Your Bangernomics successes

CompBunny

Hello again my dear bangernomics buddies:beer:

Girl with the Nova here again. Someone said I should update you RE the car situation so here goes!

After the Nova's spectacular MOT failure we put it on ebay, got inundated with offers and sold it to a nice chap who restores old Vauxhalls for a living, who planned to keep our example as his own - really pleased with this as its nice that its not going to scrap and will continue to be "loved":p

We got £220 for it, could probably have got a bit more but this guy seemed very honest compared with others who made contact and wasn't going to rip the car down to pieces! Lovely end to our journey with it, and the guy said he would send us photos of it when he is finished restoring it

We bought a new car last night - now, we paid £1375 so not sure it can really count as bangernomics anymore but it counts as a cheap car at least. A 2004 Hyundai Getz 1.1 with 45k on the clock, cambelt changed, FSH, elderly owners (can't drive anymore for health, so good genuine reason), MOT'd last week, immaculate inside and out! Really pleased as we have loads of money left over from our savings for if it goes wrong, and I think/hope it was a really good price for the car.

I think the Getz is a little dull, especially when compared with the characterful Nova but it should prove to be an economical and hopefully reliable A to B car!:T

worried_jim

All very good and fair points about today's bangers being worlds apart form those of yesteryear, and as Jase has stated image favours bangernomics. It doesn't mean that you have to miss out on modern technology or design advances- I have just had a quick autotrader search for bangernomics cars that will run on LPG in and found-

2001 Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16V CD 4dr Auto Saloon
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201209453387005/sort/priceasc/usedcars/fuel-type/lpg/postcode/bn424sn/page/1/radius/100?logcode=p

A modern car running on alternative fuel for bangernomics money and less than 70p a litre to fuel. This wasn't the cheapest I could find either.
Exciting times.

greenman7

I love bangernomics and have bought numerous cars from about 1976 onwards (mostly Morris 1000s) ranging from £50 up to about £500. My latest car I bought about 4 years ago – 2003 Citroen C3 HDi (63k on clock) for £2,950. It is an easy car to drive and very reliable with £20 car tax and my insurance is around the £200-250 mark.

I have driven about 65,000 miles at about 65 mpg, so have used about 1000 gallons of diesel. If you say diesel at approx £6 a gallon then it has cost me £6,000 in that time. If I had a banger doing 32mpg my fuel costs would be £12,000. Lets say my car is worth £1,500 now; so maybe I have lost £1,500 there but against £6,000 more on fuel that would be used by a banger I am still in a winning situation. In this scenario a banger is not the best option by any means. In general newer cars are a lot more frugal than older cars; I think one of the main advantages with older cars is it that it is easier to work on them.

The emissions on my car are very low (110g/km) compared with a lot of big engines in bangers so in this way it is also more environmentally friendly.

spadoosh

IM so glad ive come across this thread.

Its give me faith in my recent purchase. My 53 plate focus died because the crank went (my own fault ran it sump dry, still im trying to blame instrument failure, not one single warning light tch!!) Anyways needed a car and skint so managed to get an R reg Hyundai Lantra with 82k on the clock for £200, mot for 9 months. Body is in fairly good condition a bit of discolouration on the side panel should polish up though.

Problems ive noticed so far, drivers side door doesnt work with key (have to get in it on passengers side) Electric windows go down but on the way up pop out, sun roof does more or less the same thing. Indicator is on the right side, ive never had this before with the previous 5 or 6 cars, struggling getting used to the wipers going on when i indicate. Other than that it seems sound.

Good things about it, drives well, never driven a more grippy car, its as fast as my focus (same sized engine but missing a bit of the tech the focus had) and it just feels nice like im actually driving the car and not being driven. Think im falling for it.

Bangers are the best, you never hear an interesting story about a new car

Economics:

Car: £200
Repairs/costs: None (so far, touch wood)
Tax: £118 for 6 months (Boom! its only a 1.6 not a Range!)

Total: £318 for 6 mths motoring provide it doesnt brake, certain it will do, never had a car that hasnt, must be how i roll! That reminds me must sort out breakdown cover!

worried_jim

greenman7 wrote: »

I love bangernomics and have bought numerous cars from about 1976 onwards (mostly Morris 1000s) ranging from £50 up to about £500. My latest car I bought about 4 years ago – 2003 Citroen C3 HDi (63k on clock) for £2,950. It is an easy car to drive and very reliable with £20 car tax and my insurance is around the £200-250 mark.

I have driven about 65,000 miles at about 65 mpg, so have used about 1000 gallons of diesel. If you say diesel at approx £6 a gallon then it has cost me £6,000 in that time. If I had a banger doing 32mpg my fuel costs would be £12,000. Lets say my car is worth £1,500 now; so maybe I have lost £1,500 there but against £6,000 more on fuel that would be used by a banger I am still in a winning situation. In this scenario a banger is not the best option by any means. In general newer cars are a lot more frugal than older cars; I think one of the main advantages with older cars is it that it is easier to work on them.

The emissions on my car are very low (110g/km) compared with a lot of big engines in bangers so in this way it is also more environmentally friendly.

Fantastic. You have obviously thought out the whole process both environmentally and economically.
Heavy mileage plays a large part in your process and you have done your sums. Bangernomics is all about making the situation work as best it can for your own individual circumstance.
Cost
Mileage
MPG
Depreciation
Maintainence

Due to your high mileage maximum mpg was key for you so by spending above typical bangernomics money you maximised mpg, but then by hanging onto the car for four years its value is now in bangernomics territory but as you know the history I would hazard a guess that you are going to keep and run until it stops thus maximising your outlay. Just think about the type of vehicle that will be available to you for £1k in a few years when it come time to replace. In all likelihood it will be a car capable of 60mpg+. Something to look forward to.

