by GO FURTHER

For the majority of car owners, "End of Life" is not when it requires major work, dies or becomes too expensive to repair.

Rather, it's when finances allow that shiny new model to grace their driveway.

Guilty as charged.

I have a nice 12yo FG with ZF for sale at the moment with 253,000km on it.
Needs a few standard Ford items to be looked at on it.

But after something nicer and more modern in my old(er) age.

Been a damn solid car for the last 10 years on ownership though. Be a shame to see it go really.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by XR Martin

So I wonder what is more environmentally friendly over that period? Three or four electric cars, or one internal combustion car?

Spot on but no one thinks this way.

Another way I see it is, that old Holden, Ford (Mazda) being used selectively is far greener in the long run than something driven down the local shops every 5 mins to get one item.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Spot on but no one thinks this way.

Another way I see it is, that old Holden, Ford (Mazda) being used selectively is far greener in the long run than something driven down the local shops every 5 mins to get one item.

Imagine a world where you have footpaths in your housing estates that connect to the town, or they had a bike lane to encourage short trips via walking or push bike.

Our 'new' estate, the footpath leads to the highway then stops, there is no connection to the town.

Or in my estate only one side of the road has a foot path, otherwise you just walk on everyone's nature strips and front yards

The joint is designed to encourage you o take your car on short trips.

Less of that **** and more proper town planning.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Imagine a world where you have footpaths in your housing estates that connect to the town, or they had a bike lane to encourage short trips via walking or push bike.

Our 'new' estate, the footpath leads to the highway then stops, there is no connection to the town.

Or in my estate only one side of the road has a foot path, otherwise you just walk on everyone's nature strips and front yards

The joint is designed to encourage you o take your car on short trips.

Less of that **** and more proper town planning.

Ha Ha, I have this conversation with idiots on a cycling forum. Move closer to the city if you want all of its services.
Does anyone ever start user groups to pressure govco, councils, bah bah for this stuff, nup. We just like to winge about it.
So what Franco is basically saying is, town/burb has given up and put up with this.

Little tip for for new home buyers looking at CHEAP country housing.

If you want all the stuff move closer to it or shut the fu*k up.
If you don't want to spend all your time travelling to work, don't work there.
If you don't want to spend money on fuel, don't buy a car/truck.

Late edit....I just noticed where Franco is right now.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by XR Martin

Hmm possibly.
But there's no way a battery will be lasting 20+ years like an engine does.
I imagine most electric cars will be scrapped once the battery dies. So in reality cars will probably be disposed of every 10-15 years.
Did I mention that I still drive a 34 year old Mazda?
So I wonder what is more environmentally friendly over that period? Three or four electric cars, or one internal combustion car?

Another question is how many sets of tyres the EV will use being a heavier car

apparently Car tyres produce vastly more particle pollution than exhausts, tests show.

Sorry off topic, but definitely EVs will become end of life as soon as they need a new set of Batteries the cost plus installation would be enormous, plus I foresee some sort of Levy for the disposal of the batteries.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Vesper Martini

Another question is how many sets of tyres the EV will use being a heavier car.

I think this would depend on what type of car you're comparing them with, and as the most popular cars these days seem to be Utes and SUV's it would probably be an even match.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

I think this would depend on what type of car you're comparing them with, and as the most popular cars these days seem to be Utes and SUV's it would probably be an even match.

Which run harder compounds and deeper treads that generally last long distances. Passenger car tyres usually don't last anywhere near as long.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Which run harder compounds and deeper treads that generally last long distances. Passenger car tyres usually don't last anywhere near as long.

Working on that theory Truck tyres have even harder compounds and have deeper tread, but tyre life is about the same.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Ha Ha, I have this conversation with idiots on a cycling forum. Move closer to the city if you want all of its services.
Does anyone ever start user groups to pressure govco, councils, bah bah for this stuff, nup. We just like to winge about it.
So what Franco is basically saying is, town/burb has given up and put up with this.

Little tip for for new home buyers looking at CHEAP country housing.

If you want all the stuff move closer to it or shut the fu*k up.
If you don't want to spend all your time travelling to work, don't work there.
If you don't want to spend money on fuel, don't buy a car/truck.

Late edit....I just noticed where Franco is right now.

Pretty much, we're just a town full of soft cocks, there's about 200 whingers who contest anything and everything who get their way while no one asks the other 4500 of us.

Though I wouldn't call $850K-$1.1M 'cheap housing', I'd at least want bike lanes and a connected footpath for my 7 figures.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Pretty much, we're just a town full of soft cocks, there's about 200 whingers who contest anything and everything who get their way while no one asks the other 4500 of us.

Though I wouldn't call $850K-$1.1M 'cheap housing', I'd at least want bike lanes and a connected footpath for my 7 figures.

Cheap by comparison, Did you enjoy the mall ?

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

Working on that theory Truck tyres have even harder compounds and have deeper tread, but tyre life is about the same.

well they are a lot heavier just like EVs....