Do PHers still practice bangernomics?
Discussion
If bangernomics is about saving a few quid then I think it is pretty uninteresting as you may end up with a car you are not that bothered about.
I like it as I can buy older cars which I wanted as a kid. That inevitably means spending a bit on them to make them great again.
Also I am not bothered about spending evenings and weekends fixing cars - not interested in that side, have little ability to do it and I would rather be out driving with a couple of hours spare on a Sunday.
I like it as I can buy older cars which I wanted as a kid. That inevitably means spending a bit on them to make them great again.
Also I am not bothered about spending evenings and weekends fixing cars - not interested in that side, have little ability to do it and I would rather be out driving with a couple of hours spare on a Sunday.
SidewaysSi said:
If bangernomics is about saving a few quid then I think it is pretty uninteresting as you may end up with a car you are not that bothered about.
I like it as I can buy older cars which I wanted as a kid. That inevitably means spending a bit on them to make them great again.
Also I am not bothered about spending evenings and weekends fixing cars - not interested in that side, have little ability to do it and I would rather be out driving with a couple of hours spare on a Sunday.
You seem to be confusing classic car ownership with bangernomics. I like it as I can buy older cars which I wanted as a kid. That inevitably means spending a bit on them to make them great again.
Also I am not bothered about spending evenings and weekends fixing cars - not interested in that side, have little ability to do it and I would rather be out driving with a couple of hours spare on a Sunday.
Bangernomics is the principle of spending as little as possible getting from A-B while also putting life into cars which might otherwise have gone for scrap. If you become 'bothered about' the car, or attached to it, then you end up spending more money than is sensible and you've failed. If however you buy something for £200, spend £50 getting it through its MOT and then run it for 3 years until the engine spectacularly explodes in a cloud of smoke, you've probably done alright.
Condi said:
You seem to be confusing classic car ownership with bangernomics.
Bangernomics is the principle of spending as little as possible getting from A-B while also putting life into cars which might otherwise have gone for scrap. If you become 'bothered about' the car, or attached to it, then you end up spending more money than is sensible and you've failed.
Which is fine, but if you practice bangernomics alone then you are simply not a car enthusiast. A car enthusiast wants to preserve or even improve cars, putting driving and maintenence enjoyment ahead of miserly or poverty stricken penny pinching.Bangernomics is the principle of spending as little as possible getting from A-B while also putting life into cars which might otherwise have gone for scrap. If you become 'bothered about' the car, or attached to it, then you end up spending more money than is sensible and you've failed.
Olivera said:
Condi said:
You seem to be confusing classic car ownership with bangernomics.
Bangernomics is the principle of spending as little as possible getting from A-B while also putting life into cars which might otherwise have gone for scrap. If you become 'bothered about' the car, or attached to it, then you end up spending more money than is sensible and you've failed.
Which is fine, but if you practice bangernomics alone then you are simply not a car enthusiast. A car enthusiast wants to preserve or even improve cars, putting driving and maintenence enjoyment ahead of miserly or poverty stricken penny pinching.Bangernomics is the principle of spending as little as possible getting from A-B while also putting life into cars which might otherwise have gone for scrap. If you become 'bothered about' the car, or attached to it, then you end up spending more money than is sensible and you've failed.
Didn't seem worth getting another lease or anything expensive and secretly, I love bumbling about in old cars that are a worth pennies.
I use it to scratch old itches too - I've had a Prelude 2.2 VTEC I always fancied and a few Old Shogun/Pajeros for a laugh
At the minute, I'm driving a 9-3 Aero coupe - its quick enough and oddball enough to be amusing and cheap/reliable enough to handle my 50 mile daily commute and in theory - it's rarity will stop is depreciating much further.
It cost me £800 and so far keeping it on the road has cost £186 (although £110 of that was tyres which I'd have to buy on anything).
It's on 169000 miles and 2000 of those were me so it's costing about 9p a mile in real repairs.
However, I have spent another £100 trawling ebay here and there just picking up bits to tidy it up as they often get under my skin.
It's running well, apart from the air conditioner compressor that sounds like it will explode any day and the half litre of oil a week it drinks but that's half the fun isn't it?
Condi said:
You seem to be confusing classic car ownership with bangernomics.
Bangernomics is the principle of spending as little as possible getting from A-B while also putting life into cars which might otherwise have gone for scrap. If you become 'bothered about' the car, or attached to it, then you end up spending more money than is sensible and you've failed. If however you buy something for £200, spend £50 getting it through its MOT and then run it for 3 years until the engine spectacularly explodes in a cloud of smoke, you've probably done alright.
I think that you in turn are confusing bangernomics with shedding or whatever the term is. Bangernomics is taking a cheap but sound car, keeping it roadworthy, reliable and presentable and just getting on with life. The ideal bangernomics car is one that has led a sheltered life, ideally regularly serviced and garaged overnight and with few owners (this is probably more important than low miles) and should give a few years of faithfull service. The dilemna from the PH point of view is that cars that fit that description are generally uninspiring to drive, such as a Toyota Corolla, but the cars that are rewarding to drive and cheap are generally money pits. If you are lucky you can find something like a Mercedes 190, but even then it is likely to be one of the versions whose progress is glacial.Bangernomics is the principle of spending as little as possible getting from A-B while also putting life into cars which might otherwise have gone for scrap. If you become 'bothered about' the car, or attached to it, then you end up spending more money than is sensible and you've failed. If however you buy something for £200, spend £50 getting it through its MOT and then run it for 3 years until the engine spectacularly explodes in a cloud of smoke, you've probably done alright.
