Do PHers still practice bangernomics?
Discussion
I have a 206 fever 2004 vintage which my mother brought new.
She gave up driving a few months ago so I brought this off her,with a genuine 59k on for £500.
One mot and new disks and pads later (total £75) and it runs a treat and stops even better,is great on fuel and I'll run it until it cries enough. Bargain motoring. Love it and more money to spunk on the race bike!😁👍
She gave up driving a few months ago so I brought this off her,with a genuine 59k on for £500.
One mot and new disks and pads later (total £75) and it runs a treat and stops even better,is great on fuel and I'll run it until it cries enough. Bargain motoring. Love it and more money to spunk on the race bike!😁👍
s m said:
I enjoy my old cars still, can get something a bit different or quirky for not much. I enjoy doing bits and bobs on them too
I'm much the same, although sometimes i feel that the bangernomics or rather keeping good examples of 15-20 year old cars in daily use is dying off though and it's not helped by opportunists driving up the prices of modern classic/young timer cars & cars going abroad.
What Is find sad is the general lack of interest in cars, these days, doubtless a product of PC education and electronic games.
When my daughter passed her test, the insurance was over £1100 so it made sense to indulge in bangernomics and do a 2007 Fiat Panda for £900 was the order of the day.
Her friends went on to buy Corsas or even leased new cars FFS. No fun in that. Just a day polishing the Panda to a shine was ample reward. Her friends will doubtless trade in, trade up or rent another car, flushing cash like it didn't matter.
When my daughter passed her test, the insurance was over £1100 so it made sense to indulge in bangernomics and do a 2007 Fiat Panda for £900 was the order of the day.
Her friends went on to buy Corsas or even leased new cars FFS. No fun in that. Just a day polishing the Panda to a shine was ample reward. Her friends will doubtless trade in, trade up or rent another car, flushing cash like it didn't matter.
aka_kerrly said:
I'm much the same, although sometimes i feel that the bangernomics or rather keeping good examples of 15-20 year old cars in daily use is dying off though and it's not helped by opportunists driving up the prices of modern classic/young timer cars & cars going abroad.
Transporting me down to the Italian Alps
Speaking to a lot of younger car fans, it seems that car maintenance is beyond them/mostly unnecessary/requires specialist tools on a lot of newer stuff
I think people tend to have new(er) cars at a younger age now..... or perhaps my friends and I were different in the early 80s
There is an article on Bloomberg about how Americans are buying cars, and there are 2 interesting patterns emerging.
Firstly the average age of the car on the road is actually getting older, - 12 years old at the moment. Part of the reason for this is that with so many innovations just around the corner (electric, self driving cars etc), people are preferring to hold their old cars until the features they want are available.
And secondly, once they do decide to switch to a newer car, younger generations are more used to renting (leasing) and just returning the product after 3 years for a new one. As with the point above, the rate of change within vehicles over the last few years, and certainly going forwards, means that a 4 year old car can have much more outdated technology to a new one.
Firstly the average age of the car on the road is actually getting older, - 12 years old at the moment. Part of the reason for this is that with so many innovations just around the corner (electric, self driving cars etc), people are preferring to hold their old cars until the features they want are available.
And secondly, once they do decide to switch to a newer car, younger generations are more used to renting (leasing) and just returning the product after 3 years for a new one. As with the point above, the rate of change within vehicles over the last few years, and certainly going forwards, means that a 4 year old car can have much more outdated technology to a new one.
I sort of do bangernomics, but inevitably succumb to the desire to make the car perfect which rather defeats the object of the exercise. I do all my own spanner work, which means that the usual problems that cars throw at bangermonics adherents are pretty trivial.
Even with my inability to actually run a banger, it still makes sense. The most recent purchase is an Alfa 156 sportwagon for 380 quid. 2.4 diesel, 51 plate, perfect bodywork.
1) Serviced within an inch of its life (in cambelt, aux belt, water pump) - 280 in parts.
2) New CV joints to solve the grumble under acceleration - 60.
3) Leather interior - eBay - 60
Then it gets silly.
4) Eibach Pro-Street coilovers and ARBs. Er, a grand.
5) Quaife LSD. Er, 600.
6) S/h ECU with a remap - 100 bargain.
