Best of the Bargain Basement (Vol.3)

Best of the Bargain Basement (Vol.3)

Author
Discussion

l354uge

2,895 posts

122 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Wow! Friend at work bought one of those at a similar age for £2500 last year!

egor110

16,901 posts

204 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Jimmy Recard said:
Is the roof currently up or down?
Up.

Oil coolers also been replaced.

ST565NP

564 posts

83 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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wjb said:
Found this for my 18 year old nephew (his first car) in December.

Pug 207 1.4
77k
MOT till August, no advisories
£850 smile
Wow, what a great car for that price ! There must be some problems with it ( hope not ! ).

egor110

16,901 posts

204 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Anyone fancy a big cheap bmw ?

520i se - 154k - up for £650

TonyRPH

12,977 posts

169 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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A link to said BMW would be helpful.

egor110

16,901 posts

204 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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TonyRPH said:
A link to said BMW would be helpful.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/219586072316323?surface=product_details

TonyRPH

12,977 posts

169 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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egor110 said:
The mot history for that looks odd.

It seems to have consistently done 5k miles every year without fail...

And some years seems to have gone from zero advisories to a whole load of issues in 5k miles.

It's almost as if it's been clocked...

In fairness though - the body looks to be in good condition.

Edited by TonyRPH on Saturday 12th January 12:02

Jimmy Recard

17,540 posts

180 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Right guys, I've got a dilemma. In this situation, would you scrap or sell?

I have a 2005 Astra. It's the five door, 200 horsepower 2.0 turbo petrol. So it's a perfect combination of least desirable body shape with thirstiest, highest insurance and tax engine.

On top of this, it has various faults. Like being Cat N (a Ford Kuga ran into the side last year and dented the passenger side doors). And it reports an emissions fault as I replaced the catalytic converter with an aftermarket one (although it has been through two MOTs since then with perfect results, it just doesn't like the cat). It's also just looking tired and shabby

However, for me it has been totally reliable for three years. Engine and gearbox are perfect, as far as I know. But I don't think it's worth more than scrap value, being realistic. I've already replaced it with a new Bargain Basementer which is more useful for my needs - a W163 Mercedes ML.

My options are thus:

1: sell for scrap value, knowing at least it doesn't go to waste. But if something I don't know about went wrong for the next owner, I'd feel guilty. Silly, but it's true. Doing this I'd include the alloys as a sweetener to attract a buyer
2: scrap car with its winter steelies and Avon winter tyres on and sell the 'Astra penta' 18" alloys that are standard on this model. Maybe £150 with the good Avon tyres that are on it. But then I'd feel guilty for letting a perfectly good shell get cubed. Obviously this would see me better off financially though, by a small amount. But that's not really the point for me

I know it's a silly dilemma to have, but any thoughts either way would be appreciated!

Challo

10,204 posts

156 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Jimmy Recard said:
Right guys, I've got a dilemma. In this situation, would you scrap or sell?

I have a 2005 Astra. It's the five door, 200 horsepower 2.0 turbo petrol. So it's a perfect combination of least desirable body shape with thirstiest, highest insurance and tax engine.

On top of this, it has various faults. Like being Cat N (a Ford Kuga ran into the side last year and dented the passenger side doors). And it reports an emissions fault as I replaced the catalytic converter with an aftermarket one (although it has been through two MOTs since then with perfect results, it just doesn't like the cat). It's also just looking tired and shabby

However, for me it has been totally reliable for three years. Engine and gearbox are perfect, as far as I know. But I don't think it's worth more than scrap value, being realistic. I've already replaced it with a new Bargain Basementer which is more useful for my needs - a W163 Mercedes ML.

