Your Bangernomics successes

rev_henry

SingleSue wrote: »

My old banger is still going (M reg Vauxhall Astra diesel estate) although I really thought she had driven her last mile nearly two weeks ago as there was a god awful noise coming from the engine area.

Dropped her off at the local garage expecting them to tell me that this time, she really was due for car heaven, phone call later in the day telling me the alternator bracket had failed...£36 later and she was back on the road.

We are now avidly looking around for my next banger and hoping it will be as good as this one was....£461 purchase cost from Ebay almost 6 years ago!

Are you running it on vegetable oil and if not why not?

SingleSue

Nope!

Erm, the why not is because she is a little tempermental and would probably throw a blue fit if I tried! Or of course, it could be because I am just that tiny bit scared of trying something like that :rotfl:

I really can't complain about her, she has been a good, very reliable car and so very handy for transporting an ever growing drum kit (and sometimes also amps, guitars and other band members) all over the place. It will be a real shame to see her go but her time is almost up now as too many things are starting to go wrong.

cybermat

I only really like classic cars so my daily can be pretty much anything frugal'esque.

This time I chose a Peugeot 106 1.5 Diesel - not cheap at £450 but with 7 months or so Tax on it and plenty of MOT and the clincher was the fact it was about 5 miles from my house, not another bloody 200+ mile trip to London or worse still further south where EVERY other car seems to be - the £100 saved in petrol/snacks and a wasted day made the local Pug well worth the punt)

The car is VERY!!! cheaply built, I am used to better build quality on cars (albeit they may be in their latter days) usually but when it comes to economy the car does very well.
I fill the tank (45 litres) and it costs about £50 from almost empty, you will get 430 miles from your £50 which is not bad going.
Parts for this car seem to be very cheap - a full set of discs and pads cost me £20 off Ebay, one caliper alone for my classic Daimler is £425!
Its pokey too and being a big bloke its quite snug and you would not want to drive miles a day in this thing so if you drive a lot then don't bother. If you want something cheap and cheerful that is reasonably reliable (especially with new glow plugs and filters all done) then you cant go too far wrong and you can pick these up for very cheap if you look around, plus parts are cheap to tidy up a shed.


Prior to the Pug I had a 2002 Rover 75 2litre diesel and it wasn't bad on fuel though not amazing - a tank was 65 litres and you get about 450 miles for your £80 odd fill
The problem with the Rover was that it was a manual (a big mistake on 75's) the clutches on them are infamous for being useless and go like one o'clock - my uncle had two of them within 3 years of each other,his father in law needed one not long after buying the car from new and mine was going as well - if you buy a 75 get an Auto and it will last you for good.

Before that I had a 1999 Rover 420 SDI (solid as a rock that car was) again about 460-480 miles to your 55 litre tank and apart from the odd electric niggle and the odd bit of ropey trim it never once really let me down. I'd have another one (or its twin Rover 45 diesel) any day.

I'd quite like a classic mini (850,100cc or a 1.3) but I am too skint to get one and they are daft money now,I'd keep that till I retired in 30 years.

andygb

scotsman4th wrote: »

Just the basic C250 D, no turbo, cloth interior. It's as Lee says, a barge. Gets there eventually, but a big lazy bus. I love it.

Insurance for the remaining 3 months is £8.50 more than the Audi 80 so it should be around £220 TPFT come August.

:T
Nice one, they are really classy looking cars (just waiting for someone to say - TAXI!:rotfl:).
I have never found one cheap enough but it looks as though you have.
Keep us updated, particularly on the MPG front.

Rolandtheroadie

andygb wrote: »

:T
Nice one, they are really classy looking cars (just waiting for someone to say - TAXI!:rotfl:).
I have never found one cheap enough but it looks as though you have.
Keep us updated, particularly on the MPG front.

Forgot the mileage, it's sitting at 148k just now. All mot's from 2000 suggest it's true, I've an advert from 1998 that states 62k miles and the service books up to around 2003 and ties in too.


In the middle of a MPG check, but I'll have to take both tanks into account.

The main tanks sitting on 3/4 full just now, not sure what the second tanks at.

I'll brim them again over the next day or two and see where we are.

beckythemadcow

Hello! loved the idea of this thread, I have a banger because

a) I'm tight
b) When I bought it I didn't know if I'd need it for long
c) I'm tight
d) I needed a car urgently after writing off my Seicento

Would love to investigate Veg oil, but I remember reading a while back that it has become more difficult to source economically...?

