Attitude differences USA - UK
- Thread starter gusgeds
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It would be interesting to hear from someone with extensive experiance on both continents.
Something I have noticed in Europe is that there appears to be fewer places to get cars serviced, buy parts, buy cars, gas etc.
Could extended service intervals in Europe have something to do with them having fewer places that service cars?
In the northeastern U.S. where I am, there are no MG's left except for a handful that people stored away in the winter. The MG's, Austins and Austin-Healeys, all rusted away years ago.
Frankly, I think the vast majority of people in the US don't take care of their cars to begin with. In most states, there are no safety inspections, with smog checks in about half the states.
I know that in talking to several BMW and Mercedes mechanics over the years, they say there is a large group of owners that say "I spent $50,000 for this car, I shouldn't have to waste more money servicing it. I could have just bought a cheap car if I wanted to have to service it."
In my family, the cars have always been serviced at dealerships following the OCIs recommended in the owner's manuals. My dad's current '99 Nissan Primera (2 liter, 4 cyl). gets an oil change every 15K km. My mother's '03 Volvo V40 (2 liter, 4 cyl turbo) gets an oil change every 20K km or 1 year, whichever comes first. Of course to people used to the idea of 3K mile OCI this may sound as a 'neglect'
I do my own oil changes on my car every 8K km (5k miles), or once a year, whichever comes first (I don't drive that much), with synthetic oil. When I lived in the US, I usually did 4K mile OCIs with mineral oil in NA engines and 5K mile OCIs with synthetic oil in turbo engines.
Not my experience, at least not in Poland. There are quite a few car repair shops, etc. I can't imagine it being worse in western europe. However, the idea of servicing your car at an independent shop is not practiced by any new car owners because in order to keep your new car warranty intact you MUST service your car at a dealership. So, only after the car is off warranty do people start using those independent shops which usually have lower labor rates, but in many cases these indep. shops don't have the proper diagnosis tools (computers, software) for todays modern cars, so sometimes you have no choice but to go back to the dealer anyway and leave only basic stuff like oil changes, brake replacement to those indep. shops.
Maybe, but like I said, they aren't that few. There may be no national chains like JiffyLube, but there are many smaller independent shops that can do basic servicing.
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I can only speak for Germany where I lived for a long time. Cars are people's toys. They take good care of them. You won't see many junkers on the road. You won't see many cars with dings and scratches, even if the cars are older. People don't contact park. The service is usually performed by the dealer or an independant mechanic. Depending on how old the car is, a tough (by US standards) TÜV inspection (thorough safety check, emissions) is due every couple years. I paid about $250 for a minor and $400 for a major service. I drove my VW Scirocco about 130,000km (ca 80k mi) over a two year period in the early '90s. A minor service (oil change) was due every 15k km (ca 9.5k mi), a major service every 30k km (ca 19k mi).
A friend in Switzerland bought a new Nissan Sentra a few years ago. It was almost $35,000 USD before he got it out of the showroom. You bet they take good care of their cars, they are dear to them.
Let our oil prices get to $10.00 a quart for dino and you will see the end of 3,000 mile changes.
It is just too easy here to get your oil changed 4 times a year @ $25.00 a crack and not worry about it.
We will get to the longer OCIs but it will be a fight, either information (I doubt it) or finances will force the change.
Let our oil prices get to $10.00 a quart for dino and you will see the end of 3,000 mile changes.
It is just too easy here to get your oil changed 4 times a year @ $25.00 a crack and not worry about it.
We will get to the longer OCIs but it will be a fight, either information (I doubt it) or finances will force the change.
Welcome !
Well considering the cost of the oil you are using I would be trying to extend the mileage as much a possible as well. That is **** expensive oil. I'd have to assume it is a great quality oil though and likely able to last very long intervals. It would be too expensive to dump out every 3 months, that's for sure. It would be nice to do a UOA on some spent oil though, I'd love to see that info.
I'm still skeptical about engine oil monitors, maybe it's just me but I dont trust them. I think we've seen a couple UOA's on this site of oils that went through the oil monitor regimen and they didnt fair so well. That could likely be totally different with a top notch oil though. Most people over this side of the pond just dont use such high priced oils and thus change it more frequently.
Let's face it, when it comes to daily driver vehicles, the average N. American wants low maintenance costs with long warranties and low purchase price.
Well considering the cost of the oil you are using I would be trying to extend the mileage as much a possible as well. That is **** expensive oil. I'd have to assume it is a great quality oil though and likely able to last very long intervals. It would be too expensive to dump out every 3 months, that's for sure. It would be nice to do a UOA on some spent oil though, I'd love to see that info.
I'm still skeptical about engine oil monitors, maybe it's just me but I dont trust them. I think we've seen a couple UOA's on this site of oils that went through the oil monitor regimen and they didnt fair so well. That could likely be totally different with a top notch oil though. Most people over this side of the pond just dont use such high priced oils and thus change it more frequently.
Let's face it, when it comes to daily driver vehicles, the average N. American wants low maintenance costs with long warranties and low purchase price.
Sentra not sold in Europe. Your choices would be: Micra, Almera, Primera, Maxima, and 350Z. For $35K it could have been a fully-loaded Primera.
You UKers are the best when it comes to keeping old sporty cars going. I had a Triumph TR4 that I got rid of about 5 years ago. By then you could even buy a repro shell from the UK for one of them, or any body panel separately. That's pretty bleeping amazing when you consider how few were made and that most of them ended up in the US.
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