Best of the Bargain Basement Vol. 2

[CX53]

Chateauneufdupape said:

Just a quick post on the off chance anyone's seen a decent bargain run around (northants, bucks, warks, oxon, leics)

My missus needs a car asap

Everything we've seen or found online seems over priced or a POS for the money, there's loads when we're not looking... Typical.

Cheers

Funnily enough I'm looking for exactly the same.

We've been to see a few now which haven't been very well described at all. Not after the moon on a stick, but me and the Mrs were talking - if for example we happened to keep my car for another 4 years, it would be regularly serbiced, if it had a cambelt it would be done, we would keep the receipts and maintain it as and when needed, and it would be for sale in the end for around shed money. Yet every old car available at shed money seems to be a complete nail owned by an illiterate mong.

We even went to see a trader who we have bought a couple of cars from in the past, based on his description of a car in 'amazing condition'. Okay, it was cheap so not expecting miracles, but then it's also old and fairly high mileage. Exterior covered in marks but that's not really an issue, first gear crunches which is an issue, clutch very high, absolutely stinks of dog and covered in stains and dog hairs. What a waste of a morning.

I know there has to be compromises on cheap cars, but what happened to the cheaper cars which are cheap purely cause they're older? Found a few more to look at tomorrow but not holding out much hope, she may have to have my car and I'll find something else with a bigger budget... Annoying but not having much luck so far!

[M1C]

PoleDriver said:

Well, I must have picked the right day because there was very little about last weekend!
I've just bought this wee beastie for £500



2002, 2.4l petrol engine 123,000 miles!
What could possibly go wrong? (That was a rhetorical question, no 'doom and gloom' answers please!)

£500 seems very good for that, hope it's a good'un, well done

[SimonTheSailor]

Hey, that looks very smart !! I'm amazed at what people virtually give away, maybe they thought the mileage was high but it isn't really nowadays.

[Krikkit]

CX53 said:

Lots of truth

Amazing how much crap is out there, isn't it! I have been on both sides of that fence with buyers expecting mint cars, and sellers expecting to punt on absolute wrecks.

One time in particular I had a buyer come and see an Alfa 156 I had for sale, it was blue/black and in poor cosmetic condition (clearly stated, in bold, on the ad and with huge pics), he took one look at the car and said "Oh, it's quite a dark colour isn't it? I wanted a red one."

[PoleDriver]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

The engine is utterly unburstable. Auto or manual?

The biggest common failures on pre 2003 cars are the electrics. Do the speedo dials have silver rings?

For £500 its a bloody brilliant buy in any case.

Not too worried about electrics as I'm an electronics engineer (And I've practised on XJ6s in the past!)

Instruments:-

[SimonTheSailor]

This Saab looks quite tidy, a few miles but open to offers still at £995.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAAB-9-3-2-0t-Vector-12-...

[Hoofy]

PoleDriver said:

kapiteinlangzaam said:

The engine is utterly unburstable. Auto or manual?

The biggest common failures on pre 2003 cars are the electrics. Do the speedo dials have silver rings?

For £500 its a bloody brilliant buy in any case.

Not too worried about electrics as I'm an electronics engineer (And I've practised on XJ6s in the past!)

Instruments:-

Well, the driver's door's open for a start.

[tali1]

V8RX7 said:

defblade said:

Had a low rear 3/4s scrape, presumably the owner's fault so they haven't bothered fixing it, but otherwise... HOW MUCH car for £550???!!!
You could even afford to spray it a nicer colour


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

But why would you want a 3.5 V6 FWD when you could have an LS400 with 4.0 V8 RWD for a similar price.

True - LS400 all the way, but the Legend,due to its rarity has a certain "curiosity appeal".

[Toaster Pilot]

Bought a Renault Scenic II today with a few months test for £200. Everything actually works and the electronic parking brake was replaced a few years ago with a brand new unit.

Had to replace a wheel bearing, £23 and sorted in a couple of hours earlier this evening

It'll do as a van substitute for a bit

[CX53]

Krikkit said:

Amazing how much crap is out there, isn't it! I have been on both sides of that fence with buyers expecting mint cars, and sellers expecting to punt on absolute wrecks.

