Petrolhead95's first car - £50 Vauxhall Corsa
Discussion
So eight months after purchasing my first car for a modest £50, she's still going strong. Since the start of ownership I've only had to replace one bulb, one tyre and one windscreen - bargain of the century? The car is a 2006 Vauxhall Corsa C 1.2 with just under 100,000 miles on the clock with full service history and one previous owner. In eight months I've done a smudge under 10,000 miles.
The reason for such a low price was the previous owner not wanting to fork out for a fairly large repair bill. Luckily I have the equipment, the knowledge and the parts to get this done for almost nothing.
The reason for such a low price was the previous owner not wanting to fork out for a fairly large repair bill. Luckily I have the equipment, the knowledge and the parts to get this done for almost nothing.
Dalto123 said:
Even as spares/repair I'd have thought it would be worth more than £50? Was it in an accident/written off at some point too?
Nope. Never been in an accident as far as I'm aware! I think she wanted it to go to a decent home rather than scraping it. Defcon5 said:
Had the timing chain gone? That's the only thing that breaks on these isn't it ha.
Must be worth nearly £1500?
Do I spy Toyo T1-R tyres too?
Yep, timing chain was the main thing that needed replacing. Hoping to get around £1300 for it - currently up for sale now. Must be worth nearly £1500?
Do I spy Toyo T1-R tyres too?
I have one Toyo T1-R tyre which I had laying around which replaced a punctured tyre. I know it's not great to have one odd tyre, but it's done the trick nicely. The others are budget tyres.
Excellent project. I once bought a 2.2 Vectra estate for £200 because the timing chain had slipped. Bought a Haynes manual and taught myself how to rebuild engines, the rebuild cost about £200 in all. The result was a rather excellent dog carrier for less than the cost of a years tax on my current car.
If I still had a garage this is exactly the kind of stuff I'd be doing in my spare time.
If I still had a garage this is exactly the kind of stuff I'd be doing in my spare time.
What a bargain, good find! These are perfectly good little cars for what they are, my Mum had one for years and years which gave virtually no trouble.
Petrolhead95 said:
Yep, timing chain was the main thing that needed replacing.
Sounds like whatever garage quoted the previous owner the repair bill was trying it on, same thing happened to Mum's one and cost less than £300 all in for chain, tensioner and water pump at a local garage! Dalto123 said:
Fair enough then. Very jealous of that bargain. You mentioned it's up for sale, anything in the pipeline replacement wise?
Insurance is very restrictive at the moment, especially as I haven't got any NCB at the moment. Found a decent quote for the 1.8 version of this car which will most likely be the replacement. Shouldn't be too much more to run and it's a lot faster. Petrolhead95 said:
Insurance is very restrictive at the moment, especially as I haven't got any NCB at the moment. Found a decent quote for the 1.8 version of this car which will most likely be the replacement. Shouldn't be too much more to run and it's a lot faster.
A 1.8 Corsa? Wouldn't you rather have something that wasn't a Corsa? Good job on sorting the fault out, you're quids in.Baryonyx said:
A 1.8 Corsa? Wouldn't you rather have something that wasn't a Corsa? Good job on sorting the fault out, you're quids in.
This is where the insurance issue comes in. The Corsa is cheap to insure for me, plus I get Vauxhall parts at a very discounted price so running them is even cheaper. I tried getting insured on a Fiesta ST (56 plate) and it was £490 a month. Slow said:
Try look at something that isn't a hatch. I can insure a 4l jag xj at 20 for less than a corsa.
Uncommon cars for young people to write off are cheaper, atleast from what I've insured.
This is true. Even a big V8 Jeep Grand Cherokee was sub £1k with 0 no claims at 19 for me (with my mum as a named driver). Uncommon cars for our age group are usually cheaper than the more 'common' hatchback such as the Corsa.Uncommon cars for young people to write off are cheaper, atleast from what I've insured.
Dalto123 said:
Slow said:
Try look at something that isn't a hatch. I can insure a 4l jag xj at 20 for less than a corsa.
Uncommon cars for young people to write off are cheaper, atleast from what I've insured.
This is true. Even a big V8 Jeep Grand Cherokee was sub £1k with 0 no claims at 19 for me (with my mum as a named driver). Uncommon cars for our age group are usually cheaper than the more 'common' hatchback such as the Corsa.Uncommon cars for young people to write off are cheaper, atleast from what I've insured.
Petrolhead95 said:
Not particularly interested in any other body type other than a hatchback. The plan is to keep the 1.8 until my insurance is low enough for me to be able to insure a proper hot hatch. Got my eyes on a Renaultsport Megane 265/250 RS but they're so expensive!
Your missing out 
I moved from a 1.2 to a 1.8 Corsa and really enjoyed it, like you my insurance was much cheaper on the Corsa. Also quite reliable little cars. Is it an SRI you're looking at or an SXI+?
Here was mine.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...
Here was mine.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...
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