"Doki" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Going rate for an 8 year old Focus looks like £1-2k. I recently picked up
a 5 year old 406 HDI estate for £2.5k. If you avoid the German makes, the
depreciation is pretty vicious and the cars end up damned cheap for what
they are.

The speed of depreciation on cars always surprises me. My Focus 2.0 ESP is 7
years old in June, hasn't gone wrong in the 4 years I've had it, does
everything just as well as a new car but is worth only a tiny fraction of
the price. High depreciation makes more sense with cars that rust badly but
the Focus doesn't do that. If the government really wanted to do something
about the environment they'd make it more financially attractive to keep
running older cars rather than squandering resources building new ones.

How about no road tax on cars over 10 years old?

Instead most countries are trying to reduce the average age of the vehicle
parc on the grounds that newer cars are less polluting and more fuel
efficient than older ones. I beg to differ. The average mpg of the cars I've
owned has hardly altered in 30 years and we've had compulsory catalytic
converters for over 15 years anyway. What's actually happened is that cars
have got steadily heavier due to all the safety related features they are
required to have so any gains in engine fuel efficiency have been more than
offset by the increase in weight you have to burn fuel to lug around.

Back in the day an average hatchback weighed about 850 to 900kg. My Focus
weighs nearly half as much again. That doesn't make much difference at high
speed when aero drag is the main resistance but round town it's all extra
weight that has to be accelerated and braked constantly.

In 1983 I bought a Mk 1 Astra GTE. It was the dog's ******** in its day
although it would look a bit basic by today's standards. No ABS, leccy
windows, air bags etc. Over 47000 miles it averaged 31.0 mpg. The Focus has
just hit 47000 miles and has averaged 30.3 mpg.

If we want to save oil then modern cars aren't making a scrap of difference.
The only thing that will is if we all drive very small, light, low powered
cars rather than fat bloated ones packed full of safety features. To save
medical costs the best way would be to leave out the weight bloating safety
features and train drivers to drive better. That means work though rather
than just enacting legislation so it'll never happen.
--
Dave Baker
Puma Race Engines