Best of the Bargain Basement (Vol.3)

[Emeye]

I always worry that the newer a cheap car is, the more complicated and therefore unreliable it will be.

[Toaster Pilot]

Emeye said:

I always worry that the newer a cheap car is, the more complicated and therefore unreliable it will be.

It’s nearly 2020, a 2009 Astra shouldn’t be a frightening prospect.

[trooperiziz]

I strongly suspect it's his dad's car

[Emeye]

Toaster Pilot said:

Emeye said:

I always worry that the newer a cheap car is, the more complicated and therefore unreliable it will be.

It’s nearly 2020, a 2009 Astra shouldn’t be a frightening prospect.

I’m not saying you should be frightened of them, and I’m not just talking about that Astra, but newer cheap cars in general. Things like DPFs and EGR valves, Direct Injection, small turbo engines etc etc - the more complicated cars become, the more likely a bargain car is going to have an expensive fault that will make it uneconomic.

As an example, my 2001 Honda Accord 1.8S is so basic and uncomplicated there is literally nothing to go wrong - the only comfort feature is aircon.

Electrical faults that don’t stop the car running are generally just an inconvenience for us, but all this emissions crap could catch us bangernomicers out.

[oOJamesOo]

Do any of you have gadgets in your bangers to make them a bit more bearable. Just thinking of things like DAB adapters, head units. Going from a 2017 XE to a banger soon (need the cash for house move). Just wondering if anyone has any tips.

[Usget]

A Carplay-compatible head unit makes a massive difference to how usable a car is, imo. Nav, DAB, Spotify, phone integration - all for a few hundred quid. If the car you're buying doesn't have a double-DIN aperture, you can get single-DIN units with slide-out screens which will also do the job.

[tomble22]

oOJamesOo said:

Do any of you have gadgets in your bangers to make them a bit more bearable. Just thinking of things like DAB adapters, head units. Going from a 2017 XE to a banger soon (need the cash for house move). Just wondering if anyone has any tips.

I just bought one of these for my XC70 shed, good little thing and not too big, good quality for FM transmission as well

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N18X4MQ/ref...

[oOJamesOo]

Usget said:

A Carplay-compatible head unit makes a massive difference to how usable a car is, imo. Nav, DAB, Spotify, phone integration - all for a few hundred quid. If the car you're buying doesn't have a double-DIN aperture, you can get single-DIN units with slide-out screens which will also do the job.

That’s sounds decent. Any brands to go for?

How risky is it that they get nicked? I wonder if the fold out one is better as it’s less obvious when not in use.

[oOJamesOo]

tomble22 said:

I just bought one of these for my XC70 shed, good little thing and not too big, good quality for FM transmission as well

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N18X4MQ/ref...

Decent option that. For the price it does a fair amount.

[W00DY]

oOJamesOo said:

tomble22 said:

I just bought one of these for my XC70 shed, good little thing and not too big, good quality for FM transmission as well

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N18X4MQ/ref...

Decent option that. For the price it does a fair amount.

They are good on more premium stuff, but there can be a lot of interference through the lighter socket on budget cars. If there's an aux port I prefer the aux-bluetooth adapter I have.

[Haddock82]

oOJamesOo said:

Do any of you have gadgets in your bangers to make them a bit more bearable. Just thinking of things like DAB adapters, head units. Going from a 2017 XE to a banger soon (need the cash for house move). Just wondering if anyone has any tips.

Yes!

My £650 Mondeo has one of these :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bluetooth-Car-FM-Transm...

I love splashing the cash on it!

£4.10 delivered, works perfectly.

Connect your phone via bluetooth, can take & make calls, plays BBC sounds App, ACast, Spotify etc. off the phone with no probs.

I did have a DAB radio thing that plugged in to the cigarette lighter but it was not that good and eventually fell apart.

[Emeye]

oOJamesOo said:

Usget said:

A Carplay-compatible head unit makes a massive difference to how usable a car is, imo. Nav, DAB, Spotify, phone integration - all for a few hundred quid. If the car you're buying doesn't have a double-DIN aperture, you can get single-DIN units with slide-out screens which will also do the job.

That’s sounds decent. Any brands to go for?

How risky is it that they get nicked? I wonder if the fold out one is better as it’s less obvious when not in use.

I have a pioneer carplay headunit that I’ve had for years but still not got around to fitting in my £750 Honda Accord.

I have used a simple security solution to avoid it getting nicked. Buy one of those large £1.99 AA road atlases, and when you get out of the car, prop it up behind the gearstick covering the screen. Takes a few secs and I’ve never had a problem in any of the cheap cars.

