I'm in awe of RNP's and WCA's vehicle wrangling exploits. My spannering days are 20 years behind me, but I'm tempted to buy a fixer upper for me and junior to work on and for him to drive.
So not proper bangernomics, but post covid is it still possible to buy a sub £1,000 car and keep it running with modest spannering skills. If so, what sort of models lend themselves best to this?
I've just been scouring for a runabout, I'd say yes but helps if you know what you're looking at in the first place.
Not a spannerer but, looking about me as I travel the older / cheaper vehicles that seem to keep soldiering on seem to be the Mk4 golf and its platform stablemates (Mk1 Leon, Octavia) in the basic spec and 1.4 petrol engine. All the higher spec / hotter ones and all the diesels seem to have vanished but the base model petrols seem to both last (if you discount the front wheel arches which are at least a bolt on replacement it seems) and not require some of the big-ticket repairs in later life that the diesels need.
Thats not to say they don't require work our 05 Leon leaked, had ABS sensor foibles and so on but the engine never required more than service attention and the foibles were all addressable DIY or didn't cost much if we didn't do it ourselves. It's the car we've kept longer than any other and the cheapest to own car we've ever had. The near new Caddy we replaced it with has only be with us for 18 months and is already the most expensive to own vehicle we've ever had
Yes, depends on what you call 'modest' spannering skills.
Quick Gumtree search round me yields lots of sub £1k cars. Around the 04-09 age range - around 100k miles, some fine with short mot, or others with an EML or ABS light on.
Lots of Citroens, Renaults and Peugeots in the listings....
Yes definetely, especially if you can buy something with 1 fault to fix. I got an 08 V70 for £500 autumn last year with a dead center console. It did need 4 new tyres to pass the MOT but the dead center console was only a hard to find fuse. All in I am about £1000 with the tyres a service and a new MOT.
I’m in awe of RNP’s and WCA’s vehicle wrangling exploits
I also have a 2004 Peugeot Partner / Mk1 Berlingo, it's had the odd post about it on here. I bought it with 4x brand new Continentals and a folder of receipts, it had a tube of Sterident denture cement in the glove box which gave an indication of the age demographic for these cars.
It had a snapped coil spring which is why it was cheap.
It's been a great little useful van/car, dead easy to work on and decent quality OEM parts are dirt cheap. Galvanized so don't rust too much.
I paid more than your £1k budget but that was at the height of Covid.
I also had a 200k mile MK4 Golf Pd130 that I paid £400 for. I changed its oil and clacked about in it for a year. I posted about that on here. Rusty wings as mentioned above. I sold it for £300 and it carried on for a bit with its new owner.
My bangernomics have come from friends/work colleagues who know that I'll rebuild them/keep them going rather than scrapping them.
All the sub 1k cars are now on FB Marketplace. Don't get hung up on a make and model, be flexible and see what's available locally then go check it out.
Yes, I bought a 57 reg Mondeo for £800 with 90K miles . It had a years MOT. Some minor issues I'm working through but nothing serious.
£800 is less than the 1 years depreciation on MrsUggski's Juke that we have.
Full disclosure, I do know the PO so knew it was in ok condition. May need a new cambelt but that would still make it a £1200 car!
If you want a cheap, fun car then MF F/TF's can be picked up for hardly any money at the minute. And they still have a good spares network. 2nd hand parts are widespread and there are several good mobile MG Rover specialists out there.
I've got one and it's the cheapest car we have to insure too (1.8 130bhp model).
Lots crop up on here - from minters that have done sod-all mileage, to ones that need some work...
MG F&TF UK owners club,sales group !!!
