Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - You have one vehicle to drive, and rebuild for a lifetime, which one?

Arragonis · 12-06-2011, 04:58 PM

The original question is a very good one - the problem is that cars we assume will be around forever just aren't - their numbers drops and with them go the parts supply required to keep them going.

That tapped if I was going for a car to keep forever then I would probably go for one of 2 extremes. The higher end would be a top end BMW or Merc simply because (early 90s Mercedes rust buckets aside) they tend to last a long time and dealers stock parts for even the older ones - W123 fuel rail, no problem sir... Not exactly fuel efficient though and some of the older diesel BMWs need a lot of money to keep going - a new fuel pump for a 1995 BMW 325TDs is more than the value of the car and they are locked to the ecu of the car itself.

The other extreme would be a simple kit car - not very practical though. The reasoning behind this choice is that I could simply drop in a replacement engine / gearbox combination from a different car to keep it going - like one of those old 1960s Lotus 7s where the original engine was a BMC A-Series or a Ford Pre-Crossflow "Kent" but now they have a motorbike engine and box for extra "go".

12-06-2011, 04:58 PM	#16 (permalink)
Arragonis The PRC. Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Elsewhere. Posts: 5,304 Thanks: 285 Thanked 536 Times in 384 Posts	The original question is a very good one - the problem is that cars we assume will be around forever just aren't - their numbers drops and with them go the parts supply required to keep them going. That tapped if I was going for a car to keep forever then I would probably go for one of 2 extremes. The higher end would be a top end BMW or Merc simply because (early 90s Mercedes rust buckets aside) they tend to last a long time and dealers stock parts for even the older ones - W123 fuel rail, no problem sir... Not exactly fuel efficient though and some of the older diesel BMWs need a lot of money to keep going - a new fuel pump for a 1995 BMW 325TDs is more than the value of the car and they are locked to the ecu of the car itself. The other extreme would be a simple kit car - not very practical though. The reasoning behind this choice is that I could simply drop in a replacement engine / gearbox combination from a different car to keep it going - like one of those old 1960s Lotus 7s where the original engine was a BMC A-Series or a Ford Pre-Crossflow "Kent" but now they have a motorbike engine and box for extra "go". __________________ [I]So long and thanks for all the fish.[/I]