Question about cars

[Commo64]

O

Our Merc. only had about 100,000
on it when we got it. Even though I was doing all of the servicing, it was costing us about $1000/year. 4 years ownership $4000. It was a Jap. import and you don't know how long it spent in jams.

Your Merc was a jap import?

 

[Commo64]

Probably some good bargains to be had for sure on euros if your willing to do the maintenance. You just need to do your research on common faults and design flaws and check out availability and cost of spare parts (OEM or aftermarket).

Some of the euro designs though are quite horrendous and made with an absolute fuk you to the mechanics that have to work on them.

Two that spring to mind from YouTube videos I’ve watched is one by Car Wizard who was fixing a BMW M3 IIRC. The oil galleries pass through the alternator bracket, with associated o rings. A fuking retarded idea as there’s zero reason for oil galleries to pass through the bracket and back into the block.

When the o rings inevitably perish and start leaking you’ve got to dismantle half the engine bay to replace them (about a $500 job to replace a couple of o rings).

The second one was Hoovies Garage who bought a cheap Mercedes SLK I think with a V10 engine. Zero room in the engine bay to work on it. There was an o ring leaking oil near the bottom of the engine. The entire engine has to be removed just to replace the o ring.

Yeah, you have to do your research (like any car out there)...

 

[Martbar]

Your Merc was a jap import?

Yes we were lucky, ours was okay.

 

[Commo64]

Theres a difference between “design issues” and a fuk you with love from the engineers and bean counters! The example of the BMW alternator bracket firmly falls into the second category as there’s literally zero reason to do it that way.

The only comparable example I can think of from any of the cars I’ve ever owned is the Alloytec in the Commodores with the thermostat at the back of the engine. Having said that they obviously realised that thermostat placement would be an issue and made a good quality thermostat for it as I’ve never had to replace mine on the SV6 *touch wood* with over 320,000kms on it.

Next one that comes to mind is the Renault Megane, where you have to remove the front wheels and inner guard liners just to replace the headlight bulbs! Some of these things are absolutely designed on purpose to increase the servicing costs.

This is also to do with the packaging of the car's technology... The company says that you have to engineer a car that has these features... And sometimes engineers come up with stupid solutions or are rushed to the finished line for the sake of money and time...

 

[Commo64]

Yes we were lucky, ours was okay.

Yeah... You have to be careful with grey imports, especially in New Zealand where you guys get a lot of grey imports...

 

[J_D 2.0]

Be more like RC cars, swap to a better electric motor and over volt it slightly...

I’m talking about kids alive now, not ones yet to be born in 20 years time. The cheap cars in another 10-20 years will be the complex turbocharged, direct injected, VVT, DOD cars that are brand new right now.

They won’t last 300,000kms+ without major repair bills. Turbos need replacement every 100,000kms on average ($2000+). Direct injection fouls the inlet valves with carbon and the injectors are expensive to replace. CVT transmissions have trouble lasting the warranty period let alone doing 300,000kms. They are also highly dependant on clean CVT fluid so miss a CVT service and it’s a lot more problematic than an old school auto box.

Edit: And that’s not even touching on the electronics side of things! Windscreen replacement is $2000+ on a car with autonomous emergency brakes!

 

[48-215]

Oil via the alternator bracket seems like it would be easier to avoid than incorporate though

 

[Commo64]

I’m talking about kids alive now, not ones yet to be born in 20 years time. The cheap cars in another 10-20 years will be the complex turbocharged, direct injected, VVT, DOD cars that are brand new right now.

They won’t last 300,000kms+ without major repair bills. Turbos need replacement every 100,000kms on average ($2000+). Direct injection fouls the inlet valves with carbon and the injectors are expensive to replace. CVT transmissions have trouble lasting the warranty period let alone doing 300,000kms. They are also highly dependant on clean CVT fluid so miss a CVT service and it’s a lot more problematic than an old school auto box.

Yeah... These kids are going to find it hard to get a good reliable car (even a Toyota uses CVT's and Turbos)

 

[48-215]

I’m talking about kids alive now, not ones yet to be born in 20 years time.

I doubt they will still be allowed on the road... or the more likely passive redundancy route by the disappearance of servos with fuels. Stop the dependence on oil... national security... nothing to do with green... watch that speed up.

 

[J_D 2.0]

Yeah... These kids are going to find it hard to get a good reliable car (even a Toyota uses CVT's and Turbos)

Yeah. I just helped my mum buy a new (secondhand) car. The best small cars that were in budget were the Toyota Corolla and the Mazda 3 as they have timing chains and not a timing belt.

It basically came down to getting an old 2012 Toyota Corolla or a newer 2016 Mazda 3 as the newer Corollas have a CVT. At least Mazda stayed off the CVT bandwagon longer as she ended up getting the Mazda 3 as it was newer with lower mileage on it.

By all accounts it should be pretty decent as they aren’t terribly complicated and there is plenty of room in the engine bay to work on them. They are direct injected but nearly everything is in that age bracket or newer.

Couldn’t find any reports of major problems with carbon buildup on the valves but Mazda did design a large plenum chamber for the oil vapour to settle out from the PCV system before the air goes back into the engine so hopefully that stops the valves fouling up.