The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
slk 32 said:
The bizarre thing is I've become rather attached to it.. a car that was bought as a 'white goods' vehicle to get me from A to B cheaply and without me caring about it has through it's reliability and frugality wormed it's way into my heart.
This is the problem with a good shed. 
Especially when you've done lots of miles in it.
My Micra is starting to grow on me after 2 faultless trips to the Scottish Highlands this year.
Plan to run it until it dies.
MrGTI6 said:
I assume the ULEZ is enforced through strategically-placed cameras, but if this is the case they have more blind spots than Stevie Wonder. I've driven into central London a few times in my non-compliant 306 and haven't been charged once. Not saying that you'll have the same luck, but might be worth bearing in mind if you're a gambling man.
It would cost me £12.50 a time and the fine is £80.00 if paid within a fortnight. The amount of times I've driven into central London it would have cost me more than double that by now. I have a similar system with the Dartford Crossing. Whilst their cameras are much more effective than they used to be, they are very lenient if you phone them up and will only charge you the standard rate if you plead ignorance.
Yes, I'm a cheapskate...
Are you sure you have driven in when it’s been active and to actual central? It would cost me £12.50 a time and the fine is £80.00 if paid within a fortnight. The amount of times I've driven into central London it would have cost me more than double that by now. I have a similar system with the Dartford Crossing. Whilst their cameras are much more effective than they used to be, they are very lenient if you phone them up and will only charge you the standard rate if you plead ignorance.
Yes, I'm a cheapskate...
The times used to be ok 7am-6pm or something like that mon-fri. I used to wait around the corner until 1 min past and drive in. Now the only day it’s not on is Xmas day. 7.00-22.00 everyday.
During lockdown it wasn’t active.
Both my mates have been done and one of them was turning around turned down a side road and camera caught him.
Saab Aero daily shed has now gone to for scrap. I paid £500 2.5 years ago taking it from 120-170k. I did spend nearly £2k on it but £800 was the clutch at 140k. The rest was just consumables.
Last month balance chain was on the way out and MOT would have needed both shocks. Served me well.
New shed is another Saab 9-3 but sportswagon and in 2.8 form. £900 with about £200 worth of suspension bits thrown in. Won’t be doing the mileage I used to but home to have it a couple of years.
Edited by Aiminghigh123 on Monday 17th August 21:08
Edited by Aiminghigh123 on Monday 17th August 21:09
Aiminghigh123 said:
Saab Aero daily shed has now gone to for scrap. I paid £500 2.5 years ago taking it from 120-170k. I did spend nearly £2k on it but £800 was the clutch at 140k. The rest was just consumables.
Last month balance chain was on the way out and MOT would have needed both shocks. Served me well.
New shed is another Saab 9-3 but sportswagon and in 2.8 form. £900 with about £200 worth of suspension bits thrown in. Won’t be doing the mileage I used to but home to have it a couple of years.
Edited by Aiminghigh123 on Monday 17th August 21:08
Edited by Aiminghigh123 on Monday 17th August 21:09
PrinceRupert said:
So about £80 a month (excl insurance / tax / fuel)? That's around what I expect most old sheds should cost to run, much cheaper than a PCP!
Yes. I would have to pull a spreadsheet but per mile I think it was around 23 per mile all in. About 17p of that is fuel so not bad really. Scrappy gave me £200 for it. I could probably get it down a bit more but tyres and brakes I always go premium. Eagle F1 tyres etc, brakes Brembo or similar.
Aiminghigh123 said:
Saab Aero daily shed has now gone to for scrap. I paid £500 2.5 years ago taking it from 120-170k. I did spend nearly £2k on it but £800 was the clutch at 140k. The rest was just consumables.
Last month balance chain was on the way out and MOT would have needed both shocks. Served me well.
New shed is another Saab 9-3 but sportswagon and in 2.8 form. £900 with about £200 worth of suspension bits thrown in. Won’t be doing the mileage I used to but home to have it a couple of years.
Edited by Aiminghigh123 on Monday 17th August 21:08
Edited by Aiminghigh123 on Monday 17th August 21:09
SAAB's are just great, hidden gems for shedding, and just fine underated cars, and they don't even look like your shedding!!
Bumblebee7 said:
bearman68 said:
That's too long between oil changes for me personally. I do mine at 5k because oil is cheaper than engines or turbos.
But Meganes are tougher than people give them credit for.
Mine gets done approx every 10k miles but I try to do it at 6k when there's a lot of city mileage involved.But Meganes are tougher than people give them credit for.
