Whats the most basic car you can buy today?

[cheadle hulme]

Fiat Panda?

[DrYazz]

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you want basic, check out the Tata Nano......

[thinfourth2]

Lefty 200 Drams said:

champ54321 said:

general rule of thumb is if some thing goes wrong you are looking at £500 minimum to repair it.

Utter tosh.

Parts prıces are reasonable. Yes, you may need more of them than for a japanese 4x4 but no way wıll every job cost over 500 quıd.

I've had 3 defenders and 3 serıes landıes and not one has ever needed a repaır over £500.

I replaced the rear crossmember on mine for about £200 for the parts

Recently i replaced all the brakes discs, overhauled both front swivels with new balls, all 4 wheel bearings, overhauled both propshafts, new front calipers, new pads all round and it was about £300 for parts some of them were britpart but still well under £500

[k-ink]

DrYazz said:

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you want basic, check out the Tata Nano......

He said car not roller skate.

As for the mini... no! It has over complex systems. Like electric steering racks that fail. It is not a KISS design.

[anonymous-user]

hora said:

I'm thinking of buying a car new, twice-annual oil changes and running it into the ground.

Why do so much work?

Buy an American car with 10 year/100,000 mile major service interval and change the oil ONCE a year.

Been there. Done that.

[ChrisRS]

Another vote for the first gen KA, nothing to go wrong, cheap as chips to buy and run and fun to drive! Should get a really good one for less than £3k

[900T-R]

ChrisRS said:

Another vote for the first gen KA, nothing to go wrong

Except for their bodywork's tendency to dissolve that is.

[DrYazz]

k-ink said:

DrYazz said:

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you want basic, check out the Tata Nano......

He said car not roller skate.

As for the mini... no! It has over complex systems. Like electric steering racks that fail. It is not a KISS design.

A car, roller skate and shopping trolley all rolled into 1 basic package - what's not to like?

[ML]

Some base models of the Skoda Fabia are very basic. No A/C, no electric windows, just a radio and heater

[Mr2Mike]

Tyre Smoke said:

Used, I'd go for a Skoda Octavia 1.6 LX of 1998 vintage. Nothing clever about them at all, proven VW 1588cc engine

mated to a chocolate gearbox where the crown-wheel parts company from the diff Mk1 Octavia is a good car though.

[paoloh]

Another vote for a base Aygo

[Huntsman]

Honda Jazz.

I get a mind crushing numbness when I think about this.

I see the attraction of relaible, simple and easy to fix motors, that's why I run older ones.

AA man told me if they called out to a Jazz its cos the owner has lost the key or wants help with a puncture. Check out the warranty direct info on the Jazz, its got the lowest score of all I think.

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/man_index_2.html...

Edited by Huntsman on Sunday 16th May 17:51

[paoloh]

Zip106 said:

How about a basic MINI One diesel?
Well built, quite cheap and only £20, yes £20 per year road tax.

Err no.

BCM's and Gearboxes to name two major issues

[Futuramic]

I think you can still buy the Peugeot 405 saloon in the Middle East. In XU diesel form, possibly even non-turbo as they are not decadent Westerners, it must be the simplest ad most reliable vehicle out there. I remember that hey never used to rust; and with belt and oil changes the engines would run forever.

The only way to kill one was by the forces of capitalism. I seem to remember them becoming completly worthless, dealers practically ahd to give them away, through a lack of image. I once nearly bought one for 150 pounds. This was a fully working car, in good condition, with an MOT and tax. I suppose it made more economic sense to weigh them in and claim back he tax money.

[k-ink]

Forget VAG as well unless you fancy some big bills every few years. I'm not too sure about their simpler models like the Fox, but I wouldn't be surprised if they can even balls that up. They just love making things as complex and weak as possible, from my experience in paying the bills.

However if you really must, I know you can still get newly made Mk2 Golfs, from SA I think. That is as new as I'd ever want to go with any VAG product.

[jbi]

I would probably say that pre-assembled Kit-cars would be your best bet using off the shelf parts

[XitUp]

k-ink said:

Forget VAG as well unless you fancy some big bills every few years. I'm not too sure about their simpler models like the Fox, but I wouldn't be surprised if they can even balls that up. They just love making things as complex and weak as possible, from my experience in paying the bills.

However if you really must, I know you can still get newly made Mk2 Golfs, from SA I think. That is as new as I'd ever want to go with any VAG product.

Stopped last year.

[mikefacel]

Ignore - should read previous posts!!!

Edited by mikefacel on Sunday 16th May 20:48

[mcford]

ML said:

Some base models of the Skoda Fabia are very basic. No A/C, no electric windows, just a radio and heater

And an engine ECU, Dash panel/immobiliser, central electrics ECU, airbag ECU and a power steering ECU which are networked together. Even the most basic cars are still electronically complicated as these parts would still cost £1000s to replace.

[Hugo a Gogo]

do you get Dacia Logans in the UK?

surprised to see these are available as quite a roomy 7 seater too