What banger? £500-1000.
Discussion
Looking for a banger to run as the increase in fuel is meaning that commuting to the office is becoming rather expensive.
Saying that, the extra costs of running the banger (insurance, tax etc) need to justify the saving made on the current car in fuel, depreciation with mileage, tyres, brakes etc.
It needs to be practical enough to move things around (stuff to parents, moving house type things), frugal enough to actually make a saving on fuel (diesel is OK), nippy enough not to make me leave it at home all the time, though I would naturally accept a "slow" car in order to reap the benefits of the exercise.
It also needs to be easy enough to work on and service myself, with cheap parts plentily available.
Age not a problem. Must have recent MOT, although tax not so essential.
Anybody scouring the classifieds come across anything that would fit?
Saying that, the extra costs of running the banger (insurance, tax etc) need to justify the saving made on the current car in fuel, depreciation with mileage, tyres, brakes etc.
It needs to be practical enough to move things around (stuff to parents, moving house type things), frugal enough to actually make a saving on fuel (diesel is OK), nippy enough not to make me leave it at home all the time, though I would naturally accept a "slow" car in order to reap the benefits of the exercise.
It also needs to be easy enough to work on and service myself, with cheap parts plentily available.
Age not a problem. Must have recent MOT, although tax not so essential.
Anybody scouring the classifieds come across anything that would fit?
edo said:
Just be careful - you could end up throwing money on repairs of a 500-1000 car (or worst case it not being economical to repair), on top of the extra insurance, tyres, tax and running costs, depending on the mileage you do, it may not make any sense over using your current car.
This is very true! The cars you will be looking at in this price range will likely be high milers and very old.I was in a similar situation bought an old cheapie Primera GT.
Not as good on fuel as a diesel but not bad - it does 35 mpg at high speed on the motorways and will do 40 mpg at closer to 70 - have done 3,500 miles in it in the past 2 months no problems.
150 bhp and a decent chassis, nice leather sports seats even the aircon works.
I think you might struggle at £500 price level but £1,000 should find something thats decent.
Not as good on fuel as a diesel but not bad - it does 35 mpg at high speed on the motorways and will do 40 mpg at closer to 70 - have done 3,500 miles in it in the past 2 months no problems.
150 bhp and a decent chassis, nice leather sports seats even the aircon works.
I think you might struggle at £500 price level but £1,000 should find something thats decent.
I was in this position a couple of years ago. I had already decided what type of car I was going for -a Peugeot/Citroen diesel.
In the end I got a 1998 Citroen ZX 1.9D for £350. It was a 1 owner car, 120k miles, 45mpg. It was rather slow and the engine was certainly a bit agricultural but it never failed me, started on the button (even in the ice and snow) and I did not spend a single penny maintaining it. After I had finished with it I sold it on to a family member and its still going strong, it just went through its last MOT needing a track rod end.
So in conclusion, up to £1k will get you one of the better ZX/Xsara/306/406/Xantia diesels with plenty of change for tax/tyres/oil change/brakes etc.
In the end I got a 1998 Citroen ZX 1.9D for £350. It was a 1 owner car, 120k miles, 45mpg. It was rather slow and the engine was certainly a bit agricultural but it never failed me, started on the button (even in the ice and snow) and I did not spend a single penny maintaining it. After I had finished with it I sold it on to a family member and its still going strong, it just went through its last MOT needing a track rod end.
So in conclusion, up to £1k will get you one of the better ZX/Xsara/306/406/Xantia diesels with plenty of change for tax/tyres/oil change/brakes etc.
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