The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
Shed No32 for me last week. Renault Laguna 3 with the M9R engine on 116k miles. £550 with no MOT. No with an MOT and advisories on the front tyres (that's it).
Now I know that Renaults in particular are not popular in this 'dominate the stairs' internet land, but really, the last one is still running trouble free at 240 or so, and shows no signs of imminent failure. I can see this being a very decent bet.
Possibly better than Shed No33 - a 2011 Megane with a failed clutch at 144k, and £200 - which probably wouldn't have been so bad if the previous owner had no started changing it, and stopped halfway through - and then left it for 18 months for all the bolts to rot. Still, I'm sure it will all work out in the end........
Nearly managed Shed 34 and 35 this evening, but the Yaris with 30k for £490 was being sold by a rather unpleasant fella, and I wasn't feeling particularly trusting, and the Pug 207 was just too much of a risk with the DV6 and the chuffing injector on 158k. (As well as an ABS / module issue.
And as for oil changes - I say again, 5k is probably excessive, but easier to understand - oil and filter at 25, 30, 35, 40 etc, with the other filters done on the 10k mark. It's excessive, but it's easier to manage, and oil and filters are cheaper than turbos and injectors. With 33 sheds management is a key issue.
Now I know that Renaults in particular are not popular in this 'dominate the stairs' internet land, but really, the last one is still running trouble free at 240 or so, and shows no signs of imminent failure. I can see this being a very decent bet.
Possibly better than Shed No33 - a 2011 Megane with a failed clutch at 144k, and £200 - which probably wouldn't have been so bad if the previous owner had no started changing it, and stopped halfway through - and then left it for 18 months for all the bolts to rot. Still, I'm sure it will all work out in the end........
Nearly managed Shed 34 and 35 this evening, but the Yaris with 30k for £490 was being sold by a rather unpleasant fella, and I wasn't feeling particularly trusting, and the Pug 207 was just too much of a risk with the DV6 and the chuffing injector on 158k. (As well as an ABS / module issue.
And as for oil changes - I say again, 5k is probably excessive, but easier to understand - oil and filter at 25, 30, 35, 40 etc, with the other filters done on the 10k mark. It's excessive, but it's easier to manage, and oil and filters are cheaper than turbos and injectors. With 33 sheds management is a key issue.
bearman68 said:
Shed No32 for me last week. Renault Laguna 3 with the M9R engine on 116k miles. £550 with no MOT. No with an MOT and advisories on the front tyres (that's it).
Now I know that Renaults in particular are not popular in this 'dominate the stairs' internet land, but really, the last one is still running trouble free at 240 or so, and shows no signs of imminent failure. I can see this being a very decent bet.
Possibly better than Shed No33 - a 2011 Megane with a failed clutch at 144k, and £200 - which probably wouldn't have been so bad if the previous owner had no started changing it, and stopped halfway through - and then left it for 18 months for all the bolts to rot. Still, I'm sure it will all work out in the end........
Nearly managed Shed 34 and 35 this evening, but the Yaris with 30k for £490 was being sold by a rather unpleasant fella, and I wasn't feeling particularly trusting, and the Pug 207 was just too much of a risk with the DV6 and the chuffing injector on 158k. (As well as an ABS / module issue.
And as for oil changes - I say again, 5k is probably excessive, but easier to understand - oil and filter at 25, 30, 35, 40 etc, with the other filters done on the 10k mark. It's excessive, but it's easier to manage, and oil and filters are cheaper than turbos and injectors. With 33 sheds management is a key issue.
What’s the story here then, surely you don’t actually have 33 cars on the road that you use? Massive fleet of courtesy cars or what?Now I know that Renaults in particular are not popular in this 'dominate the stairs' internet land, but really, the last one is still running trouble free at 240 or so, and shows no signs of imminent failure. I can see this being a very decent bet.
Possibly better than Shed No33 - a 2011 Megane with a failed clutch at 144k, and £200 - which probably wouldn't have been so bad if the previous owner had no started changing it, and stopped halfway through - and then left it for 18 months for all the bolts to rot. Still, I'm sure it will all work out in the end........
Nearly managed Shed 34 and 35 this evening, but the Yaris with 30k for £490 was being sold by a rather unpleasant fella, and I wasn't feeling particularly trusting, and the Pug 207 was just too much of a risk with the DV6 and the chuffing injector on 158k. (As well as an ABS / module issue.
And as for oil changes - I say again, 5k is probably excessive, but easier to understand - oil and filter at 25, 30, 35, 40 etc, with the other filters done on the 10k mark. It's excessive, but it's easier to manage, and oil and filters are cheaper than turbos and injectors. With 33 sheds management is a key issue.
