Our Octavia is Getting Old

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The photo shows two narrow boats near lock 16E of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, close to the Titanic Mill, Linthwaite.

A New Car

Back in 2008 my wife and I decided to buy a new car. After a bit of research, we settled on a Skoda Octavia 1.9TDI. It was recommended by various people we knew, who seemed to know about cars. The decider came when we met a man in a cafe in Boulogne-Sur-Mer (France) who delivered cars for a living. He told us that one of his favourites was the one we eventually bought.

We bought it around 15,000 miles on the clock, one year old.

Today it’s showing 120,242 miles on the clock and it’s showing its age. I’ve driven it over 100,000 miles (just over 40% of the distance to the moon!).

The Dreaded MOT

When cars get old, they start having more and more problems as parts start to wear out. I’ve come to dread the annual MOT. Two years ago, the four springs needed to be replaced. Last year there were problems with the ABS breaking and some minor oil leaks (expensive parts needed to be replaced). Each MOT cost a lot of beer vouchers.

This year it was scheduled to get its MOT around 08:00 this morning. While the MOT was being done, I had a pleasant walk along the canal near the garage, where I took many photos, including the one above. I also read a bit in the early morning sunshine.

Back at the garage there was a delay with the MOT (the owner had misplaced the keys to a van that needed to be removed from the testing area). So, I sat in the office and read a bit more of my book.

Soon, the car appeared in front of the office. And I started to think (and worry) about how much is it going to be this year, what needs to be replaced now. Once the paperwork was done, the garage owner came to break the news. It had passed. I can’t remember the last time this happened (several years ago, at least). So, the cost this year was a mere £55, the cost of the MOT.

Old Cars Break Down

Soon, the car appeared in front of the office. And I started to think (and worry) about how much it was going to be this year, now what needs to be replaced! One thing we were told when thinking about the car is that the build quality of the Skoda Octavia 1.9TDI is very good. Usually, the body wears out before the engine. The engine can do 250,000 miles or so (10,000 miles further than the moon).

Parts still wear out, but not as fast as a car with a low build quality.

Buying a Newer Car

When a car starts to go wrong and cost lots of money for repairs, it’s usually time to acquire another one, a newer one.

The problem is that it costs money, the newer the car, the more the cost. My wife and I are around 70 years old and living on our pensions. We can probably afford a newer car, but it will be an older one. We can’t afford another Octavia like the last one (unless I win the lottery). And of course, older cars tend to break down more. Without care, you could end up buying a car that starts going wrong, and is also costly to run.

Another problem is that I’m getting tired of driving. Nowadays, I try to restrict my driving to shorter journeys, preferably less than two/three hours, though this depends on the driving conditions. I also need to get a new driving license every three years, after declaring that I am still fit to drive. There are a lot of exclusions dues to health, a lot, a big lot. At least the new license if free.

We could shell out on a new car, only to find out we need to get rid of it due to me not being able to drive due to a medical condition (my wife cannot drive).

Our approach is that we will continue with the Octavia until it becomes too expensive to run. At that point we’ll do without a car, I’ll be writing about living without a car in a future journal post.

It’s a Diesel

The Octavia has a diesel engine, at the time everyone was saying that diesels were good for the planet, so buy one.

We did, and not long after that the advice changed to diesels are really bad for the planet, don’t buy one. Thanks.

It’s not Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) compliant, to drive in Greater London, Birmingham and some other major cities we need to pay a daily fee. (Which is a tax on the poor, well off people tend to drive newer cars that are ok, poorer people tend to drive older cars that are not. Where’s the fairness here.) We live on the edge of Manchester, they were going to have a ULEZ zone, which would have been a big, big problem for us. Luckily, it’s not going to happen. May be Andy Burnham realised that poor people are the ones who suffer; that ULEZ zones are yet another tax on the poor.

That’s another problem with buying a newer car. It needs to be OK for all current ULEZ zones, otherwise it’s pointless buying it. It also needs to be OK for future ULEZ zones, which might have more stringent conditions.

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