thesyn

I had to buy a cheap car for my son who is learning to drive yesterday. saw a 94 golf cl by the side of the road with a for sale sign. Must admit I was cr#pping myself thinking of all the potential pitfalls at this end of the market and the potential for making a horrible mistake as I was spending his money.
Anyway test drive was fine and have to admit I bought the owner (so to speak) rather than the car as she seemed extremely genuine. Fortunately nothing went bang on the way home and it all seems to be ok so £500 well spent!
I was wondering has anyone had any interesting or funny experiences buying cars in the £0- £1000 bracket?

fatherpierre

If you don't need the car for long distances, then a banger makes a lot of sense.

I run classics that are cheap and when they break I stick on ebay and get back (usually) more than I paid.

My neighbour has a new merc AMG (not sure which model) 50k - 70k probably, and rarely used it. He must be losing a grand a month in depreciation.

I have a newish motor too, but only a little Seat for when I need to go oop north to see the family, or when my mercs are ill

53

iTrader: (41)

I've got a £100 1993 Rover 214 coming to do battle with the local door dingers.

You can get quite a tidy banger for £500 !

davegtt

Nah, I bought a 9 yr old Passat for £900 and its not cost me a penny in the year Ive owned it. We aint living in 1995 anymore where £500 bought you a metro

fatherpierre

£300 bought me my 1989 Merc 500SE with full MSH, leather, (working) aircon - the works. 140k on the clock

It'll still be going long after your Passat has gone to the cruncher.

Kin thirsty though

53

iTrader: (41)

My 1.3 Metro Van Der Plas was only £300 in 1995

thesyn

**** me! I've been done!

davegtt

Sonic'

I bought a Golf 1.6 CL a few years ago, to get me to the train station once a week and back (when I was working in London) as I didnt want to leave the scoob at the station, cost me £500, 12 months MOT too and some TAX

12 months and many thousands of miles later (ended up using to go to manchester and back every day, and to wales and back at weekends) head gasket started to go, so I traded it for 100 quid and a fiesta,

I put shedloads of miles on the fiesta too, again manchester and back, wales 3 or 4 times a week and back, after 12 months I stuck it on ebay (1 month mot remaing and going to fail) and I got 80 quid for it

bought a Laguna for 1200 quid, 12 months MOT W reg, air con etc etc etc, 18 months later and 18,000 miles later I sold it the other night for 1050

bought a Shogun last week for 1500 quid, 7 months MOT, I got 4 part worn tyres for 45 quid as two were due for replacing, next door neighbour took it the other day, it will fly through its MOT come May, and head gasket etc is fine too

All of the above cars have cost nothing to maintain or repair during the course of time and mileage I had them for, the Shogun its too early to say at the moment, but initially things seem good with it (only reason for this change is that the missus is due in about 5 weeks, and we needed a 7 seater)

The Chief

To be honest mate a lot of it is luck - i've been lucky and i've also been stung.

I bought a Pug 205 (off here btw) for 50 quid, i spent another 50 quid and it sailed through its mot, used it for 6 months and sold it to a mate, I bought another Pug after that which was a right lemon, for 200 quid, had a hole underneath that Fred Flinstone would have been proud of ended up selling it for 100 quid on ebay for spares or repair - after i'd spent money on new brakes tyres - Doh.

incidentally the 205, i've just sold it for my buddy on ebay for spares or repair, and i got feedback saying it had passed its mot.

amazing.


My latest aquisition is a 2.0 Si Mondeo - with a genuine 52k on the clock FSH and loads of bills, bought for 950 quid and its not missed a beat so far.

corradoboy

Cheapest banger I bought was a Pug 309 that I went 3rds on with some mates. We payed £98.05 off eBay with the sole intention of destroying it on a track day, and we did The most fun I've ever had on track as I didn't care one bit if I pranged it (although I still didn't want to die). By lunchtime the front brakes were shot so we took to the gravel track where it got noisier and smokier (is that a word ), and when we were done it was taken on the back of a tipper to a scrappers with a £150 Sierra on its roof (when the engine in that gave out it was spectacular ).

Really must do that again

The Chief

Oi what you doing up at this hour???

corradoboy

W*rking


Well, sort of

The Chief

I'm glad you only put one asterix there mate

Brit_in_Japan

Peugeot 309 diesel, £700
18 months and 20,000 miles later sold it for £750! No money spent on it, except for consumables.

corradoboy

Learnt that lesson long ago

4X4BOB

Best bargain basement banger I bought was a Ford Capri 1.6 LS(?) with 6months tax & mot left on it and an Irish reg plate.
Paid the guy £15 plus an old pioneer car stereo that I'd removed from another car as it was sh!te.

