Bangeromics or New?

Obukit

In my opinions Bangernomics only works if you are mechanically able, or willing to buy a Haynes manual and learn, unless you are prepared to have it as a "disposable" car and get another one when something goes wrong.

E.g. we have a 1996 Golf, it's great but most of the jobs it's needed doing in the past few years would have written it off: -

New fuel pump seals - £25 to buy but £500 for someone to fit for you.

New NS sill - £25 to buy but £200 for someone to weld for you.

New starter motor - £10 from scrapyard but £100-ish to have fitted at garage.

Otherwise you are better buying a slightly newer Jap car, no personality but look what all the 10 year old taxis are!

mikey72

Any car that has lasted 10 years is as good as any other, most taxis used to be peugot 405's and now 406's here. (Not many 407's though, but a few, maybe they just like old cars). I think it depends on which local garage flooded the area.
In fact there still aren't many Japanese ones.

Hintza

mikey72 wrote: »

At the end of the day though, it's the servicing that keeps them going, and it's a lot less than depriciation on a £10,000 car.

I agree with you to a point but the older the car gets the chances of non service parts wearing out rises quite a bit. You also get to the stage in life where hammering off seized parts on a gravel drive whilst the car is sitting on wobbly jack/axel stands just doesn't appeal anymore.

mikey72

Hintza wrote: »

I agree with you to a point but the older the car gets the chances of non service parts wearing out rises quite a bit. You also get to the stage in life where hammering off seized parts on a gravel drive whilst the car is sitting on wobbly jack/axel stands just doesn't appeal anymore.

True, I've got an eight year old vauxhall with 100K that I don't class as a banger, that's still on original ball joints, gaiters, track rod ends bearings etc.

The renault I just bought did need a steering gaiter for the mot, but luckily that came apart in a couple of minutes.

But even if a garage did that, it's still going to less than the depreciation of a vauxhall in a year, even at the age it is now.

getmore4less

Catbells wrote: »

Am a novice at car buying but prefer the idea of bangeromics over buying a new car. Am about to divest of a troublesome BMW and get a smaller, cheaper, more economic car. Don't know where to start. Any suggestions please. And how do you go about getting a good deal on a used car? How do you bargain? Also will part exchange - are there any do's and don'ts? Thanks.

A lot of people are doing this which has made some cars more expensive than they should be.

Finding something not in the discovered group can save more than enough to cover the slightly higher running costs.

there are enough cars out there good for 150k 10 years+ so with 10kpy being added, something upto 5y upto 100k well maintained should be good for 5 years cheap motoring.

mkirkby

Catbells wrote: »

I don't use the car for work. Its mainly in the local area for town driving with a long journey once or twice a year. £5k sounds good to my purse with a part exchange thrown in from the BMW.

Ok, so when was spending 5k classed as bangernomics...!

All a matter of perception I suppose! Spent less than 1k for the last 5 years had very good results without being stranded once. Just be careful and do lot of research is always the way. At least you're starting the right way by asking a question on here...!

Hintza

I suppose I actually take a different approach to bangernomics by buying salvage thereby getting a relatively young car for the price of a much older one. But a friend with a bodyshop helps the economics.

Catbells

Many of you here have a fair bit of knowledge of cars, friends with knowledge and time to fix your own car problems. It must be hard to appreciate that there are some people - like me - who can put in oil and water, do the tyres and thats it. So psychologically there is a comfort in spending that much extra on a car so you can be sure that it will be ok for a couple of years and wont need extra money spending on it.
For me what is more important is making sure the car I buy at whatever price is going to be a good runner for a few years and doesn't have hidden or disguised recurring problems. I know this happens as I talked to a young guy who has offered to sell my BMW for me and he told me that people will sell you a car with a problem and hope you wont notice until the money has exchanged hands.

NicChanna

I used to do bangernomics, but last year I changed job and have to work all across Scotland now, driving all over the place. This morning my car died totally on the way to a rural office.

Now I'm without a car, have had to rearrange things and inconvenience people at very short notice. Also I feel pressure because I haven't researched cars but have about a week and 2 days until I really need to have a new one up and running.

No more bangernomics for me, my job can't handle the unreliability.

Weird_Nev

Cheap cars don't HAVE to be unreliable.
It's a misconception. Any car can be unreliable. I've had £700 cars that have worked flawlessly (BMW 328i at 162,000 miles!) for 2 years. I've had £3000 cars that have cost me thousands (Audi 80 Tdi). I've had £5000 cars that have needed major repair (200SX - Suabaru Impreza!). We have new cars at work that are completely shot.

There are very, very few cars that you can treat as white goods. If you are of a mind to do so, then really kia and hyundai make decent cars at a keep price with warrantys and servicing packages that are second to none, and I'd suggest that if you want maximum peace of mind you see what they have to suit your budget and needs.

BUt if you want more "value for money" then second hand is the way forwards. You avoid big chunks of depreciation. You can save on servicing because you don't have a "service history" to maintain. Or, you can service it to a higher standard for less money, your choice.

THe initial buy in may be higher (£3000 down rather than £1000 deposit and £300 a month), and you DO assume more risk, but the offset is some more interesting cars, better specified, for less money in the long run.

The cost, I think is not financial but knowledge. If you learn how to diagnose and fix simple problems, like brakes, (EASY!), oil (Easier!) and some other basics, you can cover 90% of waht a car will need and slash your motoring costs. Then, you only need set foot inside a garage for big ticket items like clutch changes or engine faults. and you'll ahve saved the money to take the sting out of these.

As an example, I just bought a Subaru Impreza. It has stupid inverted shock absorbers, that fail, and guess what, mine have failed! Subaru want £880 + VAT for JUST the parts to fix this. A bit of head scratching, a bit of research, a bit of help from mates, and I've engineered a fix that will cost just £160 and I can do it on the drive. If that sort of challenge sounds like fun to you, then second hand is the way forwards. If you're thinking that's outragous, then look for a new car with all the protection a manufacturers warranty affords, just be prepared to pay.