A mechanic has warned motorists looking to buy a reliable used car to avoid models that come with a certain set of features, warning they may be problematic in the future.
David Long is better known to fans as Car Wizard thanks to his YouTube videos in which he repairs classic and performance models and gives tips to help viewers cut down their motoring bills.
In a popular video, David discusses features on cars that may be an issue in the future, warning electric car buyers to look at the health of the battery.
He advised: “One thing to watch with EVs, if you find one that doesn’t have a ‘battery charge’ level but a ‘battery health’ level. These tell you how much time you have left before a battery needs to be replaced.
“There are plenty of electric vehicles on the [used car] market where you should be looking at the battery health meter. If it’s below half, you probably should not buy that vehicle, it could cost you tonnes to get that battery pack replaced, and that’s if you can even find a battery pack.”
Much like modern smartphones, many of the latest electric cars will give owners an estimation of how much life is left in the battery pack.
Whilst some models have proven that electric vehicles are capable of being used for more than 400,000 miles, examples used in extreme climates or rapid charged unnecessarily can wear out at a faster rate.
Checking the health of the battery is crucial to avoid having to buy a replacement, which can be troublesome to fit and, depending on the model, cost more than the vehicle itself to buy.
Later in the video, David also urged drivers to avoid cars where all of the functions are controlled via a central touchscreen, warning that when it fails it will leave owners stranded.
He continued: “The next one is going to be a future issue, but it’s probably already starting to become one. So many cars are starting to come with an all-inclusive screen, like in the centre of the dashboard. It’s your speedometer, tachometer, climate control, the radio, the map, everything that you need to know to drive your car on that screen.
“What happens when that screen fails? It is going to fail. Now you don’t know how fast you’re going, where you’re going, you can’t control your air conditioning because it’s just a black screen.”
Finally, the mechanic suggested that cars in which features are controlled via a smartphone app could have a limited shelf life, with manufacturers or operating systems ending support for them after a few years.
He added: “On your phone, you can remote start the car, turn on that feature, turn off that feature, look at the charge level of an EV. We all know that technology moves fast and is ruthless. It does not care if it leaves you behind with unsupported technology.
“We’ve seen that in all kinds of things today where something works just fine, you move to a new operating system that the company no longer supports, and now you have a brick, it’s useless. Imagine having a car that’s 15 to 20 years old and you lose all of the features because the app for it is unsupported. I foresee that being such a big problem.”
