cheap but reliable car?

BeenThroughItAll

andygb wrote: »

That would be 30,000 driving hours - probably between 150K and 250K miles - on continental motorways of course:D

150000/30000 = 5
250000/30000 = 8.33

I don't know about you, but I'd expect to average a lot more than 8MPH on a continental motorway

Joe_Horner

They're getting a little hard to find now, but Pug 405 turbo diesel is still a good bet in this price range (although asking prices seem to be increasing lately when they do show up!)

Rock solid engine without all the nasty unreliable French electronics they added to the later models, usually pretty rust free even at 20+ years old, and the important parts are cheap and plentiful. Mostly easy to work on DIY if you're into that (although access in the engine bay can be a pig at times, but no worse than man newer cars!)

Basic and a little unrefined by today's standards, but comfortable, and ride / handle deceptively well. You'll find that most of the ones available have a remarkably low number of previous owners for their age - often only 2 or 3. That's a good indication that people who get them like to keep them!

Ours cost £500 two years ago, is now on 206k miles that we've done 25k of, and will still happily do 300+ mile motorway trips at the legal limit (!!!) while giving 50mpg+. Apart from servicing we've fitted an alternator and battery (knew they were iffy when bought, but lasted over a year), 4 tyres and a set of front brake pads - basically routine consumables.

andygb

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

150000/30000 = 5
250000/30000 = 8.33

I don't know about you, but I'd expect to average a lot more than 8MPH on a continental motorway

Cheers, decimal point in the wrong place:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
So that is even more impressive for the old VAG engine.

JustinR1979

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

150000/30000 = 5
250000/30000 = 8.33

I don't know about you, but I'd expect to average a lot more than 8MPH on a continental motorway

Beat me to it

Hanna_angels wrote: »

Get an old Golf TDI PD130. excellent cars for the money and in the right spec (GT) it can be quite luxury too

You're new, but post like you've been here years.
You've a female username, but post like a male.
A gt tdi 130 golf won't be cheap, and if it is I wouldn't want it.

BeenThroughItAll

JustinR1979 wrote: »

You're new, but post like you've been here years.
You've a female username, but post like a male.
A gt tdi 130 golf won't be cheap, and if it is I wouldn't want it.

Drives a Yaris... Joined two days after someone else was unmasked...

JustinR1979

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Drives a Yaris... Joined two days after someone else was unmasked...

Do you think this is someone who has an imaginary car for each of their personalities?

Joe_Horner

You guys should be hired by NASA - given that they've been looking for dark matter for years with no success you could practically name your price

BeenThroughItAll

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Do you think this is someone who has an imaginary car for each of their personalities?

I'm glad you raised the point though, to be honest. I had my suspicions on post #1 with the Yaris thing, but it's followed the same pattern as others, hasn't it:

• Innocent first post asking for help with a convoluted real-world issue
• Some further posts on the opening thread demonstrating gradual complication of the original query
• Sudden increase in 'expertise' resulting in advice on other threads, often containing Honda Civic, Yaris, M3, Lexus, Audi A3 Sport-SE-S-Line or VW Golf.
• Unmasking.

JustinR1979

What about the 98 corolla that was faster than those silly M cars with their 4 exhaust pipes?
Or the pensioner with the Honda Legend?
I think we've covered them all between us, that's 8 - any advance on 8??

BeenThroughItAll

Joe_Horner wrote: »

You guys should be hired by NASA - given that they've been looking for dark matter for years with no success you could practically name your price

I'm very happy to just do it for free. It's like a game of 'hunt the pillock'.