Who Else ENJOYS Bangernomics?
Discussion
Not quite bangernomics, but need to save a few quid so am seriously considering selling both my cars and getting a Toyota Aygo or similar as my only car, the simplicity, handling, 3 cylinder engine note and low running costs appeal. I also for some reason really fancy doing a track day in one.
S.H.A.D.O. said:
There was once a publication all about this very subject, it was comedy gold, anyone here old enough to remember 'Jalopy' magazine, it was a small size to begin with, must be about 25 years ago?
I remember. Fantastic and very much missed. A small booklet type magazine.Def into the bangers, much to the disappointment of my partner. Newer cars seem over engineered, character-less and horrible to drive with the emissions and nanny tech. Really miss throttle cables and carbs.
Main reason I drive them is value for money though.
got an old 52 plate Forester as well as a new car.
Forester is great, waft about, dont worry about leaving it at the railway station, hash it on forest roads when marshalling.
Today I did 170m for work. Took my Forester just to give it agood run out
Cost me £1400 2yrs ago was written off in Jan, got £1900 spent 350 putting it back on the road.
Once my lease is up in may I will be tempted to run it as a sole car, MOT permitting
Forester is great, waft about, dont worry about leaving it at the railway station, hash it on forest roads when marshalling.
Today I did 170m for work. Took my Forester just to give it agood run out
Cost me £1400 2yrs ago was written off in Jan, got £1900 spent 350 putting it back on the road.
Once my lease is up in may I will be tempted to run it as a sole car, MOT permitting
The 106 I saw today looked okay, until I poked a huge hole into the bodywork underneath the battery. Going to look at another, much nicer looking one tomorrow. Full years MOT, 90k and no advisories for 3 years!! Hopefully not to good to be true.
Fingers crossed for at least a year of slow lane, 70mpg, none turbocharged diesel motoring.
Fingers crossed for at least a year of slow lane, 70mpg, none turbocharged diesel motoring.
+1 here, smoking around in a £1k 150,000 mile Saab Aero. Bought with virtually no service history, unusual for me as I'm usually a stickler for it. Nothing gone wrong yet in 15k except the inevitable brake caliper and a few bits I did up front because they weren't working. I keep getting the urge to change out before long but I'm aware this seems to be a sorted/working/lucky car for now ... and I put 2 tyres on it earlier this year so with that and the brakes it owes me at least another 10k.
SturdyHSV said:
I feel I'm a sham bangernomicist, the current daily is far too expensive to be a banger (£2,500 old Volvo!) but I do have a 'banger' on the drive, a 2005 Clio 1.2, had it from new, 140,000 miles, refuses to die.
Last MOT was £100 to fix the advisory of a ball joint going.
Due to the mileage, it's worthless to people it seems, tried to sell it to numerous acquaintances. Admittedly I could just put it on eBay, clearly something is stopping me
I see you're quite local to me.. If you fancy parting with it for a horribly small amount of cash some time soon then do let me know Last MOT was £100 to fix the advisory of a ball joint going.
Due to the mileage, it's worthless to people it seems, tried to sell it to numerous acquaintances. Admittedly I could just put it on eBay, clearly something is stopping me
Most of my cars have been bangers since I started driving.
First car was a Nissan Almera 1.5 S bought from my boss for £800. Did 50,000 miles in it and only changed a shock and the front pads, topped up the oil... It was a wreck when I scrapped it but amazingly MOT check shows it's still on the road?!
Second car was free! A friend had it written off by a tiny car park ding in the waitrose car park done by a waitrose lorry, literally a tiny dent. He bought it back for £50 and I got him a ticket for the Friday practice at Silverstone. The hideous green Citroen Xsara HDI did me well for 6 months until I replaced it with a £900 Saab 9-3 2.0t convertible. No history, but was absolutely mint and whilst I had hairdresser comments all the time, people also thought It was worth a fair bit more than it was.
No bangers currently, but I do enjoy using my Mrs £950 Corolla which has been faultless and very comfortable for 6 months now, I think it should last us a good while.
First car was a Nissan Almera 1.5 S bought from my boss for £800. Did 50,000 miles in it and only changed a shock and the front pads, topped up the oil... It was a wreck when I scrapped it but amazingly MOT check shows it's still on the road?!
