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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what you'd think of as an old car/old banger...

128 replies

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 27/07/2016 17:47

I was talking to the security guard at work when a flash brand new Audi drove past. After talking about cars for a bit the security guard said something along the lines of II'll stick to my old banger'. I agreed and said my car was pretty long in the tooth too, P-Reg (1996) but still started every time, passed its MoT etc.

Thing is, his ''old banger' was an 09 reg. AIBU to think that this isn't even remotely old given the improvement in build quality and reliability of cars? I wouldn't think of any car on the new style plates as being particularly old.

OP posts:
Ifailed · 27/07/2016 19:26

LikeDylanInTheMovies
no straw man, I was comparing the global arms budget to the cost of providing cheap power.

Admit the last sentence was a dig at those who would throw their arms up in horror at such an idea.

BathshuaSpooner · 27/07/2016 19:32

I have an 09 Subaru that I will drive until it rots into a heap of dust. I love my car. My husband will not be parted from his 01 Jeep Wrangler. Our children drive newer cars than we do.

BackforGood · 27/07/2016 19:53

I consider our '10' plate to be a "new" car / our "posh" car / our "fancy" car, now we have hit middle age Grin I can't see how an '09' could be classed as an old banger.

Scotmumof2girls · 27/07/2016 20:01

How did a post about what is considered to be a banger turn into enviro friendly sanctimonious preaching? I'm sure their phone or tablet or PC etc used for typing of the preaching are all environmentally sourced.

Scotmumof2girls · 27/07/2016 20:02

I've got an 05 plate jaguar that I picked up diesel X type for 850 quid and I'll drive it till its done but don't consider it anywhere near a banger - if say a banger was more based on condition

WaitrosePigeon · 27/07/2016 20:05

I'm sure their phone or tablet or PC etc used for typing of the preaching are all environmentally sourced.*

Nods head in agreement

WaitrosePigeon · 27/07/2016 20:06

I'm sure their phone or tablet or PC etc used for typing of the preaching are all environmentally sourced.

nods head in agreement

GiddyOnZackHunt · 27/07/2016 20:59

Are you a veggie ifailed?

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 27/07/2016 21:10

There would be no point in me buying an electric car - I have no drive and the neighbours might object to the extension lead so I can charge it!

They are also ridiculously expensive and won't be practical until the range is extended.

I'll stick to my practical petrol car!

AnaisWatterson · 27/07/2016 21:18

The batteries used on electric cars use a huge amount of earths resources to make. Not to mention when they need replacing (think of your mobile battery after a few years).
Electric is not the way forward until it's clean and stored not using precious resource.

TwentyCupsOfTea · 27/07/2016 21:20

I think anything over 10 is old now. Mines 7. This stems from working in the motor industry though, we mostly deal with cars 12 plate and newer. Frequently comment things such as 'no point spending too much time fixing x on the 11 plater - what do you expect at that age!' It's a ridiculous attitude but common in this trade.

Previously I would only have thought a car knocking on 20 to be a bit of a banger!

OTheHugeManatee · 27/07/2016 21:21

Hilarious outbreak of virtue signalling in this thread Grin

The best worst old banger I ever met was a 20-year-old Peugot diesel saloon my brother and I used to share. It had about 200k miles on the clock and bits kept falling off it. It got nicked in the end from outside my brother's place in London and abandoned a few streets away - clearly even car thieves have standards Hmm

PoisonWitch · 27/07/2016 21:44

Dunno really. My car is Y reg 2001 and I count her as a banger. That's mainly because she's leaking oil so I keep having to top it up when she makes funny noises in the motorway, she's missing nonessential but useful engine parts, is covered in dents and the brake pads fell off on the M1 one time.

No idea how many miles in the clock. Never bother checking.

I luff her though and she sailed through her last MOT. I will drive her until she dies.

If she was just as old but in full working order she wouldn't be a banger.

WaitrosePigeon · 27/07/2016 21:47

What does virtue signalling mean? I keep seeing it..

Morifarty · 27/07/2016 21:49

Electric cars are all well and good. Until they are at the end of their life. They are a nightmare to recycle.

Scotmumof2girls · 27/07/2016 22:04

Virtual signalling - the way people say or do things to make themselves look virtuous

Scotmumof2girls · 27/07/2016 22:05

Aka lost up their own backsides

Ihatecobwebs · 27/07/2016 22:07

We have a 33 year old, a 17 year old and a 14 year old - all in decent condition, and so by no means "old bangers". I think it's a condition rather than age thing.

WaitrosePigeon · 27/07/2016 22:15

So with regard to virtue signalling on this thread, people think they are superior because they have in their eyes an 'old banger'?

Is that right? I'm not sure how that works but it is quite late..

WaitrosePigeon · 27/07/2016 22:17

A bit like bragging? Surely people brag about being rich or having the latest phone or something, not an old car? I think I've confused myself.

ayeokthen · 27/07/2016 22:17

Our first car was a 1999 Ford Focus, it had been owned by a brickie and was wrecked inside and out. The hours that we put into cleaning/fixing/tarting it up before it was roadworthy were ridiculous! I loved that car with a passion but it died in Aldi car park, had to get towed to the scrappies. I was gutted! Now drive a 15 plate Mondeo (not on finance, we saved bloody hard!) but feel a bit of a twat sometimes.

PoisonWitch · 27/07/2016 22:18

I reckon it's virtue signalling if you are trying to moralise. I described my banger but I quite like her and can't afford to replace her. Not looking down in people with different/newer cars. The electric car person upthread seemed to be implying she was morally superior for not having an oil fuelled car.

FinderofNeedles · 27/07/2016 22:33

I've just sold a 51 plate, 92K miles car for £400 and was sorry to see it go. I bought it 14 years ago. A 'banger' in many people's eyes but it is a workhorse that runs well, was always well maintained, sat outdoors but always started first time, coped well in the snow and not a mark on the body. However, there's a limited market for this kind of car, and it wasn't easy to sell.

I am now driving an 09 plate, 60K miles car, which I've had for 6 years. Still seems new to me, but a banger in some people's eyes, apparently.However after my experience selling a much older car, I'm planning on selling the 09 shortly while I can trade it in to a dealer for something newer.

kurlique · 27/07/2016 22:35

PoisonWitch I quite agree and she's forgetting the pollution created by the manufacture of the batteries which her spangly electric car runs on and of course the pollution from the manufacture of a new car... Throwing away things before they have reached the end of their useful life is not a virtue. Our last car had done over a quarter of a million miles (and still comfortably passed its emissions test each year) by the time it had to be scrapped. Used to the full extent of its life and definitely an old banger by the endGrinWink

JustBeingJuliet · 27/07/2016 22:41

I drive an 08 Fusion and it's the newest car I've ever owned, so to me it's still fairly modern, but I speak to people daily at work who class their 5yo cars as old.