Best of the Bargain Basement Vol. 2

[TonyRPH]

V8RX7 said:

Obvious choices:

Passat
3 series
5 series
Vectra
Mondeo

You can add Skoda Octavia to that list.

And no - that's not my postcode in the search field.

[Slow]

Hoofy said:

Slow said:

Hoofy said:

Assuming it's a shed, I'd bin it and get another cheap car. 25mpg isn't bad. My shed does 13mpg.

Pfft 13? My last one did 8 haha.

What was your shed that only gave you 8??

The shediest £200 Bmw E38 730i with a autobox which held 3rd gear for close to a minute by the time I retired it till it kicked up till 4th then repeated that before 5th. Leaked fuel too so couldnt go above a half tank. Dont think I saw the needle come up from below the 10 mpg on my daily commute except when coasting. The average would be closer to 5 if I hadnt done a few 300 mile drives where it didnt have to come out of 5th.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Cookeh]

Heard Passats are generally crap reliability wise - but happy to be corrected, and arguably the most dull thing on the planet, same with Vectra. Had considered an Avensis as my first and current car was a similar gen Corolla to the Avensis' at this budget, so know parts and servicing is cheap and easy (and can do most myself). Have seen a few Accords too, 2.0 iVTEC would probably be the best performance/economy wise for me.

You're probably right about the V40 size, thinking about it. My family has had V70s since their inception, so I know a lot about them but they're all moon miles and I know from experience they'll need lots doing on them at that kinda mileage. I do love them though, had our current V70 for 10 years and have many fond memories; they also happen to be imo one of the best looking estates ever.
Saab is a good shout, but how is parts availability nowadays? They also seem to be utter lemons unless they've been very well looked after (doesn't seem likely at this budget)?

Been scared away from 3 and 5 series due to horror stories of reliability and cost of service parts. A6 costs for services/parts are probably similar to the 5 series, right?

Know very little about Mondeos, other than the 2.5 gets beyond terrible mileage and likes to spit its dummy out. What engines/trims to look out for? Same with the Rovers, really. What should I be looking for?

Cheers guys, great responses so far.

This would have to be my daily, doing about 12-14k pa - trying to avoid spending more than I need as saving for house deposit.

[Hoofy]

Slow said:

Hoofy said:

Slow said:

Hoofy said:

Assuming it's a shed, I'd bin it and get another cheap car. 25mpg isn't bad. My shed does 13mpg.

Pfft 13? My last one did 8 haha.

What was your shed that only gave you 8??

The shediest £200 Bmw E38 730i with a autobox which held 3rd gear for close to a minute by the time I retired it till it kicked up till 4th then repeated that before 5th. Leaked fuel too so couldnt go above a half tank. Dont think I saw the needle come up from below the 10 mpg on my daily commute except when coasting. The average would be closer to 5 if I hadnt done a few 300 mile drives where it didnt have to come out of 5th.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Even though it was only £200, I don't think I'd have put up with that for long. Seems like you're just throwing money away unnecessarily. At least mine's all down to London traffic.

[Slow]

Hoofy said:

Slow said:

Hoofy said:

Slow said:

Hoofy said:

Assuming it's a shed, I'd bin it and get another cheap car. 25mpg isn't bad. My shed does 13mpg.

Pfft 13? My last one did 8 haha.

What was your shed that only gave you 8??

The shediest £200 Bmw E38 730i with a autobox which held 3rd gear for close to a minute by the time I retired it till it kicked up till 4th then repeated that before 5th. Leaked fuel too so couldnt go above a half tank. Dont think I saw the needle come up from below the 10 mpg on my daily commute except when coasting. The average would be closer to 5 if I hadnt done a few 300 mile drives where it didnt have to come out of 5th.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Even though it was only £200, I don't think I'd have put up with that for long. Seems like you're just throwing money away unnecessarily. At least mine's all down to London traffic.

I live in the sticks, all single track lanes so no real maintained speed at all, hairpin bends, hills, sheep and so on but no traffic. I would say it was throwing money away but I didnt spend anything of much cost on the car other than 2 arms for its Mot. Even the waterpump split open and was pissing water out of the crack onto the edge of the bonnet/wing so it steamed alot. Some tigerseal and a few zipties and it was fixed, only lost 1L of water a week after that. Cut the back boxes off just after the center box as the pipes to center box were fairly rotten and I wanted to hear the V8 as it was my first one. Think I managed 5k miles in it which wasnt bad, never let me down except when a wheel fell off. Would jump quite well too.

