My father in Law bought a W reg mk4 astra 1.6 16V club new, and 19,000 miles and 15 years later it was as new.
Never go out if it might get wet
Never go out if the council might have salted the road
Never go out if the journey is less than 6 miles
Wash and dry and polish weekly
Check and record tyre pressures weekly.
Never go over 3000 RPM
Fit seat covers.4
Was Offered to various people in the family, and was eventually given to my son as his first car. It's value in 2015 ? No more than £1200. Value now with 45K on the clock ? £800 ?
My Dad bought a 51 reg focus 2.0 ghia estate new.
Never wash it. Or Polish it,
Use it what ever the weather
Drive like Colin Mcrae (Flat out)
By 2009 it had done 100,000 and looked like it had done 200,000
Was offered to me for more than I wanted to pay, and traded in for another new focus. for £1200
I think the only way to make it worth your while is to have something worth having and hold onto it for 30 years. Like maybe an RS focus or a GSI astra ?