Average age of cars on UK roads oldest ever!

[Dozzer]

As the title says, apparently the average age of cars on UK roads has never been older.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money.../Britons-cars-OLDER-Average-age-10-years.html

Think there are many factors, but the limited product range offered by many car companies and the prices doesn't help.
Was at BBQ with some old Ford work mates and there are rumours of more redundancies/early retirement offers at Dagenham and Dunton.
so Nobody wants the new Mustang or Crapie
With a 20year old landrover and 16 year old van, im not helping

 

[minimutly]

You know the reason - milk floats. But, never mind, you can now get a £1500 grant (from you and I) towards a new one..
No one asked me if I was willing to pay.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Does VED still favour driving older diesels?

Then there's the technology...some of it is great...some of it is not so great and quite distracting.

 

[addjunkie]

With rising bills and general living costs leading to less disposable income something has to give…and cars are a luxury, made recently more costly by increased interest rates, so less are being sold. I also think fear of the new tech folk are hanging onto what they know.

 

[Tangledfeet]

I'm genuinely, but pleasantly, surprised by this.

 

[Bobupndown]

I can't get over the huge increase in car prices. In 2003 I bought the only new car I've ever owned, a TDI VW Passat estate which cost me £15000. Today a comparable car is £45000. I don't think my wages have trebled in the last 22 years. I just can't justify, or indeed afford to buy new now. I suppose few actually 'buy' their cars now and only pay the depreciation to a hire company realistically. My current car is 11 years old, dependable and not strangled with euro 6 emissions nonsense. I think I'll keep it for a few more years yet.

 

[Nomad]

With rising bills and general living costs leading to less disposable income something has to give…and cars are a luxury, made recently more costly by increased interest rates, so less are being sold. I also think fear of the new tech folk are hanging onto what they know.

My preference is cars from the 80s/90s (decent economy & performance, DIY maintainable most of the time..)
I have a Renault Espace ready for isnpection / MOT but the digi speed has just gone erratic. Online guides say send it away for repair or it might be the signal from the ABS or gearbox (depending what day of the week it was built). No ABS warnings and everything is so electonic (even the blower vents!) any ECU or wiring fault could trigger huge costs for diagnostic time & expensive parts.

Faulty electronics are ending the life of many modern cars before their time, if you have a tidy 10 year old car worth £5k and get an unexpected electrical failure - do you gamble £££ or cut your losses.. Even a lit ABS warning lamp on a car with ABS operating properly is an MOT failure...

Progress? 70s Fords need a single 12v wire to the engine to work. Cars from 2000 have so many sensors I don't even know what half of them are or why they are there.

 

[Barking Mat]

I went to a party last Saturday, wife dropped me off as I fully intended having a few drinks.

About midnight I was chatting to the local dentist and his wife, who were about to go home, and they offered to drop me off, instead of me phoning my wife.

Expected some big posh car, 1991 Citroen ZX.

34 years old !

 

[Jack Pattenden]

If you put a gun to my head and told me to buy one of the late-2010s onward blob cars, I would tell you to shoot me.

 

[rtcosic]

I regret passing my 2009 XJ to No3 son and replacing it with a weedy Euro-Blob XF in 2019.

I am in a fortunate position where I can easily afford any new car under 6 figures.

There is nothing whatsoever out there that stirs the faintest of heart strings.

The XF has only 55k miles on it

If I take it to 230k, like its predecessor, and my annual mileage slowly fades to 8k per annum, I'll be well into my 90s before it becomes beyond economical repair.

I have my eye on this as a replacement:

 

[OJCar]

I bought the Octavia new in 2010, expecting to get 12 years out of it before buying a new car.
I have looked, there is nothing I would even consider on the new car market.
So it will continue till it dies.
The Discovery is now £360 p.a. on Road Tax alone.

I plan on getting so there are two Series Land Rovers fully restored and road legal.
(One of them might have the Discovery 200TDi fitted).
and something like a P6 for "Posh".

 

[marlinspike]

Newish cars don't rust like they used to. We have a 13 year old VW, no rust whatsoever. Longevity plus new cars being so expensive means many of us will keep our cars longer than we might have in the past. When I part exed my 2007 3 series last year it had lots of little scratches and dents but it drove as good as when I bought it 7 years previously. Back in the 80's I had Fords that seemed tired out at 8 years old.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

As the title says, apparently the average age of cars on UK roads has never been older.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money.../Britons-cars-OLDER-Average-age-10-years.html

Think there are many factors, but the limited product range offered by many car companies and the prices doesn't help.
Was at BBQ with some old Ford work mates and there are rumours of more redundancies/early retirement offers at Dagenham and Dunton.
so Nobody wants the new Mustang or Crapie
With a 20year old landrover and 16 year old van, im not helping

Just picked up a 2005 206 as a cheap run around when the wife's at work over the weekends.

Gets me and the boys out to the woods or moors and cheap to run and maintain. Not stuffed full of electronic bullcrap either

 

[reb78]

I bought the Octavia new in 2010, expecting to get 12 years out of it before buying a new car.
I have looked, there is nothing I would even consider on the new car market.
So it will continue till it dies.
The Discovery is now £360 p.a. on Road Tax alone.

I plan on getting so there are two Series Land Rovers fully restored and road legal.
(One of them might have the Discovery 200TDi fitted).
and something like a P6 for "Posh".

Ooo. I like your thinking. Except it'd be a P5b coupe for me for posh. I have a Land Rover 110 (so pre defender) and a '74 Vauxhall Magnum due to be brought back on the road. Then the more modern stuff (youngest are '07) can all go. There might be a Morris Traveller restoration as a project for the kids too if I haul it out from the depths of one of the sheds.

 

[8ob]

Any benefits of a modern car are negated by the state of our roads, traffic congestion and the ever increasing fine harvesting surveillance systems. The only thing a new car in the drive does is impress the pea brained impressionable, who the hell wants to do that
I am looking for a p4 Rover which I will convert to diesel.

Bob

 

[OJCar]

I am looking for a p4 Rover which I will convert to diesel.

Which engine ?

 

[AKN]

I’m doing my bit, the average age of mine is 28.4! I’ve driven a lot of new cars, post 2022, from Merc S Class, Range Rover, BMW, to Vauxhall Corsa, and there is not one of the I have got out of and said “I could live with that” let alone “I want one of those”. So I will keep spending time and money keeping what I’ve got on the road.

 

[8ob]

Which engine ?

Thinking of something nice like the m57 BMW engine/gearbox, loads of standalone wiring etc available to make them work in anything.

Bob

 

[OJCar]

Thinking of something nice like the m57 BMW engine/gearbox, loads of standalone wiring etc available to make them work in anything.

I know of someone with a 200TDi in a Rover 80.
He was commuting from near Huddersfield to near Bury along the M62 daily for a few years.

 

[OJCar]

Land Rover 110 (so pre defender)

That must be close to Historic Tax Class soon if not already.
My neighbour has a Defender Ninety that is Historic Tax Class next year.

'74 Vauxhall Magnum

Needs much ?