So 7 months on and now we are at 170k she passed the MOT only requiring new rear brake pads, which was a surprise.

We've only done 500 miles since the MOT in January, and now the debate rages about whether to upgrde to a newer BMW 5 series... personally is we must spen out i'd like a 530d, leather interior and all of the toys.

Something like this would be nice;

So, Just got back from a 1600 mile blast around france.

Calias - Amboise - Cognac - Bergerac - Amboise - Calias

One emergency stop and two faults.

1. The boot decided to lock itself and not open, luckly there is a manuel key release hidden underneath

2. Autmatic transmission service required. I checked the ATF, then the fault dissapeard.

So, we almost hit 166k the old girl did us well, but will she remain to be the car of choice or will I be forced to replace her with a newer model by the wife?

Remains to be seen.

Now at 163.500, not really using the car much these days as I am commuting by train in to the city. Had a disaster lastweek, rear tire puncher and nort repairable. Two front tyres also need replacement.

So four new tyres and an aircon recharge... bang £400.

So te quesiton;

What tyres to use?
Go budget?
Go premium?
or go for the middle ground?

I got 16k out of the fronts - Pirelli p6000's. Not good.

No have somthing called Arrowspeeds... I dont hold out for them, but it would be good to see atleast 20k.

Now at 160350, and it been just over 1k since the last service. I noticed that the engine tone changed after 200 miles, does oil take this long to bed in?

Averaging about 45 mpg combined, not bad but I prefer to see 60mpg having done a long run.

Last week I changed the rear brakes on another S60 that I own, its a 2001 2.0 turbo with 119k.

Apparently the rear beake shoe delaminate and can cause damage to the hub assembly. See here for details; http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=89899

If you have an S60/V70/S80 now might be the time to check them out. Other that potential delamination probles the only other problem seems to be the dam retaining springs for the rear shoes. Here comes the best bit, they seem to always brake or bend when being taken off and cost £4 each to replace from Volvo! (4 required)

Ok, so the old D5 is 100 miles away form the big 160k. Its got a faulty injector clunky auto transmission and suspension knocks. The question is do you spend out £££ on fixing or pass over to the next guy cheap? The real question is "whats the cost to change"

The way that I look at it is, you have a number of factors to consider;

1. Purchase price of the current car
2. Lenght of time invested in the car
3. Age of the car
4. Service history completed
5. Pending service jobs
6. Pending repairs.
7. Realistic selling price
8. Cost of new vehicle
9. The way in which the new car is finance (Bank loan, cash, finance, lease, PCP)
10. The cost of the money to finance the purchace (APR, lost interest in savings etc.)
11. Costs to service new car
12. Depreciation of new car v's repairs of current car

Take all of these items into account, and then realize that it's better the devil you know, unless you can affort the brand new car....

Keep the S60 until the big 200k

The London Black Cab

What is it with these old things? They shack, rattle and role all over the place but people are still loyal to them. Classic in shape yes they are, but built well they arte not, rust after just a couple of years on the body panels, trim falling off and lots of chocking diesel smoke.

So what mileage are we to expect from these old black cabs? 200, 300 0r even 400k?

Since the 2006 joint venture between Maganese Bronze and Geely has the quality dropped or increased? I bet the Chinese cabs all have aircon as standard for the passengers!

The Million mile Saab - the Swedes do it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prvMuCTSvJY&feature=related