What do you intend to do with your car ?

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mbunting
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What do you intend to do with your car ?

Post by mbunting »

I have a Xantia TDSX 94 with 150k.
Mechanically OK, needs new clutch [}:)]
After a number of repairs, and time spent, people keep saying to me "get rid, get a decent car".
Two problems..
1) I can't afford to.
2) I don't WANT to !
I intend to keep this car until it costs big money in one go ( small batches I can handle [;)] ).
Such a thing to me would be a new gearbox type of scale, although I'm not looking forward to doing the clutch [:D]
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

Cards on the table, I am one of these bloated bourgeoisie that has a three year old car, bought new. My citroen was bought 10 years old because it was bigger and scruffier and Frencher as I needed a builder's truck for work on a house in France. I could have bought something newer and replaced the "modern" but I like old bangers. I enjoy tidying them up and getting them to run as well as possible. At that point, they do the job as well as any other car. If the modern needed a clutch, I would buy it one. Why should it be different with a banger? No clutch= 1 ton scrapmetal; add clutch= viable travelling machine for the cost of a clutch. It is a no brainer really. My old Saab had 155,000 miles on it and had probably been clocked half a light second as well. "Why don't you buy another car?" I kept being asked by people who could not understand that it was none of their damn' business.[:(!] "Because I haven't worn this one out" was my reply. The current tendency to see cars as a fashion statement is unconscionable. The environmental debt of manufacturing a car is so much greater than the energy it will consume in a lifetime (not to mention the meltdown cost)that it is immoral not to repair an otherwise viable car. Those who look down their nose at we who keep old cars running would probably look at an old carpenter's shop and see his old, worn tools and declare "He's a real craftsman" How shallow can you get?[V]
A gearbox shouldn't scare you off. It is an easier job to do than a clutch and the cost of a used unit will be comparable. Just keep the rust out and it will last forever![8D]
blueboy2001
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Post by blueboy2001 »

Well mines done 193K to date (93 SXTD), I bought it 8 weeks ago with the intention of doing a few little jobs to it and keep it until the summer when I'll be able to claim a big car allowance and get a diesel BMW.
Like all well laid plans, it fell apart 3 days after I got the car! I was tidying my garage out one evening, putting junk up in the loft above to make room to bring the Xantia in for a service, the ladder slid as stood on it and I ended up dropping 8 foot onto the concrete floor, having broken my arm by using it to break my fall. Its still in plaster now, and will be for at least another fortnight!
End result is I can now neither drive or repair the damn thing!
When I looked at it I was amazed how tidy it was, and it drives really well. For the last 4 years I've not had a car more than 2yrs old and I wouldn't say the Xantia was a big come down. I thought it needed an accumilator sphere as it was ticking, so I put it in the local garage - £93 lighter and it was still ticking! I've since discovered it needs a timing belt and a new brake valve, so I daresay that'll be another £200+ its burned on me. Im going to stick with it, but I don't think its going to be the most cost effective vehicle I've ever owned.
Jon

Post by Jon »

<font color="blue">Interesting topic!
Due to my large mortgage [:(] and baby number 2 due in less than 2 months, I don't think that theres any way I could replace my ZX.
Not that I really want to, it works ok, its good on fuel, its fast enough, and depreciation has ceased to exist.Of course, there are disadvantages, it seems that anyone with a newer/faster vehicle than the said ZX feels the need to try and intimidate me out of the way should I make a journey into the outside lane (regardless of speed). BMW and Merc drivers are the worst.[:0]
Due to my job I can always locate parts for the thing, even major things like engines and gearboxses don't faze me. What killed my last ZX were a combination of leaking matrix, snapped off heater cables, worn rear arms bearings and a refusal to start despite my efforts and that of 3 well known Citroen specialists. Had I repaired each fault as it cropped up, I'm sure I would still be driving it now. As however it needed about £1000 of work and I didn't have the time to do it, I traded it for a Berlingo Multispace. It soon became clear that this was more suitable for transporting child and Mrs W rather than blatting down the M4 every day, so Mrs W took it over, and I went and got another bargain basement ZX. This one has lasted 20 months and put on another 38,000 miles so far. I am actually maintaining and looking after it [:0], so hope it will go on for a bit. Next job is a timing belt and some front shocks. Its still better than borrowing loads of money to spend on a newer car that would depreciate like a lead balloon and would be no more reliable.
Image ain't everything.
So, in answer to the topic, I intend to keep my car as long as possible!</font id="blue">
alan s
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Post by alan s »

Well as someone who lives in a country where the average age of vehicles is about 10 years, I probably don't "get it" as much as you would, however, I still have my first CX bought in 1984 that would have still been going if Honourable #1 son hadn't decided to try his restoration skills on it & discovered (like Mr Haynes) that "removing is easier than refitting" so hence it lies awaiting completion.[V]
My next CX, which I bought in about 1990 went until part way through last year when (same) son who was by now the owner, got tailended & the car was written off. Present plans include fitting all the mechanicals from CX #1 to CX #2, doing a repaint & result will be a very good comfortable & reliable car.
Both have topped 500K klms. My other cars are another CX (1979 c-matic) and a BX 16 Valve with very low miles and when these donkeys ask me "why don't you get a 'better' car?" my response is usually (looking at their newer car) "what did you pay for that? What have you had to have done to it? What would you get if you traded it in on a new one?" Which are always horror stories that usually can be responded to with quips such as "I've never spent that much on a repair job in my life; Hell!! how many cars could you have bought for that?" and the one that really stings - "Not a very good investment is it?" All of which are facts.
The new cars in particular the Korean varieties are considered throwaway when they've done a mediocre mileage. I recently saw a story where a guy had one that was a few years old that had a light front end prang which resulted in two broken headlight lenses. The car was written off; not for the cost of parts which makes French cars look bargain basement, but due to unavailability of parts, headlights for goodness sake.[B)][:(]
The froggies you can fix, will outlast most of the other mass produced ("would you like fries with that sir?") kind of cars & can be kept going almost indefinitely. If it costs you say 1000 quid to keep it going every year then compare that with monthly payments, interest, depreciation and (one they always forget to mention) "routine maintenance services" which are expensive beyond belief and can place the warranty in jeopardy if not done at the specified intervals & by their agents. I once met a guy who owned a new Holden (Vauxhall in your language) who told me it was the best car he'd ever owned, never let him down in the 12 months that he'd owned it but by the same token, he had spent more money on the car than all the other cars he'd owned put together. 4 figure service charges were not uncommon.[:0]
So my advice would be, toss a clutch in, do whatever needs doing to sort it fully, go for a drive & do like I do; laugh to yourself when you see these new cars chuffing down the road & think about all the things you can buy & things you can do because you don't have the massive debts they have....but I must admit; some of these new cars do look nice.[:D][:p][8D][:D]
Alan S
mark bedford
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Post by mark bedford »

Along the same lines, I have a 93 XM Petrol estate sitting on the drive, cost me zip (insurance write off for rear panel damage)Ive been driving it for the past two years before buying a Derv XM for peanuts. Old petrol lump needs about £50.00 and a few days tinkering and would easily be back as the workhorse I used it for.
Her indoors wants it gone, but its too good to scrap and besides if I going to pay £40.00 to scrap it I may as well put it back on the road.
So Im keeping it, if the derv gets shunted I can always move the engine & box over but for now its a spare part gold mine.
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