The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
spreadsheet monkey said:
Depends who you ask. I had a Jazz Blue Mk4 GTI 1.8T back in the day and loved it.
But others will tell you that the Mk2 and the Mk5 were the best Golfs (both the GTIs and the vanilla models).
The latest Mk4s are not far off 20 years old, but the VW "scene" is a powerful thing and one day even a bog standard 1.6 Golf Mk4 will be considered a classic and put on display at a VW show somewhere.
But until it hits classic status, £1k (or less) sounds about right for a non-sporty Golf Mk4 that isn't pristine or a "time warp" low mileage car. If you like them, go ahead and hoard them!
I love mine.But others will tell you that the Mk2 and the Mk5 were the best Golfs (both the GTIs and the vanilla models).
The latest Mk4s are not far off 20 years old, but the VW "scene" is a powerful thing and one day even a bog standard 1.6 Golf Mk4 will be considered a classic and put on display at a VW show somewhere.
But until it hits classic status, £1k (or less) sounds about right for a non-sporty Golf Mk4 that isn't pristine or a "time warp" low mileage car. If you like them, go ahead and hoard them!
I got it back in February as a temporary car when my old Jag met it's maker.
I've replaced the Jag and still have the Golf. It's so useful. £200 paid all in.
cedrichn said:
Arnie Cunningham said:
I see. That makes it quite a compelling model then if no upfront, no mileage limit and so forth.
You can go and have a look at the "lease" part of PH: they developed their own dialect when it comes to comparing lease deals :PDigby said:
There are plenty with no up front costs, it just means you pay more a month. Many lease sites offer sliding bars etc to adjust how much you want to put down, whether you want a maintenance package, yearly mileage and length of term etc and they will calculate the monthly cost as you adjust.
It is the same as "New Car from £20 000 only" which after you put Air Con + Sat Nav + Cruise control (which add mandatory 20" wheels) comes up at £35 000: lease company are hiding everything....
It is funny how people are so proud to say "I pay only £300 per month for this shinny [whatever]", but forget to tell you how much they put down as a first payment, and that they are stuck with this car for 3 years, for a grand total of 8 or 12k miles per year max. Somehow, these are details to them...
However, the delivery time just kept getting pushed back further and further and the feeling I got from Seat was that I was lucky they were even letting me have one of their cars.
If I want something I want it now, I find it crazy in this day and age that you are expected to wait four to six months for a bog standard middle of the road, mundane car so I came to my senses and cancelled it. It was actually a relief when it was cancelled as the whole process just seemed such a hassle. Like most people on this thread, if I need a car I much prefer the excitement of going on eBay and just seeing what I can find.
I would imagine there are quite a lot of people who are currently WFH, do very little mileage and are still paying £400+ a month for a lease car to sit on their drive for another couple of years.
Joey Deacon said:
I came very close to "Fisting the kumquat" on a Seat Leon lease a couple of years ago. It was £149 a month with a deposit of six months payments up front, this was pretty much the best deal on a car I could find anywhere. I think it roughly worked out to £4500 for 2 years and 20K miles.
Less than £200 a month (spreading the deposit over the term of the the lease) for a brand new family hatchback, breakdown cover, everything under warranty, no MOTs, probably no need for tyres. I'm pretty sure there's no chance of anything that cheap in 2021.Appreciate it would be of no interest to the committed shedders on this thread, but for some people that's a great deal, and they'd be delighted not to have to think about MOTs or doing their own servicing on the driveway.
They set aside a monthly amount that they're willing to spend, and in return they get an easy life and no car-related dramas or unexpected bills.
cedrichn said:
You can go and have a look at the "lease" part of PH: they developed their own dialect when it comes to comparing lease deals :P
It is the same as "New Car from £20 000 only" which after you put Air Con + Sat Nav + Cruise control (which add mandatory 20" wheels) comes up at £35 000: lease company are hiding everything....
It is funny how people are so proud to say "I pay only £300 per month for this shinny [whatever]", but forget to tell you how much they put down as a first payment, and that they are stuck with this car for 3 years, for a grand total of 8 or 12k miles per year max. Somehow, these are details to them...
I guess it just depends what people want and the deals on offer. We were going to lease something quite boring for my wife for example and ended up with a Cupra 290 dsg with no deposit, iirc a 3 year term, maintenance package and 8k a year (which we would never do) for 320pm. That was only a little more than something far less interesting and had every extra you could want with any colour choice you required at no extra cost.It is the same as "New Car from £20 000 only" which after you put Air Con + Sat Nav + Cruise control (which add mandatory 20" wheels) comes up at £35 000: lease company are hiding everything....
It is funny how people are so proud to say "I pay only £300 per month for this shinny [whatever]", but forget to tell you how much they put down as a first payment, and that they are stuck with this car for 3 years, for a grand total of 8 or 12k miles per year max. Somehow, these are details to them...
