[SideView]

Lets keep “old” as 7/8 year old vehicle for sake of discussion.

For some of us retaining vehicle for long is something of a pride. But as the vehicle ages the more probability of running into expensive repairs and it becoming an endless moneypit.

But if vehicle is running fine ( ignoring the minor niggles here and there) rather than plonking a huge amount on a new one why not put some TLC on existing vehicle as mentioned in some of really good threads.GTO’s thread on upgrade, swap or keep (ARTICLE: YOUR 5 year old car : Keep, Upgrade or Swap?)



But I am curious to know what finally pushed you to upgrade or for the brave ones to maybe retain the older steeds for longer. (considering you had no major issues)

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For context, I own a 8 year old 90k driven diesel Terrano (maintained at FNGs and my only vehicle) but not really having any itch to upgrade (but my friends have more of an itch to make me upgrade), but wondering if I am making any mistake holding on for longer. Resale value anyhow would be pathetic. (I forsee Timing belt and clutch related maintenance in another year or two)
The major maintenance work also playing on my mind that FNG could mess it up, Nissan ASC i have given up long time back.
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[Kosfactor]

Our Scorpio was perfect, extremely well kept and yet it was exchanged for a new vehicle after 8 years or so because it was my Wife's birthday and it's the best I could do.

A new house of her choice would be a lot more expensive, guess I saved some money afterall

[dass]

The lack of safety features in my 10 year old Dzire VDI was a key element to look for an upgrade. Looking for an automatic to give relief to my left knee for the other major reason.

[sunejarahul]

Made? No. It's going to be an inevitability, soon. For context, I put up in New Delhi where the draconian NGT Rule applies to 10-year old diesel mules and soon I'll be taking the brunt of it.

The car in question is a MS S-Cross 1.3 MJD which has done about 87k kms since Sep 2015 (will turn 8 this year). The car might have some battle scars on the outside but the interiors are maintained well and the car is, mechanically, as solid as it gets.



Within the past 1.5 years it's gotten a set of new tyres, a new clutch, new rear struts and the usual timely services with a thorough clean of the intercooler, intake and EGR with a decently good diet (synthetic oils, new filters etc). It's also run about 27k kms in this period covering a few trips to the Himalayas and frequent highway runs.

What comes next in a grey area as I've more than once "almost" sold this one for another in the past 6 months but something has kept it tied to me till now. This also happened to be the first car I "earned and bought" and hence, the attachment does also have a rationale behind.

For now, I have decided to keep it with me until end of 2024 before I absolutely MUST sell it. That should give me enough time to figure what I want next, more importantly what fuel/engine/transmission to go with it!

[SoumenD]

In 2019 Q2, I upgraded from 8.5 year old 40k kms run zen estilo MT(in perfect condition) to Jazz CVT as my office route changed from calm & cool electronic city to dreaded Outer Ring Road. Did try driving the MT on ORR for 3 months but couldn’t bear the torture and had to upgrade. So in this case didn’t have a choice.

However when it comes to my two wheeler, am still running my 15 year old RTR 160(FC renewed). Firstly it was my first ever set of wheels, so emotional attachment. Moreover I don’t use motorbike for daily commuting, so upgrading is not a necessity as of now. I’m waiting for Xpulse 300/400 or a V-Storm 250 with softer suspension. In this case no hurry to upgrade

[SideView]

Originally Posted by dass

The lack of safety features in my 10 year old Dzire VDI was a key element to look for an upgrade. Looking for an automatic to give relief to my left knee for the other major reason.

Curious what at 10th year made you think about safety rather than earlier? Kids?

Automatic I am with you on this one, not only relief for oneself but wife can also restart driving which she was hesitant on the rough/hard manual.

[KPR]

I'm with Punto90 bought in Sept 2015. I can't find an apt replacement for it. I may get bottle holders at 14L but not the feel and pleasure of driving a Fiat Punto. So for us ideally any other car at less than 14L is merely a compromise which we don't want to make. Whenever I feel the itch for upgrade one long drive in highway is sufficient for me to justify my choice to keep Punto.

[GTO]

Awesome thread idea, thanks for sharing .

My Civic was running perfectly fine. Fast, fun to drive, good space and a deadly after-market audio system. But I sold that perfectly-running car for peanuts (some 2.xx lakhs). Reason = the car's age, money, itch for an upgrade and my love for the F10 5-Series. Got the 530d as its replacement.

That being said, "13 years" can be the new "8 years" if you buy the right car. What I'm trying to say is, most of us enthusiasts usually upgrade our cars at the 8 - 10 year mark. But if you spend a little more for a better car, you will keep the car for over 10 years and save money in the long run. Related Article (How a more expensive car can work out cheaper (if you hold onto it for longer)). My 530d is now 10 years old and I have no plans to replace it for at least another 2 years, if not 3. Running beautifully. It's the longest I have kept a daily driver.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Reliability is very important for me on those many long drives with family. I would not want to be stranded on the road with family, be it day or night. Needless to say, my cars are very well maintained and cared for. If a manufacturer shuts the shop, makes me loose my peace of mind over quality service. FNGs are not my cup of tea after going through unnecessary headaches over poor quality work and cut corners.

