# Should I buy a 12 year old diesel car?



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

I am thinkin of buying a 12 year old Hyundai Accent Admire 1.5 Diesel.

Would a 12 year old diesel car cause very much problem?


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

atsizat said:


> I am thinkin of buying a 12 year old Hyundai Accent Admire 1.5 Diesel.
> 
> Would a 12 year old diesel car cause very much problem?


I'm not familiar with Hyundai diesel engines as they don't sell them here, but a 12 year old car of any kind is likely going to need some repairs and major maintenance work at some point sooner rather than later. If you have the money for such repairs and/or the skills to maintain a car yourself, great. If not, well, keep saving. 

Also, the dependability of a 12 year old car is quite dependent on how the previous owners took care of it. See if the car has maintenance records that met the recommendations. You can also tell what maintenance will be due soon if it has records. It's not a bad idea to have a mechanic look at the car before you buy it. Also, of course, you want to make sure the car has not been in an accident.

Hyundai's reputation for reliability had started to improve by the mid-2000s, but Hyundais from that era did not do as well as other brands in crash tests here in the US if I remember correctly. That might be worth considering if the roads are unsafe in your area.


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2018)

I wouldn't buy a modern diesel car. They are too highly tuned and when the fuel system goes wrong repairs will cost more than the vehicle is worth. Best to stick with petrol or a very old diesel from the mid 90s or before.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Depends on the mileage: a high mileage will not have so much effect on the engine quality but on the quality of for example the car seats. If the former owner(s) happened to be obese, you can get into trouble with that. Car seats that are worn out, are a curse.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

No, it’s a very bad idea and not the answer. It looks like it’s time to straighten up and fly right. You can do it. One thing at a time.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

TxllxT said:


> *Depends on the mileage: a high mileage will not have so much effect on the engine quality* but on the quality of for example the car seats. If the former owner(s) happened to be obese, you can get into trouble with that. Car seats that are worn out, are a curse.


A modern engine should be able to go a few hundred thousand miles before conking out, but it may require some work to get it that far. If nothing else, modern environmental sensors and such will need to be replaced at some point. These could be even more complex on a diesel engine as Tulse points out. Obviously, the timing belt is a must-replace on interference engines at certain intervals.

Mileage does matter on important things like the suspension and transmission. A simple manual transmission should be able to last a long time with maybe occasional clutch replacements, but automatics and CVTs seem to have more finite lifetimes and are very expensive to fix/replace. It's probably unlikely that a diesel Accent would have an automatic though. I'll also say that a car driven on the highway for most of it's life will probably have less wear on it than a car with the same mileage driven in the city for it's whole life.


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## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Klassik said:


> I'm not familiar with Hyundai diesel engines as they don't sell them here, but a 12 year old car of any kind is likely going to need some repairs and major maintenance work at some point sooner rather than later. If you have the money for such repairs and/or the skills to maintain a car yourself, great. If not, well, keep saving.
> 
> Also, the dependability of a 12 year old car is quite dependent on how the previous owners took care of it. See if the car has maintenance records that met the recommendations. You can also tell what maintenance will be due soon if it has records. It's not a bad idea to have a mechanic look at the car before you buy it. Also, of course, you want to make sure the car has not been in an accident.
> 
> Hyundai's reputation for reliability had started to improve by the mid-2000s, but Hyundais from that era did not do as well as other brands in crash tests here in the US if I remember correctly. That might be worth considering if the roads are unsafe in your area.


It is said that gasoline engines last much longer than diesel engines. What do you say about that? It is over 200.000 km.

What makes me afraid most is it being diesel engine. I think of buying it just because it is from a person that I know. Otherwise I wouldn't think of buying a 12 year old diesel engine car but gasoline engine car, which is a more reliable engine when it comes to buying an old car. Maybe much more reliable.


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## Guest (Jun 7, 2018)

Diesels used to be longer lasting than petrol in the main, back in the day. I wouldn't touch a modern car fitted with with a common rail diesel engine though. 

Thoughts Klassik?


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Depends too if ALL the normal required maintenance for a diesel engine have been routinely performed. 
Air cleaners, water separator, oil changes, etc. 

Properly maintained a diesel engine can last for a few hundred thousand miles before requiring a rebuild. The 40 foot buses I drove years back had close to 300,000 miles on them and they were running perfectly; of course they were also meticulously maintained. 

My advice is to take it to a repair facility that you trust and ask them to look things over for you. May cost you a few bucks for the "look see" but that would be far cheaper than paying for a total rebuild if the engine was total junk.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

atsizat said:


> It is said that gasoline engines last much longer than diesel engines. What do you say about that? It is over 200.000 km.
> 
> What makes me afraid most is it being diesel engine. I think of buying it just because it is from a person that I know. Otherwise I wouldn't think of buying a 12 year old diesel engine car but gasoline engine car, which is a more reliable engine when it comes to buying an old car. Maybe much more reliable.





Tulse said:


> Diesels used to be longer lasting than petrol in the main, back in the day. I wouldn't touch a modern car fitted with with a common rail diesel engine though.
> 
> Thoughts Klassik?


I don't think that a diesel engine is necessarily any less reliable, but it'll probably cost more to fix than a petrol/gasoline engine if it has modern environmental controls. I don't know much specifically about Hyundai diesel engines since Hyundai does not sell diesels in their cars here. They could have some well-known issues that I just would not know about.

The car might be worth a gamble if you know the people who had it before took good care of it and maintained/serviced it properly, but otherwise I'd probably look in a different direction. A 12-year old car is going to need some costly repairs and maintenance. It's best to get one that can be operated as cheaply as possible. I can't really say which cars are the cheapest to own in Turkey. Usually old Toyotas are the most desirable cars here in the US for those looking to pinch pennies except in areas where rust is a problem. They have a pretty good combination of good reliability, good parts availability, and most mechanics here know how to work on them.


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## Guest (Jun 7, 2018)

I'm driving around in an 11 year old diesel car and it's still in dandy condition. It's had the regular annual servicing and other than needing a new accelerator pedal that's about it in the 7 years that I've had it. It's done 70k and I've been told by our local mechanic it should be good to turn the clock round twice on it. (Of course, I may be replacing it with a Mitsubishi Barbarian :devil: )

But this is probably all irrelevant because the car you are thinking of buying is not _my_ car.


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## Prat (Jun 15, 2018)

You could always buy a diesel standard vanguard, if breaks down it uses the same spares as a Fergie tractor


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