Overhead Cost

I was talking to a fellow Benz owner the other day about my old 190e.We were discussing about the ownership of our cars. I noticed he did not drive his Benz along, when I asked why, he told me, the it was involve in an accident so he drove this really beat up Kancil. He told me he had drove the Kancil for 15 years. He drives the Kancil mostly but brings out the Benz for special days. I had the same idea as he did. I wanted to get a small simple compact car that is cheap to maintain, something like a Kancil with its carburetor engine. Spare parts are a plenty and my mechanic could fix it with his eyes close. It sounds like a good idea.

My car is a rare sight in Malaysia, its rare enough to find a 2.6 engine in a W201 body but a left hand drive one? Its crazy. He told me, if I drive the car everyday, which I do actually, the overhead cost or the cost to maintain it will be high since there will be more wear and tear. I was thinking its true, since my automatic transmission is acting up and the front tires are worn out. However the car is actually doing fine despite the radiator water and wiper water light is on. When I drive it sensibly as is in driving it at around 80km/h-100km/h and resist the urge to overtake at more than 100km/h, the car doest about 13 litres /100km, its sounds bad for today standard but its normal for this car. So  one tank of fuel cost about RM93 and it goes about 400km if you drive economically. I could drive the car and match the suggested fuel economy. I guess if you keep it under 100km/h, you should get the same fuel economy as suggested by the manufacturer.

I still could achieve the suggestive fuel economy for this car even though its already 20 years old. My friend told me, if I drive something else 60% of the time and this car 40% of the time, the cost of keeping this car will be low since the parts will wear out less than driving it full time. Well at least now, I am taking it cool with this car and cruise on the highway. Other people have photography, shopping, gadgets as their hobby. I guess keeping this classic rare car, is mine..