Old cars

[m0bzy]

When does a car become "old",10 years ? 200000 miles?

My first two cars were older than me and at the time I did not consider them old,but times have changed and I am told my 2003 car is old,but when did it become old?

[4x4]

It’s possible to get Classic Car insurance from many brokers when the car reaches 15 years old, other brokers are 20 years...

[ITSv40]

When every other car in the street is newer than yours.

[Dippydog]

Most manufacturers used to rate the useful life of a car as being 10yrs-possibly they still do but I don't know-so anything over 10 is old?

[john.wigley]

I think that age is relative. In 1966, when I was 17, I bought a 1951 Ford which I considered a very old car indeed! (The pre-war design and technology probably didn't help a lot, even then.) Now, at 69, I drive a 2000 V70, which I do not consider in the least 'old'.

Regards, John.

[KerPLoD]

If advertising campaigns and car manufacturers have their way, a car becomes old when its replacement is released, or when the 3 year lease is up, such is the disposable nature of today's products, coupled with the consumerist obsession with having whatever is currently 'in'.

In all seriousness, it depends on who you are. Everyone has a different idea of what is old. If you ask any of my image-obsessed relatives my age what is old, they'll tell me the last iphone, or my 2010 Combo van are old and ancient respectively. While my 26-year-old Volvo is truly prehistoric.

Yet, if you ask me, I would say 20 years, because the average car lasts around that long - so if it's still on the road at 20, it's an achievement. But then that's my warped view, where to call a car 'old' is to pay a compliment. To call a car 'outdated' means it's easier to keep going.

Meanwhile if you asked my late grandfather. he'd say his 1993 Astra ran like a new car, so to him it was as good as a new car.

As John said, it depends on the age of the person you ask, more than anything.

[4x4]

This was my old car for a number of years and will be 71 on 31st December



This Jaguar I had for a couple of years and at 15 was classed as an old car and therefore insurance was just under £100 per annum for 5000 miles

[iain cooper]

probably old when you don't need an MOT, ie 40 years.

8 years to go with my Golf Gti

Iain

[canis]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

I think that age is relative. In 1966, when I was 17, I bought a 1951 Ford which I considered a very old car indeed! (The pre-war design and technology probably didn't help a lot, even then.) Now, at 69, I drive a 2000 V70, which I do not consider in the least 'old'.

Regards, John.

Haha, second this! Only a few years ago when I took my Sierra off the road for the last time, although only a few years younger, we considered the V40 to be a "new" car even though it was 16 years old. It had things like fuel injection, and power steering, and even ABS brakes amongst other new-fangled doodads.

Even though the current V40 is 18 years old, I still think of it as new. By that, I mean "since my time".

It seems wierd to me now that cars were considered complicated back when I started driving. As with all machinery, the only way to truly appreciate it is to take it to bits and put it back together again. Since owning the V40s I've had it in bits so often, I've crawled over every inch of it, I've literally stood in it's engine bay, I've been upside down on the seat with my head under the dashboard poking at things, I've even slept in it. I now appreciate it's a much more complex piece of machinery than my old Cortina.

I shudder to even think about a new one.

[tofufi]

I consider my Volvo to be modern.

It's 28 years old, but the newest car I own and has air conditioning, cruise control and many other goodies. Everyone else thinks it's ancient...