[supercars]

Never sell your Car!!!!!

[psp62in]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I think it is pretty sensible to hang on to a car for more than 5 years.
....

Its more about "want" than "need".- most of the cars these days are well engineered enough to take atleast 100-150000 km on the clock.
....
Most people in today's world who are "hand-cuffed" to their computers and office cabins/workstations, drive on average around 1000 km per month, mostly in horrendous city traffic.
....
But it is difficult to argue with the heart once it starts egging one on, to buy that shiny new car (if of course one is blessed with either the necessary bank balance OR the future earning potential).

+1 to that shankar.balan. Mainly it was this itch that made me sell 2002 Palio sports (only 30K km, excellent condition) and go for ANHC recently.

But there are some issues that start cropping up as the vehicle gets older. The rubber gaskets and plastic parts start cracking, tyres become hard, the windshield develops nasty scratches, and the spare parts availability may reduce. Thus the cost of maintaing the car becomes a significant proportion of the current market value, and becomes an irritation.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by psp62in

The rubber gaskets and plastic parts start cracking

Cheap to replace.

tyres become hard

Wear & tear item.

the windshield develops nasty scratches

Either you live with it, use a glass scratch remover or change the entire windscreen @ 5,000 rupees. Still chump change compared to the cost of a new car.

and the spare parts availability may reduce.

The Palio always had a problem with ready spares, even at the peak of its production. This problem does not extend to most popular selling cars from Maruti, Hyundai, Tata, Honda, Toyota etc.

The point I'm trying to make is, these are trivial reasons for replacing your existing car. And even if the "feel good" factor matters to you (does to most petrolheads), you can easily refurbish your 5 year old car for 50,000 rupees.

Thus the cost of maintaing the car becomes a significant proportion of the current market value, and becomes an irritation.

I spend an average of 10,000 rupees or less each year in maintaining my 7 year old Honda City Vtec. This includes an annual fill of Mobil 1 synthetic oil. Note, this is a car that is driven VERY hard and has yet to leave me stranded, even once, on the road.

[amoghchaphalkar]

@GTO

First of all I am completely with you on keeping a car for more than 5 years (atleast 7). And thanks to this thread, many of my friends, colleagues have postponed their car upgradation plan !!

I have one point though : about spending not more than 8-10% of your monthly income on a car's EMI.

I am going to call the "% of monthly income going towards car EMI" - PITE (Percent Income Towards Emi)

Considering that we are going to keep the car for a considerable amount of time (at least 7 years) the PITE will go on decreasing as years pass by. It will start off high but will eventually come down to the 8-10% figure.

This is especially true for those who are settled in a job, have gathered good amount / quality of work experience and have a decent career path laid out (at least for a 5 year horizon). With increments, promotions & bonuses, the "take home" component does increase (while the EMI stays the same), thus bringing down the "PITE"

If one is buying a car and going to keep it for 7-8 years, I think paying an initial "premium" to get extra features is well worth the deal.

For eg : When I bought the Punto, I did stretch my budget a little bit (I was initially going to buy the Vista). But then you add the extra features (ABS + Airbags) and considering the car is going to be with me for 5+ years, I think the premium was worth it (even if it pushes the EMI a little higher).

Just a quick calculation tells me that : if you initially pay 15% of your monthly take home towards a car's EMI (Year 1) and you get a 15% salary increment each year, by Year 4 you will be paying less than 10% of your monthly take home towards your car's EMI. (For a 5 year car loan)

OT @ GTO :
My 1.9 L&K Octy has just completed 100k running. How long do you think I should keep it ? The car is in mint condition and on a recent trip returned a highway FE of 24 km/lit. The car is 5 years old.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

First of all I am completely with you on keeping a car for more than 5 years (atleast 7). And thanks to this thread, many of my friends, colleagues have postponed their car upgradation plan !!

Glad to hear this thread was of help to your friends. Yes, if you don't hold on to the car for 10 years, atleast do so for 7 - 8 years. Each year that you use the car over 5 years results in substantial savings, among other reasons because the rate of depreciation slows down too.

This is especially true for those who are settled in a job, have gathered good amount / quality of work experience and have a decent career path laid out (at least for a 5 year horizon). With increments, promotions & bonuses, the "take home" component does increase (while the EMI stays the same), thus bringing down the "PITE"

Yup, thats an acceptable & realistic way of looking at it. If your career / business / income grow YOY, the initial 8 - 10% PITE will gradually drop. However, one must be extremely conservative when making such assumptions. Recessions are hitting us way too often, business cycles going haywire and jobs being lost.

If one is buying a car and going to keep it for 7-8 years....paying an initial "premium" to get extra features is well worth the deal.

Absolutely. Not only should you buy a better car to start with, but also the highest spec'ed variant you can afford. The better you feel about your car, the longer you will drive it.

