Do you need to service your car as often ???

[Dieselman]

MAny parts of a car require servicing to ensure a long life. For example brakes bind and headgaskets go on poorly maintained cars.

The oil will suffer breakdown, irrespective of mileage, due to acid and water content build-up. In fact a low mileage engine will suffer more condensation and fuel dilution than a higher mileage one due to not getting to a high enough temperature to boil off the dilutants.

Even with a fully synthethic oil I would never leave the oil longer than two years, and in reality one or so.

Engines that use centrifugal and bypass filters will allow the oil to run for longer, typically 50,000 miles, but this only really applies to engines run for extended periods and given frequent analisys.

A friend of mine uses the theory of continually topping the oil instead of changing it and his cars are knac***d way before time.

An old adage is that maintenance costs save ten times their value against repair cost. i.e. saving £100 on maintenance will cost £1000 in repairs, this can be borne out by costs to get cars through the MOT test, often well exceeding what the annual maintenance cost would have been.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

A work colleague of mine drives a toyota starlet and bought it at 20,000 miles. She has had the car for five years and the mileage is now 110,000... she has had it serviced once since she has owned it and there is not a hint of smoke. The only thing she does is keep it topped up with oil regularly, which she does religiously every month !!!!

Sounds great, until the engine stops running due to the large amount of sludge and residue in the pan and at the top of the engine.

 

[gary350]

What about the E on which the CLS is based?

I drove the E and decided it did not have the same feel as the S or the CLS and I am not sure how far away it is from a shape change (the new pics are great) some say 2008 some say next year. At the moment I am not excited with any of the new cars and as you may notice my annual mileage is very low (less than 2K) The whole driving experience for me is not there at the moment, getting old could be the fault.

gary

 

[DieselE]

.....she waits for the mot to do the safety checks, and to pick up on things like worn brakes etc !

The problem with that policy is the MOT only tells you that the brakes met a set performance level on that day. It doesn't tell you whether they'll last till the next one. At least a service should produce a report saying pads/shoes are x% worn and will or will not last until the next service.

Economising on the parts of the car that make it go usually risks nothing but money. Failing to maintain the bits that make it steer/stay on the road/stop also risks injury or worse to other road users.

I can see that I have my foot in the stirrup of my hobby horse about unmaintained cars so I'll stop before swinging into the saddle.

 

[Rose Chap]

The whole driving experience for me is not there at the moment, getting old could be the fault.

Sorry to hear that Gary, what elements of driving aren't you enjoying? Traffic? Speed cameras? The general amount of 'disconnection' between you and the road that modern cars can suffer from?

I think the solution to this is to have a decent everyday car, an E Class, a CLS or whatever takes your fancy, and then something a bit more 'raw'. It needn't be fast, but something old school where you can clearly feel mechanical things going on would be good I think.

 

[nickmann]

...I can see that I have my foot in the stirrup of my hobby horse about unmaintained cars so I'll stop before swinging into the saddle.

Don't worry about it. You can ride with me, we are going the same way.

 

[gary350]

Sorry to hear that Gary, what elements of driving aren't you enjoying? Traffic? Speed cameras? The general amount of 'disconnection' between you and the road that modern cars can suffer from?

I think the solution to this is to have a decent everyday car, an E Class, a CLS or whatever takes your fancy, and then something a bit more 'raw'. It needn't be fast, but something old school where you can clearly feel mechanical things going on would be good I think.

The driving thing is mainly because of the crowded roads around here and also the poor condition of them, where is the road tax money going to.

The SLK350 is as raw as I need, its a bit of a beast. Something smooth with lots of power is the requirement. Just got the ML brochure this morning.

gary

 

[jeremytaylor]

.....she waits for the mot to do the safety checks, and to pick up on things like worn brakes etc !

Like many folk, judging by what I overhear when I'm at a test station.

 

[jeremytaylor]

I drove the E and decided it did not have the same feel as the S or the CLS and I am not sure how far away it is from a shape change (the new pics are great) some say 2008 some say next year.
gary

Very mild facelift next year. Completely new model 2008/9.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot it's now 2006. Facelift THIS year.

 

[petef]

Sounds great, until the engine stops running due to the large amount of sludge and residue in the pan and at the top of the engine.

Yea....but hers is still going at over 100,000 miles, ! I think one of the scary things here is that if someone buys a car from new , runs it for 60,000 miles, fails to service it, apart from the usual wear and tear items like tyres, and trades it in or sells it before the mot is due then they have had budget motoring and the new buyer will be purchasing a dog.....Its amazing how many people will still buy cars today without a service history..... . If you ever look at small hatches like fiestas, novas they are rarely sold with a service history. Someone young usually buys one, cant afford the servicing, runs it for 10.000 miles and moves it on to some other kid whos passed their test...............Now for some bizzare reason, if you check auto trader, Nissans, Toyotas ( my work colleague an exception !!) are mainly sold with a full main dealer history.!!!!!!!!...