Have been through this situation many times with Fiat, Chevrolet and now Ford.

Have a perfectly running Ford Ecosport with 1L on odo, yet, it will have to go.

[Vid6639]

The itch to upgrade is always the problem for me. When I got the Ecosport in 2013, GTO told me hope you will keep this for longer. Cause I sold the Figo in 3 years lol.

The Ecosport replacement came in 7 years with the Kodiaq but the Ecosport never had any issues and didn't really need changing.

Just the itch to go premium got me to get the Kodiaq. But then I still have the Ecosport lol cause I couldn't let go of a perfectly fine car with no issues.

Now I have the Jimny itch already to change the Ecosport for good. lol.

[RSMM]

I sold my 9 years old Ertiga diesel ZDi which was in perfect running condition mainly because of few points below
1. Diesel car is difficult to maintain in future
2. Automatic transmission is better as driver gets aged !
3. Some modern features like Cruise control, more than 2 airbags are important

After selling my Ertiga Diesel, I bought Ertiga Petrol Zxi plus AT !!

[Axe77]

1. 2009 Honda Civic AT: Sold in 2017 at about ~65k kms give or take.

It was simply surplus to my needs as I had already in spirit upgraded it in 2015 with my 3GT purchase. At the time of purchasing the 3GT, I chose to sell my much more recent 2012 MT Nissan Sunny instead of the Civic because even though the Sunny was the logical fuel efficient beater car, the Civic was just too hard to let go of and the Sunny just as underwhelming and easy to sell. The Civic was absolutely pristine at the time of sale on every single front, engine, body work, interiors - everything. Despite a significant upgrade (3GT) sitting in the garage letting it go felt like a hard decision - such was my love for that vehicle. I finally bit the bullet to sell it since we simply weren’t doing justice to 3 cars at the time and the City and GT were more than enough for the family’s needs (specially with my family members heavily opting to Uber when the driver wasn’t available to them).

2. 2009 Honda City AT: Sold in 2018 at about 106k kms.

The car’s engine was sublime but the body work had started to show some signs of let up. My mum, at the time about 72 yo was also was looking to switch to a smaller car for the few occasions she still wanted to drive herself, specially when she’d spend a few weeks a month in Pune. It was flipped at the time for a new Grand i10 A/T - still doing duty in our garage.

3. 2005 Maruti Swift M/T: Sold in 2009 at about ~55/60k+ kms maybe (I can’t recall honestly)

I’ll throw this into the mix as well (even though it was sold much earlier than 7-8 year benchmark for this thread). It was again a car in great shape and one that I’d have liked to hold on to. Reason for sale was simple. I was professionally at a point where I was beyond an orange hatchback with oversized wheels. By now I was looking for an executive sedan as well as the convenience of an automatic. The sale value of the Swift was welcome (though not critically required) to fund the incoming Civic. At the time I was trying to convince my mum to sell her manual i10 instead and take over my Swift but she hated the “bulkiness” of my Swift and much preferred her nimbler i10 instead. So with a heavy heart, I had to let the Swift go.

[bijims]

We were looking to replace our 2016 Innova Crysta which we bought when it launched. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, and it hadn't given us a single issue in over 7 years, but the itch to upgrade made us consider the Mahindra XUV700 AX7 Diesel AT AWD Luxury Pack, but with waiting periods through the roof, we decided to keep the Crysta and wait till the XUV700 arrives, but fortunately or unfortunately, we got ours delivered in a months time and now we have two 7 seaters in our garage, we are now contemplating selling the Crysta as it isn't needed anymore.

[libranof1987]

2016 EcoSport Titanium AT, sold in 2022 at ~44k kms

The EcoSport, with its fair bit of shortcomings (stiff suspension, Ford's exit, DCT - specific to my case since the facelift got TC) was/is still one of the best in the segment. A well-built, well-kitted car, fully loaded with safety features, that also managed decent leg room and a generous boot for a sub-4m compact SUV.

Sold it last year as we needed a bigger car, since my parents moved in with us. The EcoSport was replaced with the Crysta.

If not for this very specific need, there was no reason to sell the EcoSport. With a Tiago already in the garage, it didn't make sense to hold on the EcoSport since I prefer not to drive to work.

[civic-sense]

For every car I have owned in the past, there was one feature or the other that I had desperately wanted, but missing. Not with my current car - the Compass. I have not kept any car beyond the 5 year mark, and the Compass has already breached the 5 year mark, but I am not feeling the itch to upgrade. The car has been fairly reliable so far except for the faulty ABS sensors and a conked off battery (both replaced under warranty).

But I know, I eventually will upgrade to keep up with the latest technologies/trends. Maybe for the sake of ADAS - although I don't know whether it is something worth upgrading for.

2 years of loan still remaining, so I will hopefully hold on to it until then.