More shed hunting....

Hammyman

Outpost wrote: »

Thirsty as hell.

Eh? 1.8 Mondeo will return 40MPG. A diesel Scenic is barely going to manage the same.

Kilty_2

It is an estate, Hammyman, so might be a bit below that (but still not catastrophic for short term use)

bigjl

When it comes to cars in this price range i just go to a trusted Car Auction and look at the main dealer part ex cars, if you find the right auction there will be lots od decent runarounds with long mot going for a few hundred.

If your budget is up towards a grand you can bag a nice car for shed duties.

I would use Chelmsford Car Auction on a wednesday onlu. As they get rid of a lot of Cargiant tradins on Monday and there are a fair few hand grenades there.

But on Wednesday there are a couple of dealers in Norfolk and Cambridgshire that get rid of older cars

if you stick to unfashionable cars you can't go wrong for price.

But try and check the glovebox for history and look for signs of carefull ownership. A full set of matching Michelins or other premium tyre means premium maintenance.

My king of the sheds is a mk4 Astra, you might luck out with an estate, but the 1.6 or 1.8 engines are strong, avoide auto as they will struggle to keep in the 30's to the, you will get mid 40's on a run in any of them if you stick to the limits.

A mate has used an Astra Estate for 3 yrs to drive down for Norfolk to London and back every week and i think his is a 2.0 petrol in CDX spec, i do know his spec car was fairly rare due to the 1.8 being nearly as powerful.

If you want to save money then fir a tinleytech LPG kit yourself.

I reckon you will prefer the mk4 Astra to your Picanto. I prefer them to the Zafiras and still going at stupid mileages.

As far as the Scenic dti goes, just walk away, it will break and you don't know if some skinflint has ran it with vegoil/diesel blend to save money and offloaded it before "the bill of many zeros" arrives.

Kilty_2

I'm near Stirling so Chelmsford is a bit far away

Not sure auction is the best idea - especially after the last £250 shed I bought...

vax2002

Kilty wrote: »

Are there really that many people looking for high mile diesel French people carriers that I'd be able to sell it privately quickly with 10 months MOT for close to £1250?

(just found out it's automatic too - didn't notice that the first time.....)

A French AUTOMATIC
RUN !
They ALL eventually suffer from ECU problems f on the gearbox and jump in to 3rd gear Limp home mode, the fix is expensive, much more than the car and involves stripping the box and fitting a gearbox new valve sensor unit and re-loading the ecu firmware, it will have receipt for around £1800 if its been done.
If you own a 1995-2008 French Automatic and dont have this problem, dont worry, it wont be long before you do.
On the 1.9d scenic engine, I doubt its the first engine as the turbo's tend to break around 100k ish some well before destroying the engine in a 7000 rpm smoking death unless you can stall it or block the air intake.

£750 at an auction buys you an ex fleet 03/04 petrol Mondeo

Kilty_2

Note it's not a 1.9 DCI which has the problem of the tubo lunching itself, its the older DTI.

Points noted though

Hintza

Take a chance and go to the copart site and buy some thing stolen recovered might even make a turn on it if you are lucky.

http://www.copart.co.uk/c2/home.html

Kilty_2

Hintza wrote: »

Take a chance and go to the copart site and buy some thing stolen recovered might even make a turn on it if you are lucky.

http://www.copart.co.uk/c2/home.html

Every time I look at that site it makes me sad - http://www.copart.co.uk/c2/homeSearch.html?_eventId=getLot&execution=e2s1&lotId=24870030&returnPage=SEARCH_RESULTS

17 miles on the clock

Rolandtheroadie

If you've up to a grand, get an Astra F diesel and throw the veg in it (even new veg at £1 is better than diesel at £1.35ish).
Mines was £400 with 11 months MOT and no tax.
Recently got one for the BIL for £500 from a mechanic 2nd owner who'd had it from 1999. Nearly a full ticket and 6 months tax.
The beauty of this is if you buy a squib, weigh it in and get around half the cash back. With £1k, you could do it 3 times.

The three times is if your unlucky enough to buy a squib. Twice.

s_b

my two pennorth
madness to consider the reno
you must buy a petrol mondeo at this money NOT diesel and yes an 1800 is very economical if its proper mileage under 125,000
or yes an astra g is sound but only with the 1600 8 valve engine as the other engined ones in your price range will go wrong (even the 8 valve suffers recurring egr problems but you can live with it if you cover the mil light up because they drive sweeter with the valve jammed shut)

mondeo it is
should find a nice one for nicking money because everyone else at this barrow is downsizing to corsas etc due to the fact we are 'all in it together but some more than others'