Toaster Pilot said:
What’s the story here then, surely you don’t actually have 33 cars on the road that you use? Massive fleet of courtesy cars or what?
Long term rental. People have a car off me for circa £100 a month, with all maintenance covered. It can be quite attractive - no purchase, just tax and insure it, and pay me. Clearly I try and buy cars that are not going to cost me either a load in depreciation, or maintenance / breakdown. Just by dint of application of these rules, I've tended to end up with French and Volvo. Ford are fine to, but when it actually comes to buy a Ford, they are normally too beaten up to bother with.
Funnily enough I don't actually have a permanent car myself, and just drive whatever happens to be kicking around.
A couple have ended in disaster but not many really.
Re the oil change thing. The reason I'm stretching the oil change intervals to 18,000m is that a friend of mine has a BMW 1M and as some may know, it has no dipstick just an "oil quality" sensor. One service he was told theat they would leave the next oil change to a 25,000Km interval based on the data from the sensor.
This got me thinking "maybe this is the advantage of full synthetic" so as my commute is around 65% highway miles, I figure the car is running for around 1.5 hrs each commute, the oil gets fully up to temp and the running conditions are pretty conducive to decent oil life. The last change I did, the oil looked pretty good and seemed to have plenty of slip and held a good film. 5 litres of full synthetic runs me 35 to 45 quid depending on what's on special, and a filter is around 10. It might seem like I'm being stingy but what is the point of full synthetic oil if it isnt capable of lasting longer than mineral oil?
Anyway, I'm doing the experiment so you don't have to :-)
This got me thinking "maybe this is the advantage of full synthetic" so as my commute is around 65% highway miles, I figure the car is running for around 1.5 hrs each commute, the oil gets fully up to temp and the running conditions are pretty conducive to decent oil life. The last change I did, the oil looked pretty good and seemed to have plenty of slip and held a good film. 5 litres of full synthetic runs me 35 to 45 quid depending on what's on special, and a filter is around 10. It might seem like I'm being stingy but what is the point of full synthetic oil if it isnt capable of lasting longer than mineral oil?
Anyway, I'm doing the experiment so you don't have to :-)
Thick_Troll said:
Re the oil change thing. The reason I'm stretching the oil change intervals to 18,000m is that a friend of mine has a BMW 1M and as some may know, it has no dipstick just an "oil quality" sensor. One service he was told theat they would leave the next oil change to a 25,000Km interval based on the data from the sensor.
Anyway, I'm doing the experiment so you don't have to :-)
I don't think it actually analysis the "oil quality" all it is, is a simple sensor that runs algorithms based on driving style, how many cold starts etc etc, then determines the oil change interval, the car doesn't actually check the quality of the oil, BMW have had this thing for years, and it's is flawed imo, my BMW has this and a dipstick, and many don't have either.Anyway, I'm doing the experiment so you don't have to :-)
Very expensive experiment to play, but if the 1M is on lease/rented, who cares, let the next owner pick up the damage
I'm interested in what criteria sheddists use when choosing a shed? As someone who is thinking of reentering... I guess what springs to my mind is:
1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
Condition, history, engine/spec, then RFL costs, a lot of post 2005 stuff falls into £550/year territory and I'm not paying that on a shed, I don't worry about mileage if it's been looked after, I avoid high mileage stuff with no history as everything will be due replacement, again being fun to drive is not a consideration as its impossible to have a lot of fun stuck in traffic.
My shed budget Insignia Tourer just keeps going, its had a few things like boost pipes, boost control valve, abs sensors, a glow plug or two but continues to drive really well, and it looks several times the shed budget to most people, its now on 180k, having proper diagnostic kit helps keep the running costs low and forums/youtube are invaluable for fixing it on the cheap.
I have just replaced the wife's car with another shed purchase, she loves it, its only the 150bhp version but its really clean and tidy, 79k miles, well under shed budget
My shed budget Insignia Tourer just keeps going, its had a few things like boost pipes, boost control valve, abs sensors, a glow plug or two but continues to drive really well, and it looks several times the shed budget to most people, its now on 180k, having proper diagnostic kit helps keep the running costs low and forums/youtube are invaluable for fixing it on the cheap.
