Who refuses to pay a lot for any car?
Discussion
Just curious about this. A little tale which has brought me around to this way of thinking... when I was a little younger, and to be honest, not THAT long ago really, I would think nothing of paying quite a lot of money for cars which, to be quite honest, were really not all that great looking back.
I spent £12K on a Fabia vRS, sold a year later for £10K. Then I bought a Clio 182 for £11K, sold less than 2 years later for £7K. Both hefty losses that have contributed to me being quite badly in debt with very little to show for it.
Much more recently, I've been operating with a much smaller budget, and my last 3 cars, as well as the current one I've put a deposit down for, are all under £2K, and yet, I would say all of them were much more fun to drive than the Fabia and Clio; the cars in question are an E36 328i, MR2 Turbo, Primera GT and now an MX5. In fact the Primera was only £750 and was pretty tidy to look at it and was a hell of a car for the money (despite getting slagged off on here) until it was written off in a rear ender. The MX5 I've just bought is only £950 and seems pretty tidy for what it cost, no rust and some nice subtle modifications.
So when I look back at that, I honestly think I was daft to pay so much for a car, and with such entertaining metal around for pocket money prices I can't envisage a time now when I will spend more than about £2K on a car, and if I do, it would have to be very special. I could have had an Elise or VX220 for what I paid for the Clio, and it would have still been worth something once it was old, and would have been a far better steer. When you think of how much fun you can extract from £1k worth of MX5 or MR2 for example, I now simply couldn't bring myself to spend say £10K on a Clio or a Golf GTI or whatever.
I'm not knocking the folks who do spend plenty - if you can afford it why not I guess, but unless you need practicality or comfort, why wouldn't someone buy something a lot nicer if they were into their driving? I kind of liken it to people who claim to love music but listen to it with some cheap argos stereo when for the same money you can buy seperates off ebay and enjoy a much better sound.
So, how many PHers refuse to pay much more than shed money for their cars?
I spent £12K on a Fabia vRS, sold a year later for £10K. Then I bought a Clio 182 for £11K, sold less than 2 years later for £7K. Both hefty losses that have contributed to me being quite badly in debt with very little to show for it.
Much more recently, I've been operating with a much smaller budget, and my last 3 cars, as well as the current one I've put a deposit down for, are all under £2K, and yet, I would say all of them were much more fun to drive than the Fabia and Clio; the cars in question are an E36 328i, MR2 Turbo, Primera GT and now an MX5. In fact the Primera was only £750 and was pretty tidy to look at it and was a hell of a car for the money (despite getting slagged off on here) until it was written off in a rear ender. The MX5 I've just bought is only £950 and seems pretty tidy for what it cost, no rust and some nice subtle modifications.
So when I look back at that, I honestly think I was daft to pay so much for a car, and with such entertaining metal around for pocket money prices I can't envisage a time now when I will spend more than about £2K on a car, and if I do, it would have to be very special. I could have had an Elise or VX220 for what I paid for the Clio, and it would have still been worth something once it was old, and would have been a far better steer. When you think of how much fun you can extract from £1k worth of MX5 or MR2 for example, I now simply couldn't bring myself to spend say £10K on a Clio or a Golf GTI or whatever.
I'm not knocking the folks who do spend plenty - if you can afford it why not I guess, but unless you need practicality or comfort, why wouldn't someone buy something a lot nicer if they were into their driving? I kind of liken it to people who claim to love music but listen to it with some cheap argos stereo when for the same money you can buy seperates off ebay and enjoy a much better sound.
So, how many PHers refuse to pay much more than shed money for their cars?
jezhumphrey75 said:
anybody who slags of a primera gt on here needs a bullet in the head
A bit harsh perhaps! However, I definitely thought it was underrated. I really liked mine, and the only things wrong with it was the incredibly harsh ride quality and the fact it was FWD.
It was a good, reliable, practical & cheap to run and insure car for someone who needs to run a car on a very tight budget but still wants something that can put a smile on your face.
Presently if I were looking, £3500-£4000 would be my uppermost limit and I'd be looking at something 7-10 years old with around 100k on the clock. You can get a lot of car for that. I know people who will think nothing of spending thousands on a car just because it has '61' in the numberplate. I'm happy that mine is worth pennies, is 12 years old and isn't a 1.1 Twingo on finance. Also people who have done this mock me because my car isn't great on fuel, even though their deprecating eco box is costing them hundreds a month in repayments.
Ever since I started driving I've had paranoia about having any sort of insurance claim. Of course I had the first silly prang during the first few months like most (slightly nudged a car door whilst 3 point turning. To this end, even now I'm at the stage I could have a modern car worth 10-15k on finance, I can never see myself doing it. My logic now is that I want to be able to just walk away from any car and not have to worry if I ding it into a tree or something, so I'll never have fully comp. insurance.
My most expensive car, my Mk4 Astra was 2k 2 and a bit years ago and I even felt a bit twitchy about that!
