[Zen2001]

My 2000 Zen completes 20 years this December and is due for its SECOND renewal of registration, the first having been done in Jan 2016. I was all set to buy a new car post April 20, but you guessed it!
When the search resumed in June - July, assuming return to regular medical practice and traveling for the same, I was willing to spend 35-40L on the only luxury brand that had BS6 compliance - the BMW X1.
As I decided to wait till August for further discounts (was offered 40L or OTR), I TD'd the Seltos, & Creta both, DCT & CVT options. Apart from the lack of the luxury tag, these offered almost 85% of the X1 at half the cost! That was my first confusion. I had almost finalised a black DCT Creta after getting the "outside insurance discount of almost 50k compared to Hyundai's in house quote, but some kind of 6th sense told me to hold on further.
Meanwhile, also TD'd the Karoq and Compass and was particularly impressed with the former and disappointed with the latter. Confusion prevailed further as VW never got back with a TD of the T-Roc.
By this time, it was already September, and the economic situation became even more precarious with no concrete framework of a path to recovery. Even hospitals where I was working since a decade were unable to generate more than 20% of what was the usual monthly revenue pre Covid.
Consequently, with lesser work to do meant lesser travelling too - from 1000km per month I'm now doing barely 200km per month (as the regular clinic and hospital is 100m from my house). My thoughts changed to - Do I REALLY need a new car for this?
At the moment, the answer seems no, especially (& thankfully) as the 20 year old one still runs fairly problem free. Why, it was even submerged till water entered the cabin (& presumably the exhaust) during a severe spell of heavy showers last month, which led to a wall collapse and consequent flooding of our society. Been a month since, and it's running as if nothing of this sort ever happened at all.
Wife has her own car and rarely do I have anyone else asking with me in the car. 99 out of a100 trips, is me alone and even that 1 with kids &/or wife is no longer than a 10-20km drive these days.
Again, other than for an "image" sake, I practically feel I could use the existing car. Especially when considering the fact that is be spending 20L on a relatively unnecessary "depreciating asset". Although I think I've more than made up for depreciation by using the current car bought 20 years ago for 3.65L OTR! I may have earned half my new car right there!
Also checked with the RTO authorities - at present there is no rule barring re registration of 20 year old petrol vehicles in Maharashtra. I was told it's be ok for the next 5 years at least.
The car's run 2,65,000km so far out of which the last1,80,000km have been mostly on LPG. With this source being largely phased out, I'm mostly back to running on petrol now, (although LPG is still an available option). The latest PUCC done last week shows CO & HC emissions within the prescribed range.
So, unless I win a lottery or something drastic like that, I'll be giving sunroofs, ventilated seats, DCTs, auto AC, telematics etc a miss for my 20km drives for another 5 years.

[airbus]

Voted 6 - 7 years. My previous car was with me for 6.5 years. Current car will be completing 5 years in a month. I would have planned to upgrade now but due to prevailing situation driving is very limited these days hence I will be keeping my current TUV3OO for another year or so.

[nmenon]

Voted for 10 years or more. Had a 2007 Alto and kept it till 2018, replaced by a Freestyle. Will keep that for another 10 plus years, hopefully by then electric or hybrids will become common place and affordable.

[voldemort]

Perhaps we got lucky, but our 2015 Honda City diesel has actually been very reliable so far (touch wood), contrary to the experience of a few other BHPians. It's our dependable city runabout.

Our previous cars for city runabouts had been decidedly unreliable (and was sold off after 5 years). Since we now have a reliable car on our hands, why should we change it?

The 2016 Benz ― that's a different story. Reliability isn't its strong suit, though things aren't too bad. The car is incredibly comfortable over long drives. Ideally we'd like to keep it for 10+ years. We'll be closely monitoring the health of the vehicle. If it's too much trouble we might dispose it off.

Also, both our cars are efficient diesels.

Given the changing trend towards petrol and electric propulsion, we are inclined towards holding onto our efficient diesels as long as we can (with the hope that diesels won't get banned all of a sudden), because it makes no sense for our next cars to be diesels.

