Bangernomics: Is this the cheapest possible motoring?

greenman7

I'm assuming equal maintenance costs, although it's likely Car B would cost more to repair. Insurance would also be higher, I'd imagine, although it would fall as car B aged. Also, eventually the 60mpg cars will be bangers themselves but electric cars or near 300mpg cars are promised to arrive in a few years.

I have got car B and I have plenty of car A's and I agree with your calculations. Car B in 10 months has been lower maintenance (just renewing front brake pads) went straight through the MOT, cost me £190 fully comp insurance for the year (I think this is pretty reasonable). Just bought road tax for £35 for the year and under the new road tax regime this will be going down to £20 per year.
The car has done 79k I can only hope it does another 100k, I hope so! This should be in another 5 years or so - I would like to keep it longer. I have also found that newer cars have less rust problems, in the 70's and 80's I seemed to lose cars to rust and need quite a bit of welding done - not so much now.

bradhadair

your all forgetting the little vauxhall astras (i think)... mines a 1996 1.4 lovely car with r/c/l, cd player, airbags (horrible things)....

i bought mine for £300, on £20 of fuel she does around 200 miles, tax is 120 p/y, she flew thru her MOT, and if she was a brand new car she'd be on of those that dont have to pay tax due to incredibly low emissions. the only thing needed doing for MOT was a new water hose (£12) BARGIN!!!! Plus also ideal first car

camaj

bradhadair wrote: »

your all forgetting the little vauxhall astras (i think)... mines a 1996 1.4 lovely car with r/c/l, cd player, airbags (horrible things)....

if she was a brand new car she'd be on of those that dont have to pay tax due to incredibly low emissions.

I doubt that a 1.4 astra would come close to something like a Bluemotion Polo. I'm not even sure it'd be in the 101-120 g/km band that supermini's of the world occupy

stevesavingmoney1272

I agree with you. Last year I was looking for a cheap runabout for work commuting. I bought a 1998 Skoda Felicia 1.3 on a R plate at the beginning of March. It had 11 months MOT and 5 months tax and had done 72000miles. It was advertised for £150 privately but I haggled the seller down to £100. Cosmetically it was a bit rusty round the rear hatch and the wheelarches but otherwise fine. The seller said the car didn't hot-start well, but a quick look at the owners manual cured that: simply press the accelerator down whilst starting. I got 8 months cost-free motoring out of it. I serviced it myself as soon as I got it (£30) and insurance was £100. I sold the car for £300 as a part-ex for a family car. It was the most economical car I've ever had. It never broke down during my ownership, but I reckon it would have struggled on its next MOT.

The bargains are to be had out there. I shall be doing the same again next year:beer:

dan.the.man_5

My first 10 cars cost an average of £600 each and I scrapped them when they died, best classic bargains were a Rover SD1 3.5 V8 for £300 and a Manta GTE for £210.

Like some of the previous posters I love the bigger beasts as they seem cheaper than the smaller cars, nowt wrong with scrapyard tyres as I have purchased loads, just check them as you would when buying a car. My pair of Peugeot 405's were plagued with electrical problems and were occasionally dumped on the roadside prompting me to go Japanese.

Also have been incredibly lucky to buy a Mitsubishi Evo 6 and sell it a couple of years later for only £400 less than I paid for it which was two years in supercar territory for £200 per year (plus the huge fuel and insurance bills of course), do your homework, buy the right car and they can almost be an investment.

Cheapest car was an Austin Maxi picked up for free, needed £20 quid of welding and it sailed through a few years of MOT's before my brother took it off my hands, he then sold it to a banger racing driver for £20.

anewman

stevesavingmoney1272 wrote: »

I bought a 1998 Skoda Felicia 1.3 on a R plate at the beginning of March. It had 11 months MOT and 5 months tax and had done 72000miles. It was advertised for £150 privately but I haggled the seller down to £100. Cosmetically it was a bit rusty round the rear hatch and the wheelarches but otherwise fine.

Just to think the seller could have got more scrapping it with careful choice of where they send it to.

Most common areas on those cars. Nothing a wire brush, rust converter, aluminium tape, primer, hammerite, and a can of unbranded waxoyl from toolstation for £2.50 can't sort out usually

stevesavingmoney1272 wrote: »

The seller said the car didn't hot-start well, but a quick look at the owners manual cured that: simply press the accelerator down whilst starting.

I believe the temp sender is most likely the culprit.

stevesavingmoney1272 wrote: »

but I reckon it would have struggled on its next MOT.

Wonder why? I have the older model the Felicia is based on (the Favorit - they share lots of the same parts) and it's presented few problems at MOT time. I suspect a CV joint gaiter is on it's way out, but that's probably part of the course with a 14 year old car. They're a relatively easy car to work on and on the whole quite well made. The other main problems with the cars to look out for include rusty spring cups (which eventually collapse with the spring going boing), rattling timing chain (cheap part and DIYable), leaking windscreen seals (they can leak into the fusebox and sometimes the first sign is iffy electrics) - and the ever annoying leaky sunroof (but again that's usually easily sorted with a little clean up and silicone grease on the seal). On the models with the "VW improved" thermostat often the thermostat housing collapses meaning you need to replace the entire unit at a price of about £45.

getreal_3

Just reading this thread.. I have a Volvo S60 T5 which I love to pieces.. or I did should I say. I am spending over a £100 a week on petrol and I am on the verge of financial crisis... I desperatly need to buy a cheap to insure, chap to run but SAFE for two toddlers car....

Can anyne help me? i have no idea where to start there seems to be millions of cars on ebay and autotrader, I literally have a couple of hunded to spend

getreal_3

sorry about the spelling, my mothers 12 yr old key board

getreal_3

I think I am asking if that anyone with a big heart and some spare time.. if they knew of anything in particular worth bidding etc.. I really am desperate i know i know get the violin out lol

anewman

getreal wrote: »

I desperatly need to buy a cheap to insure, chap to run but SAFE for two toddlers car...

Unfortunately no car is 100% safe, there is always an element of risk.The best you can do is fix them in properly, and drive to try avoid accidents. Bear in mind car accidents don't happen everyday.