My £500 snotter challenge....a few observations.

[martin mrt]

There is genuine bargains out there, they just need to be found.

I bought a 2001 Mk3 Mondeo 1.8 for £200 off a mate with nearly a years mot and tax last year, as it had been using oil at an alarming rate, like 1litre to 150 miles.

I needed it as a tip car, so wasn't too bothered, turns out he had been driving it like his e46 M3 and it was spending most of its time near the red line. 5000 miles of being driven normally later, I had never put a drop of oil in it until the day I sold it, it needed around half a litre.

I still say that was one of the sweetest driving cars I could buy for sub £500

[only1ian]

I would say it's all about where you look for the car! Pistonheads not the best place for good sub £500 as ads not free and at that end of the market no one is going to pay to advertise a car. Not sure where the originator of this thread resides but I've successfully sourced such cars previously from gumtree... Go with £500 cash and you'd get this for example:

http://m.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-316i-se-2000-w-reg-...

[Vince70]

I bought my 1995 Audi A4 1.6 petrol for £281 on eBay 4 years ago and I can honestly say it's the most reliable car I've owned ...
It doesn't have a speck of rust anywhere on top or underneath the interior still looks new and I just can't bring myself to sell it so it's used as a family car by whoever needs it..
My theory on buying a car for under £500 is buy something without a turbo or DMF and try and find a car with basic oily bits underneath..

[littlebasher]

The search continues, surprising how when i actually want something, i can't find anything that catches my eye (and if it does, isn't terminally knackered).

I work nights 1 week in 5, during the most boring of moments i've seen loads of snotters in the past that would have suited me to a tee!

[anonymous-user]

this is a good buy, 6 cyclinder leather test and tax and 400 quid

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-320-saloon-in-metall...

BMW 320 saloon in metallic blue



100 quid spare to sort rusty bits..

[littlebasher]

The hunt continues, but by christ has i seen some real stters

Anyway, another popular comment to be found in adverts at the arse end of the scale

"TESTERS AT TESTING STATION COULDN'T BELIEVE THE CONDITION OF THIS CAR"

Now, in all the MOT's i had done, i can never recall a tester in the least bit interested in the car they're testing. Certainly not enough to make any comments like that!

[leafspring]

Another vote for a nice Audi

My 2000(W) 103k miler Audi A4 (B5)

a stiff gear change... I diagnosed as no synchro on 2nd&3rd
Double de-clutch = non issue

Full Audi service history till 2013... last full service (inc new discs and pads) December
Everything works
MOT till march 2015, Tax till October

Paid £750

Edited by leafspring on Tuesday 29th July 20:47

[beko1987]

I've done 600 miles so far in the £350 ZX, and I have to say I fking love them for a sub £500 car. I had a 1.4 ZX too before the XM, which cost me £450, so have done some miles in them!

Built before the PSA fkup
non oily suspension, with very cheap parts
simple engines, even a head gasket doesnt look hard and I've never done one!
Interior seems to wear well, the 265k one looks the same as my old one did when I bought it at 50k.
Dont seem to rust too much
all the electrics have worked on both of mine
cheap tyres on 14/15", and they absorb potholes well too!

I'd look for one over an astra/fiesta/escort from that era tbh

[y2blade]

strangehighways said:

This thread seems a little cynical.

This is PH

[Bennet]

only1ian said:

I would say it's all about where you look for the car! Pistonheads not the best place for good sub £500 as ads not free and at that end of the market no one is going to pay to advertise a car. Not sure where the originator of this thread resides but I've successfully sourced such cars previously from gumtree... Go with £500 cash and you'd get this for example:

http://m.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-316i-se-2000-w-reg-...

Completely disagree. The type of person willing to pay to advertise is more likely the type who took some care of it. As someone said earlier, find a well written ad on autotrader.

[fushion julz]

Recently purchased a very nice MG ZT 190 saloon...manual, 100k miles, in good order, generally, for £375 from a local Gumtree ad...

It needed an MoT (for which it needed 2 bulbs and nothing else) and a new radiator (expansion bottle) cap...It does seem to have a rattly manifold (apparantly a common issue), but has had a recent waterpump and cambelt as well as several new hoses.
Everything works (including the aircon), it has decent 18" tyres and no lights on the dash showing.