7) New clutch and DMF - 300. Bargain I thought....
So we're about 2500 into the adventure and have a car that is pretty much bullet proof, I've done several 600+ mile journeys in it, no issue. So not pure bangernomics, but pretty close.
The other problem is that I have several of them, mostly v6s. Can't sell them. That's more OCD than bangernomics.
Even with my inability to actually run a banger, it still makes sense. The most recent purchase is an Alfa 156 sportwagon for 380 quid. 2.4 diesel, 51 plate, perfect bodywork.
1) Serviced within an inch of its life (in cambelt, aux belt, water pump) - 280 in parts.
2) New CV joints to solve the grumble under acceleration - 60.
3) Leather interior - eBay - 60
Then it gets silly.
4) Eibach Pro-Street coilovers and ARBs. Er, a grand.
5) Quaife LSD. Er, 600.
6) S/h ECU with a remap - 100 bargain.
7) New clutch and DMF - 300. Bargain I thought....
So we're about 2500 into the adventure and have a car that is pretty much bullet proof, I've done several 600+ mile journeys in it, no issue. So not pure bangernomics, but pretty close.
The other problem is that I have several of them, mostly v6s. Can't sell them. That's more OCD than bangernomics.
It's true that young people are less and less interested in cars, partly because of the availability of things such as iPhones and all things IT, partly because cars are now being pictured as dirty dinosaurs which will eventually kill us all. But nothing can give you that feeling of freedom like your first banger, so I don't see bangernomics dying just yet.
I often contemplate getting a newer, nicer car, but once I browse through the classifieds and see how many amazing motors are there for sale for a few hundred quid, and I quickly change my mind. You just get so much more car for your money with bangers. And they do (generally) work out cheaper than PCP and other rental nonsense.
I often contemplate getting a newer, nicer car, but once I browse through the classifieds and see how many amazing motors are there for sale for a few hundred quid, and I quickly change my mind. You just get so much more car for your money with bangers. And they do (generally) work out cheaper than PCP and other rental nonsense.
LuS1fer said:
What Is find sad is the general lack of interest in cars, these days, doubtless a product of PC education and electronic games.
When my daughter passed her test, the insurance was over £1100 so it made sense to indulge in bangernomics and do a 2007 Fiat Panda for £900 was the order of the day.
Her friends went on to buy Corsas or even leased new cars FFS. No fun in that. Just a day polishing the Panda to a shine was ample reward. Her friends will doubtless trade in, trade up or rent another car, flushing cash like it didn't matter.
Stuff is getting too technical. It's not like 25 years ago when you could buy cars without ECUs and stuff was easy to sort. Cars have become like smartphones, useful for a short time then they become a waste product. I would love to chance a banger on my 100 mile round trip commute but fear that there's too much stuff out of my level of expertise now.When my daughter passed her test, the insurance was over £1100 so it made sense to indulge in bangernomics and do a 2007 Fiat Panda for £900 was the order of the day.
Her friends went on to buy Corsas or even leased new cars FFS. No fun in that. Just a day polishing the Panda to a shine was ample reward. Her friends will doubtless trade in, trade up or rent another car, flushing cash like it didn't matter.
Very true. Brake pistons could be pushed back in, now you need a winding tool, cross head screws are now torx and adjusters are well concealed. I used to carry a jack, a box of general screwdrivers and spanners, spare coils, points, bulbs, sealed beam headlight etc and sort stuff at the roadside because everything was accessible and took a few minutes to access. Your multimeter was a bulb and two wires!! Most spares came from the scrapyard, not Halfords.
Now most people won't even change a wheel and we have cans of foamy sh** instead of a full size spare and the engines have covers and a headlight bulb takes hours to change. No wonder there are so many cars with bulbs out..
Now most people won't even change a wheel and we have cans of foamy sh** instead of a full size spare and the engines have covers and a headlight bulb takes hours to change. No wonder there are so many cars with bulbs out..
Salamura said:
It's true that young people are less and less interested in cars, partly because of the availability of things such as iPhones and all things IT, partly because cars are now being pictured as dirty dinosaurs which will eventually kill us all. But nothing can give you that feeling of freedom like your first banger, so I don't see bangernomics dying just yet.