Not a spannerer but, looking about me as I travel the older / cheaper vehicles that seem to keep soldiering on seem to be the Mk4 golf and its platform stablemates (Mk1 Leon, Octavia)
A main advantage to this is that there are so many models shared the same parts that they're cheap as chips and plentiful. I'm running an 18 year old Octavia vRS that just keeps going (I paid £1500 4 years ago for it) and some jobs that you think would cost a fortune in parts on a modern car are surprisingly doable
I don't do any spannering myself as I have the mechanical aptitude of a gibbon, but I do have a great local garage that doesn't take the proverbial on labour costs and always do a great job for a non-scary
My friend bought a 2009 C3 Picasso with, IIRC, 6?,000ilea on it last summer for £1,500. It's mint and she loves it
Not sure £1,500 is cheap enough to qualify as bangernomics but it shows there are great cars around for not much
Would those types of car be ULEZ compliant .... if an issue for where OP lives
Some of the older petrol cars are ULEZ compliant, diesels almost certainly not and also a ULEZ compliant diesel adds a whole other level of complication to diagnostics and maintenance.
Scrap has gone down and if you don't need ULEZ/CAZ compliance (much cheaper to pay the charge if you only visit occasionally) then bangernomics is very much back on the menu. Older NA petrol, manual stuff is the way to go, smaller cars are best for cheaper parts too. You may have to pay higher VED, but problems with more modern £30 tax stuff will quickly wipe out any saving.
My 3.2 V6 £500 Porsche Cayenne is ULEZ compliant!
We’ve been running a £300 2004 Astra G Estate for around 9 years. Gutless 1.6 8v petrol, still see them about for cheap.
Really easy to spanner on. Cheap parts, I just replaced the whole exhaust for around £150.
Timing belt, water pump full service etc was similar money using decent parts.
It’s slow and dull but free to go into low emission zones (except Birmingham, oh well).
Not really bangernomics as I repair anything that needs doing but it is almost free motoring.
If you want a Renault Scenic with a ****ed auto gearbox to spend a load of time and money on, shout me quick before I offload it to a trader on Gumtree 😀
But you can indeed get an acceptable car under £1k these days. I helped a friend buy a 20-year-old Corsa C with FSH for £750 last year, just needed £160 welding to get through a recent MOT but drives really nice.
Thanks all, some things to consider here.
It would need to be ULEZ compliant, so petrol is looking best.
RustyNissanPrairie
Full Member
My 3.2 V6 £500 Porsche Cayenne is ULEZ compliant!
Is it actually running and roadworthy?
- <li style="text-align: left;">I reckon that there are plenty of broken cars that are compliant but live in a scrapyard?!
So not proper bangernomics, but post covid is it still possible to buy a sub £1,000 car and keep it running with modest spannering skills. If so, what sort of models lend themselves best to this?
If you know what you're doing, of course - but if you're asking then you've probably failed the 'test'.
A first-gen Honda Jazz is usually a good option for a cheap, low-running costs ULEZ-friendly car. Loads of room for a small car and very reliable. Can rust a bit, and the Cats were getting nicked a lot at one point, but otherwise very little to worry about.
Soo.... quick thread hijack...
It's not going to be £1000, but more like £1600...
I'm looking to sell my baby..my 2007 2l TDI Skoda octavia.. 🙁
I'm consolidating my EV and Octy into a longer range EV.. my OH says we've too many cars on the drive!
It's a grey hatchback, with 17" alloys with pretty new Michelin Cross climate 2s all round. Upgraded head unit to a £400 sony double-DIN with touchscreen and AA/carplay.
6 speed manual..125,000 miles on the clock.
Lovingly looked after..it's been my favourite car for years!
I'm 100% honest in the fact she drives like a dream! Still pulls like a train, and can handle Hove to Ard Rock, with 4 bikes on the roof, withought breaking a sweat.
Honestly... if I were King, I wouldn't make me sell it...
But I probably should.
I'll give it a spruce up and post pictures in the classifieds as this is the PERFECT MTBer car..heck I'll even leave the roof bars and a few biks racks on it for you!
PM me for more details!
Based in Hove!
DrP
retrorick
Full Member
RustyNissanPrairieFull Member
My 3.2 V6 £500 Porsche Cayenne is ULEZ compliant!
Is it actually running and roadworthy?
<li style=”text-align: left;”>I reckon that there are plenty of broken cars that are compliant but live in a scrapyard
Got a years MOT!
