You want to know my opinion regarding how long a new car lasts. Older cars are said to last longer than newer models. But what is true in reality? The phrase “they don’t make them like back then” is the most common phrase one will hear in a conversation with older drivers in Greece regarding the reliability and durability of modern cars.
Although the above phrase is used to exaggerate the higher levels of reliability of cars of the past 10 years compared to the latest generation models, it contains more than one “truth” but also inaccuracies.
It is a fact that older cars show high levels of reliability. A look at the statistical data concerning the total number of vehicles circulating in our country is enough: Greece has the oldest fleet in the European Union with an average age of over 17 years for the models circulating on its roads .
It is also a fact that new cars “are not made like the old ones,” i.e., those made in the 80’s and 90’s. Fortunately. The production lines of the factories have been modernized and changed to a great extent. Coupled with new technologies—even the use of artificial intelligence software—new cars are built to a higher standard and are better built, despite being more complex and carrying far more electronics than models over 20 and even more than 30 years old.
A closer look at the ads on the Greek market reveals thousands of used cars less than ten years old with more than 150,000 kilometers on their odometers. At the same time, there are hundreds of those cars up to 20 years old that are “offered” with 300,000 km or more.
The conclusion from the above is that both old and new cars can show very high levels of reliability and remain functional for many years.
For the reliability of the models, an important role is of course played by the manufacturer himself . However, there are two other equally important (or even more important) parameters that affect the reliability of a car, regardless of who made it, which have to do with the driver-owner of the car.
The first is the behavior of the person sitting behind the wheel while driving and the second concerns the maintenance program of a model, whether the periodic maintenance prescribed by the respective manufacturer is followed with the consistency and care required by the users and owners .
So, if the owners of modern cars reverently follow its maintenance schedule, then in the majority of cases new cars can present at least the same or even higher levels of reliability compared to older models and offer their services for many years.