Second car was free! A friend had it written off by a tiny car park ding in the waitrose car park done by a waitrose lorry, literally a tiny dent. He bought it back for £50 and I got him a ticket for the Friday practice at Silverstone. The hideous green Citroen Xsara HDI did me well for 6 months until I replaced it with a £900 Saab 9-3 2.0t convertible. No history, but was absolutely mint and whilst I had hairdresser comments all the time, people also thought It was worth a fair bit more than it was.
No bangers currently, but I do enjoy using my Mrs £950 Corolla which has been faultless and very comfortable for 6 months now, I think it should last us a good while.
CX53 said:
No bangers currently, but I do enjoy using my Mrs £950 Corolla which has been faultless and very comfortable for 6 months now, I think it should last us a good while.
A £950 Corolla is definitely the executive end of banger motoring but a good choice. You do realise that it will probably outlast you as long as you are prepared to replace brake parts and bits of worn out suspension when the MoT comes round, don't you?battered said:
A £950 Corolla is definitely the executive end of banger motoring but a good choice. You do realise that it will probably outlast you as long as you are prepared to replace brake parts and bits of worn out suspension when the MoT comes round, don't you?
Haha it certainly feels like it will outlast us! I'm very impressed with it, so much so that I'm tempted to write to the previous owners as I'd love to know if/how it was maintained (no history, but mechanically excellent, feels like it's had a recent clutch etc) out of interest! It's a good banger, plenty quick enough for any journey although obviously won't be winning many races, comfortable, quiet, spacious... I've been tempted by the 190 version since we've had itShe will no doubt be bored soon, she's already on about getting one of those hideous Vauxhall Adam things at some point so I'm looking forward to pressing it in to daily duty on my 30 mile each way commute some time in the future. I'll happily keep it until it dies, would keep a few miles off my high mileage 9000!
CX53 said:
It was a wreck when I scrapped it but amazingly MOT check shows it's still on the road?!
My first car was a 1.6 Golf with 140k that I bought sight unseen on eBay for £400. I scrapped it 3 years ago due a misfire that was apparently a monumental failure of the ECU, but it's still MOT'd and running to this day! Amazingly, we also checked my father in law's first car, a 60's Morris Minor. It has changed colour, but still runs to this day!Same story with a Citroen Nemo I bought with 230k. I don't know why I got rid of it tbh, ran absolutely fine. It was only four years old, apparently it had driven from Darlington to Carlisle twice every day of it's life, well over 50k a year
My last banger was a K11 Micra, listed for £300, I purchased for £240 (they advertised it with 6 months tax, but new tax law had just come in). It was pretty rough. Bodywork was tatty, laquer peeling, covered in scratches and had an intermittent misfire. A day of polishing and waxing, a set of part worns, a new set of spark plugs and a year of trouble free motoring later, I sold it for £500.
Edited by fooby on Friday 22 July 09:24
This thread makes me happy, as during my commute, I feel like no-one else embraces it and I am on my own with the roughest car of the bunch. But, inside I am laughing, because that guy there with the 420d is being done up the rear every month, possibly with sand used as lube.
I drive a K11 Micra
, which sits proudly on my drive next to a Fiesta ST MK7.5 & a C63.
There is something liberating about driving a car that you care little about. Flying down those country lanes and not afraid to dance with the branches of a bush should you meet a narrow section and, I'm now that guy in the supermarket car park that no-one wants to park next to, as they think I'll smash their car up when I leave. It's brilliant, whereas in my C63, I'll park way out in a deserted part of the car park, only to return and find people have swarmed my car like flies to dung for some reason.
My sole car used to be my C63, which has always been a weekend car as I used to cycle to work or commute to city by train. I then took a contract further way, so the Fiesta seemed like good middle-ground between economy and fun, and it is so I can't convince myself to let it go because it's the ultimate jump-in-and-blast-off-car. I then took a new contract which again was further way so, to save punishment on the Fiesta and C, I picked up the Micra, insured and taxed it all for under £1000.
It returns around 50mpg+/-, by my calcs, on my journey and a tank is filled at the moment for £36, which lasts for around 400miles Mon-Thursday with a top up Thursday evening of £5 to get me to the end of my near 500mile/week commute.
So, to run it for this year (incl. purchase price, tax & insurance but, excl. maintenance) is just over £3000, about £260/month. A diesel VW/Audi/BMW on lease would cost me that alone in repayments, plus the deposit. Over a longer period of time, my bangernomics spreads further as 1. the cost to repair this thing is peanuts should it go wrong and 2. the initial blow at purchase spreads further and thus bringing the overall monthly cost down.
