Coupe reliability

I read from time to time the worries of people about to use their coupe for more than the couple of miles to work.

For what it's worth... Last weekend I drove to Carlisle for the always excellent xmas meet.

1) start engine
2) drive 300 miles
3) park
4) turn engine off

Wait overnight, and do the same in reverse. Rain, 40mph wind, show... no huhu, no issue... what did you expect? It's a 25-year-old coupe!

Neil

p.s. after parking back at home, send Anita to have the car washed and get some of the salt off it!

Screams confidence, easily rewarded.

I feel the same,definitely built in an era when a car was engineered to last some say this up to about 2002-2005 then no more, modern cars with sensors and malfunctions galore etc.

As for rusty modern cars these are the worst offenders apparently

Ford Fiesta
Vauxhall Corsa
Land Rover Range Rover Sport
Ford StreetKa
Toyota Rav-4
Jeep Wrangler
Volkswagen Polo Hatch
MINI Hatchback

Areas with the rustiest cars (unsurprsingly) or not to buy from:

10: Yorkshire, Northern England
9: Lincolnshire, Central England
8: Durham, Central England
7: Herefordshire, West Midlands
6: Midlothian, Scotland
5: Banffshire, Scotland
4: Roxburghshire, Scotland
3: Northumberland, North East England
2: Fife, Scotland
1: West Dunbartonshire, Scotland

Most reliable modern cars:

1 Lexus 99.3%
2 Toyota 97.7%
3 Suzuki 97.3%
4 Tesla 96.9%
5 Subaru 96.6%
6 Kia 96.3%
7 Hyundai 95.7%
8 Mini 95.4%
9 Skoda 95.2%
10 Honda 94.9%
11 Volvo 94.7%
12 Dacia 94.5%
13 Mitsubishi 94.3%
14 Ford 94.1%
15 Seat 93.8%
16 Volkswagen 93.7%
17 Mazda 93.5%
18 Peugeot 93.4%
19 Fiat 93.3%
20 Audi 92.9%
21 BMW 92.1%
22 Citroën 91.8%
23 Porsche 91.7%
24 Mercedes-Benz 90.6%
25 Alfa Romeo 89.7%
26 Jaguar 89.5%
27 Vauxhall 89.4%
28 Nissan 85.7%
29 Jeep 84.4%
30 Renault 84.2%
31 Land Rover 81.3%

List goes against what some still believe are statistically reliable cars.

I don't think it's particularly a case of 'built to last' though there was by the nineties some sort of expectation that cars would last more than three or four years.

I do think, though, that the coupe may be at a sweet spot in terms of electronics. They are *always* going to be the weak point in a car - which is after all, build with mature technologies many of which are sixty to a hundred years old - and modern cars have more and more electronics around and about them... and don't seem to understand the concept of graceful failure.

If a car is ignored, just run without consideration for maintenance, then expect it to decay rapidly. If it's looked after, it will continue to work even at pushing a couple of hundred thousand miles and twenty five years.

Neil

I agree with the above. With some reasonable maintenance a vehicle can last many years no matter what the make. Rust is the biggest issue in the UK however.

In 22 years we have very few problems with the coupe. I do replace parts when they still have life in them though. It is getting harder to buy new parts these days which will make keeping it 100% harder. It will take a bit of creativity or parts hoarding, just in case, to keep it going. Still, its worth the effort.

Having said that the car is off the road this week waiting for a 2nd hand alternator to arrive!! Hopefully back on the road next week. The old one will get refurbished though and sit on the shelf for next time.

FYI, last month my old Range Rover left me stranded in Barcelona having overheated. Ended up scrapping the car as it was uneconomical to recover it home. I was on a trip with the wife and dogs and had my other car at the time too (Thank god). A 30 year old Saab 900. Never missed a beat in 1100km. You just never know, but good maintenance will reduce any doubt, but unfortunately not be 100% certain to prevent issues.

I will never have a car newer than the year 2000. Cars after this get too complex to work on at home, but they are strong enough and reliable enough to use every day unlike older cars of the 70's and before.

I can understand the reticence to use a Coupe as a daily driver - not because of any reliability issues, but because prolonged usage will accelerate component failure (be it mechanical, electrical or bodywork)

We all know that rust is the biggest killer for Coupes, so it’s not unreasonable for the owner of a sound Coupe to want to minimise the exposure to water and salt.

I agree about the Coupe’s reliability though - as long as it’s looked after, it will do anything that a modern car will do. I used my previous Coupe for 30,000+ miles a year in all weather and it just lapped it up, with just a handful of failures (usually self-inflicted by my modding spree...). However, despite a lot of maintenance, rust sent it to the scrapyard at just shy of a quarter of a million miles.