Just had a look on autotrader and Toyota Prius are now under £2k.-

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201209453384596/sort/priceasc/usedcars/model/prius/make/toyota/quicksearch/true/postcode/bn424sn/radius/1501/page/1?logcode=p

How long until we see these in Bangernomics territory? Two to three years?

For mileage munchers as I've already demonstrated in post 73 that LPG can now be had in a decent comfortable car for under £1k. Lots of choices and opportunities out there my fellow value drivers.

richard734

Spadosh, - Many moons ago, I used to run teh Hyundai Coupe club The lantra is a good car, do you have the 1.8? The Beta engine is a cast iron lump and is easily good for 200+K
A lot of the suspension is shared with the gen1/2 coupe, which explains teh handling - we used to pull Lantra 1.8 gear boxes and cam shafts to replace teh coupe 2.0 gearbox and cams as both are a lot more aggressive than the stock 2.0 versions.
Enjoy it

jase1

spadoosh wrote: »

R reg Hyundai Lantra.

Problems ive noticed so far, drivers side door doesnt work with key (have to get in it on passengers side) Electric windows go down but on the way up pop out, sun roof does more or less the same thing. Indicator is on the right side, ive never had this before with the previous 5 or 6 cars, struggling getting used to the wipers going on when i indicate. Other than that it seems sound.

Yup, that sounds like a typical Hyundai of the period

The electric window regulators can be bought new at fairly low rates on ebay now, and the lock mechanism (a very common fail point) can be bought from a scrapper for a tenner. Mechanically these old things are as solid as a rock.

The indicator on the right thing... once you get used to it, the other way around will annoy you. European manufacturers have lazily left the indicator stalk on the left for so long (it's the correct position on LHD cars) now that people are used to it, but on the right is more logical. You can switch the lights on and off without having to reach around from outside the car, and change gear/cancel indicators at the same time.

Sadly, Hyundai bowed to pressure from the UK market and swapped them over around 2005. It's a legacy of the Mitsubishi underpinnings -- *all* Japanese domestic market cars (and cars built for Australasia) have the indicators on the right.

spadoosh

richard734 wrote: »

Spadosh, - Many moons ago, I used to run teh Hyundai Coupe club The lantra is a good car, do you have the 1.8? The Beta engine is a cast iron lump and is easily good for 200+K
A lot of the suspension is shared with the gen1/2 coupe, which explains teh handling - we used to pull Lantra 1.8 gear boxes and cam shafts to replace teh coupe 2.0 gearbox and cams as both are a lot more aggressive than the stock 2.0 versions.
Enjoy it

jase1 wrote: »

Yup, that sounds like a typical Hyundai of the period

The electric window regulators can be bought new at fairly low rates on ebay now, and the lock mechanism (a very common fail point) can be bought from a scrapper for a tenner. Mechanically these old things are as solid as a rock.

The indicator on the right thing... once you get used to it, the other way around will annoy you. European manufacturers have lazily left the indicator stalk on the left for so long (it's the correct position on LHD cars) now that people are used to it, but on the right is more logical. You can switch the lights on and off without having to reach around from outside the car, and change gear/cancel indicators at the same time.

Sadly, Hyundai bowed to pressure from the UK market and swapped them over around 2005. It's a legacy of the Mitsubishi underpinnings -- *all* Japanese domestic market cars (and cars built for Australasia) have the indicators on the right.

Cheers guys,

Now positively beeming with my purchase!:D:j

Richard, its only the 1.6 any more and the insurance would cripple me. Guessing its not the same gearbox on the 1.6 but still pretty mean, love it.

And jase gonna have a look around for the parts looks fairly easy to sort (though not very good with cars as said earlier) Think the biggest benefit ill get from this is tinkering with it. As far as mechanics goes ive changed a wheel a few times and thats as good as it gets really so hoping to get some (not too much hopefully) hands on experience! Unfortunately im a bit of an office boy.

greenman7

originally posted by worried jim I would hazard a guess that you are going to keep and run until it stops thus maximising your outlay. Just think about the type of vehicle that will be available to you for £1k in a few years when it come time to replace. In all likelihood it will be a car capable of 60mpg+. Something to look forward to.

Just had a look on autotrader and Toyota Prius are now under £2k.

Yes you are right I will run it into the ground - at least another couple of years+ depending on repair bills. Not sure about getting a Prius as I think they are over-rated. Looking on Fuelly.com the average mpg for the 2001 model is 51.1mpg. I think the small diesels are a better bet. You also may have to start thinking about the batteries with the older models.

I have had a couple of LPG cars; a Fiesta and a Citroen AX I forgot about those. I soon got my money back on the conversions with the cheap fuel but mpg was about 10% worse on the LPG compared to petrol.

sugar-hill

I apologise in advance for such a ridiculous question, but how do you actually go about acquiring a car? My first car was a gift, but that stopped working so now have to buy one. The thing is no one I know can drive me to places to look at cars to see if they are worth buying. How do people achieve this? Also which hatchback cars would you recommend for under £1000? I was thinking a punto, but people are saying not to. As you can tell I am a total novice when it comes to cars, so thank you.