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Sad day, Don't hate me

To be fair we weren't unhappy with the 120. Perfect for our needs, but the rust was the killer. I just could not be arsed to crawl under it and try to clean that up. Prob would have cost £1-2k to get it done, but I know that these rust from the inside out on the chassis, so not convinced on the longevity of that.

The other problem is that although it never left us stranded, it developed a drone that I could not trace, (and at 17years would need to suspension and probable bushes etc all round) we had lost confidence in it. For any longer trips it was no longer the default vehicle as I was concerned something would break.

A import would be amazing, but I'm sure that will come at significant cost.

I did look at some 150's, and for £40k, you can get something at poverty spec with cloth seats etc...

Pick-ups are defo not in the list, just not our style of vehicle.

I've also done some research on the GLC, and no surprise, the older ones have a issue with crabbing requiring a change of a suspension component and also the PCV valves give issues which is a £2k job..... Both some cover under warranty, but requiring a battle with MB.

Sigh, maybe a 40 it is......
 
Looking at your criteria I'd say you fit with the concept manufacturers have been pushing for years in that you never actually own a car but rather just rent it .

Buy new and trade it for another new one of the same brand every 3 years .

I said this to a neighbour years ago who on getting his driving licence rather late in life was horrified at the cost of reliability for somebody who never owned a spanner .

He bought a new Ford Ka which was replaced with a focus which was replaced with a mondeo which was replaced with an suv all new and all in the space of about 5 years .

I suppose his "rent" increased from £50 weekly to whatever , but you can be certain he never bought a spanner .
 
Mercs from the 90s were a gamble, some rusted before your very eyes others seemed immune to the stuff.
Daren't add up what we've spent on the W124 Coupe 320 we've had for coming up to 20 years, we've had 4 x W124s, the best of the bunch was the fairly low spec E300 Diesel with the 3 litre straight NA lump, the opne we should have kept, parts on that were cheap and easy to replace and the car itself bombproof, ie a bottom ball joint circ £13 rom the dealer, on the 320 petrols the same part is welded into the lower wishbone, last one changed was a pattern part at some £250, daren't even imagine what the genuine part is now, airmatic shockers on the higher spec S class and derivatives were £1000 a pop in the noughties.

Agree with Shayne, they want you to rent/lease the things and reset onto the monthly payment treadmill in 3 years time.

I'd still only buy Toyota if this were my quandy, if its to be a ladder chassis model just accept the downside of lack of makers rustproofing and really go to town on the whole undersides soon as bought.
 
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If I was in the market, I might be tempted to look at the (South) Korean offerings from Hyundai or Kia - even if you bought a used 3 year old vehicle, you'll still have the remainder of 7 years/100k miles warranty left - which should cover most eventualities. When the warranty is about to expire, rinse and repeat.

I think that days of owning a (newer) vehicle for 20 years are well and truly over.

P.S. We will have owned both our Mk1 Yaris and 90 for 20 years next year - bought both in 2004! :icon-cool:
 
And of course there is brand snobbery from the Mrs..... I agree the 7 year warranty from the Korean lots is good, and certainly their reputation from a reliability perspective is great too.

Not really a fan of leasing as I feel it's just sunk money. I should prob work out what leasing my 120 for 17years would have cost. Prob more than what it cost us buying it....
 
None of these trends are good - eg BMW and their heated seat subscriptions....

If you like what you've got, look after it best you can to make it last!

Part of the problem is also how long 'the man' let's you. Ulez all over the place, as an example. Crazy people drinking from the koolaid bottles going around slashing tyres, tax man wanting his pound of flesh, vendors only stocking parts for so long... It's getting harder and harder.

If we got a good price for the 120 I too would be tempted to sell it, but we need a 7 seater, and you won't catch me in a ford galaxy anytime soon.
 
The 105 is more of a 2 seater. I have the front, and his Highness has the rest.

PXL_20220914_085743926.jpg
 
Beginning to see a pattern in the comments and experiences here.....

Any modern vehicle isn't built to last

Even the so called premium brands are getting poor now and very few make an effort to rust proof vehicles properly

As a small sample of potential vehicle purchasers none of us like any current vehicle

It seems that post about the mid to late 2000's all manufacturers decided that they would encourage people to view vehicles as disposable and to condition them to expect a vehicle to last about 10 years and as a result increase their vehicle sales .

Brand snobbery is still a thing and round here we have several fashion victims who take their kids to school in pimped up Merc G Waggons they probably spent north of 90 K on

As others have mentioned KIA are now making better vehicles than the so called premium brands as far as warranty and reliability go
 
Daren't add up what we've spent on the W124 Coupe 320 we've had for coming up to 20 years, we've had 4 x W124s, the best of the bunch was the fairly low spec E300 Diesel with the 3 litre straight NA lump, the opne we should have kept

Always really liked the look of the W124's, but never owned one. The coupe must be nice, even if its cost a few quid to maintain it.

I've still got a 99 W202 - tiny bit of rust showing on the bottom of one of the doors now; and a 2004 W211 which is (as far as I can see) rust free - theres a few aluminium panels on that one.

Had a 2004 W163 (ML) - which ended up with rust on the wheel arches and a bit on the doors and the boot, but the chassis was still perfect - especially compared to some of the LC's we see here of the same age.

Had a 1997 W140 back in the day. I remember a bit of rust on the boot lid, but thats all - sold it like 2014 I think. It had a 3.2L straight 6 petrol engine - I think that was the last inline 6 they made?
 
A veritable fleet Karl.
Have that same straight 6 in the W124, confess i prefer the saloon and estates myself, coupe and topless wheelbase is quite a bit shorter than saloon/estate making the rear seats almost useless, plus the lower roofline has anyone tall sitting with their head at angle to fit into the sunroof opening.
99% sure the same engine is the one found in noughties petrol SSangYong Rextons.

W211 E class is probably the best all round Benz you can get, i've not liked anything they made since.

On the subject of German motors, VW Amarok hold some serious money probably better than Hilux,someone mentioned they galvanised the chassis on those, its almost unforgiveable that Toyota didn't see fit to do that, even if it was only to the chassis being sold to known markets where road salt is an issue.
VW Toerag could have been a possible alternative for some of us, but on another forum a chap has an issue with a faulty starter motor, and to get to it its either engine out or subframe and multiple other parts off and go in from underneath which is near enough the same amount of work, its such poor designs that have kept me firmly committed to Toyota in particular.

Apart from which, my 20 years on the car transporters i found the German dealerships to be arrogant and full of themselves (though hardly alone in that), whilst Toyota dealers were always really good with us, so much so that my local dealer whom i delivered many loads to gave me staff purchase on the new Hilux we bought from them, a useful £2k discount which made it cheaper than the demo were had initially planned to buy.

Thinking of Grimbos excellent post above.
Many makers best and most durable designs were in my honest opinion from the 90's and early noughties (you can go newer with Japanese because they're really quaintly old fashioned, and there's sod all wrong with that), cars from taht era proved to be durable reliable and corrosion resistant, they lasted far too long, they learned not to repeat that mistake, i don't include Toyota in this cynical view of their products, apart from chassis rot and the rare engineering mistakes they make, ie MMT automated manual gearboxes which are the devils work, you seldom regret buying a Toyota.
 
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