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/porsche-500-bangernomics/
I've been looking for a new motor about that price DrP. I'll drop you a line.
Yes.
My last car was a Berlingo 2.0hdi, in true bangernoimics fashion it was scrapped at the first failure where the fix exceeded the purchase cost minus it's scrap value.
£625
18 months
2 MOT's
35,000 miles (it got used for work, so almost every one of those was 45p!)
2x tyres - free off the Berlingo forum
1 door handle ~£14
1 Clutch cable £50
Cracked clutch pedal - terminal as it was an engine out job.
Scrapped for £440
Current fiesta has been owned by the OH for 20 years since it was 6 months old. Currently on 165,000 miles. It's costing money to keep going, but not much. A rusty spring, Cambelt + ancillaries last year, exhaust O2 sensor front shocks and a track rod end this year. Not true bangernomics as I get the garage to do big jobs as I don't have time at the moment. I still do the routine servicing so I tell myself it's justified based on having saved £150 so spending £300-£400 isn't a big deal.
And the exhaust is a patchwork of coke cans and clamps 😂
Swings and roundabouts though. Cars are always flipin expensive even if nothing goes wrong. How much he want's one or not might dictate how much he's prepared to spend on something newer and spend hours at work to pay for it, or spend hours on the driveway fixing it when he could just have ridden a bike / got the bus.
TINAS, 37 &1/2, not really missing having a car of his own. But is tempted by DrP's Octavia as borrowing the Fiesta gives him aback back and sore neck.
pretty new Michelin Cross climate 2s all round
What do you need them for in Hove ??
I've got a 2007 Peugeot 107 MOT failure sat here (Herefordshire) if it's of any interest?
109k miles
Red 3 Door
Rear brakes binding
Brake pipes corroded
Two spots of rust (one a fail as near suspension mount)
Advisories on front tyres
Needs a number plate light bulb
Headlamp lenses cloudy
Probably a day of work and a few hundred quid to put right. No idea when it was last serviced, some lacquer peel to front end. Cheapest online seem to be around £1500 with MOT.
Cracked clutch pedal – terminal as it was an engine out job
Someone let a Porsche designer at it!
Thing with old cars is you either have to not worry about breaking down or stay on top of the maintenance.
Just before leaving for a 2000 ish mile road trip last year, I realised the cam belt and water pump hadn’t been done in 10 years, we didn’t break down but it was in the back of my mind. Was a little concerned chugging up Alpe Duez.
Changed it a couple of weeks after getting home and it all looked brand new.
This is out my window today!! LOLOLZZZZ
OMG - quickly get down to the shops and buy all the bread and milk you can carry! 😱😱😱😱
.
duplicate!
Got a years MOT!
I had skimmed through the Porsche thread before Xmas but forgotten most/all of the fine detail 😭👍
vif only it was Petrol 🙁
Nothing stopping you putting petrol in it. Once 🙂
You all do know that when I sell the Octavia, my biking group will hang me out to dry.. this is collectively OUR car!!!
All our hopes, dreams, and fantasies are locked up within those 2000ml of dieselly combustion space...
DrP
EDIT - Pictonroad is already getting his objections in..!!!. @pictonroad Maybe we should do a round of crowdfunding, and just leave it parked up somewhere on the A27 with the keys on the rear wheel?
Cheapest online seem to be around £1500 with MOT.
Bloody hell.
We have a sub-£1000 car and I have no spannering skills. It's a 55 plate Mazda 2 with 125k on the clock, it cost £3k twelve(?) years ago, if it's worth £500 now I'd be surprised. We keep it on the road by getting it serviced every year and doing whatever jobs/fixes on it that the garage recommends. I suppose the key is that we have a local garage that we trust.
My tip would be to look for something that's east asian, boring, with as little cleverness to go wrong on it as possible.
This is out my window today!! LOLOLZZZZ
Ah I see now the world has come to an end ! How could anyone possibly drive on that road with that much snow !
Ah I see now the world has come to an end ! How could anyone possibly drive on that road with that much snow !
LOL!
