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Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will be making a shock return to Formula 1 at the Valencia Grand Prix amid a whirlwind of publicity and debate around whether he will be as good as he once was. All the hype got me thinking about other automotive comebacks, and in recent times we have seen a spate of well known vehicles returning to our roads.
In the same way that clothes generally come back into fashion and you wish you'd kept them something very similar seems to be happening in the car market.
In recent years we have seen the high profile return of the Mini, Volkswagen's Scirocco and Beetle and the Fiat 500 to name just a few. The renaissance of these vehicles has broadened their popularity and brought them to a new audience. Plus its not just models that come back into vogue - who would have thought that white would be the 'in' colour for cars over the past year as drivers flock to move away from their silver or black models.
But this trend is not a license to keep your old car until enough time passes for it to come back into fashion. It has never been more expensive to keep a vehicle on the road and the up front purchase price is just part of the cost of running a vehicle. Keeping your car for years often means that the costs will mount over its lifetime and you could be out of pocket. As well as the money that the owner loses through depreciation, unplanned maintenance also costs more as things begin to go wrong. Fuel is a major expense with older cars generally posting worse mpg performance and if they are gas guzzlers you will get stung through road taxes.
These classic names make successful comebacks because the manufacturers take all of the redeeming features that we remember from the original while ironing out the weaknesses. They fill them full of the latest technology to ensure that they stack up against other modern cars on the road. People are buying Fiat 500's and Mini's, not just because they want to be associated with the brand history but also because they have decent fuel efficiency numbers, lower CO2 emissions, air conditioning and all the other mod cons that we have come to expect.
They are also much safer than the originals thanks to the way that they are built and advances like ABS, airbags and ESC. There is an optimum period of time to keep any vehicle which will vary depending on the make, model and how it's used. Seek expert advice as to when the right time is to swap and importantly keep the vehicle regularly and well maintained to keep depreciation to a minimum.
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