Infact, I'm actually waiting for the electric technology (range especially) and infrastructure to improve over the next 5 to 10 years, so that we can seriously contemplate buying an electric car next.

[Benoit]

The first car in our family was a pre-owned Mahindra Marshall(I think it came with a Peugeot engine. Not sure. Too young to remember) Usage was low. Ran well for 14 years. Sold it in 2016. Then in 2017, bought a pre-owned Fiat Linea MID for 3 years for 50k km. The car broke down often and turned unreliable despite good care. Sold it and bought an Altroz XZ D last month. Planning to keep it for at least 10 years. If it's still reliable even then, will continue to use it until it turns unreliable.

[DevOnWheels]

For me it's 10+ years.

We always retain our car for more than 10 years.

List of cars we have owned:-
1. Diesel Ambassador(don't know the year) bought used in 1993 (a year before I was born): Sold in 2004.
2. 2004 M800 MPFi Std: Sold in 2014 with 82000km on the odo.
3. 2006 Wagon R F10D: Still have it with 79000km on the odo.
4. 2009 i10 irde: Still have it with 85000km on the odo.

It's more of an emotional connection for us than economics.

Regards,
DevOnWheels

[luvDriving]

For me it's 10 years.

My first car was a second hand Tata Indica V2 which served me well for 7 years. When it started breaking down frequently and the costs started mounting up then I sold it off and bought the Vista D90.

This car is still going strong. Loads of room (as is the case with tata cars) and one heck of an engine. The newer compact SUVs are tempting for sure but since there is no strong reason to replace the current car, I plan to hold on as long as this one keeps serving well.

Also, this car holds emotional value for me and my wife. In tough times we have spent many hours (and some nights) inside this car. So if an when I do give in to a new buy, it will not be a replacement, rather an addition.

[supremeBaleno]

We typically keep our cars atleast till 15years, if not more :
1) 1985 M800 sold after 19years in 2004.
2) 1999 M800 Dx sold at 15years in 2014.
3) My 2005 Baleno1.6 completed 15yrs this March, has been re-registered after FC test for another 5 years.
4) Swift1.3 Zxi is at 13years now - won't be sold before 15.

[condor]

Have made the mistake of selling two vehicles in excellent condition - and ones which were a beautiful pair.

The Sumo Victa had done 78k in 7.5 years, and was good for a long long run. Simple machine, great for city. Low maintenance too - used to spend about 3.5k for a regular service despite the 7 litres of engine oil each time. Spares were cheap. Good road presence, thanks to all the cabbies. Had done some DIY damping too. It held some special memories too.

The Ikon TDCi. 42k in about 4 odd years. Was great for the long drives with it's frugal drinking, decent power for the drives too.

And then one fine day sold both and got the Storme. While the Storme was a upgrade in all respects, the Victa + Ikon were the ideal combination. Sold both, spent an additional 7L almost to get the Storme. Money that could have been used well otherwise.

Of the two, the Sumo was definitely special. They dont make such simple, mechanical engines now. Like GTO once said, those clean lines stood out in a sea of curves. The shorter wheel base (2400mm) meant easy maneuverability in the city too. About the Ikon, I do think of the lower fuel cost of long drives compared to the Storme.

There was absolutely no reason to sell them two. And looking back, the reasons were not convincing at all. Simply put, a Bad decision.

The Storme is doing good at 92k after 7.5 years. With my current focus on a fairly large project and my home-loan, wont be able to change it anytime soon. So combining these two factors, it's going to be the Storme for as long as I can.

[Agarwal_Aayush]

Voted for 10 years or longer.
We have had 2 M800, kept both for 14 years till one was sold due to extensive rust and other was stolen, both had done more than 1.5l KM.
Currently we have Alto K10 and MS Baleno, plan to follow the tradition and keep them for atleast 14 years.

[Arjun Reddy]

My cars

Maruti Esteem 2000 -2006. Sold.

Ford Fiesta 2006- 2017. With me till 2012 and then with my brother. Sold in 2017.