My 1.9 L&K Octy has just completed 100k running. How long do you think I should keep it ? The car is in mint condition and on a recent trip returned a highway FE of 24 km/lit. The car is 5 years old.

The Octavia is a guaranteed long-termer thanks to minimal electronics, simple engineering and robust construction. I'd hang on to that car till atleast the 1.75 - 2.0 lakh km mark.

[abhijeetsng]

Hi,
I have a 7 year old Santro Xing done 74000 kms. Upto what odo reading should i keep it. It's well maintained and giving no problems whatsoever.
What is Xing's Life in terms of kms?

[kaynmantis]

Originally Posted by abhijeetsng

Hi,
I have a 7 year old Santro Xing done 74000 kms. Upto what odo reading should i keep it. It's well maintained and giving no problems whatsoever.
What is Xing's Life in terms of kms?

Life of cars depends a lot on the owner. I've seen 2 years old cars thrashed up pretty badly (I don't mean accident). Also as far as life is concern, Its hard to say unless one clarify what he/she mean by that. I have seen ww 2 era vehicles still running. Its alive okay, but I wont be sitting on it for a long trip. At 74k, a well maintained car should comfortably hit 100k without fear of breaking down every now and then.

On a side note. One also needs to consider Kms vs years. My car barely does 200 kms per month. So if you do the math, my cars going to last long, very very long..ding..dong . I just need to be weary of natural element (climate) taking its toll. I mostly use my bike for commuting to work.

[abhijeetsng]

Originally Posted by kaynmantis

Life of cars depends a lot on the owner. I've seen 2 years old cars thrashed up pretty badly (I don't mean accident). Also as far as life is concern, Its hard to say unless one clarify what he/she mean by that. I have seen ww 2 era vehicles still running. Its alive okay, but I wont be sitting on it for a long trip. At 74k, a well maintained car should comfortably hit 100k without fear of breaking down every now and then.

On a side note. One also needs to consider Kms vs years. My car barely does 200 kms per month. So if you do the math, my cars going to last long, very very long..ding..dong . I just need to be weary of natural element (climate) taking its toll. I mostly use my bike for commuting to work.

Right!
Thanks! In that case, I think my car would go way beyond 100K kms.

Cheers!

[Surprise]

My Swift has done 70k kms...there are lots of rusts showing up in small patches on doors and other places. My last couple of bills on clutch/suspension+other works made me poorer by 30k (without flywheel replacement , hence stiffer gear still persists). Again there are few issues showing up trying to rob another 10-12k from me. I really love to run 100 plus kms, which can be done in next 2-3 yrs. Though in smaller patches at different places, these rusts really making me to rethink that decision...

PS: Before that last couple of bills which accounted to Rs.30k every 5k kms bills were less than Rs.3-4k

Edit: How about selling the existing car, fund additional 1-2L and buy a different car say Swift diesel (II hand)

[wanderlustindia]

I am torn between looking to purchase a new car or keep my existing one. And I really need some advise from an entity that is totally neutral in nature, what better place to ask than TBHP!

My Lancer has now run 98000+ kms. I bought it at 61500 kms from a used-car dealer in Pune. I am the third owner of the car but have enjoyed driving the car a hell of a lot! Never fails to put a smile on my face, especially the beautiful handling in the ghats. Have spent a significant amount of money in the 2 years and 4/5 months I've owned the car. All this to keep the car in the best of health possible.

Inspite of all the above facts, she ain't getting any younger with each passing day! I asked my mechanic and he seems to think the engine is still in great shape and will not need an overhaul for another 50k kms (heartening to learn this, but I am not entirely convinced). Perhaps Lancer long-termers could throw some light on this aspect. The other thing that is slightly tricky is the fact that she may not fetch a fair price in the used-car market (3rd owner, 98k kms, 2001 model is a big turn-off I suppose) and the car is still under finance (7/8 months before the loan tenure completes).

What are my choices? I did put up an advert on the Classifieds section of TBHP and also on other web-classifieds like Sulekha, et al. The response has been fairly alright. But I'm having second thoughts now. Do I really need a new car at this stage? Can I not do a Stage-I mod (a FFE and a CAI filter) and bump up the performance by a few notches and enjoy the car for some more time? Like I said, she ain't getting younger, so I am thinking, going forward I'll have to spend even more to pamper her and take good care, which may not be a financially wise decision!

Is it worth keeping the car, say for another 1-2 years? Or should I consider a new one with immediate effect and let go off this one? Kindly advise. Apologies in advance for a lengthy and perhaps a disillusioned post!

