Budget cars.

[vickster]

You’re playing a lottery with any car at £1,000.

Indeed but that’s his stated budget

 

[DCLane]

@stephec - erm ... because it's been a race support wagon for the past 6+ years in the UK ... but ... erm .. also in Europe where there's no ... erm ... speed limit on the German autobahn and also on the Isle of Man. Is that OK officer ... hopefully?

 

[mustang1]

If you're one a small budget I wouldn't try to be too clever.

Big flash cars may seem tempting, but they cost as much to fuel, insure, maintain and repair as when they were new.

Keep it simple, nothing flash, no unnecessary fripperies such as AWD, turbos, DPFs, try and minimise the items that could pull your trousers down. AWD is geat if all the previous owners religiously changed the Haldex oil, turbos are great if every single owner didnt thrash them from cold and it never missed a service, and so on... nothing wrong with any of those things if you know for sure where they've been and how they've been cared for, but for a grand you'll likely have to assume whatever you end up with will have been maintained on the cheap, missed services, and might even have suffered cost saving bodges such as DPF deletes, etc.

An older Berlingo with the 1,6 petrol engine, as a random example, may not be exciting, may not be as economical as the diesel version, but is simplicity itself. Tough, has very little to break, simple and easy to maintain and fix, and has the minimal amount of more complex items that previous owners probably won't have looked after by the book.

Keep it simple, don't try and be clever, and remember that at that budget you're never going to find a car that ticks every box so your best option is to avoid anything with the potential to stretch your sphincter.

Cue the "I bought a 100k Merc for 10k".

No, you bought a 10k Merc for 10k but the running costs will be like a 100k Merc!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I used to work with a bloke who always had 2 cheap cars - always things like top of the range Ford Granadas and similar (which shows the sort of dates!)
The reason for having 2 was so that he could be sure one was working!
He was the sort that could do pretty much anything to the cars himself in his driveway - and had the tools to do it so that helped

But he reckoned that he could drive around in luxury cars all the time for very little money as long as he was OK with having 2 so that the was always one that would work
Well - mostly - I do remember him being late one day and turning up saying he had had car trouble
in both cars at the same time

I also suspect he didn;t exactly obey the exact letter of the law regarding tax and MOT all the time - if Car 1 broke down he would just use Car2 - but maybe only Car 1 was taxed so he would wait until the end of the month and cash in the tax fr Car 1(you could do that at one point) and tax Car 2 from then

Still - he did always have nice cars - really not sure it was worth all the work and effort!

 

[Drago]

No, you bought a 10k Merc for 10k but the running costs will be like a 100k Merc!

Probably even more, as like as not the new owner will have to contend with the aftermath of years of people trying to run it on the cheap, backstreet serving, nang tang woosung tyres, counterfeit ebay pattern parts...

 

[Jameshow]

I used to work with a bloke who always had 2 cheap cars - always things like top of the range Ford Granadas and similar (which shows the sort of dates!)
The reason for having 2 was so that he could be sure one was working!
He was the sort that could do pretty much anything to the cars himself in his driveway - and had the tools to do it so that helped

But he reckoned that he could drive around in luxury cars all the time for very little money as long as he was OK with having 2 so that the was always one that would work
Well - mostly - I do remember him being late one day and turning up saying he had had car trouble
in both cars at the same time

I also suspect he didn;t exactly obey the exact letter of the law regarding tax and MOT all the time - if Car 1 broke down he would just use Car2 - but maybe only Car 1 was taxed so he would wait until the end of the month and cash in the tax fr Car 1(you could do that at one point) and tax Car 2 from then

Still - he did always have nice cars - really not sure it was worth all the work and effort!

That was my dad, mum was left with the pram!

 

[Jameshow]

You’re playing a lottery with any car at £1,000.

Agreed but it's still a lottery with a £5k and you have put 5x the amount in. Buy budget or nearly new is the best way imho.

 

[Gwylan]

We used to have one good car for my wife and work. And a banger for me, who didn't work.

Reading this thread I realise they I spent more on my latest bike than I ever spent buying a banger.
As people say there's the cost of buying a banger and the more random and potentially larger cost of owning a functioning banger

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

Think I'd be looking at something with a dull image that is very reliable. A petrol Nissan Primera or something along those lines, if can find one with a years MOT that isn't too rusty. Think they were all still Nissan parts, despite the last shape (P12) being made when Renault bought into them. Despite the dull image the earlier P10 & P11 were a better drivers car than just about everything similar at the time, haven't a clue about the P12 though.

 

[figbat]

Agreed but it's still a lottery with a £5k and you have put 5x the amount in. Buy budget or nearly new is the best way imho.

Yep. My point was that at that end of the market any car could be a lemon or a bargain, regardless of brand or type.

 

[Drago]

Yep. My point was that at that end of the market any car could be a lemon or a bargain, regardless of brand or type.

Indeed. I'd rather have a cherished Renault for £1000 than an abused Toyata at the same price.

Remember the golden rule? Don't try and be clever. Buy on condition, not on some daft notion that the bonnet badge will protect you from a decade or more of neglect and abuse.

 

[CXRAndy]

Look at what taxi drivers are using. They tend to be the reliable vehicle. But don't buy an ex taxi vehicle.

 

[Drago]

The issue there is that Taxi's have to be highly maintained and endure regular retesting throughout the year, something that the average old car doesn't enjoy, so what taxi drivers drive isn't terribly relevant.

The other issue is that they ain't that bright. Some of the mechanical wheezes and bodges I've seem them pull over the years would make Fred Flintstone shudder.

 

[Gillstay]

Yep. My point was that at that end of the market any car could be a lemon or a bargain, regardless of brand or type.

Yep, i have a 2K Toyota and its doing a lot better than the year old Porsche 4 x 4 my mate has. I try not to point it out.

 

[Drago]

My oldest daughter recently took her 3 year old Macan in for a service and was pleasantly surprised when the dealer offered her £78k for it, as they're struggling to get clean, low mileague used Porkers.

She was happy to oblige and dropped £90k on a new Macan hybrid to replace it.