It seems we all have different ideas on how long a car should last before it becomes uneconomic to keep.

I have always taken my clues from the company car suppliers, who loose money if they get it wrong.

The length of lease has always been about 3 years. As this is the same as most warranties, that made sense.

However 60k miles used to be the maximum before they worried about reliabilty, but since about the 1990s this has been increased to 100k miles.

So I now tend to see the life of my car, before changing, extending to 100k miles, or more if I can get a reasonably priced warranty. That way I hope to have solved how to run a reliable car.

I try to buy my next car, nearly new, while some of the original warranty is still in place.

Anything older I regard as starting to come under the 'Classic' car banner. Then cheap spares (or indeed any spares), specialist enthusiastic repairers, and a good knowledge of DIY become very important. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 82k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Leasing has ruined the market as manufacturers extended the service intervals to attract them. The cars then hit year 4 with under serviced units that cost the punter who buys in at year 4 and above. Happy to be shot down but 15,000 miles between oil changes is ridiculous. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

I agree I've always undertaken oil changes at 6-7k miles even from new. But these days that's annually for the FL2 - does mainly long distance trips now. For the local stuff we use the Copen or the Fiesta ST. Jules

Peugeot 504 25 years (18 years I owned it), the next year after 250,000 km I knew a lot of things would need fixing. Last car a Seat Ibiza also about 250,000 km it needed a few repairs but was going to cost too much to fix, but my mechanic wanted it! Each car needed all the usual things replaced at the usual sort of intervals, but both were what I would say & reasonably reliable & reasonably cheap to maintain.

Both cars I would not have got anything for them worthwhile so while they worked I drove them untill it was not worth it.

The average age of cars in Australia is 10 years and the average distance driven per year is 15,000 km. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Ianmetro,

The answer to how long it will last depends on how proactive you are with the maintenance.

Even with the complexity of the Freelander 2; I expect mine to last 20 years or 200,000 miles.

When I get to that point I will need to decide if I am going to keep it longer.

Right now I am starting the 11th year and at ~113,000 miles


Items I expect not to replace or rebuild in the first 20 years

Catalytic converter
Ignition coils
MAF and MAP sensor
Exhaust system
Radiator
heat exchangers (oil to coolant and ATF to coolant)
AC compressor (the clutch pack will likely need rebuilding)
AC condenser (this one may not make it)
Power steering pump
Power steering rack
Automatic transmission (Maintenance only no rebuild)
Power transfer unit (Maintenance only no rebuild)
Haldex (Maintenance only no rebuild)
Rear differential (Maintenance only no rebuild)
Suspension bushing and ball joints
Struts
Drive shaft and half shafts
Window regulators
Engine (Maintenance only no rebuild)
Alternator
Seat mechanism
Seat Belt mechanism
Fuel pump and control module
fuel vapor recovery system


If I keep driving 5,000 miles a year for 50 years I suspect that I will eventually get to replace almost everything on the list.

After 20 years the cost to keep the old car becomes too high.

But that doesn't take into account sentimental value.

Happy motoring

Paul

Wouldn't rely on the window regulator as being bullet-proof; replaced driver's side twice on my Forester in 5 years of ownership

In reply to the original question and far as LR are concerned, expect a reasonable service life of around 10 months, or 30,000 miles from new; anything over and above that is a bonus

10 months!

Mine made it to 2 months. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

Quite an interesting question from OP and the correct answer will depend upon all sorts of personal preferences and requirements

Generally, a newer car will normally be more expensive than an older model because of depreciation. As the vehicle gets older, the increased maintenance and repair costs offset to some extent the reduced depreciation

Other than that.........
How important is it to you to have the latest/newest model or are you happy to chug around in a 10 year old car?
Is it your only car or is there another one sitting in the drive and available in an emergency?
How much maintenance can you do yourself. How mechanically sympathetic are you?

Personally, for me I am in the 8/12 years and 150/200k miles range. Cars do seem to last so much better these days if looked after properly and they do not normally rust (I once had an Alfa Sud Sprint from new which was a fantastic car to drive, but after 3 years it was absolutely covered in rusty "blobs")

Steve

Ran my discovery 2 to 14 years, 165k miles. At that stage it was starting to need more regular repairs. I do around 500 miles a week so need good reliability hence changed it. I was very sad to see it go though! Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

Quote:

Ran my discovery 2 to 14 years, 165k miles. At that stage it was starting to need more regular repairs. I do around 500 miles a week so need good reliability hence changed it. I was very sad to see it go though!

Ha yes that is almost identical situation to my Disco 2. 12 years old and close to 200k miles but I couldn't keep up with the repairs. There was water getting into the fuse box below the windscreen which I couldn't sort out and was quite a worry

But how i loved that car

Steve

Last year in South Australia got chatting with an owner of a D3. He said the will soon need a third transmission! He replaced the first one at 600,000 km & is now up to 1.1 million km.

Apart from all the scratches down the sides & wading​ in water over the bonnet, one could see the high tide marks! I'd say it was a reliable car. He said he wanted to keep it going! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18