In all honesty, i think Michelin CCs are THE BEST tyres for any car.. no downsides in the summer/dry, and amazing grip in cold, ice, and slush.. similar price to other decent tyres too..
It's a no brainer for me.
and on the odd occasion that hilly brighton and hove gets icy and snowy, I feel like a champ pootling about with ease!
DrP
Total thread hijack -
I've got to give back my EV company car in a few months (changing jobs) and need something to tide me over for approx. 12 months until i'm eligible to apply for another EV via salary sacrifice.
Budget £4,500 - £5000.
Needs to be ULEZ compliant and good for longer motorway journeys - i'll probably do 18-20k miles over the year.
Mazda 6 is a strong contender - can just about get a euro6 diesel for the top end of my budget... anything else i should consider?
@DrP - i've looked into these - but my new commute to the office (only once or twice per week) will be 130 miles round trip.. so i don't think a Leaf would work as don't want to charge up on the road.
charge at the office?
DrP
My OH had one of those old VAG MKIV 1.4 petrols. On hers the piston rings wore out and it failed the MOT on emissions. Common issue I think.
Some dodgy geezer bought hers and sounded like he 'knew someone' who would get it to pass the MOT anyway... so watch out if you are not so morally flexible.
Depends on who's definition of Bangernomics you choose. To me it's running a cheap car for little money rather than the fundamentalist, buy it and do nothing but fill up the washer fluid idea, you don't even have to do the work. You're just visiting old school garages and not paying for the fancy coffee and plate glass of the shiny showrooms.
My favourite was a £250 1.4 Astra in faded blue that got fondly? dubbed "the ashtray" by my mates. It was carburetted, gutless, velour seated luxury but I did nearly 60000 miles in it and it only needed about £250 a year spent on it at MOT time for whatever needed welding up. I don't regret chopping it in for an £750 Audi A4 off a friend of my Nan but I do kind of miss it.
Anyone buying that Octavia will have to drive me to bike events. I’m an easy passenger but will need picking up from the South Coast.
You all do know that when I sell the Octavia, my biking group will hang me out to dry.. this is collectively OUR car!!!
All our hopes, dreams, and fantasies are locked up within those 2000ml of dieselly combustion space…
Not Sussex Muddy@rse is it? If so I promise to bring it to Monocog Wales, but if you want a lift you'll have to get to Reading.
EDIT – Pictonroad is already getting his objections in..!!!. @pictonroadMaybe we should do a round of crowdfunding, and just leave it parked up somewhere on the A27 with the keys on the rear wheel?
I wasn't talking to you. You can sod off.
If that Octy wasn't at the other end of the county...
Not related to bangernomics but I do like how some forumites are so regular they have their own TLA...
@freeagent + definitely would advise some research on Mazda diesels engines that are ULEZ friendly. Have a great tendency of producing eye watering bills.
Same as any common rail. But yeah they're not great.
All my cars up intil my 5 series have been bangers.
Buy wisely and its almost free motoring
I wanted an 'interim' banger during lockdown before buying a 'proper' car. The criteria were: petrol, naturally aspirated, cam chain, estate, 35+ mpg, ULEZ. The answer came in the form of a 57 plate Avensis with 80k for £1800. I put on a set of tyres, couple of bits of suspension and a service. It's just gone through its 3rd MOT with no advisories and we've kept it. Free motoring indeed and it makes me drive v cautiously as, at its current value (£800), the slightest prang would write it off. If I needed to, I'd buy another tomorrow.
We have had a cheap Aygo for two years. It's generally used to bail son out as his car is now a track car, so generally in a state of repair. They and the Pug/Citroen are cheap to fix. We've done quite a bit to ours, mainly wear and tear.
My car is currently 22 years old, but I've had it 21 of those. The trick is finding a car thats been looked after and not abused.
No , not the same as any common rail deisel.
Some Mazda's, either the 2.0 or the 2.2 or both .suffer from major emissions related issues.
