Buying a banger, what should I be looking at?

Weird_Nev

If you really are only doing 20 miles a day then engine size really isn't that important, because economy diffrenced won't compound too much.

Far better to get a good car that costs a tad more on fuel. Problem with small engines is that they tend to be a bit fragile and don't wear high milage well.

Boraden your net a bit - if you're middle aged you can insure most things, and it's cars with slightly bigger engines that tend to offer most value for money. People who want cheap cars also want cheap to run cars, so cars with 2.0 engines go overlooked and unloved, when in reality because they're less stressed they'll only give 10% worse economy, and go on much longer.

Look for the best car for your £500. I think things like Volvo saloons, Ford Fiestas and FOcusses, and even toyota MR2's if you want something a bit sporty can all be tremendous bargains.

bagby

Daughters first car was a peugeot 106. A beauty until someone crashed into her. Then she got a Citroen saxo. As she described it a boy racer but it'll do for now - she's still driving it two years later. One was a y reg and the other a w.

s_b

jase1 wrote: »

Daewoo Lanos -- and be prepared to chuck it if anything major fails, but then that applies to any cheap car.

Reliable enough, don't rot, dirt cheap (£500 will get you a 2002 car quite easily -- that's all they're worth).

i wouldnt

Road tax costs for Daewoo Lanos Hatchback (97-02) 1.4 SE 5d (00)
=1 Mar 2001 - 31 Dec 2001
6 months=£110.00
12 months=£200.00
-
group I
184 g/km

s_b

Weird_Nev wrote: »

If you really are only doing 20 miles a day then engine size really isn't that important, because economy diffrenced won't compound too much.

Far better to get a good car that costs a tad more on fuel. Problem with small engines is that they tend to be a bit fragile and don't wear high milage well.

Boraden your net a bit - if you're middle aged you can insure most things, and it's cars with slightly bigger engines that tend to offer most value for money. People who want cheap cars also want cheap to run cars, so cars with 2.0 engines go overlooked and unloved, when in reality because they're less stressed they'll only give 10% worse economy, and go on much longer.

Look for the best car for your £500. I think things like Volvo saloons, Ford Fiestas and FOcusses, and even toyota MR2's if you want something a bit sporty can all be tremendous bargains.

a 2.0 litre ford focus registered after october 2001 ie an x plate is £260 a year road tax
as i keep saying through this thread some of you boys need to keep up to date with things:)

alastairq

hi..I would aim for anything post-1997.

And, around [up to] 1300cc's. [for modern technology, and economy]

Big engined cars [like Volvo's] are good buys, but consider the fixed running costs like VED, insurance, etc.

I prefer to aim for a car which doesn't have loads of toys.

Toys mean expense.......and if they go wrong, they are wasted space....they add complexity.

Don't believe everything you hear about cars such as the Nissan Micra, for example.

They have been known to have gearbox issues, which you can do without.

take a look at the site below, for an insight into particular issues a model may have had?

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/

As for grenades?

Well, pretty much anything that someone else has hammered will be a potential grenade.

What you need to consider is...the more you spend purchasing a set of wheels [notice, not an ego-booster or a pride 'n joy?]...then the more you have thrown away when it needs repair work doing.

Because, a clutch can fail on a £3000 car as easily as on a £100 motor.

Cars from this century ought not to have corrosion issues.....

Consider how easy the potential car is to service and repair.

For example...if fitted with power steering [on a small car??????]....this could be operated off the back of the alternator.....if the alternator fails [as they do] then obtaining one with the associated power steering stuff is a lot more costly than a plain, simple alternator.

Another example.....starter motors for diesels are often heavier duty than the petrol equivalent.....and cost a lot more to boot.

Worth going to see with someone who knows their stuff, and has no axe to grind.

But, failing that, if you only spend a few hundred quids, and it lasts a year, so what?


Get another!


Remember, at the bottom of the price range...[and below] you are not buying an investment.

If it passes it's first MoT with little to spend, whoooptidooo, you've got a winner! {mine cost zilch for its first MoT...and £15 for its second]

What I do recommend is.....service it yourself [find out how to do these things...they're useful]...keep the tyres properly inflated....don't worry about them all being different..[as long as they're black-ish and round]....and find a forum on the net which deals with your make ....there is much info on these forums to help, and probably, ease your mind!

Get some good breakdown cover as well......and drive sensibly, within the Law....don't be afraid of going on long holidays in it....my last £500 ebay buy [a volvo 740 estate.....thought I'd bought a thames barge!]...the day after I picked it up, took me to Inverness and back, then end-to-end [LE-JOG] without any problems at all.....

remember, don't spend if you don't have to.

Weird_Nev

s_b wrote: »

a 2.0 litre ford focus registered after october 2001 ie an x plate is £260 a year road tax
as i keep saying through this thread some of you boys need to keep up to date with things:)

Yeah, and a 1.6 one before 2001 is £215 road tax. What of it?

Buy the best car you can, at £500 you can't be picky is all i'm saying.

jase1

s_b wrote: »

i wouldnt

Road tax costs for Daewoo Lanos Hatchback (97-02) 1.4 SE 5d (00)
=1 Mar 2001 - 31 Dec 2001
6 months=£110.00
12 months=£200.00
-
group I
184 g/km

OK so how many cars can you buy for £500 that have significantly cheaper road tax than that?

£65/year, tops, is what we're talking here in terms of savings. One tank of fuel. Bearing in mind that you just won't get a post-2001 small car with low tax for £500 in anything like good condition from the mainstream marques.

jase1

alastairq wrote: »

Don't believe everything you hear about cars such as the Nissan Micra, for example.

They have been known to have gearbox issues, which you can do without.

Many (most!) cars have issues that can write a car off at this price.

If the gearbox goes it'll either be annoying (crunchy/baulky/whiny), which you can live with, or it'll go bang, in which case you throw it on eBay for £200. Them's the breaks with old cars -- I'd rather have a car with two or three terminal faults and otherwise reliable, than a car known for lots and lots of niggling daft problems that don't cost much on their own, but before you know it you've blown another £500 keeping it on the road.

In the case of the Micra, the gearbox 'problems' are usually noise related. We had an old box-shape Micra that soldiered on with a noisy box for nearly 40,000 miles before we finally chopped it in.

funkycoldribena

For that sort of money and what you want it for,the k11 Micra is about the best bet, even though it looks a bit like a brontasaurus's head.

alastairq

Many (most!) cars have issues that can write a car off at this price.

Indeed!

Many have these major issues, not at the 500 quid range, but at the 5000 quid range!

Bit of a burmmer if you've just laid out several grand thinking the 'name' makes it reliable?


The Micra issue affected the roundy nice-face type, fairly new......I picked up on reports of gearbox issues elsewhere.....didn't affect the older type....I haven't really been in the market for one....but checked them out for a relly.....good job they didn't buy the example they were looking at, the eventual buyer did require a replacement gearbox..a case of 'phew!' Lucky escape?

But, for all that I'm sure they are excellent cars...

The point I was trying to get across was......don't just limit your choices because the maker appears to have a good reputation.

They all have issues here and there,whether they're Fords or Nissans or whatever.

Even the great & glorious VW aren't as squeaky-clean reliable as lay opinion would have it.