Some scally looks through the window and they see a £1.99 atlas which says you are not using sat nav which they can’t see anyway. I mean, what idiot would spend almost the price of his cheap car on a fancy car stereo?

Edited by Emeye on Saturday 11th January 12:06

[oOJamesOo]

Haddock82 said:

Yes!

My £650 Mondeo has one of these :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bluetooth-Car-FM-Transm...

I love splashing the cash on it!

£4.10 delivered, works perfectly.

Connect your phone via bluetooth, can take & make calls, plays BBC sounds App, ACast, Spotify etc. off the phone with no probs.

I did have a DAB radio thing that plugged in to the cigarette lighter but it was not that good and eventually fell apart.

That’s a bargain! How does the voice chat work for the phone call. Has it got a built in mic or something? I assume you just plug it in and then set your radio to the same frequency and it picks it up. Are there plenty of unused ones?

[Emeye]

oOJamesOo said:

Haddock82 said:

Yes!

My £650 Mondeo has one of these :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bluetooth-Car-FM-Transm...

I love splashing the cash on it!

£4.10 delivered, works perfectly.

Connect your phone via bluetooth, can take & make calls, plays BBC sounds App, ACast, Spotify etc. off the phone with no probs.

I did have a DAB radio thing that plugged in to the cigarette lighter but it was not that good and eventually fell apart.

That’s a bargain! How does the voice chat work for the phone call. Has it got a built in mic or something? I assume you just plug it in and then set your radio to the same frequency and it picks it up. Are there plenty of unused ones?

Can that really be any good for £4.10?! How the hell can a company manufacture that, make a profit and it actually work? There is the possibility that having 8 year old making them for 12 hours per day and earning $1 per week might have helped?

[oOJamesOo]

Emeye said:

I have a pioneer carplay headunit that I’ve had for years but still not got around to fitting in my £750 Honda Accord.

I have used a simple security solution to avoid it getting nicked. Buy one of those large £1.99 AA road atlases, and when you get out of the car, prop it up behind the gearstick covering the screen. Takes a few secs and I’ve never had a problem in any of the cheap cars.

Some scally looks through the window and they see a £1.99 atlas which says you are not using sat nav which they can’t see anyway. I mean, what idiot would spend almost the price of his cheap car on a fancy car stereo?

Edited by Emeye on Saturday 11th January 12:06

Haha. You never know.

I think that’s the benefit of having the cheap cigarette socket ones. Installation is a matter of seconds.

For a few quid it’s certainly worth a test to see if it’s any good.

[l354uge]

oOJamesOo said:

Do any of you have gadgets in your bangers to make them a bit more bearable. Just thinking of things like DAB adapters, head units. Going from a 2017 XE to a banger soon (need the cash for house move). Just wondering if anyone has any tips.

I spent £200 on a RCD330 Plus head unit for my skoda and its the best 3200 i spent that year. Its an offical VW/Skoda head unit, but usually only for the chinese market. Has bluetooth/Andrioid Auto and Carplay and works really well, few niggles like the radio being rubbish but i love it, makes the car a much nicer place to be and modernises it massively.

[Challo]

oOJamesOo said:

tomble22 said:

I just bought one of these for my XC70 shed, good little thing and not too big, good quality for FM transmission as well

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N18X4MQ/ref...

Decent option that. For the price it does a fair amount.

I got given one similar by my mate for my C30 and the interference is shocking.

Wondering if paying for a good quality one would be better?

[Toaster Pilot]

Emeye said:

I have a pioneer carplay headunit that I’ve had for years but still not got around to fitting in my £750 Honda Accord.

I have used a simple security solution to avoid it getting nicked. Buy one of those large £1.99 AA road atlases, and when you get out of the car, prop it up behind the gearstick covering the screen. Takes a few secs and I’ve never had a problem in any of the cheap cars.

Some scally looks through the window and they see a £1.99 atlas which says you are not using sat nav which they can’t see anyway. I mean, what idiot would spend almost the price of his cheap car on a fancy car stereo?

Edited by Emeye on Saturday 11th January 12:06

You don’t hear of people nicking stereos much these days, used to be rampant

[andburg]

Everything is so integrated today there is very little market for it

[tomble22]

Challo said:

oOJamesOo said:

tomble22 said:

I just bought one of these for my XC70 shed, good little thing and not too big, good quality for FM transmission as well

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N18X4MQ/ref...

Decent option that. For the price it does a fair amount.

I got given one similar by my mate for my C30 and the interference is shocking.

Wondering if paying for a good quality one would be better?

I've been using it in the Volvo for the last couple of days and to be fair, the sound quality is really good for the price, I think sometimes it depends on which frequency you tune it in to.