They over fuel massively to light up the dpf during regen . So much so bore washing can occur depriving the engine of a microscopic layer of oil for the pistons to slide about on
Secondly, there's so much over fuelling the sump gets contaminated with diesel fuel, diluting the engine oil which causes premature wear as the oil weight is way off. This has also caused diesel run on problems with crank slap blowing so much diesel / oil mix goes through the pcv valve and the engine runs away with no driver control
Thanks for the above - i think that firmly rules out the Mazda 6 diesel.
If you've got any suggestions as to what to buy for £4000-£5000 which fits 4 adults, is a decent motorway cruiser and ULEZ compliant id appreciate your thoughts.
I keep circling back to the BMW 1-Series - they're not really big enough but tick every other box.
Bought a 55 plate Audi A4 Avant 1.9 TDI with 155k a year ago for £700 off Gumtree. Did 18k in it and sold 10 months later for £1000. Did nothing to it except fit a new battery - which I knew about at time of purchase.
As others say, don't get hung up on the type of car. Look for something that's been well cared for with any expensive likely problems having already been put right by previous owners.
And be quick. Good deals don't stay available for long. The ad for my Audi had been up for 4 minutes! I phoned the guy immediately & bought it over the phone. When I picked it up - he said he could've sold about 50 times over.
If you’ve got any suggestions as to what to buy for £4000-£5000 which fits 4 adults, is a decent motorway cruiser and ULEZ compliant id appreciate your thoughts.
I've recently gone through the same, with a similar budget.
I ended up with a 2009 Mercedes C Class estate. 125k miles, but immaculate service and MOT history and one owner for just less than £4k. Only a 1.6l, but seems a very simple, non complex engine and has enough guts for everything I need it to.
There are plenty around of different engine, spec and age at this price point. Reassuring that there are lots of super high milage ones.
Example 1
We sold a 59 plate Kia Ceed auto yesterday with 90k on the clock for £600. We’d had it 12 years and recently MOTd/serviced - never had any issues with it. Very clean inside but a minor scrape plus keying damage on the outside which the buyer wasn’t bothered about. Sold to a friend so never advertised.
If you’ve got any suggestions as to what to buy for £4000-£5000 which fits 4 adults, is a decent motorway cruiser and ULEZ compliant id appreciate your thoughts.
I keep circling back to the BMW 1-Series – they’re not really big enough but tick every other box.
I don't trust modern BMW 4 cylinder engines, too many issues. Not sure about the 3 cylinder Mini-engined ones.
As someone who hates simply recommending what they have, you get a lot of Vauxhall Insignia for your money. The 1.8 petrol is very simple and robust if not particularly quick, but will do the job, or the 2.0T is basically an evolution of an old Saab design and offers decent power and economy (avoid the auto or 4wd versions). Think the later 1.4T isn't too well liked. I find mine very comfortable and think I'd have struggled to do better for the £2k I paid about 9 months and 10k miles ago
Thanks for the replies guys -
@Peekay - i'd not considered a Merc - i like the look of those!!
i’d not considered a Merc – i like the look of those!!
You can certainly get a lot more, newer and lower mileage other cars for your money than those Mercedes. And at that price they aren't really 'Bangers'.
But my thinking for the last few cars I've bought has been to get things that you often see in use as taxis, and with high milage examples available. You don't see as many 250k miles 20year old Vauxhall, Ford and Peugeot as you do Mercedes, Volvo and Toyota. There will be obvious outliers to this though.
So the remit has changed from banger fixer-upper you can work on with your son, to sensible £4k Merc Estate. 🤔
You and Molgrips need have have a chat! 😀
I'm not the OP - i just hijacked the thread with another question...
You don’t see as many 250k miles 20year old Vauxhall, Ford and Peugeot as you do Mercedes, Volvo and Toyota. There will be obvious outliers to this though.
Not many, but the other explanations are that if you're going to do 250,000 miles you'd rather do it in a comfy seat. And the problem with a 150,000mile Fiesta isn't that the front shocks have worn out, it's that new front shocks are worth as much as the car. Whereas a 150,000 mile C-class they're only 10% of it's value. Mechanically there's probably little to separate them.