My options are thus:

1: sell for scrap value, knowing at least it doesn't go to waste. But if something I don't know about went wrong for the next owner, I'd feel guilty. Silly, but it's true. Doing this I'd include the alloys as a sweetener to attract a buyer
2: scrap car with its winter steelies and Avon winter tyres on and sell the 'Astra penta' 18" alloys that are standard on this model. Maybe £150 with the good Avon tyres that are on it. But then I'd feel guilty for letting a perfectly good shell get cubed. Obviously this would see me better off financially though, by a small amount. But that's not really the point for me

I know it's a silly dilemma to have, but any thoughts either way would be appreciated!
Explain all the faults and stick on ebay action. Your get more than scrap for it, and more than trying to sell parts separately

CharlesdeGaulle

26,322 posts

181 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Jimmy Recard said:
Right guys, I've got a dilemma. In this situation, would you scrap or sell?
Scrap. Life's too short to be dealing with the type of people that might want to buy it. But I do understand the dilemma.

Jimmy Recard

17,540 posts

180 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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CharlesdeGaulle said:
Scrap. Life's too short to be dealing with the type of people that might want to buy it. But I do understand the dilemma.
That's the other thing that I forgot to mention. I'm not sure I want to spend my time meeting the sort of person who wants to buy the UK's cheapest quick Astra!

TonyRPH

12,977 posts

169 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Jimmy Recard said:
That's the other thing that I forgot to mention. I'm not sure I want to spend my time meeting the sort of person who wants to buy the UK's cheapest quick Astra!
I'd put it on Facebook market place. At least on there, you can see who you are dealing with, before they even come to your door.


CharlesdeGaulle

26,322 posts

181 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Jimmy Recard said:
CharlesdeGaulle said:
Scrap. Life's too short to be dealing with the type of people that might want to buy it. But I do understand the dilemma.
That's the other thing that I forgot to mention. I'm not sure I want to spend my time meeting the sort of person who wants to buy the UK's cheapest quick Astra!
That counts as a head-nail interface I reckon. Make it all as quick as possible, then spend the cash.

SimonTheSailor

12,622 posts

229 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Jimmy Recard said:
egor110 said:
Audi TT convertible for £700 , no proof of cambelt change and the electric roof doesn’t work .
Is the roof currently up or down?
Even if it was broke in the down position and you kept it in the down position it wouldn't matter !!

CharlesdeGaulle

26,322 posts

181 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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SimonTheSailor said:
Jimmy Recard said:
egor110 said:
Audi TT convertible for £700 , no proof of cambelt change and the electric roof doesn’t work .
Is the roof currently up or down?
Even if it was broke in the down position and you kept it in the down position it wouldn't matter !!
It might matter quite a lot if you didn't have a garage.

wjb

5,100 posts

132 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Thesprucegoose said:
For a first car that's Bob on, safe to boot too.
ST565NP said:
Wow, what a great car for that price ! There must be some problems with it ( hope not ! ).
l354uge said:
Wow! Friend at work bought one of those at a similar age for £2500 last year!
Cheers guys, I found it locally on shpock, needed a tyre and a oil change, but it's a good straight car with no issues whatsoever.

Had to kiss a few frogs to find it, but there are bargains still out there. smile

andburg

7,298 posts

170 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Anyone fancy a risk on some summerfun? slightly leggy z4 2.5 with a roof in need of repair.

Https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...


KnackeredSwede

390 posts

102 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I’m toying with the idea of shedding for a year or so to avoid having to get credit to buy something nicer.

The thing is I spend 1.5-2 hours a day in the car commuting so I would like it to be a nice enough place to be, but obviously also reliable.

First thought was try and find an automatic civic or corolla of early noughties vintage and retrofit a decent head unit with Bluetooth and just enjoy the reliability and cruise to work in that for a while.

Does anyone have any better recommendations for someone that does up to 20k miles per year commuting and 5k private miles?

I know the old find something local and in the best condition, but I tried that a couple of times with A Saab, a Volvo and a Peugeot and none of those lasted very long before becoming uneconomical to repair.

anonymous-user

55 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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whatever anyone says bb is a lottery. doing 20k in a 1k car is pushing the limits, easy to spend again on running it. be realistic on running costs and buy the best you can get, bb isn't always shoestring motoring.

CX53

2,973 posts

111 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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As above... but you will still probably spend less buying and maintaining an old Toyota than you will on something that’s 5x the value to begin with... be prepared to spend on maintenance at those miles!