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Our family car issues continue (diff thread) and it got me thinking that a second, emergency kid and bike transport car, would be useful for the summer. However, money is now tight and stress is high and so how do you win at a 6 month(?) car. Is it pot luck or can I stack things in my favour? I've seen some old threads but I think that the market has now changed.
Presumably, anything you buy now, you should be able to sell for around the same price in 6 months time.
The only thing that has changed, is that what used to be a few hundred quid will now cost you a couple of grand. If you're hoping to pick something up for a few hundred quid, then good luck.
Generally;
Petrol
Non turbo
Galvanised (usually Volvo or French)
Old school simple diesel (PSA 2.0HDI, VW PD)
Non dual mass flywheel
Check the MOT history and only buy cars with branded tyres, filters and 12v batteries.
That includes, anything Toyota, MK4 Golf, M59 Berlingo but avoiding the 1.6hdi, Volvo 40,50,70 & 80's - basically anything that has lead a cherished pampered life rather than getting handbraked round a McDonald's carpark
It takes time and patience to sniff out a good car but they are out there. I bought at the peak of Covid a M59 Berlingo 2.0Hdi - 18years old, big wodge of paperwork, 4x new Continental tyres and decent brand filters on it. Been great in the 14k miles since.
I also recently bought a 1owner 10plate £500 Volvo Xc90 with FSH.
Also run a V70 with the petrol NA 140 engine - just clicked over at 200k miles, bulletproof, awesome reliable car.
As above though banger prices are up - the days of £500 sheds with 12month MOT's are gone.
Toyota Aygo. Cheap as chips. Thats what we got 16 months ago when son's modified car broke again, and he had no way to get to work.
I've done a fair few jobs on it, fixed the leaky boot (they all do it) and replaced crusty exhaust and other bits. Cheap as chips to run and fuel. Cleaned off the suspension and aqua steel'ed it.
I take it to do the shopping
Got the Aygo for £2k but spent about a grand on it getting it A1. Could sell in for £3k or more currently.
Yaris, old Jazz etc all good. Look for crust undersides as some are a bit rough if not hosed off or have lived near coast.
There's certainly bargains out there, cars like Mk6 fiestas (the pre-2006ish one) are at the £500 point now, and they're galvanised so will pretty much keep going untill the engine dies, and it takes a lot to kill the small zetecs. Same can be said of that era Focus or C-Max if you want a little more space, just go for the 1.6 petrol for some economy.
There's also a bit of expectation management to be done. My Berlingo was a bangernomic stop-gap. I paid £625 at the height of lockdown micro-camper price lunacy. It was an utter shitbox, with a leak in the door/footwell, a cambelt that was almost due, rusty axle, lumpy power steering, 2 working door locks, rust on the exhaust, and about 4 days left on the MOT. But it did have 4x new-ish tyres. It did 2 years almost faultlessly untill the clutch pedal cracked and I scrapped it for £415. Even a car with an obvious fault can often do you 6-months motoring.
The 1.6 Pugeot/Citroen/Ford engine does have a reputation, but equally by this point either the bad ones have gone pop, people have changed the injector seals, or it's bangernomics and really anything could fail first, the odds of that specific issue cropping up are lower than they would be if you were buying it new-ish and wanting it to last 100k+ without issues.
Couple of year ago good friend was looking for a stop gap car. Went with him to local car place - Volvo S40 Vs a Kia Magentis both same price. The Volvo was abused/run on a budget high mileage but was tarted up well, the Kia Magentis was absolutely disgusting - Kia's first gen 'premium' car with rouched/pleated grey leather interior and a copy and paste bodywork design it was truly gopping. But the Kia had a Bosch battery, decent branded tyres etc, one (Dr) owner and reams of paperwork.
It took a lot to convince my friend, we then mercilessly took the piss for the next two years but it was faultless and sold for more than he paid.
Yeah cool story.....
We needed an 'interim' car at the beginning of the lockdown. My list was petrol, cam chain, NA, reasonable mph, estate, no rust. Picked up a 57 plate, 80k, Avensis for £1850. Had it serviced and new tyres. Currently half way through the service interval and the oil is sparkling gold. I see a car as a tool not a toy but this has been a joy. It's made me drive more cautiously as it wouldn't take much of a bump to write it off. I reckon it'll be servicable for another 5 years and have no intention of trading up.