7 Joys You Only Get From Owning An Older Car

1. They offer a purer driving experience

The cars of today are so technologically advanced that you can safely hoon your favourite country roads at the kind of speeds race car drivers would have been proud of a few decades ago. The new Ford Focus RS is a ridiculously capable mega hatch, but when I attended the UK launch this week, I was treated to an hour-long presentation - 45 minutes of that was from Ford Performance chief Tyrone Johnson explaining all the technology beneath the car. It was fascinating, but it did emphasise just how much is happening between you prodding the throttle and the car reacting.

I love the tech side, but there’s something extremely rewarding knowing that your input is directly attached to the output. Older cars give you this sense of attachment, and it makes them so satisfying to drive, even in non-performance applications.

2. Simpler to work on

Back in the good old days, people used to spend whole evenings fixing cars in their garage with not much more than a simple tool box and a hammer. Good luck changing anything more than a wheel on a modern car with that lot. You almost need a degree in computer engineering to understand what’s going on under the bonnet of a 2016 car, so if tuning, fixing and fiddling gets you giddy with excitement, you’ll have to look to something a little older.

With fewer parts to go wrong, and more mechanical parts that can be swapped out, diagnosing and remedying any issues is within the grasps of amateur mechanics.

3. They look better

Humans are all very different, and when given the chance to be creative we’ll produce some wildly varying designs. Go to a classic car meet, and you’ll see cars that look absolutely nothing alike. Unfortunately, modern vehicles are largely designed by computers to be as efficient as possible, whether that’s efficient aerodynamically or with space or whatever other unique selling points marketers can shout about. Computers tend to come up with the same solutions as each other, so you end up with cars that largely look the same.

You don’t have to go back too far to find cars that were designed by real people, and you can find something that really makes you smile every time you look at it.

4. More variety

With platforms that span groups of manufacturers, all of the individuality is being stripped from cars. The VW Group is a great example of this, with engines and chassis being shared across the likes of Skoda, Seat and VW. It does a great job of making a Seat feel different to a Skoda, but at the end of the day all of the interesting mechanical gubbins is identical.

Shop around for something a bit older, and each of your options’ insides will likely be completely different. Once you figure out what you prefer, your car then becomes a better representation of your personality.

5. They have stories and a history

When a car pulls off the lot it doesn’t have a whole lot of history behind it? Some people won’t care about that, but for many petrolheads the love of cars is also a love of the stories cars are involved in. The Toyota AE86 above is an example of how even cars with a short story can still be interesting. It’s currently owned by Toyota UK itself, after buying it off the editor of a performance car magazine who’d owned it since new in exchange for something much more sensible - family life gets to us all! He’d kept it surprisingly stock, but it has a rather naughty exhaust.

When you buy an old car, you’re buying a slice of history that you become a part of, adding your very own piece to the ever-growing puzzle.

6. You can build a relationship with the car

It’s true that you can fall in love with a new car, but older cars have idiosyncrasies that will both charm and frustrate you over time. But if everything always goes smoothly, where’s the fun in that?

When you know just the right way to start your car, or the specific shifter angle required to actually engage second gear, it’s a much more rewarding experience when everything does come together. Quirks result in stories, memories, and a special place in your heart.

7. They're better value for money

If you look at the price of any new car, there will be a multitude of more interesting metal available for the same price. The new Focus RS is a performance car bargain at £30,000, as nothing else on the new car market (except for the Mustang, perhaps) can get close to it for that price. Check out the classifieds, though, and you could get yourself a BMW E46 M3 CSL, a Nissan R34 GTR, or a Porsche 911 996 Turbo. Drop your price lower and you could still get something like a fully built Nissan S15.

Okay, so you’ll probably have to stump up cash a bit more regularly for maintenance, but at least that maintenance will likely cost less and take less time, and you may even be able to do it yourself. Once the warranty expires on your new motor you’re looking at serious cash for days of labour as experts go over it with a fine tooth comb to fix it. In the long run, the older car will probably offer better value for money.

If this list has got you itching to buy yourself an old motor, check out our video on how to get yourself a good one!