I hardly used it, though. I was happy with my sheds.
spreadsheet monkey said:
Joey Deacon said:
I came very close to "Fisting the kumquat" on a Seat Leon lease a couple of years ago. It was £149 a month with a deposit of six months payments up front, this was pretty much the best deal on a car I could find anywhere. I think it roughly worked out to £4500 for 2 years and 20K miles.
Less than £200 a month (spreading the deposit over the term of the the lease) for a brand new family hatchback, breakdown cover, everything under warranty, no MOTs, probably no need for tyres. I'm pretty sure there's no chance of anything that cheap in 2021.Appreciate it would be of no interest to the committed shedders on this thread, but for some people that's a great deal, and they'd be delighted not to have to think about MOTs or doing their own servicing on the driveway.
They set aside a monthly amount that they're willing to spend, and in return they get an easy life and no car-related dramas or unexpected bills.
If the delivery time had been what I was originally quoted I would have gone with it, but when you see it dragging on for four to six months and you arer the one chasing you just lose interest.
You are correct in that you would never get a deal as good as that today, having just checked the equivalent car now over 24 months would be £6500.
Joey Deacon said:
spreadsheet monkey said:
Joey Deacon said:
I came very close to "Fisting the kumquat" on a Seat Leon lease a couple of years ago. It was £149 a month with a deposit of six months payments up front, this was pretty much the best deal on a car I could find anywhere. I think it roughly worked out to £4500 for 2 years and 20K miles.
Less than £200 a month (spreading the deposit over the term of the the lease) for a brand new family hatchback, breakdown cover, everything under warranty, no MOTs, probably no need for tyres. I'm pretty sure there's no chance of anything that cheap in 2021.Appreciate it would be of no interest to the committed shedders on this thread, but for some people that's a great deal, and they'd be delighted not to have to think about MOTs or doing their own servicing on the driveway.
They set aside a monthly amount that they're willing to spend, and in return they get an easy life and no car-related dramas or unexpected bills.
If the delivery time had been what I was originally quoted I would have gone with it, but when you see it dragging on for four to six months and you arer the one chasing you just lose interest.
You are correct in that you would never get a deal as good as that today, having just checked the equivalent car now over 24 months would be £6500.
Arnie Cunningham said:
Thank you for the explanation of how these lease deals work. I’m completely ignorant of them, really. Never have had a lease, never will.
I'm impressed that you've been on PH for 18+ years and have maintained your ignorance of how lease deals work 
There are entire threads on the site devoted to chatting about the latest hot lease deals (although there are few bargains to be had lately).
ooid said:
Is it me or vw golf mk4s, still a bit under-valued? I justchecked recently, most of them are still around 1k or even less...I've been driving two of them for years now, can't see any big maintenance bills with them thinking of now getting another one just to keep a second spare set of wheels! 
Just you;) I think some of them ate quite optimistically priced but theyre like 17 years old minimum and theyre not really sought after are they...yet;)? In perspective when I passed my test I got a 12 year old clio for a grand and sold it for like 150 in 3 years time but a golf of that age or older you can still lay up to 1500 for so to me it's not underprived even though "it's a vw" I hope they stay cheap I've convinced the mrs into having one as our shed/runaround when she gives her pcp back end of this year
ive always wanted one and may finally get one.OllieJolly said:
What spec/engine, cknotty?
My partner's is a '60 1.4 (NA) SRI.
"Dangerously underpowered", apparently. 99bhp mustn't be enough these days, even though it feels perfectly zippy to me.
Oil filter is on top though with easy access, so it only took me a few minutes the other day to change the oil.
'12 1.6 'Exclusiv' so has a heady 115bhp! Feels perfectly fine to me too. How do you find the electronic handbrake? I discounted SRI models and above for that reason (although it think it was dropped in subsequent model years). I had it in a hire Astra once and couldn't work out how to do a hill start as it seemed to want the brake pedal depressed to release the handbrake. Maybe it was a Vauxhall thing as tested pulling away with it on in a Zafira once and it dragged its tail on the ground before it finally decided to release My partner's is a '60 1.4 (NA) SRI.
"Dangerously underpowered", apparently. 99bhp mustn't be enough these days, even though it feels perfectly zippy to me.
Oil filter is on top though with easy access, so it only took me a few minutes the other day to change the oil.
I'm good at ignoring stuff I don't find interesting. Otherwise you end up having debates about irrelevant minutiae. There's enough of that on the threads I do participate in.
I've never even contemplated a lease deal on a car so never bothered to find out how they work - because if I can't afford a particular car, I just buy a cheaper one I can afford. It does mean I have generally only ever driven older cars, although we have bought a couple at 3-4 years old. One of which is the MG I refer to above. 2004 model, bought with 16K on the clock @ in 2008 for 5K IIRC. 13 years later we still have it, albeit it's getting tired now.
Just for kicks, I have now clicked a few pages on carwow earlier - they are good at hiding all the extra costs aren't they.
18 years. Bloody hell. I have got old.
I've never even contemplated a lease deal on a car so never bothered to find out how they work - because if I can't afford a particular car, I just buy a cheaper one I can afford. It does mean I have generally only ever driven older cars, although we have bought a couple at 3-4 years old. One of which is the MG I refer to above. 2004 model, bought with 16K on the clock @ in 2008 for 5K IIRC. 13 years later we still have it, albeit it's getting tired now.