Maruti 800 -2007 , still with me

Fiat Punto 1.3 MJD 2012- still running with my brother.

Hyundai Elantra 2013 - still running with my brother

Mercedes C250d 2017 - with me

Jeep Compass Trailhawk 2019 - my daily beater now.

So between me and my brother we end up keeping cars for a long time. Though I am changing my car approximately in the 6th - 7th year.

So do I vote 6-7 years or longer ?

Voted 6-7 years.

[sramven]

My current cars
Nano 2012
Baleno cvt 2017

I plan to retain the nano till a point i can no longer hold. Done 1.4L km with memorable trips to hyd, bang, munnar, ooty, kodai from chennai. For now a daily driver for my friend who is lookin for a new buy.

Baleno like others cars in my family will remain for 10+ years.

Previously had accord and age old ambys.

[nareshtrao]

My Cars:

Maruti 1000 - 1997 - 1998 Sold as it was way underpowered

Maruti 800 - 1996 - lost track when it was sold

Maruti Zen - 1998 - 2001 Sold in excellent condition

Mitsubishi Lancer - 2001 - 2009 Excellent engine but overall rattles increased over time

Hyundai Getz - 2005 - 2015 Sold in perfect shape

Honda Civic - 2007 - 2020 Sold in excellent condition

Hyundai i10 - 2009 - 2018 Sold in excellent condition - some rusting inside door panels

Ford Endeavour - 2016 - With me as my daily ride

Mercedes C220d - 2019 - With me as my alternate daily ride but the low clearance makes it tough on Bangalore roads so depending on destination either of the two come out

So essentially I keep my cars above 7-10 years. Endy will stay for long as 3.2 is a great engine and now no more available. Still in great shape though closing on 5 years (I booked on the day of launch)

C Class will go sooner than 3 years and perhaps a good mid-size SUV may come in as Bangalore is horrible for low slung cars and the roads are not getting any better. Have driven just 5.5k in almost 2 years closing.

[svmvale]

I used to be stuck to the idea of changing every 4 yrs / 80000 kms. This was until 2016.

Dad :
1998 to 2008 : Opel Corsa : 1,05,000 kms
2009 to 2012 : Ford Fiesta TDi SXi : 82,000 kms
2012 to 2013 : All New Ford Fiesta : 24,000 kms
2013 to 2016 : Fiat Linea 1.3 MJD Emotion : 78,000 kms
2016 to now : Hyundai Creta 1.6 CRCDi AT : 52000 kms and counting

Me:
2013 to 2013 : Fiat Linea : 800 kms (gave it dad)
2013 to 2015 : All New Fiesta : 50,000 (mis-judged and sold it, bcos of service budget of 60,000 at 70k kms), my worst car decision.
2015 to 2017 : Hyundai elite 1.4 CRDi i20 asta : 48,000 (had a major crash at 8000kms. sold it immediately after finishing my EMIs)
2017 to now : VW Vento 1.5 TDi AT : 76,000kms and counting.

Mom: always with driver
2006 to 2010 : Fiat Palio 1.2 : 70,000 kms
2010 to 2017 : Ford Figo : 78,000 kms (was in very bad shape)
2016 to now : Fiat Linea : 45,000 kms


Linea : 8yrs and 127000 kms : Currently with re-furbished with nkrishnap, planning to keep it for a further 5 yrs and 75000 kms.
Vento : 3.5 yrs and 76000 kms : Planning to keep it for a further 4 years or upto 1,50,000 kms.
Creta : 4.5 yrs and 52000 kms : We will keep it for another 8 years and upto 1,50,000 kms.

[Neversaygbye]

Voted for 10 years or longer. We typically keep our cars for more than 10 years. The first Fiat 1100D that my dad bought when I was a kid did duty till 1998 when we bought our Matiz. The Matix was there till 2011 which is when we sold it and got our Chevy Beat which is still there with us. We also got an Indica V2 in 2000 as our second car and that did duty till 2013 when it was exchanged for a Vista D90.

So both our existing cars are already more than 7 years old and we don't plan to change either in the next 2 to 3 years.