The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
I bought one in 2014.
But after less than 6 months it was just so miserable I had to replace it.
After over 3 years I swapped that last year, but moved a bit above "Shed" money - and to be fair he Mazda was the only one I wouldn't ever worry about as it had a scar on every panel when I got it!
But after less than 6 months it was just so miserable I had to replace it.
After over 3 years I swapped that last year, but moved a bit above "Shed" money - and to be fair he Mazda was the only one I wouldn't ever worry about as it had a scar on every panel when I got it!
Got a new shed. BMW 520i SE Touring. Manual, 2.2 petrol straight 6.
146k miles, full history and everything still works! Paid £600 and it's lovely to drive.
The old shed is next to it, just before I took it to its new owner.
Had the Skoda 6 years. Utterly reliable but got fed up of only one window working and
in true bangernomics tradition I didn't want to fix them!
146k miles, full history and everything still works! Paid £600 and it's lovely to drive.
The old shed is next to it, just before I took it to its new owner.
Had the Skoda 6 years. Utterly reliable but got fed up of only one window working and
in true bangernomics tradition I didn't want to fix them!
I must be near the top of the tree or bottom of the ****heap.
A few months back I had a nice main car in the garage, a back up car messed up by another garage so undriveable, another car in storage, the other half's car needed by her and I needed a car for some muck shifting for a couple of days. No mates could lend me anything that risked damage, no suitable courtesy car available at Mercedes and I could have rented a van but vans are hassle at the tip. Then I saw a thread on here about someone who bought a car instead of getting a taxi. Cue ebay - cheapest, nearest, unsold first.
24 hours later I'm in a £230 Corsa 1.2. MOT until October. Exterior tatty of course, Interior most dog hair. EML on. Broken door mirror. However it ran fine, had just had an oil and filter change and new part exhaust and had a bit of welding done for the MOT.
A new heated electric mirror (non matching colour of course) was £12 delivered via ebay. A secondhand MAF from ebay was £15. One tyre was borderline but I found a new Michelin on the spare so swapped those over. Spent a day cleaning it and fitting the bits and job done.
I now drive it every day. I don't know what it does to the gallon but I do know I put about £40 a month in it and had been spending £60-£80 a week on fuel. It's reliable, nippy and easy to park. Its general tatty state means it passes the key shed tests of leaving it anywhere and giving way to nothing. I would have no doubts it would tackle a 500 mile drive without problems. The one thing I won't put up with when shedding is soul destroying unreliability but this little blighter seems bomb proof and bits cost peanuts secondhand.
Downsides? People don't take you seriously if you look at expensive cars in garages but you can have some fun with that. It does seem to suffer with some aggression in the form of tailgating/must get in front of this at all costs/don't want to be overtaken by this. The neighbours think I'm being made bankrupt. and clients think I've lost my mind.
I can see me keeping it until it breaks and then replacing it with something similarly cheap and tatty. It has brought out a kind of reverse snobbery in me too. I've long thought the best combination of cars is something practical for everyday and something wildly impractical for weekends. I've gone to the extreme end of practical now I just need to sort out the other end of the scale.
A few months back I had a nice main car in the garage, a back up car messed up by another garage so undriveable, another car in storage, the other half's car needed by her and I needed a car for some muck shifting for a couple of days. No mates could lend me anything that risked damage, no suitable courtesy car available at Mercedes and I could have rented a van but vans are hassle at the tip. Then I saw a thread on here about someone who bought a car instead of getting a taxi. Cue ebay - cheapest, nearest, unsold first.
24 hours later I'm in a £230 Corsa 1.2. MOT until October. Exterior tatty of course, Interior most dog hair. EML on. Broken door mirror. However it ran fine, had just had an oil and filter change and new part exhaust and had a bit of welding done for the MOT.
A new heated electric mirror (non matching colour of course) was £12 delivered via ebay. A secondhand MAF from ebay was £15. One tyre was borderline but I found a new Michelin on the spare so swapped those over. Spent a day cleaning it and fitting the bits and job done.
