On Fri, 24 Jul 2020 09:14:25 +0100, Chris Green wrote:

snip

Nearly all modern engines seem almost everlasting.

Many do that's for sure, or something else (like the electronics)
write the vehicle off before the engine stops being viable to repair.

We have a Citroen
C5 and a C6 at present, both have something like 170k miles on the
clock and no sign of any issues with either engine. Previous Citroens
(a C5 and several XMs) were much the same, nothing ever went wrong
with the engines,

And in theory, with modern lubricants, computerised balancing and
monitoring during construction and superfine tolerances (meaning a new
engine hardly needs any 'breaking in'), good metallurgy / materials
and reasonable treatment, nothing really *should* go wrong. ;-)

It's good when you find a engine that doesn't seem to have any flaws,
that is fairly efficient (comparatively) and is easy to do the
auxiliary bits on (belts, pumps, alternators and thermostats etc) and
performs well.

The old 2L Pinto ticked some of those boxes (easy to work on, a 'safe
engine' etc) but wasn't very economical and I think could have
lubrication issues meaning it could wear out cams (like the Vauxhall
Caviler engine)?

just required suspension maintenance and stuff like
that.

Yeah and if it was std coil springs or complex air / oil based
jobbies. ;-)

Modern Citroen electrics seem not too bad!

I remember looking at my mates Citroen Pallas, it looked like both an
electricians and plumbers nightmare! ;-)

For me the biggest negative with most cars of those days was rust and
why we built the kitcar. ;-)

Cheers, T i m