I've had my V reg 1.2 Fiesta since Nov 11, 77k and 11 months MOT. It had had new brake discs and pads. Cost so far:

£600 cost (needed tax but I don't count that)
£148 MOT and suspension and roll bar issue inc labour
£54 tyre fitted (inc removing locking wheel nuts - oops hubby lost the key)
£50 battery fitted
£15 to get bits to connect my old CD player. After changing battery we didn't have the radio code

Couple of quid for replacement wheel nuts and an aerial when it was pinched, from the scrapyard. Few pence for some black nasty to hold on the nearside wing mirror

As a bit of a clueless couple, I'm pleased with how well it's done for what we paid. Vetoed a few dodgy Micras whilst on the hunt, think I came off ok!

The fiesta has been with us nearly 18 months and has done 9 thousand miles ( We've walked to work since Sep). That's £870 excluding tax, less than £50 a month. Does about 42 MPG so not as good as the Seicento (50), and slightly more to insure but I'm happy.

I know that there are many of you doing better but that was the first car I bought, and I knocked him down from £800.

andygb

beckythemadcow wrote: »

I know that there are many of you doing better but that was the first car I bought, and I knocked him down from £800.

Anything under a grand is "banger territory" as far as I am concerned Becky, well done!
Mind you, I was at the local BCA auction last Friday, and a Y reg Citroen Xsara Picasso went though for £300, with an MOT, and the engine sounded lovely, and the bodywork was in quite good condition.

rev_henry

beckythemadcow wrote: »

Hello! loved the idea of this thread, I have a banger because

a) I'm tight
b) When I bought it I didn't know if I'd need it for long
c) I'm tight
d) I needed a car urgently after writing off my Seicento

Would love to investigate Veg oil, but I remember reading a while back that it has become more difficult to source economically...?

I've had my V reg 1.2 Fiesta since Nov 11, 77k and 11 months MOT. It had had new brake discs and pads. Cost so far:

£600 cost (needed tax but I don't count that)
£148 MOT and suspension and roll bar issue inc labour
£54 tyre fitted (inc removing locking wheel nuts - oops hubby lost the key)
£50 battery fitted
£15 to get bits to connect my old CD player. After changing battery we didn't have the radio code

Couple of quid for replacement wheel nuts and an aerial when it was pinched, from the scrapyard. Few pence for some black nasty to hold on the nearside wing mirror

As a bit of a clueless couple, I'm pleased with how well it's done for what we paid. Vetoed a few dodgy Micras whilst on the hunt, think I came off ok!

The fiesta has been with us nearly 18 months and has done 9 thousand miles ( We've walked to work since Sep). That's £870 excluding tax, less than £50 a month. Does about 42 MPG so not as good as the Seicento (50), and slightly more to insure but I'm happy.

I know that there are many of you doing better but that was the first car I bought, and I knocked him down from £800.

Sounds like you've done pretty well so far!

beckythemadcow

Yey! :j

Thanks for that! I'm hoping to do better for the next one, will hopefully have a chance to look at auctions. I wrote off the Sei on the Tuesday and bought the Fiesta on the Sat, so was pushed for time.

I'm really geeky with numbers so I'll have myself a target to beat! I like the idea of £50 per month of MOT left as a limit on price - sorry I can't remember who suggested that!

alastairq

hmmm...I've currently got a fiesta too...one of those zetec things....cost £500 with almost a year's ticket, and tax as well....now has 120,000 plus on the clock, has had a couple of new anti-rollbar links [£9 the pair off ebay]....and £50 for a new [heated ] windscreen, courtesy of insurance, old one cracked! [got some free wiper blades of autoglass on offer!]....has a small coolant leak, from right below the alternator area! [where the bottom hose and heater hose meet at the engine block]...cannot get in to sort it...aircon pump below, and alternator not easily removed [without snapping something]....so....some leak sealer into the coolant, I think?
So, 10,000 miles in under 8 months...averaging 45mpg's, horrible thing really, it crashes and bangs on rough surfaces [mostly at the rear, nearside!!!]....much preferred my old Felicia estate.....whose insurance claim demise funded the Ford........don't you just lurve getting new cars courtesy of someone else's insurance?


Expect some suspension work is in the offing.....will do it on the main road outside my front door....'cos I'm like that!

The aircon works, but I don't need it...being an 'open window' person...my young son likes it because it has cup holder thingies....

I have achieved minor notoriety at work , by equipping the odd Land Rover with cup holders...courtesy of McDonald's, and those grey paper mache affairs, blu tacked to the dash top!

so....for fiesta, I also sense an oil change and filter wipe coming on....must find best value 5w30 or whatever oil these zetec thingies like...oh...and where's the old cat litter tray?

I like the tyres...they don't lose air much!

A bit wide for the size of car, so they tramline a bit...however, not a problem.

Michelins on the back...some obscure unpronounceable make on the front...

Engine still sounds unrattly..brakes work...maybe treat it to new discs, but not this year.

When are you supposed to change the air bag explosives?