My current e46 330i manual is averaging 20, my Merc s430 is getting 15.

Amazingly other than my first car my L322 Range Rover td6 has gotten me the best average mpg of any of my cars. Mostly as it did alot of motorway work towing trailers + cars which gave 28mpg.

[egor110]

Cookeh said:

Heard Passats are generally crap reliability wise - but happy to be corrected, and arguably the most dull thing on the planet, same with Vectra. Had considered an Avensis as my first and current car was a similar gen Corolla to the Avensis' at this budget, so know parts and servicing is cheap and easy (and can do most myself). Have seen a few Accords too, 2.0 iVTEC would probably be the best performance/economy wise for me.

You're probably right about the V40 size, thinking about it. My family has had V70s since their inception, so I know a lot about them but they're all moon miles and I know from experience they'll need lots doing on them at that kinda mileage. I do love them though, had our current V70 for 10 years and have many fond memories; they also happen to be imo one of the best looking estates ever.
Saab is a good shout, but how is parts availability nowadays? They also seem to be utter lemons unless they've been very well looked after (doesn't seem likely at this budget)?

Been scared away from 3 and 5 series due to horror stories of reliability and cost of service parts. A6 costs for services/parts are probably similar to the 5 series, right?

Know very little about Mondeos, other than the 2.5 gets beyond terrible mileage and likes to spit its dummy out. What engines/trims to look out for? Same with the Rovers, really. What should I be looking for?

Cheers guys, great responses so far.

This would have to be my daily, doing about 12-14k pa - trying to avoid spending more than I need as saving for house deposit.

Saab spares are easy to get hold of at gsf or neo bros.

If a car being dull is important to you then maybe a shed isn't the right choice for you?

Get something cheap with as long a mot as possible and also as near as possible , buy with the head not the heart.

[Hoofy]

Slow said:

I live in the sticks, all single track lanes so no real maintained speed at all, hairpin bends, hills, sheep and so on but no traffic. I would say it was throwing money away but I didnt spend anything of much cost on the car other than 2 arms for its Mot. Even the waterpump split open and was pissing water out of the crack onto the edge of the bonnet/wing so it steamed alot. Some tigerseal and a few zipties and it was fixed, only lost 1L of water a week after that. Cut the back boxes off just after the center box as the pipes to center box were fairly rotten and I wanted to hear the V8 as it was my first one. Think I managed 5k miles in it which wasnt bad, never let me down except when a wheel fell off. Would jump quite well too.

My current e46 330i manual is averaging 20, my Merc s430 is getting 15.

Amazingly other than my first car my L322 Range Rover td6 has gotten me the best average mpg of any of my cars. Mostly as it did alot of motorway work towing trailers + cars which gave 28mpg.

Hm. I'm sure the V8 sounded great but that car doesn't seem to be worth the hassle. Still, as long as you were happy with it!

My £700 Volvo had its problems eg coil pack failed but otherwise it was fairly reliable and returned about 23mpg for the same sort of journeys I'm doing now.

[princeperch]

I'm going to look at this tomorrow

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Do we think it'll be a horrible old bit of French cheese at that sort of mileage or a passable snotter?

Dealer was a nice bloke on the phone said the car drives v well, passed its mot the other day no problem and the cam belt was done at 80k in 2011 (according to the sticker on the engine which quite frankly he could have placed there himself for all I know) . Limited service history with the car but said been looked after apart from the damage to the front near side wing which has been repaired in an 'acceptable' manner according to him.

He took it in part ex a few weeks back . If it drives ok, I'll probably take a view on the lack of papers, and offer him 250 quid for it , which is probably about what he gave the punter for it.

What do we reckon? It's only 250 but I'd rather not end up stranded in the Blackwell tunnel with bits of the gearbox behind me if it turns out to be a dog..

[V8RX7]

Cookeh said:

Heard Passats are generally crap reliability wise - but happy to be corrected, and arguably the most dull thing on the planet, same with Vectra.

Been scared away from 3 and 5 series due to horror stories of reliability and cost of service parts.

A6 costs for services/parts are probably similar to the 5 series, right?

Know very little about Mondeos, other than the 2.5 gets beyond terrible mileage and likes to spit its dummy out. What engines/trims to look out for?