You do see a lot of high-mileage Mondeos TBF
I’m not the OP – i just hijacked the thread with another question…
Ooops! 🙂
Something to be said for an 8v petrol engine as a cheap no frills option
Something to be said for an 8v petrol engine as a cheap no frills option
Do any really still exist? They died out around the millennium as mpg/carbon emissions became a bigger target.
The Ford Kent in the Fiesta must have been about the last pushrod one? 106's/Saxo's had an OHC, and once you've got an OHC there's not much more to go wrong/maintain than a DOHC.
Cam chain tensioners on the 1.8 petrol mercs need watching, they can wear causing chain to stretch £1k to fix. Tend to go at 110-125k miles. $k is good value though.
Similar size estates if you don't mind diesel would be a Seat Exeo - Audi A4 with a Seat badge and the 2.0 tdi VW engine.
i’d not considered a Merc – i like the look of those!!
Hello!
Mine was more than that, but I think the secret to a nice older car is suspension bushings and shocks, because they are what makes older cars feel old. They are a lot of effort to replace though. I'm planning it now - think of it as a restoration project.
On a Merc (and many others) you probably need a cheap hydraulic press (actually a welded frame and a bottle jack) and a set of those cups to use as drivers that come with useless threaded rods.
TBH suspension bushes are one of those jobs I'd give to Kwickfit to do for a fixed price. They have the potential to be an absolute arse.
They did the front control arms on the Focus, it took them 8 hours when the computer told them 3!
I did the MG myself and ended up having to pay a garage £££ to put it right and weld up what I'd broken!
Having said that and learnt lessons if I was going to do it:
Modern cars with modular assemblies that press into the arms - just buy the complete arms, it's more expensive but you save all the faff. Pattern parts probably come in about £50/side less than the garages cost to fit just new bushes, so it's marginal whether it's worth it.
Classics with individual bushings - if it doesn't move at first or with an air hammer, apply heat until it burns/runs out. All the intervening steps are a waste of time as they're either horicfically stuck, or loose.
They have the potential to be an absolute arse.
No, they ARE an absolute arse, especially if decide you can't afford replacement arms with the bushings already in, and you think you can press them out yourself. The front control arms for the Merc have a fancy hydraulic bushing which is quite intricate. MB want £300 for each arm, you can get aftermarket ones for £180 without the hydraulic bushing, but Febi make the bushing on its own for £30. That's not just a bit more. On the other hand, the ones at the back are £40 an arm with two bushings already in, so that's alright. The downside there is that there's 3 control arms and a spring carrier arm thingy to do on each side.
Something to be said for an 8v petrol engine as a cheap no frills option
We've a 16v non-turbo, no egr, no gpf, no dmf, few sensors, no everything pretty much, really basic engine. It's now 11 years and 130k in and cost us an alternator so far.
I'm thinking the vauxhall lump. But bet thats 20yo now...
Though granted a zetec is 16v and that's one awesome motor
I’m thinking the vauxhall lump. But bet thats 20yo now…
Not to make you feel old, but so's the Sigma/Zetec-E/whatever it's being called now is now 29 years old!
The Ford Kent in the Fiesta must have been about the last pushrod one?
one of my Ex’s had a year 2000 fiesta with that engine, great little car, looked smart too. It astonished me how little go it had for a 1.3 and how thirsty it was. Didn’t they also bung it in the parts bin rustbox KA?
I’d written off an almost identical one but with uglier headlights, it was a few years previous, had I think a 1.25 and was way better.
(By written off, I mean a lady in an Audi failed to stop, the car in front was a Volvo, Fiesta sandwich, the poor Fiesta only had a thousand miles on it iirc)
I’m thinking the vauxhall lump. But bet thats 20yo now…
I can’t be sure, and someone will be along to tell me otherwise but the 8 valve lump in our Astra looks suspiciously like the engine I had in a 93 Cavalier and not that dissimilar to the engine in the mk1 Astra.
Not too dissimilar to be blunt. C16se is it?
