h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If a normal, run of the mill, car is:
a) not used for racing,
b) not been been driven with the driver resting his or her foot on the clutch pedal while driving,
c) not used for towing or carrying heavy loads,
d) driven by a driver who uses the hand brake for hill starts,
e) usually put into neutral at traffic lights

then how long on average should a clutch last before it wears out?

Has anybody taken a sample of cars that needed the clutch replacing and if so what was the mean milage and standard deviation (assuming a parametric frequency curve)?

A totally unscientific answer would be that a) I have *never* replaced a clutch on any of my vehicles that would have required one, b) the longest I owned a vehicle without changing the clutch was ~85,000 miles, and it was fine when I traded it in (light truck). On the other hand, my husband's car, which is a high-performance model Mazda is at 90,000+ on the original clutch with no problems.

I tend to agree; anecdotally speaking, I only really hear of clutches 'going' in cars owned by boy-racers or drivers with some or all of the bad habits listed in the O.P. I've only driven two cars over the past 10 years, but neither of them has lost a clutch (yet).

My current cars - a 13 year old Citroen ZX and a 21 year old Renault 5, both with about 120,000 miles on the clock, are both still on their first clutches...

I'd agree with the previous posting - nowadays, unless it's been driven by an incompetent or an idiot during its life time, the clutch is likely to last as long as the car does.

One exception to this - I'd _never_ buy a secondhand car with an electronic handbrake - as they're such a pain in the neck to use the clutch gets a much harder workout.

I've had a few cars that have lasted over 100,000miles and not had a problem.

The 'kid' next door to me is learning to drive and they are taught these days to wait a traffic lights etc with the clutch at bite point all the time and also to get up to speed as quickly as possible because 'clutches are designed to take it these days'.

Really?! Sounds odd in these days of rising fuel costs to teach learners to waste fuel in that way. It's bad enough to have the engine idling for the minute or two you can wait at some junctions, without the added consumption of having your foot permanently on the gas.

Also not very safe, I'd have thought, because if you're at bite point you're only stationary as long as you keep your feet still. I'll stick to the handbrake.

Our car's done 71,000 now so this is a useful conversation, I'm starting to wonder what will fail first.

Mol

Winnich/Mol...exactly, that's what I and the kid's dad thought...goes against safety and fuel conservation also is it any wonder kids are 'speed freaks' when they are taught from the outset...accelerate up to the speed limit as rapidly as possible?

The only reason to get up to speed as quickly as possible is to ensure you do not slow traffic that will now be behind you on the road you have turned on to...but if you need to accelerate quickly to do that I would say wait for a bigger gap...

OK, I'll do tget up to speed quickly too but that's after years of driving experience and knowing when to and when not to do it...Anything less than a A-road style road in a town/village and I'll get up to 30mph at a safe speed...A-road style roads tend not to be 'built up' area style roads and hence a more rapid speed increase is fine and probably needed as it will be busier than 'smaller' roads.

Actually sounds more to me like a rogue 'ex-boy-racer' driving instructor, rather than an established official procedure that is taught as standard. It's not that hard to become a driving instructor these days; there are adverts all over the place for fast-track driving school 'qualifications'.

Any newly qualified drivers following me will be somewhat frustrated, as I will accelerate gently to conserve fuel. I've got a little trip computer on my dash that gives me an instantaneous readout of my mpg, and if you stand on the gas to get up to speed quickly that can easily drop to single digits, whereas if I ease up to speed I can keep it over 30mpg even while accelerating, and over 50 while cruising.

And since I'm paying for the fuel, I'll accelerate at my pace, thank you very much. Anyone wishing me to accelerate quicker is welcome to chip in for the extra diesel.

I'm with you 100% there Hoo! I have to pay the ridiculous price for the diesel so they can all go at my pace.

I've found that, once you get used to going slow and careful it's quite relaxing!

t.

Our Fiat Brava had over 120,000 miles on the clock and still had its original clutch. Not bad for a rustbucket

Boy racer here then

I had to replace my clutch not long ago on my Honda - although it had done 100,000 miles first.

I didn't own it until it had already done 60,000 miles though so I blame the original owner

If it's a sporty model like a Civic you're forgiven

Accord sadly