Passats are fabulously reliable - particularly the 1.9TDi - beloved of minicabs plenty with 300k+ on them. In fairness I like the 2.8 4 motion but there are plenty in between.

BMW - bushes go and coolant parts go but parts are cheap and available.

A6 - pretty much the same as all other VAG - so pretty cheap really - just avoid Autos

Mondeo - great drive, shares a platform with Mazda6 which IMO look and drive better and are cheaper but Mazda seem to get worse mpg

[PoleDriver]

princeperch said:

I'm going to look at this tomorrow

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Do we think it'll be a horrible old bit of French cheese at that sort of mileage or a passable snotter?

Dealer was a nice bloke on the phone said the car drives v well, passed its mot the other day no problem and the cam belt was done at 80k in 2011 (according to the sticker on the engine which quite frankly he could have placed there himself for all I know) . Limited service history with the car but said been looked after apart from the damage to the front near side wing which has been repaired in an 'acceptable' manner according to him.

He took it in part ex a few weeks back . If it drives ok, I'll probably take a view on the lack of papers, and offer him 250 quid for it , which is probably about what he gave the punter for it.

What do we reckon? It's only 250 but I'd rather not end up stranded in the Blackwell tunnel with bits of the gearbox behind me if it turns out to be a dog..

At that price with a 12 month ticket, why the hesitation? Disposable motoring!

[Slow]

1.9 tdi pd engines are the best if I remember. Came from lowly 110bhp to 150bhp, might even be 90 on some of the golfs. They share the front suspension with the similar year rs4/6 (don't remember which) so can be expensive to fix if it needs done.

[V8RX7]

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

The multitronic fitted AFAIK to the entire VAG group was great whilst it worked but they break and no parts are available hence if it goes it's dead (the odd place can still repair with used parts but they are very hard to find)

2.0 TDi isn't as reliable

[Toaster Pilot]

egor110 said:

Straight away.

Buy it for £500 do the oil and filters and then it either breaks or you get shot of it when it fails the next mot.

That makes no sense either - buy for £500 and bin it after a month and it's as expensive as a daily rental car.

[TonyRPH]

All this talk of buying a cheap car but then refusing to perform basic maintenance like a simple oil change...

Surely you want to give the thing a fighting chance?

I have known many a car respond really well to simple things like an oil change and a new set of plugs, which even on a £500 car is not a big expense.

Also - if the basic car is ok, why not sort out minor issues to get it through MOT?

Unless of course you just want to change the car for the sake of it.

Also - the Alfa mentioned earlier - if the rest of the car is in good fettle, why not change the cambelt?

[egor110]

princeperch said:

I'm going to look at this tomorrow

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Do we think it'll be a horrible old bit of French cheese at that sort of mileage or a passable snotter?

Dealer was a nice bloke on the phone said the car drives v well, passed its mot the other day no problem and the cam belt was done at 80k in 2011 (according to the sticker on the engine which quite frankly he could have placed there himself for all I know) . Limited service history with the car but said been looked after apart from the damage to the front near side wing which has been repaired in an 'acceptable' manner according to him.

He took it in part ex a few weeks back . If it drives ok, I'll probably take a view on the lack of papers, and offer him 250 quid for it , which is probably about what he gave the punter for it.

What do we reckon? It's only 250 but I'd rather not end up stranded in the Blackwell tunnel with bits of the gearbox behind me if it turns out to be a dog..

At this end of the scale it's a gamble but it has a years mot and is under £300 so just run it until it dies or needs another mot.

Test drive it , if stops,starts, goes straight and no dodgy smoke coming out the exhaust then what more do you realistically expect for £300?

[egor110]

Toaster Pilot said:

egor110 said:

Straight away.

Buy it for £500 do the oil and filters and then it either breaks or you get shot of it when it fails the next mot.

That makes no sense either - buy for £500 and bin it after a month and it's as expensive as a daily rental car.

No it's complete sense.

If your buying a banger you need a sell price the same as shares otherwise you end up spending and couple of hundred on this then another couple hundred on something else and before you know it your tied into it.

If you want zero risk and your not prepared to sometimes come a cropper stick to leasing.

[anonymous-user]

PoleDriver said:

princeperch said:

I'm going to look at this tomorrow

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Do we think it'll be a horrible old bit of French cheese at that sort of mileage or a passable snotter?

