£250 Shedding... How refreshing!

[carlingofblack]

So a pal and I are off on a banger rally to France this month - can't wait - amazing route and the organisers seem lovely, a chance to do a bit for charity too.

I'm used to wafting around in a lovely Audi A8 V8 petrol so I thought a £250 banger would be a shock. Well.... It sure ain't as smooth or powerful but...

1. A Rover 216 GSi 1991 G reg is not nearly as bad as my narrow minded initial thoughts suspected.
2. It has full fastidious history from the old boy that owned it since 1993
3. It's fairly pokey and apart from the passenger electric window, everything works
4. Leather and Auto means it's comfy
5. It's the Honda 1.6 so I'm hopeful it won't die in a ball of flames.

Other road users definitely look on it as a bag of sh*ite but I'm really not fussed, I'm just surprised how small it feels for what was once a medium sized car and also surprised how well it goes!

I'm looking forward to tarting it up before the rally and it even has MOT until October. I wonder what shape the old girl will be in after The Alps, Le Mans and Monaco/Nice...!

[BoRED S2upid]

You did well to find a running car for £250. Most banger rally's have upped the budget to 500 now. Don't tart it up too much it's a banger rally after all.

[iva cosworth]

Paint it to look like a tank and drive to Germany.

That always ends well........

[JamesD1]

little money can buy some "good" cars. bought the MIL a 106 with 2 owners from new (mother and daughter) and 2 full a4 folders of history for the price of £280 had 2 mots since and needed a clip for cv joint cover and a spot weld on the exhaust.

i am hoping to have it back off of her soon with the intentions of banger rallying it

[carlingofblack]

Agreed... It's quite difficult to find something ready to go and safe-ish below £500. £500-£1000 is another league - quite a lot of really good stuff in that price bracket.

[egor110]

carlingofblack said:

Agreed... It's quite difficult to find something ready to go and safe-ish below £500. £500-£1000 is another league - quite a lot of really good stuff in that price bracket.

even more so if mpg isn't a issue.

[JD661]

As I mentioned in the £500 bargain thread, My 04 plate Bora TDi cost £250 a few weeks ago, so there are bargains to be had for that price if you know where to look. I was just coincidentally being in the pub at the same time as the previous owner and overhearing him saying he was taking it to the scrapyard the next day as he'd just got a brand new Audi and couldn't be bothered with messers on ebay.

[Escy]

JD661 said:

As I mentioned in the £500 bargain thread, My 04 plate Bora TDi cost £250 a few weeks ago, so there are bargains to be had for that price if you know where to look. I was just coincidentally being in the pub at the same time as the previous owner and overhearing him saying he was taking it to the scrapyard the next day as he'd just got a brand new Audi and couldn't be bothered with messers on ebay.

So you are saying the place to look is down the pub, over hearing other peoples conversations. How many cars have you picked up with this technique?

[JD661]

I was at the bar at the same time and we were talking to the same people so it wasn't really listening in, I was just suggesting that you can often get a bargain from people you know, neighbours, people down the local pub etc. My brothers car was purchased after a conversation between me and the previous owner in the same pub. I also told a family friend of an Audi Convertible that someone said was going cheap in the same pub and they ended up buying it, and I was also looking at buying a slightly more expensive mk5 golf from the same pub before the Bora came up so quite a few cars have been bought that way. The Bora is only my second car so I've obviously not picked up many for myself.

[GeordieInExile]

A lovely looking S plate 620i went for £170 on eBay the other day, if it hadn't been in Coventry I'd have been tempted to stick a bid on myself.

And a £500 75 1.8T Connoisseur auction ended today without a single bid despite a starting price of just £500. Messaged the seller to see if he'd take £300 today, feeling cheeky... was told the price was £500. Might just message back and offer to pay that tbh, looks a cracking motor for that money.

[phPaddy]

Needed a cheap and cheerful 4x4 recently for some work on a farm, got a 2000 grand vitara 2.0TD 130k with near full history and belts just done for 700, again I wasn't expecting much but its a spotless original and a capable thing for a bargain.