Just for kicks, I have now clicked a few pages on carwow earlier - they are good at hiding all the extra costs aren't they.
18 years. Bloody hell. I have got old.
spreadsheet monkey said:
I'm impressed that you've been on PH for 18+ years and have maintained your ignorance of how lease deals work
There are entire threads on the site devoted to chatting about the latest hot lease deals (although there are few bargains to be had lately).
There are entire threads on the site devoted to chatting about the latest hot lease deals (although there are few bargains to be had lately).
Arnie Cunningham said:
I'm still struggling to get my head round your business model.
So you charge 100-150 per month for a shed, I think you said?
But on carwow I can see a few cars for <150 per month - which are brand new.
I'm obviously missing an important point somewhere in here.
Maybe - my service is very good - courtesy car if it breaks, generous limits on miles, tyres included in the price and generally very nice cars, just older ones. So Volvo S60 D5 type thing. You'll struggle to beat that as a motorway cruiser, no matter how much you spend. Cheaper things are available from me, but the S60's are top end.So you charge 100-150 per month for a shed, I think you said?
But on carwow I can see a few cars for <150 per month - which are brand new.
I'm obviously missing an important point somewhere in here.
No credit checks, No deposit, No long contract. Very very flexible. Also if you fancy swapping the car for a week or 2 for a holiday, I'm fine with that. Loads of reasons to drive a bearman shed
cknotty said:
'12 1.6 'Exclusiv' so has a heady 115bhp! Feels perfectly fine to me too. How do you find the electronic handbrake? I discounted SRI models and above for that reason (although it think it was dropped in subsequent model years). I had it in a hire Astra once and couldn't work out how to do a hill start as it seemed to want the brake pedal depressed to release the handbrake. Maybe it was a Vauxhall thing as tested pulling away with it on in a Zafira once and it dragged its tail on the ground before it finally decided to release
I haven't seen a facelifted Astra with the electronic parking brake.I like it, but it depends on the circumstances.
With her current 1.4 and her previous 2.0 CDTI it holds for a little longer than I'd like, but you don't need to release it manually just set off as you normally would. It's not great for the clutch/flywheel though.
On uphill starts I will wait for it to release before accelerating properly, as otherwise it just drags the tail end as you say, but aside from that I will rev briefly in neutral and lift the clutch pedal, and that releases it, and then I'll put in gear and set off as normal. It's hard to explain via the medium of words.
bearman68 said:
Agree, not everything is smooth all the time. I've spent most of the morning recovering one of our cars from the police pound 3 hours drive away.
So if someone doesn't pay for a month - do you go round and collect it? Do you have any leverage to either get your car back, or a get them to pay?I guess most people are decent - but you must have a blacklist too?
And can we ask - police pound - what had they seized it for?
OllieJolly said:
I haven't seen a facelifted Astra with the electronic parking brake.
I like it, but it depends on the circumstances.
With her current 1.4 and her previous 2.0 CDTI it holds for a little longer than I'd like, but you don't need to release it manually just set off as you normally would. It's not great for the clutch/flywheel though.
On uphill starts I will wait for it to release before accelerating properly, as otherwise it just drags the tail end as you say, but aside from that I will rev briefly in neutral and lift the clutch pedal, and that releases it, and then I'll put in gear and set off as normal. It's hard to explain via the medium of words.
I hate electronic handbrakes. Can't stand em.I like it, but it depends on the circumstances.
With her current 1.4 and her previous 2.0 CDTI it holds for a little longer than I'd like, but you don't need to release it manually just set off as you normally would. It's not great for the clutch/flywheel though.
On uphill starts I will wait for it to release before accelerating properly, as otherwise it just drags the tail end as you say, but aside from that I will rev briefly in neutral and lift the clutch pedal, and that releases it, and then I'll put in gear and set off as normal. It's hard to explain via the medium of words.
Captain Answer said:
Arnie Cunningham said:
I hate electronic handbrakes. Can't stand em.
Same.... sod that too much to go wrong, I'm not a big fan of foot operated parking brakes eitherMy 2001 Polo saloon and 2003 Seat Cordoba (essentially the same car) both had the welds break on the floorpan, meaning the handbrake ripped up the floor instead of applying.
Many of my other cars have had too much movement (6-7 clicks to hold the car, if it will hold) and I had one snap a cable.
Granted it's anecdotal and I haven't had as many electric ones to compare with, but I disagree with the idea that there's too much to go wrong. You're already in that camp with any car modern enough to be equipped with one. Personally, I don't like having to try and adjust a manual one correctly, my C5 at the moment (handbrake on the front wheels) is awful and I haven't even attempted it yet.
I suppose for the Astra, at least, the only thing that bothers me is that it's a little more work to change the rear pads as I have to put the handbrake in 'service mode', but really you can just do it in the car with the button, and then the same after to take it out and calibrate it.
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