The Mrs Sharan was due the annual test back in the week. It's 5 years old and nudging 70K and so far its just cost servicing, Cam Belt, set of pads, and a centre / rear exhaust.
My thinking was that I should be prepared for something on the MOT (10 months since last service) but nothing - not even an advisory. This is its 3rd MOT and all have passed with just an advisory for the tyres last year.
Is this the norm these days? Are cars so durable that they will just keep sailing on (unless you are unlucky) or have I just been lucky and shoud expect some sizeable bills at some point i.e. lots of failures together?
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Result, but as the car is only 5 years old and 70k you shouldnt have to worry at all. My Mazda will be 13 years old and around 110k when it goes for its 11th MOT in March. The two MOT's undertaken in my possesion have resulted in only in one advisory on a tyre, one for lipping on rear disks and 2 replacement rear anti roll drop bars. Still on original clutch and exhaust (well the bible sized thickness of the service history seems to think so) and nothing replaced apart from service items and disks/pads all round. The emissions were smack bang in the middle of the allowed range too.
I tend to listen for any strange noises or feelings and act on them if cost effective, I havent spent too much (£600 in 2 years for all maintenence) and even if faced with a couplee hundred bill I would probably keep as it's a fairly known to me vehicle.
Got high hopes for a plain sail through next time, fingres crossed!
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>> The Mrs Sharan was due the annual test back in the week. It's 5 years
>> old and nudging 70K and so far its just cost ......... Cam Belt,
Was that based on the manufacturer's recommendation for cam belt renewal, or your personal opinion?
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5 yr old cars can still be found on dealer forcourts so it's nothing to sail through the test, When it's at 8ys thats different bits will fall off.
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My Y reg Focus had its MOT last week - wipers needed replacing, which to be honest we said needed doing when we bought it 3 years ago. However the most worrying thing was (new) advisories about front and rear subframe corrosion. I rang the garage up - technician wasn't available, but he rang back later(!) and explained that it wasn't anything to worry about, at least not for a few years. (Garage is MOT City in Winnersh, who I'd recommend to anyone in the Reading/Wokingham area.)
They charged £7 per blade to do the wipers, which I know is a lot more than what I'd have spent if I'd gone to Halfords and done it myself beforehand, but I didn't think it was too exorbitant. And ahhh... the peace and quiet when I turn them on now :)
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...They charged £7 per blade to do the wipers, which I know is a lot more than what I'd have spent if I'd gone to Halfords and done it myself beforehand, but I didn't think it was too exorbitant...
Halfords would charge at least that.
The CC3 has the 'one piece' blades which work well, but are dearer again.
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L'es - I changed the cam belt by the manufacturers schedule which was 60K / 4 years - had it done at the main dealers as they were only about 30 quid more than the local indys and they also said they would do the water pump if I just paid the cost price of it which I think was an extra 20 odd quid. It still has full VW history, plus they guarantee their work for 2 years so I kind of thought the slight extra cost was worth it (plus they wash and vac it and their coffee is nice).
Sounds from what others have said that my expectations were low, and I should have expected a pass anyway, problem is I quite fancy getting the new Sharan or Alhambra, but while this one keeps going with no problems the Mrs is having none of it!
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...Sounds from what others have said that my expectations were low...
I think they were.
You've looked after the car - I see it has a full VW history - and it looks as if Mrs mb drives it sensibly - not too fast, not too slow.
These two factors mean you can reasonably expect it to give long and trouble-free service.
My last Focus did about 80K standing on its head.
I'm sure it had loads of life left in it, but the boredom factor got to me in the end.
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My local MOT tester is known as 'Tommy' because he must be deaf, dumb and blind to pass some of the cars that he does!
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Y reg Mondeo sailed through just this morning, no advisory. nearly 10 years old and not a loose screw. Advisory last year on a tyre a bit near the limit, had the brakes done last year 'cos the pipes rot, but all sorted now - tester commented on what a solid car it was.
Waiting for something terminal now..........
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I've had two failures on the Beemer, one was high CO reading, easily sorted, and the other was rear brake pipe replacement, a pretty expensive job as it turned out I needed a replacement rear brake caliper. The replacement copper pipes cost peanuts, most of the cost was labour as the fuel tank has to be dropped. The annoying thing is that they were only corroded where they are in line with all the crud that gets thrown up by the rear wheels. If I'd known I would have given them a dosing of waxoyl. I will definately be giving my next car's pipes a good going over, as this seems to be a common occurance on most cars. I presume the cost would be prohibitive if the manufacturers supplied all cars with copper brake pipes as standard. I had an advisory for slight play in a front track rod end ball joint this year.
I think that's pretty good for a 12 year old car. When I see the problems some people have with their jalopies I consider myself lucky.
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Just use normal LM grease and paint it on with a brush i did mine on a sierra i owned for 10 years it never had any on and the petrol pipes were metal they too never corroded.
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5 years old and 70,000 miles is nothing - a lot of our company cars are past 70,000 at their first MOT with nothing needing to be done.
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Another MOT passed - nice but dim