I'm subscribed. I'll always run a banger from now on.
I drive a K11 Micra
, which sits proudly on my drive next to a Fiesta ST MK7.5 & a C63. There is something liberating about driving a car that you care little about. Flying down those country lanes and not afraid to dance with the branches of a bush should you meet a narrow section and, I'm now that guy in the supermarket car park that no-one wants to park next to, as they think I'll smash their car up when I leave. It's brilliant, whereas in my C63, I'll park way out in a deserted part of the car park, only to return and find people have swarmed my car like flies to dung for some reason.
My sole car used to be my C63, which has always been a weekend car as I used to cycle to work or commute to city by train. I then took a contract further way, so the Fiesta seemed like good middle-ground between economy and fun, and it is so I can't convince myself to let it go because it's the ultimate jump-in-and-blast-off-car. I then took a new contract which again was further way so, to save punishment on the Fiesta and C, I picked up the Micra, insured and taxed it all for under £1000.
It returns around 50mpg+/-, by my calcs, on my journey and a tank is filled at the moment for £36, which lasts for around 400miles Mon-Thursday with a top up Thursday evening of £5 to get me to the end of my near 500mile/week commute.
So, to run it for this year (incl. purchase price, tax & insurance but, excl. maintenance) is just over £3000, about £260/month. A diesel VW/Audi/BMW on lease would cost me that alone in repayments, plus the deposit. Over a longer period of time, my bangernomics spreads further as 1. the cost to repair this thing is peanuts should it go wrong and 2. the initial blow at purchase spreads further and thus bringing the overall monthly cost down.
I'm subscribed. I'll always run a banger from now on.
Edited by 1Addicted on Friday 22 July 10:17
Excellence.
It is comforting to see others like ones self!
My banger history goes like this
(helped by the fact that some of them were customer trade ins at work which does help with the initial price)
(And a healthy dose of good luck too)
1988 Renault 5 - FOC from Mam - Owned for a year - sold for £50 - ancient/poorly by that point
1993 Fiesta 1.1 LX - £800 (had for 2 years and 50k miles (used to drive EVERYWHERE in this thing), very little needed doing, ended up selling for £50 as it was on it's last legs and drank more oil than it used petrol)
1994 - ZX TD Aura - £800 Loved these cars. Great mix of ride, handling, performance and economy. Sadly the HG went!
1994 Mondeo TD GLX - £200. Bargain. A bit 'Cyrus' (Miley) with 164k on the clock....timing belt snapped at 168k....
1993 - ZX TD Aura - £400 Yes, another one. Sold for £400 (nothing wrong with it at the time) for...
1996 AX TD - £600 to satisfy my mpg fetish. 60mpg without fail....ended up selling for £200 when it started to go wrong!
1996 - 306 DTurbo - £600. A very good looking car. But strangely...not as satisfying as my ZX's in any respect (apart from looks/coolness) Sold for £800 to a yound lad who probably chavved it up
1999 Clio 1.2 - bought for only £50 as it's timing belt had snapped - bargain. Got it fixed up at work cheaply and it was a fine car. Until SWMBO crashed it
Merc C180 Elegance Auto - £1200. My most expensive car. Liked it. Wafty. Sold for £1600 a few months later. Second most money made.
1996 Saxo 1.1 SX - £500. Fun, dodgy. Was ok. This is the only car that i can't remember what happened to it? Did i sell it? Did i scrap it? I think i sold it but i dont remember the transaction.
2000 Nissan Primera 1.8 S - £200. Absolute bargain. Low mileage, elderly owners Slight tatty consmetically but a solid, solid car. Sold for £800 (most money made) quite a while later and as the buy drove off...thought...what am i doing???! Great car, that.
2000 Renault Megane 1.9 DTi. £400. An alright car. Had zero evidence of a timing belt ever being done so i mostly tiptoed around it it. Drove up a mountain road in the Lake District - it broke down at the top, middle of nowhere, no signal. Oh dear. Waited a while and it worked, never broke again! Luck strikes again. Sold for £400 to a guy who i dont think could actually drive.
2002 BMW 320i £1200 - the only car i've ever had that SWMBO liked (i wonder why!). BUT! I didn't like it! Not nice to drive. Looked nice inside and out...but it was a disappointment. Sold for £1k to my stepdad who liked it more than me.