200 litres of premium quality fully synthetic comes in at £600 - £3 a litre, so £15 to change the oil, and another £5 for filters. Mahle filters for me BTW - probably the best there are.
Best brakes I've found. Brakefit. Half the price of anything else, and are absolutely excellent. Most of the local mechanics use these, and have absolutely no issues with them, including run out and vibration through the steering wheel.
Cam belts - I usually use Gates. I'm not keen on LUK clutches, had trouble with several of these. Bosch wipers, and Delphi suspension parts. Oldham batteries.
I currently run 31 sheds of various ages / specs (but all sheds), and this philosophy works well. Best part of 3/4 million miles a year and yet to loose a turbo (but only been at it 10 years).
There you go, info from the coal face.
v15ben said:
slk 32 said:
The bizarre thing is I've become rather attached to it.. a car that was bought as a 'white goods' vehicle to get me from A to B cheaply and without me caring about it has through it's reliability and frugality wormed it's way into my heart.
This is the problem with a good shed. Especially when you've done lots of miles in it.
My Micra is starting to grow on me after 2 faultless trips to the Scottish Highlands this year.
Plan to run it until it dies.
They bring so much freedom and liberation but ask for hardly any time or attention in return.
Skoda warning light bingo for me this weekend on a trip to west yorkshire
first was the light bulb blown indicator - 10mins trying to find blown bulb nothing - few hours of driving - it went off on its own, then almost straight after
BONG - oil light - got to destination, topped up - all good - then a drive around some very steep sharp roads in 1st/2nd gear in the wet,
yellow steering wheel light came on - quick stop and restart - all good.
first was the light bulb blown indicator - 10mins trying to find blown bulb nothing - few hours of driving - it went off on its own, then almost straight after
BONG - oil light - got to destination, topped up - all good - then a drive around some very steep sharp roads in 1st/2nd gear in the wet,
yellow steering wheel light came on - quick stop and restart - all good.
So many great sheds around now.
Personally I don’t think technology has moved on massively in the last 15 years for ICE. My last Saab 2003 had everything, heated seats, wing mirrors etc parking sensors, climate control, cruise, xenons etc etc. Only modern thing I can think it didn’t have was adaptive cruise control.
Plus the fact I could leave it in a car park and not worry about someone smashing a door onto it.
Personally I don’t think technology has moved on massively in the last 15 years for ICE. My last Saab 2003 had everything, heated seats, wing mirrors etc parking sensors, climate control, cruise, xenons etc etc. Only modern thing I can think it didn’t have was adaptive cruise control.
Plus the fact I could leave it in a car park and not worry about someone smashing a door onto it.
Had a good think about it and it seems daft to get rid of my CRV just to save a few quid in fuel. I know now that it is mostly sorted, had lots of work done to it this year, so I know what sort of shape it is in. Has 12 months MOT and plus I do really like it.
Sure it'd be nice to have a higher spec car, or one that is better on fuel, but I may just be buying another headache at the sort of price range I am looking at.
Some people get bargains for under a grand without any issues at all, I never seem to be one of those people!
I think the current fleet (Panda + CRV) will be with us for a couple years now, unless we have any catastrophic issues. Plus we have the Ducato van as an extra, although we are converting that to a camper.
Sure it'd be nice to have a higher spec car, or one that is better on fuel, but I may just be buying another headache at the sort of price range I am looking at.
Some people get bargains for under a grand without any issues at all, I never seem to be one of those people!
I think the current fleet (Panda + CRV) will be with us for a couple years now, unless we have any catastrophic issues. Plus we have the Ducato van as an extra, although we are converting that to a camper.
I used to enjoy shed motoring but just completely bored of it now as life is too short to be driving about in dreary old crap ( done enough of this when I was in the trade) but addressing the 5k oil change especially on a shed is just plain mental and throwing money away. Putting in new oil isn’t going to clean out the coaked up oil that’s in the turbos bearing housing , and using engine flushes on a Old shed car can lead to earlier engine failure if you’re not careful
gman88667733 said:
Had a good think about it and it seems daft to get rid of my CRV just to save a few quid in fuel. I know now that it is mostly sorted, had lots of work done to it this year, so I know what sort of shape it is in. Has 12 months MOT and plus I do really like it.
Sure it'd be nice to have a higher spec car, or one that is better on fuel, but I may just be buying another headache at the sort of price range I am looking at.
Some people get bargains for under a grand without any issues at all, I never seem to be one of those people!