[shekharlele]

Hi Wanderlust,

With a nick like that, I'm sure your car gets to go places! Now, my 2 cents on your dillema. You won't get much for your lancer and after driving the lancer you will not settle for anything less as a replacement. So you better be ready to break the bank. The other option is to continue to keep your existing ride in pristine condition with regular preventive maintenance. As long as you have a mechanic who is able to diagnose issues correctly and your engine is fine, no reason to sell her. You can refurbish your car (suspension, painting etc) for about 50 - 60 K, and then she'll be a lot younger!

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by shekharlele

Hi Wanderlust,

With a nick like that, I'm sure your car gets to go places! Now, my 2 cents on your dillema. You won't get much for your lancer and after driving the lancer you will not settle for anything less as a replacement. So you better be ready to break the bank. The other option is to continue to keep your existing ride in pristine condition with regular preventive maintenance. As long as you have a mechanic who is able to diagnose issues correctly and your engine is fine, no reason to sell her. You can refurbish your car (suspension, painting etc) for about 50 - 60 K, and then she'll be a lot younger!

Hi Shekhar,

Yes, she gets to go many places. In May this year, I did a 3500 kms run from Pune to my native in UP and back and the car was simply brilliant. The AC was on full time and in terribly hot conditions, she never let me down. And yes, you are right. The driving position, the involvement of the drive, the fuel efficiency (I get close to 12 kpl in the city and anywhere between 15-16 kpl on the highway) and the handling are some aspects which I am so addicted to in the Lancer. But, I trust there are capable replacements in the new car market, albeit at a fat price.

Many thanks for your suggestions. The question is how long will I be able to maintain the car in good condition, really which is for me to answer. The engine is still smooth enough and reliability is good too. Haven't been stranded ever since I purchased. I reckon it would be useful to evaluate how much financially viable would it be to keep the car for say another 2 years. Theoretically, I can keep spending and improving bits of the car in terms of looks, performance etc. Guess, I'll have some math to do and then compare this vis-a-vis a new car purchase.

I'd like to hear suggestions from Lancer owners (preferably long-termers) although there are many on this forum. Help much appreciated in this regard.

[gpa]

Just gave my Santro for a major service two days ago and the car is expected back this evening.

Apart for the routine things to be changed at the 60k kms mark, I have asked for a suspension overhaul to be done if necessary and asked for the front shocks and rear dampers to be changed as the car had become very bouncy and handling was bad since the past 10k kms as it has seen some really bad patches of road.

Also, I am replacing the tyres which have lasted thus far to tubeless. My dad intends to stick with this car for atleast another 2 years (the engine hasn't been a bother thus far) so I think the investment of ~Rs. 25,000 now for the service and tyres is worth it.

Looking forward to your inputs.

Regards,
gpa

Edit: Just got a call fromt the SA at HASS and he said that the suspension is in good shape and will easily last another 20,000 kms at the minimum, which means the final bill will be lower than the initial Rs. 25k that I thought.

[MindSpeeDs]

Originally Posted by wanderlustindia

Is it worth keeping the car, say for another 1-2 years? Or should I consider a new one with immediate effect and let go off this one? Kindly advise. Apologies in advance for a lengthy and perhaps a disillusioned post!

I have a lancer SFX I that is going to be 9 this december. I have had the turbo installed for about 3 years now (currently in stock condition though, I get the turbo removed during the monsoon's), Head is ported and polished. She's done close to 70k km. Been waiting for the clutch to give in so that I can go for a stage 2, doesn't seem to happen as yet. But, guess the release bearing has already started making noise and I might just go in for the entire clutch kit instead of just the bearing. Might be changing the water pump soon enough, recently changed the disc rotors and brake pads (Second change of pads. changed the liners once), have to change the rear power window switch, that apart, I can't think of anything else that has conked/about to conk.

About 70k km is not much, but then, I redline almost always, is my daily drive, doing 7 psi boost for about 3 years. I still am pretty confident about her reliability. My suggestion? Keep her!
Attaching a few pics, shall try and post some new pics (need to shoot) soon.

[shankar.balan]

thats a heck of a lot of driving for a Swift?
when did you buy it - 2005?
I am told the Maruti engines are good for 150,000kms plus so with a little overhauling the Swift should serve you peacefully for another year or two!

Originally Posted by Surprise

My Swift has done 70k kms...there are lots of rusts showing up in small patches on doors and other places. My last couple of bills on clutch/suspension+other works made me poorer by 30k (without flywheel replacement , hence stiffer gear still persists). Again there are few issues showing up trying to rob another 10-12k from me. I really love to run 100 plus kms, which can be done in next 2-3 yrs. Though in smaller patches at different places, these rusts really making me to rethink that decision...

PS: Before that last couple of bills which accounted to Rs.30k every 5k kms bills were less than Rs.3-4k

Edit: How about selling the existing car, fund additional 1-2L and buy a different car say Swift diesel (II hand)