If bangernomics is driving some POS for as cheaply as possible then I can't do it. Having an old Micra or something similar as an only car is not someone I would call an enthusiast.
Yes you can have some more interesting cars but if they have done decent miles without any sort of refresh, they won't drive particularly well.
Anyone can buy a cheap car and drive it to the ground but other than saying "it only costs me 2p a mile to run", what are you gaining?
I have run some cheap (sub £500) cars but I was ticking them off my list and enjoyed their abilities - it was more than about keeping mobile for as a little as possible.
Yes you can have some more interesting cars but if they have done decent miles without any sort of refresh, they won't drive particularly well.
Anyone can buy a cheap car and drive it to the ground but other than saying "it only costs me 2p a mile to run", what are you gaining?
I have run some cheap (sub £500) cars but I was ticking them off my list and enjoyed their abilities - it was more than about keeping mobile for as a little as possible.
Just swapped a set of speakers worth somewhere around £60-100 for a pug 307cc, fun bangernomics may well be alive and kicking. Hopefully. If i can fix the 20 odd electrical problems cheaply.
Between repairs and improvements i have set a max budget of £400 all in, lets see how it turns out.
My mrs works in care homes for children and all the cars get vandalised so we always keep a banger, just wanted a convertible this time for a change.
Between repairs and improvements i have set a max budget of £400 all in, lets see how it turns out.
My mrs works in care homes for children and all the cars get vandalised so we always keep a banger, just wanted a convertible this time for a change.
Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Thursday 17th August 22:35
SidewaysSi said:
If bangernomics is driving some POS for as cheaply as possible then I can't do it. Having an old Micra or something similar as an only car is not someone I would call an enthusiast.
...
I have run some cheap (sub £500) cars but I was ticking them off my list and enjoyed their abilities - it was more than about keeping mobile for as a little as possible.
I'm with this view, I bought the saab because I fancied something a little bit different to a Mondeo and thought a torque steering boosty Aero would be a laugh for shed money......
I have run some cheap (sub £500) cars but I was ticking them off my list and enjoyed their abilities - it was more than about keeping mobile for as a little as possible.
I knew full well that I'd end up improving it along way with fixes and fettling and probably spending the same again on bits in the 12months before I flog it but that's the enthusiast in me, I guess.
If I was shedding, I'd have bought a £200 Omega and rode it into the ground. Then rinse/repeat.
Anyone driving micra deserves to be shot though, even shedding should have standards.
My daily shed is a Peugeot 106 diesel-I've owned it a year and love it. Poor thing has put up with being overloaded and taken to the south of France with four tubby blokes inside, several motorway jaunts it really wasn't designed for, tip runs, carrying my rather heavy and large toolbox, yet has been economical, fun to drive (if not stupidly slow) and has never failed to start.
I've had to replace the head gasket and heater matrix but aside that and from regular servicing it's been decent for a 20 year old car. It's going to need a clutch soon but that should be easy enough to do myself, I hope.
Bangernomics works an awful lot better if you're able to do all the work on the car yourself-otherwise any labour costs quickly mount and may render it more costly than the value of the car. It also works better with a simpler car-I fear it may be a dying art in the future as I cannot foresee most new cars today in 20 years time being as simple to fix as my Pugbeast, for example.
I've had to replace the head gasket and heater matrix but aside that and from regular servicing it's been decent for a 20 year old car. It's going to need a clutch soon but that should be easy enough to do myself, I hope.
Bangernomics works an awful lot better if you're able to do all the work on the car yourself-otherwise any labour costs quickly mount and may render it more costly than the value of the car. It also works better with a simpler car-I fear it may be a dying art in the future as I cannot foresee most new cars today in 20 years time being as simple to fix as my Pugbeast, for example.
Unfortunately you can't have anything nice where I live, so:
1) 2015-2016 , 2004 90k £388 pug 307, lasts a year and a few thousand miles, scrapped after ecu failure.didnt cost me a penny for its mot.
2) 2016-2017, 2003 , 45k £330 Nissan Almera, lasted 8 months and had a very noisy gearbox so wasn't a surprise when the gearbox disintegrated one night, scrapped. Didn't cost me a penny for its mot.m
3) 2017 onwards 1.4 85k Citroen xsara 2004 - £300 to buy. Lots of service history, generally looked after. But it cost me £250 to pass its mot as it needed two new front tyres, a new handbrake and a couple of other odds and ends. But it's a nice drive, starts and goes well and I can't complain. I'd be disappointed if it didn't get a year or two out of it, but who knows. It's on borrowed time as the cambelt was last done 2010 at 55k but I think that if the car only has a couple of years left in it, until it presents me with a sizeable bill, that won't be the death of it so I'll be leaving that.
