Carindale's roads
Old Cleveland Road
Old Cleveland Road runs 19.3 km from Stones Corner out to Capalaba, and it's known for severe peak-hour congestion. It meets Creek Road 6.1 km out and the Gateway Motorway at 8.5 km, both on Carindale's doorstep.
The Gateway at the edge
The Gateway Motorway borders the suburb. North takes you to the airport over the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges, which are tolled; south runs to the Pacific Motorway at Eight Mile Plains and the Logan Motorway at Drewvale.
Shops close to home
Carindale has one of Brisbane's biggest shopping centres, with over 400 stores. When the shops and the library are a few minutes away, a car can go weeks without a run long enough to properly warm up.
An estate from the 1970s
The Carindale housing estate went up in 1976 and the suburb split from Belmont in 1980. Bulimba Creek and the Belmont Bushland Reserve are still part of it.
Low kilometres still wear a car
Fewer kilometres doesn't mean less servicing. Intervals run on time as well as distance, whichever comes first, and NRMA says a car doing lots of short trips can wear some parts faster than one doing long runs. Oil, coolant and brake fluid age in the car whether it moves or not.
Brake fluid is the one people forget. RACQ says it pulls water from the air, which lowers its boiling point and corrodes brake parts, and most makers want it changed roughly every two years regardless of kilometres. In Brisbane's humid summers that matters.
Batteries suffer too. RACQ says a car driven once or twice a week isn't really using its battery, so a slow crank on a cold morning is worth a battery test before it leaves you stuck in a car park.
If it were our car
However few kilometres it does, we'd have it serviced at least every 12 months, with the brake fluid changed on the maker's timing and the battery tested each time. A longer drive every week or two, out along Old Cleveland Road outside peak hour, does it good as well.