I think the current fleet (Panda + CRV) will be with us for a couple years now, unless we have any catastrophic issues. Plus we have the Ducato van as an extra, although we are converting that to a camper.
Exactly the right decision IMO, my SAAB i'm lucky to see over 18MPG on but never had a serious issue in 5 years of ownership - starting to look at a replacement now though as the clutch is going, see if it lasts to next MOT then going to make a decision on itSure it'd be nice to have a higher spec car, or one that is better on fuel, but I may just be buying another headache at the sort of price range I am looking at.
Some people get bargains for under a grand without any issues at all, I never seem to be one of those people!
I think the current fleet (Panda + CRV) will be with us for a couple years now, unless we have any catastrophic issues. Plus we have the Ducato van as an extra, although we are converting that to a camper.
Captain Answer said:
Exactly the right decision IMO, my SAAB i'm lucky to see over 18MPG on but never had a serious issue in 5 years of ownership - starting to look at a replacement now though as the clutch is going, see if it lasts to next MOT then going to make a decision on it
The only car i'd really want to replace it with is the 2005+ model so it has the updated gauge clusters and a higher spec so I get a sun roof and heated seats. But again, there isn't much point.gman88667733 said:
The only car i'd really want to replace it with is the 2005+ model so it has the updated gauge clusters and a higher spec so I get a sun roof and heated seats. But again, there isn't much point.
CRV is on my list of potential replacements, along with Nissan x-trail, Merc ML or similarCaptain Answer said:
CRV is on my list of potential replacements, along with Nissan x-trail, Merc ML or similar
I'd highly recommend a petrol auto. Lovely to drive, very smooth gearbox.The petrols are very, very revvyBut I don't think you can go wrong with any of the configurations tbh. Obviously the diesels have more to go wrong.
Although mine is 18 years old, I never worry about it not working, or breaking down at all. Everything works and still feels solid. I'd expect it is cheaper to run than an ML, not sure about an X-Trail. Rav 4's get a good write up too, to be fair.
Edited by gman88667733 on Tuesday 18th August 11:02
Fuzzy69r said:
I used to enjoy shed motoring but just completely bored of it now as life is too short to be driving about in dreary old crap ( done enough of this when I was in the trade) but addressing the 5k oil change especially on a shed is just plain mental and throwing money away. Putting in new oil isn’t going to clean out the coaked up oil that’s in the turbos bearing housing , and using engine flushes on a Old shed car can lead to earlier engine failure if you’re not careful
Maybe you're not cut out for shedding any more! The rest of us are quite happy to spend £40 a year on good oil, so saving £3,000 a year on depreciation.
gman88667733 said:
I'd highly recommend a petrol auto. Lovely to drive, very smooth gearbox.The petrols are very, very revvy
But I don't think you can go wrong with any of the configurations tbh. Obviously the diesels have more to go wrong.
Although mine is 18 years old, I never worry about it not working, or breaking down at all. Everything works and still feels solid. I'd expect it is cheaper to run than an ML, not sure about an X-Trail. Rav 4's get a good write up too, to be fair.
I want a diesel auto really, plan in next few years will be ditch my shed day camper and get a caravan (or have both)But I don't think you can go wrong with any of the configurations tbh. Obviously the diesels have more to go wrong.
Although mine is 18 years old, I never worry about it not working, or breaking down at all. Everything works and still feels solid. I'd expect it is cheaper to run than an ML, not sure about an X-Trail. Rav 4's get a good write up too, to be fair.
Edited by gman88667733 on Tuesday 18th August 11:02
Captain Answer said:
I want a diesel auto really, plan in next few years will be ditch my shed day camper and get a caravan (or have both)
Sadly the Gen 2's don't come in a diesel auto. The Gen 3 does though. They are still nice enough though. Not quite as rugged as the Gen 2's and are less capable off road, but is probably still perfectly fine for towing a caravan.I'd quite happily have a gen 3 diesel auto, but they do tend to hold their value and command quite strong money, even for very high milers.
gman88667733 said:
Sadly the Gen 2's don't come in a diesel auto. The Gen 3 does though. They are still nice enough though. Not quite as rugged as the Gen 2's and are less capable off road, but is probably still perfectly fine for towing a caravan.
I'd quite happily have a gen 3 diesel auto, but they do tend to hold their value and command quite strong money, even for very high milers.
Gen 3 is nice, I really like the Nissan X-Trail also but don't find them in auto and want something easy as possible for towing - manual with any weight behind is just a choreI'd quite happily have a gen 3 diesel auto, but they do tend to hold their value and command quite strong money, even for very high milers.
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