I often contemplate getting a newer, nicer car, but once I browse through the classifieds and see how many amazing motors are there for sale for a few hundred quid, and I quickly change my mind. You just get so much more car for your money with bangers. And they do (generally) work out cheaper than PCP and other rental nonsense.
Last weekend I was told that my Aston Martin was too old and unreliable and nobody would want one. The people who said this? One drove a Fiesta, two didn't drive. Cars to them are a monthly cost. I didn't bother arguing but I did ask, if one works hard to buy himself a car that we all dreamed of when we were kids, isn't that something that's worth a pint? I often contemplate getting a newer, nicer car, but once I browse through the classifieds and see how many amazing motors are there for sale for a few hundred quid, and I quickly change my mind. You just get so much more car for your money with bangers. And they do (generally) work out cheaper than PCP and other rental nonsense.
The response - you could "of" got a better car on finance, your car is too old, bet it doesn't even have a sat nav! (it does). And look my mirrors fold in and I don't have an aerial, keep up.
Granted a majority of this lot is jealous, but I also do think that the majority of youngsters just want something new to show off about. It's a sad day when a Mokka X gets more attention than an Elise.
Beanbob said:
Where do you find cars so cheap? I might be being very fussy, but I can't usually see anything half decent for less than £600 or so, unless it has interstellar mileage or clearly has a major and possibly expensive fault/s.
I trawl through local spares/repair on Ebay and if there's one that has a cheap fix, I'll check back through MOT history and if it all looks good I take a gamble. The Mondeo I had previously was spares/repair because of a misfire. A £25 coil pack solved that. This Focus for £150 was because the owner had stopped using it and said it needed a bit of tlc. There are some proper scrapyard specials in that section of Ebay, but there are bargains to be had if you have the time to look through. I only got it wrong once so far on a Polo, but I got more in scrap than I paid for it so no real loss.The one below is the kind of thing I look out for. £300 with MOT until April, spares or repair as the clutch is a bit high. £400 quid for a new clutch, or drive it until it dies and then sell it spares repair again for around what you paid originally. The owner in the one below is even going to take the gash wheels off and stick the oem ones on.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A2-1-4-petrol-long-...
I still practice bangernomics, 12 years after passing my test, newest car I own right now is a 1999 mondeo....on top of a Land cruiser, range rover and a 1998 206hdi...
Have never seen the point in a new car, however i do have the use of a 2017 vivaro as a company van to use as I wish, not the same as jumping into a p.o.s car to thrash around every so often.....
Have never seen the point in a new car, however i do have the use of a 2017 vivaro as a company van to use as I wish, not the same as jumping into a p.o.s car to thrash around every so often.....
Aydena said:
Have never seen the point in a new car,
I'm kind of getting this way as well, spent the first 4 years of driving trying to afford the newest hot hatch I could muster the funds for, got up to around a '08 model. Realised I had appeared to have passed the age where refinement becomes overcomplication & detatchment, immediately went back to an '04 model after that.Call me a luddite (I'm an engineering student, am I even allowed to be a luddite?
) but I hold a genuine belief that car design, like many other things, peaked in the 90s to early 00s. It seems to be that kind of era where we where able to build a car that somehow managed to be, reliable, somewhat efficient and refined enough for daily use, without being overloaded with safety, emissions and unrelated tech. There are so many 'fit for purpose' examples from that time period. I have said it before and I will say it again, I really hope that there will be options available to us in the future, even if it is only from niche manufacturers. There are companies around like Ginetta offering 'old' designs in the sports car segment, all the major Japanese companies have a 'simple' crew cab pickup so that covers the bases as far as a family 4x4 is concerned, because it is astoundingly clear Land Rover has abandoned that market, all I am hoping for is someone releases something like the Vauxhall (Holden) VXR8, a big simple brute of a motorway cruiser without the t
t-tronic wizardry that the Germans seem avid to push. MrAverage: Oh, you think Bangernomics is your ally. But you merely adopted the Bangers I was born in it, moulded by it. I didn't see a decent car until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but Expensive! (A lightly edited bane quote)
In seriousness I have only ever had a budget of up to £2k and have had around 15 motors so I'd say I mainly buy 'bangers' despite many of them being quite nice cars. I tend to only keep a car 1 year at a time and currently own a gt tdi on high mileage that requires a bit of love.