[Jazoli]

leafspring said:

Another vote for a nice Audi

My 2000(W) 103k miler Audi A4 (B5)

a stiff gear change... I diagnosed as no synchro on 2nd&3rd
Double de-clutch = non issue

Full Audi service history till 2013... last full service (inc new discs and pads) December
Everything works
MOT till march 2015, Tax till October

Paid £750

Edited by leafspring on Tuesday 29th July 20:47

Me too, I bought a 2000 A4 yesterday, 100k miles, one previous owner, 1.9tdi with niceties such as fully functional climate control, new tyres, new cambelt,new brakes etc etc for £800, there isn't a mark on it anywhere, I'm currently feeling rather smug

[JD661]

Just bought myself a Bora TDI 130 Sport on an 04 plate with 160k on the clock for £250 a couple of months ago in the village pub from someone who'd just got a brand new company car. It had no MOT but all it needed was a bulb and new front tyres to pass, Done 2,000 miles in it now and its pefectly fine, has full fsh and a recent cambelt change as well. Not a bad car although you'd probably need to look at an older one for the money as I think its rare to get an 04 plate for that little.

[JD661]

Admittedly the Bora probably does probably owe me just over 500 but thats because I got dents pushed out on it, a new gear gator, headlight refurb and new boot carpet etc. It would have been perfectly roadworthy for £400 including the tyres, MOT and bulb.

[Chrisvance]

ive had my fair share of snotters, owned a 52 plate a4 and couldnt get on with it, i was paranoid of dinging it,


Focus 1.6 10months mot and 4months tax
£150, ran it for a few weeks then sold for 300


escort van, 1.8td 12months mot, 2months tax
£300...sold for 300



got given the 205 1.9 diesel.
mot and tax for 4 months
ran it for 3months then sold it on



and now i run around in this, 1.9tdi 7months mot, 5months tax
£350

it has a bloody huge boot, and parking sensor/towbar,ice cold aircon and a nifty bluetooth sony stereo in it! ill try and hang on to this one as it drives lovely

[emicen]

littlebasher said:

This almost fell in budget, but surprisingly the advert put me off

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-VAUXHALL-ASTRA-SXI-...

Unless I'm mistaken his 3rd last positive feedback is someone gushing about how great he was to deal with selling them that same car for £300

[daemon]

Thought i had found a bargain through a trade contact of a trade contact.

2002 Leon 1.4 SE, alloys, cd player, long MOT, 90K miles £450.

Turned out to be 2001 (not a big issue), only a months mot (a bigger issue), the engine was "tappety" (not ideal), and the clincher - the oil light comes on once it warms up, even though the oil is to the top of the dipstick...

Bugger.

[Sycamore]

I paid £400 for my first car, 2 years ago.

A 1.6L Petrol Y-Reg Astra. Complete with ultra-trendy cassette player (Being 17 I'd never used a cassette in my life)

The old guy it was bought from had bought it new and rarely used it, hence the 28k miles it had on the clock.

Good finds out there if you can sift through the st

[waynedear]

Some bargains on retrorides 'not particularly interesting' section

[0llie]

My foray into sub-£500 cars has been a little bit hit & miss, but my findings (as well as those above me) show that there are some bargains to be had.

First one was my V8 Discovery, £350. Top of the range, so had leather, dual zone air con, cruise etc. Nearly everything worked. Had it for about 12 months, needed a few bits sorting and couldn't do with the hassle after buying a later Discovery. Sold it for £300, really wish I hadn't.



Next one was our Ford Puma (£430 between 3 people). 85k miles, everything worked apart from 5th gear. Swapped gearbox out for a £70 job on a weekend. It's done 7k miles this last year, and used on about 8 trackdays with 3 people using it, so it's used nearly all day.

This includes a trackday at Spa where it drove there and back without any issue whatsoever (and hit 140mph indicated on the way home). The only thing we've really done to it is put bigger brakes on, but everything else remains unaltered. It's just passed it's second MOT in my ownership with just the one advisory. As tragic as the car looks, I can't bear to part with it.



The £350 MGF VVC (between 2 of us). What a complete shed! Bought on a whim as part of a sub-£500 Nurburgring challenge (that never happened in the end ). Had it for 4 weeks, was driven very hard and the HG let go! Sold to a guy in France who wanted it for spares to repair his own, lost about £50 on the purchase price, but was able to claim back about £37 in road tax



(Pictured next to a friends ZT V6 Auto which was bought for £400 as part of the same challenge, there was very little wrong with it and he ended up selling for about £900!)


I've learnt that there are some perfectly good sub-£500 cars out there, if you're handy with the spanners than that will be of great benefit.