IT is usually at about this time of J.year. that
the question arises—an acute one to the implaverished-L-of whether . it is better to buy a used car or a new one. Most people who ordered their new cars at the-show or a little later have now got them, and their old cars, for which they were allowed so much as part payment for the new, are on the market. And some of them are certainly tempting bargains. I have two or three letters from Spectator readers asking me to adviie them on the relative merits of a variety- of cars they have either seen or read of and of new cars of about the same price. Which shall they buy ? It is and always will be a very vexed question. I refuse to take tht_iespiOnsittility of giving advice, on the buying or selling of individual _second-hand cars but the general problem, for the poerrpart, of new versus seeoriar-hand is so near to the immense majority of us that .I am, as it were, swept into the battle despite myself. •We would all like to know the answer, though each of us is. convinced that his guess is the right one. My view:of it is ;that just now the second-hand market- is probably at its, best, that better and more reliable cars.are,to be picked uRnOvi, than has ever been the case before. This is due partly to the.fact that, beyond a certain price-limit, last year's cats-by-'which void-term I mean the cars that Akre run between 5,00 ani1.16,660 niles since they were built-are better made; . of better stuff than their predecessors, and partly, to the -fact that more people every year seem to be adopting what quite erroneously called the American system'. of buying !` one-year V cars. This-does not mean that they buy ears they believe tp be:eapable of running
for one year only, but that they find it cheaper CO change cars , every time a new model appears. ,
Their cast-offs must, in the majority of cases, be well worth examination. The-chances are that they will need little spent on them for the next 10,000 Miles-except-for new tyres:Land even that is by no Means inevitable-noivadays. everything depends upon how the ear has been treated. There are still an incredible number of butchers who disregard every makers' instruction until - disaster --detually overtakes them, people (and I have this - on the highest authority, first-class repairers and other's with intimate knowledge) who will buy the most expensive sort of cars; made in world- famous factories, with reputations for everlasting wear,
and run them for thousalnds pf miles without changing the
• oil in the sump, much less in the gearbox and _ back-axle. These are not the exceptionn as you might imagine,- yea but generally speaking last ear's cars should be in pretty good shape when they come to their second owner. Yet there is an important point. to be weighed. When you buy a comparatively cheap car ,you must, as a rule, be buying comparatively cheap material. And that is where life ' comes in. An experienCed driver, who has most of his troubles to remember, can keep a cheap car going .very well for an astonishingly long time and hand it over to his dealer in excellent condition when lie gets his new one. He ha's fitcen• the greatest care in- running it in, alloWing prob- ably • five; or six times. as long. (in. mileage) for the -process , as the minimum its m*kets recommend:- He has not let - work on. worn oil, he his always avoided the maximum engine-speed, its various grease-points have been as regularly ; tended as its sump. It has been treated as a motor-car should be treated, and it has:therefore given its best in return. The point to be_considped is this : has it given it all ? Cars improve every year;Inintany ways, but it is undeniable that. with the improvements come new worries. The special Worry these- days; as,'--by: iii=odd coincidence, I am reminded by Mr. Maurice Newnham, of NeWnharnS in an interesting letter on the sale of second-hand Gals, is cylinder wear. Cylin- ders" wear-Much faSter gthart--they- dicl in --paSt tinies,-when a re- bore was almost unheard. of in a car of any reputation; Learned engineeri ascribe thiS' lariferifithlejailink to various, factors, , the chief one. being 'Ow- process known as =corrosion. There is no:.cure, for, this:disease; at present,..buit-it can be retarded, say as leatned Ones, if you take care to get the engine warm as quickly- as possible and keep 'it warm. Now here is my,. point nicely , illustrated, My corieSpondent says that -a grille -Pnielisonable' proportion- of-'modern cars show badly-worn cylindera 'after relatively very little usage, and that this cannot always be..pUt doWrito the carelessness of ()inlets Well7cared Icir, cars are :often squally - He -doers- not. rrientiai-priCeri, bift- I- assume,, from: the fact that he deals in large numbers and varieties cars, that most of his patients and temporary boarditiiiiiarthe cheaper kind. A car of my intimate acquaintance is now-in its eighth year of service.- Its mileage is not exactly known, but it is certainly nearer 80,000 than 50,000. Its cylinders show no signs of neding a rebore. New piston-rings were fitted for the first time when its present owner had driven it over 50,000 miles, and it still runs without smoking or giving any sign of loss of compression. Its- jiriee-Wris--high. owner says it was not, pointing out that-it has saved-him at least three re-bores, with all the unforeseen jobs that inevitably crop up when a car undergoes any major operation and lies, so to speak, defenceless on the floor. 'Frirther, he adds, he still has .a very efficient car to drive, with a- performance not noticeably inferior to its best in its youth. • He says lie-Would have paid a lot more than £800 in those seven years if he had bought a series of cheap cars. - Whethei -he is right or not nobody can calculate with any degree of accuracy: Whirt•,,is -.beyond ',question is' that his 1 cylinders are made of good,stutt.better, it seems fair to assume, than that used in the cars mentioned -by Mr. Newnham. For ft- is only lately; since:he-lead- of -the learned conclusions of distinguished engineers, that he has bothered about warming
the engine up as quickly as possible. Guided then by experience, I' Would always buy a first-class car second-hand rather than a
efiean ear new, for the same money. You must, of course,
know something of the car itself and more of the man who sells it to you. You cannot safely go out into Great Portland
Street or any:where else and buy s, second-hand car of high degree on no other grounds but that' its name is known every- Where. The. reputation of its owner is of-fat more practical
interest. If you can be sure that it has not run more than, say, 25,000 miles, and has been properly looked after, it should always prove a better bargain than a new cheap one, as much because you will enjoy pride of possession as because it will last at least as long._ applies, of course, only to really low prices. When it comes to paying £250 and over for a car that is to last two or three years you should be able to get what
you want new, though .you will almost certainly have to put up with lower horse-power and smaller coachwork, slightly
compensated for these by lower costs. If you want a car to run well and economically for five years and, more, buy a new one. It is not wise to reckon on more than 30,000 trouble-free
miles with any_ but a familiar cat--„and. these are, not easy to get away. from their owners.' • jonN ' •
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