Buying a cheap car

[Dave7]

A mate of mine feels the same about Fords.
He wouldn't touch one with a barge pole - they are rubbish to drive, unreliable, uneconomical etc etc.......
It was 'rubbish'. Ergo - 'all Fords are rubbish'.
I can't argue with that sort of logic.

My Bro has had the same Focus for many years. Think it had 140K on it when he traded it in 2 months ago. Whenever I was in it, it seemed responsive and was a nice firm ride.
The new(er) replacement is a Honda Civic.......the S.I.L hates it.

 

[Dirk]

I had a Vauxhall Viva in 1981 that I bought secondhand. It was 10 years old with about 80000 miles on the clock. Worst car I ever had. Needed fettling every week and was so unreliable that I'd never use it to go more than 20 miles from home. Body was held together with filler and tape. Had to scrap it after I'd put two replacement engines in it over the course of three months.
Bloody Vauxhalls! Would never buy another! *


* Actually, I did buy a new 1 litre Agila in 2007. Brilliant little car - £5000 on the road. Economical, practical and bomb proof. I thrashed it mercilessly for 7 years and didn't have a single thing go wrong - literally nothing!
Brilliant Vauxhalls! Would definitely buy another!

 

[Pale Rider]

Or a Lancia...

My English teacher had a Lancia Fulvia.

I fancied both of them - in different ways.

 

[Smokin Joe]

My English teacher had a Lancia Fulvia.

I fancied both of them - in different ways.

Did you ever tell them how you felt?

 

[screenman]

I do not think a bad car is made now, at least not for the UK market, that is from somebody who plays with them most days.

 

[Drago]

I had a Vauxhall Viva in 1981 that I bought secondhand. It was 10 years old with about 80000 miles on the clock. Worst car I ever had. Needed fettling every week and was so unreliable that I'd never use it to go more than 20 miles from home. Body was held together with filler and tape. Had to scrap it after I'd put two replacement engines in it over the course of three months.
Bloody Vauxhalls! Would never buy another! *


* Actually, I did buy a new 1 litre Agila in 2007. Brilliant little car - £5000 on the road. Economical, practical and bomb proof. I thrashed it mercilessly for 7 years and didn't have a single thing go wrong - literally nothing!
Brilliant Vauxhalls! Would definitely buy another!

Me and some drunk squaddies once tipped a Viva HC onto its roof. The top loomsmok, but the underside were lacier than Angela Merkels chastity belt.

 

[Smokin Joe]

There's Vivas, and there's Brabham Vivas -

 

[Cycleops]

The top loomsmok, but the underside were lacier than Angela Merkels chastity belt.

Do you really think she needs one?

 

[Cycleops]

We've got a Toyota Matrix which came all the way from Fort Worth Texas. An estate Corolla.



10+ years old and not a rattle or squeak, no problems either.

 

[Julia9054]

Do you really think she needs one?

Is it her age, the fact that she is ordinary looking or the fact that she is a powerful politician that makes you assume that nobody would want to have sex with her?
I doubt she'd bother looking at you twice.

 

[Cycleops]

Is it her age, the fact that she is ordinary looking or the fact that she is a powerful politician that makes you assume that nobody would want to have sex with her?
I doubt she'd bother looking at you twice.

Does anyone use one these days? Maybe you could lead a come back.

 

[NorthernDave]

I had a Vauxhall Viva in 1981 that I bought secondhand. It was 10 years old with about 80000 miles on the clock. Worst car I ever had. Needed fettling every week and was so unreliable that I'd never use it to go more than 20 miles from home. Body was held together with filler and tape. Had to scrap it after I'd put two replacement engines in it over the course of three months.
Bloody Vauxhalls! Would never buy another! *

But that's pretty much every car of the 70s / early 80s isn't it? Every weekend in our street back then, at least a couple of the cars would be being fettled - some more than others and often just to keep them going til the next weekend when they could be fettled again.
I had a 1978 Mark 2 Escort and you only had to show it a damp morning and the bloody thing wouldn't start.

I can remember family trips to the seaside where we'd stop halfway to let the car have a rest...it was a 60 mile trip! And we were far from the only ones - there were cafes just the other side of York that catered specifically for the halfway break market and before you'd got there you'd have already passed a couple of overheating cars stopped in laybys near Tadcaster.

* Actually, I did buy a new 1 litre Agila in 2007. Brilliant little car - £5000 on the road. Economical, practical and bomb proof. I thrashed it mercilessly for 7 years and didn't have a single thing go wrong - literally nothing!
Brilliant Vauxhalls! Would definitely buy another!

While the badges might have said Vauxhall, technically you'd bought a Suzuki, which probably explains the unexpected reliability...

 

[Levo-Lon]

At least you could fix the damn things back then!!

Few basic tools and a bulb with 2 wires for timing

Virtually no special tools needed,nowadays its as much for the tool to do the job as the bit thats knackered.
Even a water pump needs a friggin cambelt and other stuff changing.
It'll all end in tears you mark my words

 

[Nigeyy]

I'm personally finding the cars of the mid to late 90's as the sweetspot; decent paint had come around so they don't rust immediately and they seem to be just far enough removed from the malaise of the car workers of the 1980's. Add in better safety features and not so much electronicky stuff that you can't work on them yourself. The problem is now finding a car from the 90's in decent shape is getting to be really difficult.

I feel like a sweeping generalization: I feel like the 70's and 80's cars were not very well made and prone to really bad rust, and weren't by today's standards very safe. And anything past the early 00's got to be chock full of expensive electronics that usually precipitate the car being trashed rather than repaired or costing thousands.

I'll get my coat and hat. And Zimmerman frame.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I'm personally finding the cars of the mid to late 90's as the sweetspot; decent paint had come around so they don't rust immediately and they seem to be just far enough removed from the malaise of the car workers of the 1980's. Add in better safety features and not so much electronicky stuff that you can't work on them yourself. The problem is now finding a car from the 90's in decent shape is getting to be really difficult.

I feel like a sweeping generalization: I feel like the 70's and 80's cars were not very well made and prone to really bad rust, and weren't by today's standards very safe. And anything past the early 00's got to be chock full of expensive electronics that usually precipitate the car being trashed rather than repaired or costing thousands.

I'll get my coat and hat. And Zimmerman frame.

Make sure you have ZimmermanType 375667599056784 or the leg falls off