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Post by garry on Jun 30, 2021 17:02:20 GMT
Life with the Zafira has been remarkably pain free - it starts and stops and nowt goes wrong. I even did a 350 round trip to drop off bike parts without an issue. But how should I look after it? I've not had it serviced, I suspect it's never had belts changed. Should I just run it 'till it goes bang or look after it? Remember, this car owes me under £400. The feedback from the mot was that its a really sound car.
My only other observation - it's very nice living with a car you don't care about. I'm one of those who annoy my kids by usually parking as far away from everyone else as possible, but the Zafira gets shoved into any space, left anywhere , carries anything. Its almost like an abusive relationship!!
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Post by Big Blue on Jun 30, 2021 17:23:03 GMT
Yeah. Our old E46 was like that. It’s refreshing to use a car as a utility and then enjoy another one as opposed to fretting about parking in a supermarket.
I’d run it till it stops going as we did with the E46. We still had tyre and MoT expenses but not high ones and i justified that because it started every day without fail. When it did eventually fail to proceed it went to the scrappie knowing it had done a life’s work.
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Post by Alex on Jun 30, 2021 21:34:42 GMT
It would cost more than the car's worth to get the belts done so you could just leave it to fate but doing a DIY oil change would probably be a good start if its not been done. Perhaps a new air filter too and if you're feeling adventurous maybe new spark plugs. Other than that as long as the tyres are good and its clean enough you can probably just run it.
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Post by racingteatray on Jun 30, 2021 22:21:06 GMT
I'd be tempted to service it on the basis of "try and find another" if it does break for want of a minimum of mechanical TLC.
Know what you mean about carefree cars. Years ago I found myself needing a cheap interim run-around and managed to bag myself a B-reg black Golf GTI on eBay for £350. It had ten months MoT, 276k miles on the clock and was truly, delightfully and unashamedly tatty. Went like a train and absolutely nobody messed with it in traffic - not even black cabs, because the whole car screamed "think I care?". Resold it with two months left on the MoT for £250. Bargainaceous fun.
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Post by Tim on Jul 1, 2021 7:45:48 GMT
I might be tempted to change the oil but that'd be it - assuming you've checked the levels of water and brake fluid.
The free 5 series Touring I've got is treated the same way.
Oil gets checked and topped up occasionally because I can see from my drive that it needs that.
Otherwise nothing gets done, I haven't topped up the screenwash because the pipe is split so no water makes it to the screen, I often don't lock it because there's nothing inside worth stealing and it hasn't been washed for about 18 months, apart from cleaning the dust off the windows.
Nobody parks next to it in carparks........
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Post by ChrisM on Jul 1, 2021 9:25:33 GMT
Look after maintenence, safety and reliability items. I'd always have an annual oil change and wheels-off check on brakes. However if you don't plan on keeping it for very long, you may not want to bother. When your family are on board though, don't you feel you owe it to them to make sure it's safe?
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Post by garry on Jul 1, 2021 10:21:31 GMT
I'd be tempted to service it on the basis of "try and find another" if it does break for want of a minimum of mechanical TLC. . I’m persuaded by this. My instinct has been ‘do nothing’, but if it breaks (through something a service would have sorted) then I’ll have to find another shed. I think I got very lucky with this one, and could easily end up paying double or triple for another. I’ve got local friendly mechanic who I’ll speak to. |
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Post by garry on Jul 1, 2021 10:23:48 GMT
Look after maintenence, safety and reliability items. I'd always have an annual oil change and wheels-off check on brakes. However if you don't plan on keeping it for very long, you may not want to bother. When your family are on board though, don't you feel you owe it to them to make sure it's safe? Its not about safety - it’s mot’d and has decent tyres. It’s more about the engine going pop. |
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Post by Blarno on Jul 1, 2021 11:19:57 GMT
Do the minimum possible and only then if necessary. I ran my Mondeo from 145k to 220k like that and it managed another 10k with the owner that follwed me before it died.
Anything that does need doing, do it yourself where possible. Bits are generally cheap for sheds, but labour costs the same regardless.
Buy bits second hand off ebay. Most breakers have an ebay shop and you can often find people breaking whole cars who will separate out the bits you need. I managed to get a towbar, cupholders and a parcel shelf for the E46 for less than £80 that way.
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Post by rodge on Jul 7, 2021 3:18:05 GMT
My Lexus RX300 is now 21 years old and has about 280,000 on the clock.
I have it booked in for repair in 10 days as I need the get the brakes sorted.
Usually I’d do it myself but I’m trying to get the house ready for selling next month and don’t have the time right now.
I’ve also got a leaking breather hose that I ordered a replacement for because the end had split and when I shortened the pipe to reuse, the new end also split.
I’m selling the car in September so will probably get reasonable money for it.
It cost me $5k in 2014 and has been pretty reliable all that time.
If I get $1500 for it, I’ll be happy, plus there’s plenty of students that want a cheap car…
It was never a car I’d have bought by desire but it’s been a great purchase, plus it’s decent enough off road for going camping and such.
So in answer to your question, I service it at one of those drive in places that are cheap and do all the fluids, and fix it most of the time with eBay parts.
Apart from that, I do as little as possible.
Even the clear coat has peeled on it…
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