Dealer was a nice bloke on the phone said the car drives v well, passed its mot the other day no problem and the cam belt was done at 80k in 2011 (according to the sticker on the engine which quite frankly he could have placed there himself for all I know) . Limited service history with the car but said been looked after apart from the damage to the front near side wing which has been repaired in an 'acceptable' manner according to him.

He took it in part ex a few weeks back . If it drives ok, I'll probably take a view on the lack of papers, and offer him 250 quid for it , which is probably about what he gave the punter for it.

What do we reckon? It's only 250 but I'd rather not end up stranded in the Blackwell tunnel with bits of the gearbox behind me if it turns out to be a dog..

At that price with a 12 month ticket, why the hesitation? Disposable motoring!

Honest - this looks a better bet if you can get it down to £550-600.





2005 1.9 DCi (120bhp, 52.3mpg)
Dynamique
Full leather sport seats
Sport pack
2 owners
Long Mot
Hpi clear
MOT no advisories

£650

[carinaman]

sjc said:

Cookeh said:

Go on then, little challenge. Proper sized estate (none of these Fabia/Polo/Golf based nonsense), petrol, manual, reliable and not stupid bad mpg - what are my options? Thinking 1.8 V40 atm.

Shame it's a diesel ..
http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.p...

I saw that advert last week. It says it's now ended.

[princeperch]

sleepera6 said:

PoleDriver said:

princeperch said:

I'm going to look at this tomorrow

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Do we think it'll be a horrible old bit of French cheese at that sort of mileage or a passable snotter?

Dealer was a nice bloke on the phone said the car drives v well, passed its mot the other day no problem and the cam belt was done at 80k in 2011 (according to the sticker on the engine which quite frankly he could have placed there himself for all I know) . Limited service history with the car but said been looked after apart from the damage to the front near side wing which has been repaired in an 'acceptable' manner according to him.

He took it in part ex a few weeks back . If it drives ok, I'll probably take a view on the lack of papers, and offer him 250 quid for it , which is probably about what he gave the punter for it.

What do we reckon? It's only 250 but I'd rather not end up stranded in the Blackwell tunnel with bits of the gearbox behind me if it turns out to be a dog..

At that price with a 12 month ticket, why the hesitation? Disposable motoring!

Honest - this looks a better bet if you can get it down to £550-600.





2005 1.9 DCi (120bhp, 52.3mpg)
Dynamique
Full leather sport seats
Sport pack
2 owners
Long Mot
Hpi clear
MOT no advisories

£650

From the look of that drivers seat that must have some serious miles on it - 120k plus at a guess? At two fifty I'd happily bin a car and laugh about it afterwards (as I did with my almera)

At 550/600 I'd feel a bit miffed if something ate itself after 6 or 7 months..

[anonymous-user]

princeperch said:

sleepera6 said:

PoleDriver said:

princeperch said:

I'm going to look at this tomorrow

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Do we think it'll be a horrible old bit of French cheese at that sort of mileage or a passable snotter?

Dealer was a nice bloke on the phone said the car drives v well, passed its mot the other day no problem and the cam belt was done at 80k in 2011 (according to the sticker on the engine which quite frankly he could have placed there himself for all I know) . Limited service history with the car but said been looked after apart from the damage to the front near side wing which has been repaired in an 'acceptable' manner according to him.

He took it in part ex a few weeks back . If it drives ok, I'll probably take a view on the lack of papers, and offer him 250 quid for it , which is probably about what he gave the punter for it.

What do we reckon? It's only 250 but I'd rather not end up stranded in the Blackwell tunnel with bits of the gearbox behind me if it turns out to be a dog..

At that price with a 12 month ticket, why the hesitation? Disposable motoring!

Honest - this looks a better bet if you can get it down to £550-600.





2005 1.9 DCi (120bhp, 52.3mpg)
Dynamique
Full leather sport seats
Sport pack
2 owners
Long Mot
Hpi clear
MOT no advisories

£650

From the look of that drivers seat that must have some serious miles on it - 120k plus at a guess? At two fifty I'd happily bin a car and laugh about it afterwards (as I did with my almera)

At 550/600 I'd feel a bit miffed if something ate itself after 6 or 7 months..

115,000.
IIRC the 1.9 dci was practically bulletproof? So I don't see that falling apart until 150k+