2002 Fiat Punto 1.2 - £400. A decent car. Economical. Refined. Great gearbox, if not ride/handling.
Was lucky to do a swap with FIL for his:
2004 Focus Zetec TDDI. Great all round car. Had this for approx 2 years. Rough engine but economical and otherwise, a delight to drive. Sold for £1200 when times were very hard and we had to raise some cash.
2001 Saxo 1.1 - FOC from a good friend. Had some known/existing faults but i coulnd't complain. Sold a few months later for £250 i think.
2002 Toyota Yaris 1.0 - £250. (Cheapest non-crashed Yaris? At the time, possibly so!) Nifty car. This one one of those cars that looked a lot better than it was. Had some problems but it was a nice little car to bop around it. Excellent gearchange but so-so ride and handling. Engine was a Jekyll and Hyde affair. Completely flat and the bottom end, an absolute riot at the top end. Great fun. Sold for £330 i think.
1999 Saab 9-5 Aero - £600. Fabulous car for the money. Certainly the 'best' car i'd owned, in both performance and condition. Sold for £800 several months later, guy came a long way for it.
2007 Fiat Panda 100HP - £1800. By far my newest, most expensive car and IMO certainly out of 'shed' or bangernomics zone. Loved the car. Always wanted one ever since 2007, it didn't disappoint. A freak huge hailstorm totally ruined the bodywork I didn't want to go through insurance though. So kept it a while and ended up selling for £1200ish to a bloke from Leeds who was not as bothered about the bodywork as me, appreciated the bargain.
2000 V Polo 1.4 - £200. The one time my bangernomics perhaps hasn't worked out. Car was very poorly. Owned for two weeks then sold for £230 locally to a chap who bought it to break for spares. So i didn't lose out financially but the car was just not well at all, this is the first time this had really happened to me. Shame, it was comfy and drove quite well.
1999 Puma 1.7 - again, luck/good fortune, got this car given my a family member who could no longer keep it. Not good contion overall but drives fine, as good as everyone says, excellent car.
AAAAAAND as of last night....next 'shed' aquired....
This is the thing. It never stops. I never settle on a car. I still get the buzz each time i get something 'new'...
It is comforting to see others like ones self!
My banger history goes like this
(helped by the fact that some of them were customer trade ins at work which does help with the initial price)
(And a healthy dose of good luck too)
1988 Renault 5 - FOC from Mam - Owned for a year - sold for £50 - ancient/poorly by that point
1993 Fiesta 1.1 LX - £800 (had for 2 years and 50k miles (used to drive EVERYWHERE in this thing), very little needed doing, ended up selling for £50 as it was on it's last legs and drank more oil than it used petrol)
1994 - ZX TD Aura - £800 Loved these cars. Great mix of ride, handling, performance and economy. Sadly the HG went!
1994 Mondeo TD GLX - £200. Bargain. A bit 'Cyrus' (Miley) with 164k on the clock....timing belt snapped at 168k....
1993 - ZX TD Aura - £400 Yes, another one. Sold for £400 (nothing wrong with it at the time) for...
1996 AX TD - £600 to satisfy my mpg fetish. 60mpg without fail....ended up selling for £200 when it started to go wrong!
1996 - 306 DTurbo - £600. A very good looking car. But strangely...not as satisfying as my ZX's in any respect (apart from looks/coolness) Sold for £800 to a yound lad who probably chavved it up
1999 Clio 1.2 - bought for only £50 as it's timing belt had snapped - bargain. Got it fixed up at work cheaply and it was a fine car. Until SWMBO crashed it
Merc C180 Elegance Auto - £1200. My most expensive car. Liked it. Wafty. Sold for £1600 a few months later. Second most money made.
1996 Saxo 1.1 SX - £500. Fun, dodgy. Was ok. This is the only car that i can't remember what happened to it? Did i sell it? Did i scrap it? I think i sold it but i dont remember the transaction.
2000 Nissan Primera 1.8 S - £200. Absolute bargain. Low mileage, elderly owners Slight tatty consmetically but a solid, solid car. Sold for £800 (most money made) quite a while later and as the buy drove off...thought...what am i doing???! Great car, that.
2000 Renault Megane 1.9 DTi. £400. An alright car. Had zero evidence of a timing belt ever being done so i mostly tiptoed around it it. Drove up a mountain road in the Lake District - it broke down at the top, middle of nowhere, no signal. Oh dear. Waited a while and it worked, never broke again! Luck strikes again. Sold for £400 to a guy who i dont think could actually drive.
