New secondhand car

[007fair]

Modern cars with Dual mass Flywheels, Diesel particulate Filters and the like can expensive to repair.
You can also get a good or a bad example of the same car so make is not guarrantee of reliability

If you want a small cheap car and can afford new get a Hyundia i10 new at about £7000 with discounts 7 year warranty Treat it with respect and hit the service intervals and you should have extremely cheap motoring for the next 8 - 10 years at least

 

[tyred]

I'd like to see a comparison between the old stuff and modern cars. Wonder how would they rack up on emissions and fuel efficiency?

Get a MK1 or Mk2 Golf 1.6 Diesel. Not old enough for free road tax unfortunately but I doubt you will find anything cheaper to run. 60mpg is perfectly achievable and they were built to last (I've seen them with over 400,000 miles on the original engine) and need very little replacement parts and they are very DIY friendly so no real need for anyone of reasonable mechanic knowledge to be visiting a garage every turn round. Also very nice to drive, practical and big enough for most purposes. They're not as slow as people make out, there is a knack in getting the best out of these engines. The only real downside is the horrid hard, shapeless seats VW fitted to their base models in those days.

 

[twowheelsgood]

That's exactly what my parents did with an i10. Trouble is it's vile.

Classic cars as every day transport? Main problem is they need constant minor attention even if they have been well restored, so you certainly need a garage and some time on your hands. Then there is the reliability factor, fuel economy, safety and the fact they just don't do some things as well like effective headlights, heaters and even minor things like decent windscreen wipers you'll miss.

I speak as some who loves classics, especially rover P6s and Triumph 2000/2500. There's a guy with a really rare Pininfarina Fiat 130 coupe (stunning and elegant car, if you don't know what it is you'd never guess it was a 1970s fiat) he uses every day near me. It has a notoriously fragile V6 so good luck to him I say.

 

[Crackle]

Whichever make of car hasn't been mentioned, Rich, buy that.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I reckon a Morris Minor or Mk1 Ford Escort, restored, would be very cheap and easy to run.

Yes and no. Routine maintenance, road licence, insurance etc. would be cheap compared to more modern machinery BUT the cost of a proper restoration to make them reliable and rot-free means it would almost certainly be cheaper to buy something modern.

Emmisions and fuel consumption can be reduced to modern levels by fitting electronic ignition/fuel injection kits which I believe are available for both.

The main attraction would be that both are very entertaining to drive.

 

[fossyant]

Toyota - my wife couldn't start her newly purchased Toyota and rang the RAC who duly turned up, told her to press the clutch down before turning the ignition key and advised her that she'll never need the RAC again as long as she owned the car.

Can't get a better testimony than that.

True ! We've had a Yaris from new in 1999, never missed a beat. Opened the bonnet at the showroom, shut it, and said I won't be seeing that often.

 

[twowheelsgood]

"Emmisions and fuel consumption can be reduced to modern levels by fitting electronic ignition/fuel injection kits which I believe are available for both."

- nah, not even close. The ignition kits are good but they only really avoid the problems with a distributor, namely wear and adjustment. Modern types of fuel injection can't work on Morris Minors as each cyclinder shares an inlet port - so the best you could do is the throttle-body type from the last of the original minis.

With the escort there are kits to fit a mondeo engine, which could be entertaining on a car that weighs around half of a Mondeo... 0-60 in 6s I reckon with a standard 2litre and probably an early death with standard brakes.

 

[tyred]

E series Mercs rust in a way that would make a 1970s Datsun very jealous.

 

[Linford]

This was mine. I owned it for about 10 years, and flogged it in 01. Can you guess what it is/was ?

Totally unsuitable as regular transport though, and could be started and driven off with a screwdriver. The dashboard was like an old radio though - pure nostalgia

 

[tyred]

Eh? I thought they used galvanised steel?

Merecedes build quality went down the toilet in the mid '90s.

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/archive/index.php/t-5824.html

 

[ASC1951]

Modern cars are generally very reliable if you do the sensible thing and have them serviced regularly and change the oil and all the filters at at least the recommended intervals.

Over the years I've had a Morris Minor, a Peugeot 206TD, a Golf GTD, a Merc estate, a Saab, three Fords (Fiesta, Escort, XR3) and currently a Vauxhall Astra TD. FWIW, the Golf and Merc were by far the least reliable and most expensive to run. The best have been the Fiesta and the Astra.

If I wanted something a little larger I would go for a Mondeo or the Skoda Octavia. Turbo diesel, of course.

 

[swee'pea99]

I was told that Skoda had made a big effort to tailor their finance and - in particular - warranty terms to the needs of mini-cab drivers. With great success.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Yeah I agree, but you don't see many rusty ones now, do you? I thought they'd all had galvanised bodywork for years.

It's a case of which is faster, the rust or the driver.

 

[Linford]

I was told that Skoda had made a big effort to tailor their finance and - in particular - warranty terms to the needs of mini-cab drivers. With great success.

Nearly all of the mini cab drivers in my town are asian and drive Toyota's, and asians have always favoured Japanese cars as the vehicle of choice. When you see them bidding at the auctions, they nearly alway give much closer scrutiny to the japanese cars as well in the lots - know your onions maybe!!!