1) 2015-2016 , 2004 90k £388 pug 307, lasts a year and a few thousand miles, scrapped after ecu failure.didnt cost me a penny for its mot.
2) 2016-2017, 2003 , 45k £330 Nissan Almera, lasted 8 months and had a very noisy gearbox so wasn't a surprise when the gearbox disintegrated one night, scrapped. Didn't cost me a penny for its mot.m
3) 2017 onwards 1.4 85k Citroen xsara 2004 - £300 to buy. Lots of service history, generally looked after. But it cost me £250 to pass its mot as it needed two new front tyres, a new handbrake and a couple of other odds and ends. But it's a nice drive, starts and goes well and I can't complain. I'd be disappointed if it didn't get a year or two out of it, but who knows. It's on borrowed time as the cambelt was last done 2010 at 55k but I think that if the car only has a couple of years left in it, until it presents me with a sizeable bill, that won't be the death of it so I'll be leaving that.
Edited by princeperch on Monday 21st August 13:40
I've got a pug 307 auto. So slow it's hilarious, but an absolute riot to hoon around in. Even managed some lift off oversteer in it once.. Although just yesterday noticed some drips of something on the drive out of it and this thread has just reminded me that I need to check that out. My other car is a BMW 340, so nice to have something I don't care about for shops, train station, etc
new banger to replace the old banger! Hurrah!
I pick it up on Saturday.. Epic high mileage, but the previous MOT's seem check out.. nothing scary there.
For the past 2 years ive run a pair of Hyundai getz's into the ground.
first cost £800.. lasted almost a year before the subframe rotted and the wheel fell off.
2nd cost me £180, and was the ropiest POS ive ever had the displeasure of driving... its only lasted the year because ive pillaged and plunderd every salvageable part i can from the first getz to keep it running... from the radiator down the dash bulbs!
The latest failure was the outer CV joint grenading itself costing me a days work, and a days labour installing the one from the donor car.
But once the new shed arrives, they'll both be headed to the crusher. Good riddance!
I pick it up on Saturday.. Epic high mileage, but the previous MOT's seem check out.. nothing scary there.
For the past 2 years ive run a pair of Hyundai getz's into the ground.
first cost £800.. lasted almost a year before the subframe rotted and the wheel fell off.
2nd cost me £180, and was the ropiest POS ive ever had the displeasure of driving... its only lasted the year because ive pillaged and plunderd every salvageable part i can from the first getz to keep it running... from the radiator down the dash bulbs!
The latest failure was the outer CV joint grenading itself costing me a days work, and a days labour installing the one from the donor car.
But once the new shed arrives, they'll both be headed to the crusher. Good riddance!
YES!
My wife is driving a 2001 SEAT Leon 1.9TDI SE that I took in px about 3 years ago. A women bought it new and serviced it on the button every year. She part exchanged it for a new Kia and the Kia sales manager bought it for his wife for £500. I bought it from him a year later for £500 just after he serviced it.
I've put 4 tyres on it and serviced it, my dad changed the cam belt. The only 'big ticket' cost was a new sump for about £150.
It really is a great little car. Everything works, it has all round electric windows, CD changer, powerfold mirrors and climate control, returns circa 60 to the gallon and just keeps going. Done about 180,000 miles and I can't see it stopping any time soon.
Having a worthless car it a bit liberating in a way you just don't give a s
t about it, I chuck st in it to go the tip etc and don't care when it gets damaged.
I should say that being in the motor trade also means I do have a brand new car too and it is nice to have something smart too.
My wife is driving a 2001 SEAT Leon 1.9TDI SE that I took in px about 3 years ago. A women bought it new and serviced it on the button every year. She part exchanged it for a new Kia and the Kia sales manager bought it for his wife for £500. I bought it from him a year later for £500 just after he serviced it.
I've put 4 tyres on it and serviced it, my dad changed the cam belt. The only 'big ticket' cost was a new sump for about £150.
It really is a great little car. Everything works, it has all round electric windows, CD changer, powerfold mirrors and climate control, returns circa 60 to the gallon and just keeps going. Done about 180,000 miles and I can't see it stopping any time soon.
Having a worthless car it a bit liberating in a way you just don't give a s
t about it, I chuck st in it to go the tip etc and don't care when it gets damaged.I should say that being in the motor trade also means I do have a brand new car too and it is nice to have something smart too.
Own a honda civic 1.6 sport (2005), on 98,000 miles (i've put on 53,000 in 4 years). Been crashed into, risking a write-of (it's a cat. C now) but I repaired it quite cheaply and will hold on to it for a long time. If the cost of fixing something doesnt exceed £800 then I'll happily do it. Servicing is servicing, any car needs oil changes, tyres, brakes, etc etc so whether it's a £50,000 BMW or a £500 honda it doesnt matter. The car is comfortable, economical, easy to work on. If I had more room on my driveway I would have another car for enjoyment, but as it stands I dont have room and plus I'd probably look to buy, say, an M3 then get distracted by something like a Ducati or an Aprilia motorcycle and buy that instead.
Edited by thatdude on Thursday 7th December 09:09
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff