KevinL
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thought I'd ask the experts here 
Currently it is all a theoretical question and tabletop planning for me, but all of us know why we carry lights: to be prepared for an eventuality that may actually happen. (Fenix LD01 stainless and E2D Defender in the rotation today)
Lets say I have an opportunity to acquire a 8+ year old car, a Honda Civic ES5. I know the Civics for their legendary reliability, built to last forever and all that, plus the owner drives like a mouse despite having put 90-100K miles on it. Like I say when buying used camera gear Nice to have a known owner with verified history (usually someone I know in person)
Personal preference wise, my favorite car. As I was saying to someone, this is the U2 Digital Ultra of the business: no matter what else is out there, even if it eclipses it in terms of raw power and newer technology, I still come back home to my U2 at the end of the day. If the world comes to an end in 2012, the U2 is the light I'd grab when the SHTF
OK, back to the car.. I would plan to drive this one thru to maybe 2016-2018, probably adding another 60-70K miles. They have a saying though, that the cars tend to fall apart quite badly after 10 years of age. How realistic is this, and if I was to buy the car and keep it till 2016, how much repair work am I looking at? The vehicle has a perfect or near perfect interior (some minor cosmetic and re-upholstering work may be needed but that is assumed), regularly serviced with near perfect record, has never given major problems throughout its service life. I have already factored in a change of tires and the business-as-usual do-over at the service shop.
No modifications to the vehicle as it currently stands. :devil: (not like the U2 where you can drop in an MC-E emitter and let the *BEAST* out :devil. Virtually no UV damage to the interior because of existing UV/IR cut films installed years ago on the windows (good call!)
So in a nutshell, do you think the car will last thru its planned service life without maintenance costs going thru the roof? Naturally if I am going to have to start replacing some fairly major components down the road, that would tip the equation towards a newer vehicle, but if I can get away with a well-taken-care-of ride till 2016-2018 that would be awesome.
Currently it is all a theoretical question and tabletop planning for me, but all of us know why we carry lights: to be prepared for an eventuality that may actually happen. (Fenix LD01 stainless and E2D Defender in the rotation today
)Lets say I have an opportunity to acquire a 8+ year old car, a Honda Civic ES5. I know the Civics for their legendary reliability, built to last forever and all that, plus the owner drives like a mouse despite having put 90-100K miles on it. Like I say when buying used camera gear Nice to have a known owner with verified history (usually someone I know in person)
Personal preference wise, my favorite car. As I was saying to someone, this is the U2 Digital Ultra of the business: no matter what else is out there, even if it eclipses it in terms of raw power and newer technology, I still come back home to my U2 at the end of the day. If the world comes to an end in 2012, the U2 is the light I'd grab when the SHTF
OK, back to the car.. I would plan to drive this one thru to maybe 2016-2018, probably adding another 60-70K miles. They have a saying though, that the cars tend to fall apart quite badly after 10 years of age. How realistic is this, and if I was to buy the car and keep it till 2016, how much repair work am I looking at? The vehicle has a perfect or near perfect interior (some minor cosmetic and re-upholstering work may be needed but that is assumed), regularly serviced with near perfect record, has never given major problems throughout its service life. I have already factored in a change of tires and the business-as-usual do-over at the service shop.
No modifications to the vehicle as it currently stands. :devil: (not like the U2 where you can drop in an MC-E emitter and let the *BEAST* out :devil
. Virtually no UV damage to the interior because of existing UV/IR cut films installed years ago on the windows (good call!)So in a nutshell, do you think the car will last thru its planned service life without maintenance costs going thru the roof? Naturally if I am going to have to start replacing some fairly major components down the road, that would tip the equation towards a newer vehicle, but if I can get away with a well-taken-care-of ride till 2016-2018 that would be awesome.
