MK5 Golf GTI

All Things Mk5 => Mk5 General Area => Topic started by: duncan on April 16, 2009, 02:23:44 am

Title: bad for the car if its not driven?
Post by: duncan on April 16, 2009, 02:23:44 am
am being sent to india for work next week - they cant confirm for how long but could be up to 2 months... kind of annoying in a way since have only had the car for a month but should be a good trip anyway

i could leave it at work in 'the cage' basiclly will be completley secure but wont get driven - or i could try and drive it down to my mums which is annoying since i wont have a car in london when i get back

my question is really - is it quite bad for the car not being driven at all for a couple of months? is it worth going through the hastle having it run once or twice a week?
Title: Re: bad for the car if its not driven?
Post by: animal on April 16, 2009, 02:57:20 am
Nothing to worry about. I went away to New Zealand for two months and my car didnt move - came home and it fired first time and drove like I had used it the day before. My fiance's Ka was fine too.
Title: Re: bad for the car if its not driven?
Post by: stealthwolf on April 16, 2009, 06:44:20 pm
Ideally you should drive it for thirty minutes a week at a reasonable speed to make sure everything gets used.

Otherwise, for storage:

Disconnect the battery
Deflate the tyres a little
Keep the wipers off the glass
Wind the windows down a crack to let air (or mice) in

Am sure someone else will add stuff to this
Title: Re: bad for the car if its not driven?
Post by: candy turbo on April 16, 2009, 08:25:19 pm
my car dont get used through the week, sometimes a couple of weeks on the trot and its fine but it does live in a rather cosy garage  :happy2:
Title: Re: bad for the car if its not driven?
Post by: BeezerDiesel on April 17, 2009, 06:27:50 pm
Shouldn't be any problem this time of year.
I parked my GTI up last year in October when my Mum was ill and needed looking after, next time I even looked at it was just before Christmas. I then ran it up the motorway to my brothers in the midlands, drove back and parked it up on Xmas Eve until the end of January. Drove it 1 mile to MOT station, drove home with new ticket (tester commented on how well it fared on emissions!). Parked it up again until a month ago when I drove down to Penzance for my Dad's birthday, drove back same day and parked it up again for another 28 days which takes us to Wednesday this week, back down to Penzance and returned again on Friday evening (and hour ago) and I've just parked it up again for who knows how long.
The long and short of all that is that it didn't do mine any harm it seems!!!!  :laugh:
I just give it a thorough once over and clean every so often.
Title: Re: bad for the car if its not driven?
Post by: icenutter on April 18, 2009, 09:58:50 am
Deflate the tyres a little
I'd put more air in the tyres rather than less.  On the basis that they are less likely to go completely flat and damage the rim, and that the bottom of the tyre will be less distorted.
Title: Re: bad for the car if its not driven?
Post by: stealthwolf on April 18, 2009, 10:13:38 am
READ THIS (http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/laying_up.html)