I have just replaced the wife's car with another shed purchase, she loves it, its only the 150bhp version but its really clean and tidy, 79k miles, well under shed budget
Edited by Jazoli on Thursday 20th August 08:18
Hansel911 said:
I'm interested in what criteria sheddists use when choosing a shed? As someone who is thinking of reentering... I guess what springs to my mind is:
1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
For me most performance for the price tends to be number 1. Wrapped into that is what you get with the car. 1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
Reliability/cost of repair so start googling known problems with car etc so much info out there. My neighbour got an e60 523i for £1000, looks great. First thing I asked him was has it had the water pump done? He said no it’s a BMW they don’t go wrong. 4 days later he returns home on the back of a recovery truck. Water pump failed. £800 repair bill.
My number 3 state of car/service, look at old MOT online, ask questions etc.
Might look at mpg but tax don’t factor that in. My tax is £250 a year more this year but over a year it’s not much really. Weirdly my insurance dropped by £150.
I went from a (£500 I paid 2.5 years ago)Saab 9-3 saloon Aero 2.0T and now have a Saab 9-3 Aero 2.8T Sportswagon. Paid £900 for it. It only had service history from the last year but most of the things I was looking to have been replaced have been done in that year plus the gentleman gave me £200 worth of suspension parts that he was planning on doing.
Hansel911 said:
I'm interested in what criteria sheddists use when choosing a shed? As someone who is thinking of reentering... I guess what springs to my mind is:
1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
also consider what you use it for, my wife required a car suitable for parking up in a busy Police station car park. we bought an old pug 306, it already had a couple of minor dents in it. after about a month of owning it, some one kicked off in the car park being unloaded from the "pig"...big dent on bonnet....no worries, I just "gently" knocked it out with a rubber mallet. Served us well. People used to give it "space" in car parks as it was well tatty, unwashed, but well serviced so everything worked. They were a great car. Sold it for about £300 more than we paid for it 1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
Long time reader/lurker here and just made the first foray into shedding after several years of being a 1 lease car household.
We've just picked up a 04' Mini One Convertible with 107k on the clock, all the options must have been ticked when it was purchased and everything works, 11 months MOT, new run flats all round, has had anything which needed doing done during its history and its fairly tidy for age for £1250. It's for my better half to use to potter round town and do home visits.
She was insistent on a Mini having had one years ago and missing it but there are some glorious shed options around.
Jobs needed seem to consist of putting a seat cover on the drivers seat to cover the worn bolster, get one of those FM transmitter things for the stereo and a phone mount...oh and it could do with a wash.
I'm going to ignore the persistently on ASC light (it doesn't even have the button and i'm told it has passed MOT's with the light on previously)
Any suggestions for a decent/cheap diagnostics setup?
I'll continue to drive the loathsome VW Tiguan we lease until the lease is up then, all being well, plan to enter shed'dom myself. 28 months and counting!
We've just picked up a 04' Mini One Convertible with 107k on the clock, all the options must have been ticked when it was purchased and everything works, 11 months MOT, new run flats all round, has had anything which needed doing done during its history and its fairly tidy for age for £1250. It's for my better half to use to potter round town and do home visits.
She was insistent on a Mini having had one years ago and missing it but there are some glorious shed options around.
Jobs needed seem to consist of putting a seat cover on the drivers seat to cover the worn bolster, get one of those FM transmitter things for the stereo and a phone mount...oh and it could do with a wash.
I'm going to ignore the persistently on ASC light (it doesn't even have the button and i'm told it has passed MOT's with the light on previously)
Any suggestions for a decent/cheap diagnostics setup?
I'll continue to drive the loathsome VW Tiguan we lease until the lease is up then, all being well, plan to enter shed'dom myself. 28 months and counting!
Hansel911 said:
I'm interested in what criteria sheddists use when choosing a shed? As someone who is thinking of reentering... I guess what springs to my mind is:
1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
Cost - yep gotta be under £1k , preferrably closer to £5001. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
State - not always a factor.. my £80 mondeo I bought a few years back was in a right filthy state when I got it with no rear bumber (aucition car), new bumper, good valet and service and sailed through 3 years of MOT's after till the cam belt snapped, SAAB 9-3 Aero I have now was pretty poor in terms of brakes, hoses, black coolant, treacle oil, but guy had recepits for thousands for the upgrades/tuning etc, couple days of my time to sort and been a good runner for 5 years I've had it
Reliability - not always, I'm lucky enough to be able to do most bits myself, usually got 3 vehicles to use between me and wife so takes the pressure off a bit
MPG/TAX - not so much for myself but I do check if it's for my Mrs, she took umbridge that the BMW I got her was £260 a year, my SAAB is lucky to see 18MPG but its running near 300BHP and is a good laugh to drive, I don't commute as home based so an economical car isn't a factor to me
Often I will buy something because I like the look of it, like the Merc ML i've just bought, I wasn't looking to get it specifically but was looking for a tow car for another purpose that I was going to buy and sell straight on but prob keep the ML if she's straight and clean & depending what is going on with the steering. Even if I sell some of the parts and weighed in the shell i'd probably make back the £575 it'll cost me
jeeebus said:
Here's my shed:
It cost me £500 with 12 months MOT, and I spent another £150 on 4 new tyres for it.