Ran it for 6 months (fuel costs only) then sold it for £80 without the Irish plate. The Irish plate I sold to a dealer for £150!

This was 15 yrs ago - happy days of cheap motoring!

Snazy

Recently bought a Mondeo Estate, '00 , 1800 GLX. Years MOT, tax, AC, lots of electrics, nice new tyres. Starts first turn of the key, drives SO smooth.
Just had a slight accident at the back. £10 for a new tailgate off Ebay, £60 for a new bumper. All down to Noel's body shop, and voila, an excellent car for taking the dog out in.

Car £400
Repairs just over £100

SO £500 for a 2000 1.8GLX Mondeo Estate

As has been said, if you just need a runner, and its safe..... a cheap car can be a very good car

David Lock

Well I did buy an Austin Somerset for £2.50, ran it for a year and sold it for £7.00. Nice little earner for a schoolboy!! But some while back.........

Got a 205 TD for my boy (from SN) for £500 odd. Ideal. I do spend on repairs but it keeps going and it won't break our hearts if it gets a dent. Unlikely to get nicked (touch wood) and 50 mpg. Fantastic load carrier as well

Daft Lad

Never bought a car for that sort of price, sold loads of them though! Actually Snazy, until you said that it was an estate that you had bought I thought I might have sold you a car for a moment there

Snazy

lol how random would that have been
Bought in Surrey though

David_Dickson

£500 is big money for a car to my eyes. My last few have all been around £100 and have all ran perfectly for between 6 months and a year (MOT dependant) before being flogged for parts and recuperating my costs.
Cavaliers, 405`s, mk3 Astras, mk1 Mondeos etc...all not too popular nowadays but still prefect cars for hacking about in day to day.

Tart Man

Bought a 1993 Clio for £50 (mot fail). Fixed it (new UJ on the streeing linkage). Thrashed it for two years, when MOT expired, filled it with scrap metal and weighed it in...got £100 for it

Gone upmarket now, just bought a 4yr old 530 M-sport...for £8500 book price is £11000, the bodywork is rough as nails, but it has a every extra fitted (Bluetooth, TV, GPS, heated seats, interior pre-heater etc Everything works, and it drives perfectly, and I don't have to worry about people denting/ scratching it, as its already been in the car park wars.

daddyscoob

As well as the Scoob I rode a motorbike - 600cc Yam cheap to run and the trip across Brum to work halved compared to the car. Had a baby so bike had to go as some days needed to collect him after work. Bought a Pug 106D cheap to run etc etc ran it for 10 mths sold it for 475 as was moving to Ireland.... cheap run arounds

[Davey]

Old cars are cheap now... If a car has been looked after just because its old doesnt mean it will be an un-reliable **** heap

billyray911

iTrader: (4)

Bought an F reg Cavalier sri from a mate,whilst my scoob was being modded.Paid him £60.This included a few months tax and MOT and a decent stereo.Had fun and faultless motoring for a few months and sold it for scrap for £80(without stereo)

astraboy

I've spent stupid amounts on cars over the years, but I can honestly say the most amount of fun I've had is in the cheap cars.

My winter runaround, the 340 project of destiny... - Drifting forum - Driftworks
I bought this for 250 quid and spent another 250 quid turning it into the funnest drift car I've owned. There was no power, so I had to use other methods to get it sideways. Thats why it taught me everything I know about drifting using momentum.

pics of Team CLSM @ Max Power - Drifting forum - Driftworks
This was my 2006 scumball rally entry. I still cant beleive I got a carlton GSI 3000 24v for only 200 quid, much less when I did 1200 miles in 4 days without incident and even better when the next owner took it to max power live an donutted the hell out of it for 4 days. No problems apart from the fan belt going


Team CLSM Scumball 2007 All systems go! - Drifting forum - Driftworks
this was the 2007 scumball rally entry, 500 quid got me an ex police omega MV6 with 190,000 on the clock. I spent a **** load getting the car ready, but the benefits include 2200 trouble free miles whilst tanking round europe. I caned it non stop for 4 days, including 135mph on the motorway and it just laughed at everything I threw at it,
Here, have a look:
ush.net • View topic - Scumball Rally 2007 Team CLSM's full report (Yikes @ 56K)
Cheap cars rule!
astraboy.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Pug 309 Look, £104 plus new grille, most of the family used it over three years, only had to replace a leaky pipe, we put 20k on it and sold it for £400.

Bangernomics, its the future !