I now drive it every day. I don't know what it does to the gallon but I do know I put about £40 a month in it and had been spending £60-£80 a week on fuel. It's reliable, nippy and easy to park. Its general tatty state means it passes the key shed tests of leaving it anywhere and giving way to nothing. I would have no doubts it would tackle a 500 mile drive without problems. The one thing I won't put up with when shedding is soul destroying unreliability but this little blighter seems bomb proof and bits cost peanuts secondhand.
Downsides? People don't take you seriously if you look at expensive cars in garages but you can have some fun with that. It does seem to suffer with some aggression in the form of tailgating/must get in front of this at all costs/don't want to be overtaken by this. The neighbours think I'm being made bankrupt. and clients think I've lost my mind.
I can see me keeping it until it breaks and then replacing it with something similarly cheap and tatty. It has brought out a kind of reverse snobbery in me too. I've long thought the best combination of cars is something practical for everyday and something wildly impractical for weekends. I've gone to the extreme end of practical now I just need to sort out the other end of the scale.
My partner had a new GT86 2 years ago and spent that time turning it into a shed..... there isn’t a panel, bumper or wheel that now doesn’t require remedial work and the interior stinks of wet Labrador..... I cringe every time I walk past it.
Anyway back on topic, in 2015 I bought a 1995 Mercedes E320 coupe for £1200 as a stop gap, drove it 32k miles in 9 months, averaged 28 mpg and never let me down. Good value refined motoring and got my money back on it when I sold it.
If I go back to high mileage commuting or working in a city centre again. There’ll be another one parked outside.
Anyway back on topic, in 2015 I bought a 1995 Mercedes E320 coupe for £1200 as a stop gap, drove it 32k miles in 9 months, averaged 28 mpg and never let me down. Good value refined motoring and got my money back on it when I sold it.
If I go back to high mileage commuting or working in a city centre again. There’ll be another one parked outside.
I've had a puma for 2 years that i picked up for £500 .
Been very reliable , no works parking so we all park n the street so a small car is invaluable .
Before that i had a £600 clio 182 but that was s
t and needed loads doing so i sold that on .
Also owner saab aeros , bmw e46 325, citroen c5 but i don't seem to find them now for sub £700.
Been very reliable , no works parking so we all park n the street so a small car is invaluable .
Before that i had a £600 clio 182 but that was s
t and needed loads doing so i sold that on .Also owner saab aeros , bmw e46 325, citroen c5 but i don't seem to find them now for sub £700.
Shedding does seem to be a catching pass time . Most of the cars that catch my eye online seem to include the following in the description, was bought as a stop gap but now 3/4/5 years later I am reluctantly selling .
Also for those who worry about reliability, have a look at whats broken down on the motorways, it's rarely sheds
Also for those who worry about reliability, have a look at whats broken down on the motorways, it's rarely sheds
dgswk said:
I've just had the pleasure of taking my shed for its 190k major service. A '57 plate Mondeo 2.0 TDCI Titty X I picked up for £900 off my emigrating neighbour just over a year ago. She's just knocked off another 12,000 faultless miles in 6 months. £300 including aircon re-gas, all the fluids, all the filters and a bit of love to the rear brakes - a seized caliper given a new lease of life and some pads.
I've just bought one of these of a similar vintage to nip around in. I'm rather shocked by its non sheddiness. The MoT history is flawless and it doesn't produce one squeak or rattle. It's pretty much all the vehicle anyone could ever need so I'll probably keep chugging until it's time for one final 5-600 bhp blowout before it's illegal.
What's the price point for a shed now? I don't really like spending more than £200 on any car, leave a lone a shed, and the mythical £1000 doesn't seem to improve ones chances of buying something half tidy - that point seems to be about £2k these days.
But my list of cars is showing extreme sheddyness.
Volvo V50 - £1700. 180k and lovely. Took it to France last year with no issues, and it's going again in March.
Mk3 MR2 - £600.
Toyota Yaris 1.4 diesel. £1500. Brilliant buy so far.
Jeep Cherokke £1000.
Megane (3 off) £90, £150, £300.
Clio 1.5 dci £500 (Now has 178k miles on it).
Fiesta 1.4 TDCI £500.