2002 BMW 320i £1200 - the only car i've ever had that SWMBO liked (i wonder why!). BUT! I didn't like it! Not nice to drive. Looked nice inside and out...but it was a disappointment. Sold for £1k to my stepdad who liked it more than me.
2002 Fiat Punto 1.2 - £400. A decent car. Economical. Refined. Great gearbox, if not ride/handling.
Was lucky to do a swap with FIL for his:
2004 Focus Zetec TDDI. Great all round car. Had this for approx 2 years. Rough engine but economical and otherwise, a delight to drive. Sold for £1200 when times were very hard and we had to raise some cash.
2001 Saxo 1.1 - FOC from a good friend. Had some known/existing faults but i coulnd't complain. Sold a few months later for £250 i think.
2002 Toyota Yaris 1.0 - £250. (Cheapest non-crashed Yaris? At the time, possibly so!) Nifty car. This one one of those cars that looked a lot better than it was. Had some problems but it was a nice little car to bop around it. Excellent gearchange but so-so ride and handling. Engine was a Jekyll and Hyde affair. Completely flat and the bottom end, an absolute riot at the top end. Great fun. Sold for £330 i think.
1999 Saab 9-5 Aero - £600. Fabulous car for the money. Certainly the 'best' car i'd owned, in both performance and condition. Sold for £800 several months later, guy came a long way for it.
2007 Fiat Panda 100HP - £1800. By far my newest, most expensive car and IMO certainly out of 'shed' or bangernomics zone. Loved the car. Always wanted one ever since 2007, it didn't disappoint. A freak huge hailstorm totally ruined the bodywork
I didn't want to go through insurance though. So kept it a while and ended up selling for £1200ish to a bloke from Leeds who was not as bothered about the bodywork as me, appreciated the bargain.2000 V Polo 1.4 - £200. The one time my bangernomics perhaps hasn't worked out. Car was very poorly. Owned for two weeks then sold for £230 locally to a chap who bought it to break for spares. So i didn't lose out financially but the car was just not well at all, this is the first time this had really happened to me. Shame, it was comfy and drove quite well.
1999 Puma 1.7 - again, luck/good fortune, got this car given my a family member who could no longer keep it. Not good contion overall but drives fine, as good as everyone says, excellent car.
AAAAAAND as of last night....next 'shed' aquired....
This is the thing. It never stops. I never settle on a car. I still get the buzz each time i get something 'new'...
Absolutely love it.
A tatty old Berlingo diesel with over 120k on the clock is my daily driver. It's got dents and scrapes on every panel and is permanently grubby inside and out and I don't give even the tiniest of s
ts about where I park it or what I throw in the back of it. It's never ever broken down, only had one advisory in the 4 years I've owned it and no matter how hard I try It'll never return less than 45MPG. The seats are more comfortable and the ride quality is better than my XJ8 too.
Cars make excellent servants but terrible masters.
A tatty old Berlingo diesel with over 120k on the clock is my daily driver. It's got dents and scrapes on every panel and is permanently grubby inside and out and I don't give even the tiniest of s
ts about where I park it or what I throw in the back of it. It's never ever broken down, only had one advisory in the 4 years I've owned it and no matter how hard I try It'll never return less than 45MPG. The seats are more comfortable and the ride quality is better than my XJ8 too.Cars make excellent servants but terrible masters.
The thing about bangernomics is that it makes you really appreciate a normal car. I can drive the Daihatsu for a week and revel in low cost motoring, the comedy fall over effect in corners, the skinny 155 section tyres squealing, the less than resolved ride, the umpteen creaks rattles and noises. Then when I get into the Clubman or 520, the handling, the power, the smoothness is just so amazing!
vikingaero said:
The thing about bangernomics is that it makes you really appreciate a normal car. I can drive the Daihatsu for a week and revel in low cost motoring, the comedy fall over effect in corners, the skinny 155 section tyres squealing, the less than resolved ride, the umpteen creaks rattles and noises. Then when I get into the Clubman or 520, the handling, the power, the smoothness is just so amazing!
Absolutely. My 165HP wallowy Subaru felt like a supercar after a year in a Micra... Except for the seats. Bangers always have good seats, or Subaru's are just bad.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff