Do engines improve with age

[obi_waynne]

What are your thoughts on the premise that engines improve with age?

Talk to an old Mk1 GTi owner and they will swear that this is the case. Why do you think an engine would improve? When does wear and tear start kicking in?

Does this apply to all engines? Do you think it also depends on how it has been driven?

 

[HDi fun]

Properly maintained and driven sensibly, by which I mean don't rev hard or load it up unitl everything is warm then engines can last for ages.

The old myth about x bhp lost every 10,000 miles is utter rubbish.

If anything, brand new engines are down on power. It takes 50,000-60,000 miles to run a modern engine in properly and things certainly don't start going down hill at that point.

 

[pikey motorsports]

well my mk2 golf has 185k on the clock and pulls nice and hard, no taps/knocks/bangs and outperforms many modern 1.8/2.0 cars

 

[HDi fun]

MY previous car (Primera) I ran from new until over 170,000 miles. And there was nothing wrong with it when I sold it on.

Current car is now at 126,000 and that, too, drives just like it did with 26,000 on it.