But I do like them to all be well maintained, clean, in all meaning of the word, and reliable. (Rules the Jeep out at the moment).
Where does it all end??
But my list of cars is showing extreme sheddyness.
Volvo V50 - £1700. 180k and lovely. Took it to France last year with no issues, and it's going again in March.
Mk3 MR2 - £600.
Toyota Yaris 1.4 diesel. £1500. Brilliant buy so far.
Jeep Cherokke £1000.
Megane (3 off) £90, £150, £300.
Clio 1.5 dci £500 (Now has 178k miles on it).
Fiesta 1.4 TDCI £500.
But I do like them to all be well maintained, clean, in all meaning of the word, and reliable. (Rules the Jeep out at the moment).
Where does it all end??
As a general rule I'd rather buy for £500 than £1500. It's not so much the downside if you buy badly, which is clearly not massive even in the worst case scenario, it's that I've found £1000-£1500 is where you find the cars with lurking problems and unreliability. The really cheap ones aren't unreliable, they're just undesirable. My Corsa had a main dealer history between 2000 and 2014, a big folder full of receipts and only in 2014 did it start receiving home servicing and stop being loved. I presume it had been run and run by its original owner and then when it started to rust and get tatty they traded it in and it went to auction for buttons. Far too old and tatty for a garage to sell so a very limited pool of buyers. Let's face it, people with very low incomes now lease new cars and young kids don't want to be seen in old tat any more.
v15ben said:
Ah, gotcha. Top shed, bit disappointed, thought it was for sale 
Best shed I ever had has just been shipped off to Africa, probably to be an Addis Ababa taxi for the next 30 years, courtesy of an EML light (that had been on for 4 years) that is now an MOT failure. Sadly, to put it right would have cost way more than the 300 pounds I sold it for.
I only paid 850 for it, and took it from 127,000 to 190,000 miles with only brakes, tyres, battery and a starter motor being replaced. Oh and it cost me 30 quid to get the horn reconnected. I would have been happy if it would have lasted 6 months, but 4 years !! Even the AC was ice cold. The car, 2000 Corolla VVTI hatchback.
I only paid 850 for it, and took it from 127,000 to 190,000 miles with only brakes, tyres, battery and a starter motor being replaced. Oh and it cost me 30 quid to get the horn reconnected. I would have been happy if it would have lasted 6 months, but 4 years !! Even the AC was ice cold. The car, 2000 Corolla VVTI hatchback.
Oxford1971 said:
Best shed I ever had has just been shipped off to Africa, probably to be an Addis Ababa taxi for the next 30 years, courtesy of an EML light (that had been on for 4 years) that is now an MOT failure. Sadly, to put it right would have cost way more than the 300 pounds I sold it for.
I only paid 850 for it, and took it from 127,000 to 190,000 miles with only brakes, tyres, battery and a starter motor being replaced. Oh and it cost me 30 quid to get the horn reconnected. I would have been happy if it would have lasted 6 months, but 4 years !! Even the AC was ice cold. The car, 2000 Corolla VVTI hatchback.
It wouldn't fail on the EML, that only applies if the car is registered after 1/7/2008I only paid 850 for it, and took it from 127,000 to 190,000 miles with only brakes, tyres, battery and a starter motor being replaced. Oh and it cost me 30 quid to get the horn reconnected. I would have been happy if it would have lasted 6 months, but 4 years !! Even the AC was ice cold. The car, 2000 Corolla VVTI hatchback.
Eyersey1234 said:
It wouldn't fail on the EML, that 0only applies if the car is registered after 1/7/2008
I can't find anything about this date can you post a link?Edit found it.
https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/m...
''You need to inspect MIL fitted to
petrol vehicles with 4 or more wheels, not more than 8 passenger seats in addition to the driver’s seat and first used on or after 1 July 2003
petrol vehicles with 4 or more wheels, more than 8 passenger seats in addition to the driver’s seat and first used on or after 1 July 2008...
Engine MIL inoperative or indicating a malfunction''
2008 refers to 4 to more than 8 seats.
Edited by Thesprucegoose on Tuesday 11th June 21:47
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