Im sure I'm not the exception either. Although with lease deals being fairly attractive these days there is always the temptation to get something 'cheap'. We had 5 years of leasing a car for the OH but when we foolishly calculated the costs we got her an older car which she prefers....win win for me, she has finally succumbed to the addictive world of cheap old cars. Mwuhaha
In seriousness I have only ever had a budget of up to £2k and have had around 15 motors so I'd say I mainly buy 'bangers' despite many of them being quite nice cars. I tend to only keep a car 1 year at a time and currently own a gt tdi on high mileage that requires a bit of love.
Im sure I'm not the exception either. Although with lease deals being fairly attractive these days there is always the temptation to get something 'cheap'. We had 5 years of leasing a car for the OH but when we foolishly calculated the costs we got her an older car which she prefers....win win for me, she has finally succumbed to the addictive world of cheap old cars. Mwuhaha
Condi said:
£7 a year to insure?! What the hell?! I pay more than that in 4 days.
That's genuinely how much it cost to add to the insurance. I suspect the insurer are happier I'm driving that to work than the car that's worth money.If I was insuring it as an only car it would cost a more normal amount.
Chicken Chaser said:
LuS1fer said:
What Is find sad is the general lack of interest in cars, these days, doubtless a product of PC education and electronic games.
When my daughter passed her test, the insurance was over £1100 so it made sense to indulge in bangernomics and do a 2007 Fiat Panda for £900 was the order of the day.
Her friends went on to buy Corsas or even leased new cars FFS. No fun in that. Just a day polishing the Panda to a shine was ample reward. Her friends will doubtless trade in, trade up or rent another car, flushing cash like it didn't matter.
Stuff is getting too technical. It's not like 25 years ago when you could buy cars without ECUs and stuff was easy to sort. Cars have become like smartphones, useful for a short time then they become a waste product. I would love to chance a banger on my 100 mile round trip commute but fear that there's too much stuff out of my level of expertise now.When my daughter passed her test, the insurance was over £1100 so it made sense to indulge in bangernomics and do a 2007 Fiat Panda for £900 was the order of the day.
Her friends went on to buy Corsas or even leased new cars FFS. No fun in that. Just a day polishing the Panda to a shine was ample reward. Her friends will doubtless trade in, trade up or rent another car, flushing cash like it didn't matter.
100 mile round trip get a old saab or bmw , being old doesn't equal being unreliable.or uncomfy.
We have practiced bangernomics for many years preferring to buy new and keep until they are knackered which was our plan from the start (thanks to my dad and his tight fisted ways).We had our 1999 Ford Ka from new and only scrapped it last month and my Alfa 156v6 has been with us for 9 years (bought at 3 years old) both being serviced/maintained by myself...I have now bought my wife a brand new Toyota Aygo which i hope will last many many years.
I have tried buying cars cheap but im not so lucky finding those gems others do..
Alfa cost £5k plus servicing/parts £2k approx = 7k divide 9 yrs @ £777 per yr
Ford Ka £5k " " " £2k approx = £7k divide 18 yrs @ 388 per yr
Im happy with those figures...and quite enjoy working on cars
I have tried buying cars cheap but im not so lucky finding those gems others do..
Alfa cost £5k plus servicing/parts £2k approx = 7k divide 9 yrs @ £777 per yr
Ford Ka £5k " " " £2k approx = £7k divide 18 yrs @ 388 per yr
Im happy with those figures...and quite enjoy working on cars
The problem I have with bangernomics is I like to buy stuff I actually wanted when new rather than something cheap that moves and will soon bore me to tears.
I had a W124 and a Peugeot 406 recently, bought both for around £500 and they were brilliant.
But don't go into bangernomics expecting the cars to drive as new. I think there is still something to be said for paying a bit more for something in decent condition etc.if you are doing this for anything other than saving a few quid.
Driving something dull everyday when I have some fun stuff in the garage can also get frustrating...
I had a W124 and a Peugeot 406 recently, bought both for around £500 and they were brilliant.
But don't go into bangernomics expecting the cars to drive as new. I think there is still something to be said for paying a bit more for something in decent condition etc.if you are doing this for anything other than saving a few quid.
Driving something dull everyday when I have some fun stuff in the garage can also get frustrating...
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