Can you drive your car too little??

[Mikee]

You are obviously only doing short journeys in the car and it is then sitting around for long periods, this is the worst thing for a car as it never fully gets warm - hence the 'mayo' under the cap, this is caused by condensation in the engine.
Brakes also need to be used regularly to stop them corroding.

Parking the car up over the weekend is not a problem, but doing just 14 miles per day (assuming 7 miles each way to work?) is nowhere near enough to get everything fully warm, just as your oil is getting up to temperature you are turning the car off again.
7 miles is just enough to keep the battery in shape though.

So what damage am i doing then?

It get's an oil and filter change every 6 months, The brakes are fine i suspect as it passed it's 1st mot this week no problem

[Mikee]

Go fill the tank worth v power and don't come back until it's empty 

I never have the time mate :(

In that case sell it and stop loosing money on an asset that you never have time to enjoy.

It's not about the money buddy, It's not as if it's a Lambo lol

I realise i'm gonna have to spend a bit more time in it and I'll just need to find the time somehow lol

[jhtrophy]

If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine

[Mikee]

If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine

thanks mate, I did take it oult last week for a couple of hours but tbh who has the time to do that on a weekly basis???

Also what difference would it make getting a cheaper car? It'd still do the same mileage lol

[rich83]

If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine

I wasn't  telling him what to do, merely  offering advice.  :-)  it's like having a motorbike and using it twice a year, unless one poos money you've got to ask yourself if it's worth having.

[jhtrophy]

If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine

I was telling him what to do, merely  offering advice.  :-)  it's like having a motorbike and using it twice a year, unless one poos money you've got to ask yourself if it's worth having.

I know mate, what I'm saying is I'm sure he has worked this out, if we thought about wasting money on cars we would all have kias some people like to know its there if they want to use it, I can get that

[Mikee]

If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine

I was telling him what to do, merely  offering advice.  :-)  it's like having a motorbike and using it twice a year, unless one poos money you've got to ask yourself if it's worth having.

I don't poo money but i also don't drink, smoke etc so it's my only vice lol

[Mikee]

If the dude wants it, why we telling him to sell? He obviously knows its losing money and can live with it, it's not good doing the low miles, just take it out once a month for a half hour blast, be fine

I was telling him what to do, merely  offering advice.  :-)  it's like having a motorbike and using it twice a year, unless one poos money you've got to ask yourself if it's worth having.

I know mate, what I'm saying is I'm sure he has worked this out, if we thought about wasting money on cars we would all have kias some people like to know its there if they want to use it, I can get that

lol would it make it worse if i said it was stage 1 and had a milltek booked for next week ;)

[jhtrophy]

Class second time this week I have seen someone feel they should justify spending their own money, you don't have to do that and to be fair I don't think rich wig83 meant it that way pal. Revo?

[GrayMK5GTI]

The main damage short trips do is the oil never gets warm (which it needs to to work properly). So basically every mile you put on it (although not a lot) is causing more wear to your engine than someone doing 5 miles on the motorway with nice warm oil.

Also you shouldn't "thrash " a car when the oil isn't warm (which I'm guessing you very rarely do enough miles to warm the oil) as it will cause further wear (especially to the turbo) 

[rich83]

Don't take what I said as an attack on your personal finances. It wasnt meant to come across that way.

I do 25k a year in my GTI and people have told me its ridiculous due to running costs but ive still got it because like you, I love my GTI :-)

[rockape]

I'm no engineer but how does the oil getting up to running temp, negate the wear on the internals during those first few miles when cold? Surely you will always have that initial wear whether your doing a 7 mile or a 27 mile journey.

But as I said Im no engineer

[gizmo68]

^^^ The majority of the wear comes from warming up, so if the car does nothing but short journeys the engine WILL wear out quicker than a high mileage car that has done the same amount of cold starts but lots of warm mileage, a 20K engine can be more worn than a 100K engine, too many people get hung up on buying really low mileage cars IMO, sure gearboxes and wheel bearing wear with mileage, but this is why a higher mileage car with FSH can be a better buy than an ultra low mileage car.

[gazbutS3]

I'm in this position at the minute the S3 hasn't moved for 3 weeks its hard to justify keeping it 

[Nodz]

I'm in this position at the minute the S3 hasn't moved for 3 weeks its hard to justify keeping it 

My GTI is the same since SWMBO has got her 1st car. I i have a company van for work and as she has never had a car she is in the novelty stage. I'm not gonna sell it just need to use it actually use it of a weekend instead of her's