One time in particular I had a buyer come and see an Alfa 156 I had for sale, it was blue/black and in poor cosmetic condition (clearly stated, in bold, on the ad and with huge pics), he took one look at the car and said "Oh, it's quite a dark colour isn't it? I wanted a red one."

Haha! I actually had a fair bit of bother selling my Alfa too. I hate seeing 'no dreamers, test pilots' etc in an add but it actually did seem to apply with that one. Probably more down to it being advertised on eBay than anything else, which I find quite hit and miss with both genuine buyers/sellers, and a load of timewasters!

Finally found the Mrs a decent car yesterday, two whole weeks it's taken since hers was written off!! I think it was more down to me not wanting her to waste money on a complete POS, if it was me i probably would of bought anything as a stop gap shed.

2002 Toyota Corolla in gunmetal grey which hides marks very well, four nearly new tyres, little history but golden oil and in great condition. £950, it was more but I knocked some off for a service and some rear pads... I looked up the book price and its £1695 or thereabouts so fairly happy, it drives nicer than my own car, if a little more dull. The dealer was pretty good too. I know bidding on eBay you can probably pick up something similar for less, but I'm actually quite amazed what shed money can buy with a little patience.

[BigTom85]

Keep an eye on the oil level and it'll do her proud.

We had a 1.4 D4-D for a while, was a great white-goods motoring proposition.

[anonymous-user]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-S-class-280-/32...

Mercedes S class 280

[Save Ferris]

Bought this yesterday:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/proton/proton-satria-gti...



Been after one for a few years now, 2001 Y-reg with virtually a full service history & one lady owner!

[Krikkit]

Looks like a great purchase, always liked the look of these with the riveted-on arch extensions.

[garyjpaterson]

Really really fancy this, but no idea what it'd need done in terms of welding.

https://www.gumtree.com/1158653948

I'd love a bit of a project, but wouldn't be confident with any welding work.

Edited by garyjpaterson on Monday 14th March 11:13

[IanCress]

Reminds me of my mates first car when we were 17. Panda 750 that had to drop to first gear up a local steep hill with 3 passengers in!

[Hugh Jarse]

garyjpaterson said:

Really really fancy this, but no idea what it'd need done in terms of welding.

https://www.gumtree.com/1158653948

I'd love a bit of a project, but wouldn't be confident with any welding work.

Edited by garyjpaterson on Monday 14th March 11:13

There are mobile welders who come and do the job. You could chop out the bad metal, cutup new metal parts then get on the phone and let a pro do the fancy bit. Not so scary after all.

[anonymous-user]

Save Ferris said:

Bought this yesterday:

Been after one for a few years now, 2001 Y-reg with virtually a full service history & one lady owner!

Had one for 5 months. The only problem is the cabin is dated as it is based on an older design maybe 10 years earlier, and felt a bit old before its time.

The car handled very good thou and the engine is a peach, mine had a proper boy racer exhaust on it. They are supposed to make great track day cars. I think I paid about 500 quid for mine, FSH 65k about 3 years ago.

[GeordieInExile]

It's a 3.2 litre V6 Vectra. It has over 200bhp and a top speed north of 150mph but there's nothing to imply it's anything other than a bog standard Vectra on the outside apart from the V6 label on the bootlid. In top Elite spec, it has leather heated seats, a bunch of electrics and natty 17" wheels.

The very definition of 'sleeper', this.

Here's the listing.

[Big Rod]

garyjpaterson said:

Really really fancy this, but no idea what it'd need done in terms of welding.

https://www.gumtree.com/1158653948

I'd love a bit of a project, but wouldn't be confident with any welding work.

Edited by garyjpaterson on Monday 14th March 11:13

Bought one for my Son a wee while ago.

To say it's rotten would be an understatement so I'm gradually working my way around it while he uses it as a climbing frame in between times.

Worst bits so far have been the rear outriggers, sills, floor and the area around the outer rear suspension mounts. It's all a bit awkward to get into these places to repair them but we're getting there.