I've had it for a year now and covered just under 10k miles. It needed £200 worth of work for this year's MOT but hopefully it will give me another year of trouble-free motoring.
Oh, and I've never washed it (but I have cleaned and hoovered it inside once)
I've been lurking/reading this thread for the best part of a year now and love hearing about other people's sheds.It cost me £500 with 12 months MOT, and I spent another £150 on 4 new tyres for it.
I've had it for a year now and covered just under 10k miles. It needed £200 worth of work for this year's MOT but hopefully it will give me another year of trouble-free motoring.
Oh, and I've never washed it (but I have cleaned and hoovered it inside once)
Since the last post I've covered another 8k miles and all that it's needed is a brake light bulb and a can of carb cleaner for the idle control valve to stop it from revving itself at traffic lights. The MOT is due in about 6 weeks so I'm anticipating that it might need a spot of welding as I still haven't washed it.
In a way I hope it fails as I've got my eye on a Fiat Panda after reading about a few on here
Jugosaurus said:
Long time reader/lurker here and just made the first foray into shedding after several years of being a 1 lease car household.
We've just picked up a 04' Mini One Convertible with 107k on the clock, all the options must have been ticked when it was purchased and everything works, 11 months MOT, new run flats all round, has had anything which needed doing done during its history and its fairly tidy for age for £1250. It's for my better half to use to potter round town and do home visits.
She was insistent on a Mini having had one years ago and missing it but there are some glorious shed options around.
Jobs needed seem to consist of putting a seat cover on the drivers seat to cover the worn bolster, get one of those FM transmitter things for the stereo and a phone mount...oh and it could do with a wash.
I'm going to ignore the persistently on ASC light (it doesn't even have the button and i'm told it has passed MOT's with the light on previously)
Any suggestions for a decent/cheap diagnostics setup?
I'll continue to drive the loathsome VW Tiguan we lease until the lease is up then, all being well, plan to enter shed'dom myself. 28 months and counting!
Welcome to the club, sounds like your Mini is in good order, I hope it stays that way...We've just picked up a 04' Mini One Convertible with 107k on the clock, all the options must have been ticked when it was purchased and everything works, 11 months MOT, new run flats all round, has had anything which needed doing done during its history and its fairly tidy for age for £1250. It's for my better half to use to potter round town and do home visits.
She was insistent on a Mini having had one years ago and missing it but there are some glorious shed options around.
Jobs needed seem to consist of putting a seat cover on the drivers seat to cover the worn bolster, get one of those FM transmitter things for the stereo and a phone mount...oh and it could do with a wash.
I'm going to ignore the persistently on ASC light (it doesn't even have the button and i'm told it has passed MOT's with the light on previously)
Any suggestions for a decent/cheap diagnostics setup?
I'll continue to drive the loathsome VW Tiguan we lease until the lease is up then, all being well, plan to enter shed'dom myself. 28 months and counting!
I've got one of these, works well and had it about 5+ years, there are newer versions about with touch screen - this worked nicely with the 07 plate BMW E91 so should read your Mini just fine I would think
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MS300-Scanner-Diagnostic-...
Hansel911 said:
I'm interested in what criteria sheddists use when choosing a shed? As someone who is thinking of reentering... I guess what springs to my mind is:
1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
For me, at the time of picking my shed up, i just wanted a cheap set of wheels that would get me to work and to see family once a week which is an 80 mile round trip, so i wanted something small engined, decent on fuel, pref petrol and something that was cheap to insure.1. Cost of purchase
2. State of the car (maintenance etc)
3. Reliability of make/model
4. Mpg/tax
How much weight do people give to things like fun to drive/speed, or appearance etc? Or is that not the shed mentality? I know some people have other considerations, like family space etc.
I didnt care about make / model / speed or anything like that. I ended up with the Peugeot 106 1,1. Its proper poverty spec, with no PAS, No ABS, no central locking etc, but in my opinion, this is all less to go wrong! Considering i only paid £250 for the car, nothing has gone wrong in 7 months of ownership and 3k miles (probably would have been more miles but for covid!)
jeeebus said:
Digby said:
I'm still hacking about in this. Winter tyres still on from last year. Still not tried it in AWD mode. Just passed MOT. Giving it an oil change Sat. Nothing has gone wrong with it so far.
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