And of course there's the whole modern cars are a pain in the arse to work on and fault find without expensive equipment. I can flash fault codes on the two injected cars with a paper clip and have boxes of spares for all of them.
I'll be the first to admit a couple of Astras aren't the definitive driving experience, but they're reliable, fairly economical and great to look at (IMO) with very predictable handling.
My most expensive car, my Mk4 Astra was 2k 2 and a bit years ago and I even felt a bit twitchy about that!
And of course there's the whole modern cars are a pain in the arse to work on and fault find without expensive equipment. I can flash fault codes on the two injected cars with a paper clip and have boxes of spares for all of them.
I'll be the first to admit a couple of Astras aren't the definitive driving experience, but they're reliable, fairly economical and great to look at (IMO) with very predictable handling.
sparks_E39 said:
Presently if I were looking, £3500-£4000 would be my uppermost limit and I'd be looking at something 7-10 years old with around 100k on the clock. You can get a lot of car for that. I know people who will think nothing of spending thousands on a car just because it has '61' in the numberplate. I'm happy that mine is worth pennies, is 12 years old and isn't a 1.1 Twingo on finance. Also people who have done this mock me because my car isn't great on fuel, even though their deprecating eco box is costing them hundreds a month in repayments.
I would consider paying £4K for something really nice like a FI'd MX5 (why pay double for a 120 bhp Elise when you can have at least as much fun and go a LOT faster for half the money?) or a minty mint MR2 Turbo with some mild tweaking 
or even something like a mint E36 M3.Petrol prices and rip off insurance aside, its never been cheaper to be able to pilot some really fantastic drivers cars for pennies.
I remember the look on a colleagues face when I pulled up in my tidy bright red and freshly washed E36 328i Sport; the comment went something along the lines of "ooh thats nice, bet it was expensive". Nope, it was actually £1800. The look on their face was priceless!
Astra Dan said:
My logic now is that I want to be able to just walk away from any car and not have to worry if I ding it into a tree or something, so I'll never have fully comp. insurance.
To be honest, 3rd party insurance for me was more expensive than fully comp, and at least with fully comp you generally have the benefit of windscreen cover which I noticed was missing from a lot of 3rd party policies.I'm the same - my three cars actually come to a total cost of £1550, with the current being the vast majority of that and still worth the same. Would probably sell for a few quid more if the right person turned up.
My plans read something like two or so grand on an E39 540i - more money than you guys are talking, but still a silly small fraction of the price new and leaving almost no depreciation space at all - or three grand onto an E46 330ci, which has the reasoning of being the best-driving, quickest respectable and motorway-capable car I can think of. Again, it ain't gonna lose much and cost ten times that new.
Newer performance cars I can understand. What makes no sense to me is spending thousands on new boring hatchbacks - I would park the Audi, V6 and leather abound, at school between crappy Mazdas and nasty Fiestas that cost five or in some cases ten times as much, and I could see literally no advantage they had over me.
Unless you're concerned about fuel economy, I guess
but I've yet to spend the four grand extra you'd need to pay for a horribly slow and noisy 2005 1.25 Fiesta in fuel!
My plans read something like two or so grand on an E39 540i - more money than you guys are talking, but still a silly small fraction of the price new and leaving almost no depreciation space at all - or three grand onto an E46 330ci, which has the reasoning of being the best-driving, quickest respectable and motorway-capable car I can think of. Again, it ain't gonna lose much and cost ten times that new.
Newer performance cars I can understand. What makes no sense to me is spending thousands on new boring hatchbacks - I would park the Audi, V6 and leather abound, at school between crappy Mazdas and nasty Fiestas that cost five or in some cases ten times as much, and I could see literally no advantage they had over me.
Unless you're concerned about fuel economy, I guess
but I've yet to spend the four grand extra you'd need to pay for a horribly slow and noisy 2005 1.25 Fiesta in fuel!TameRacingDriver said:
That looks a tidy M3 cab you've got there 
Cheers fella, few more pics here...
http://mobile.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=...
TameRacingDriver said:
Astra Dan said:
My logic now is that I want to be able to just walk away from any car and not have to worry if I ding it into a tree or something, so I'll never have fully comp. insurance.
To be honest, 3rd party insurance for me was more expensive than fully comp, and at least with fully comp you generally have the benefit of windscreen cover which I noticed was missing from a lot of 3rd party policies. - and when the windscreen could do with replacing anyway, why not? It also means I'll get driving other cars cover when I reach whatever the age threshold is these days.ETA - ToasterPilot, drive an ST170 at length before you buy - I found it quite harsh-riding, and the engine noisier and thirstier than it needed to be, given that the car itself wasn't as quick as I expected!
Edited by McSam on Sunday 18th December 09:56
me - there is no point in buying a newish car on finance
my newest addition cost me one grand a year ago, its faster than the current hot hatches which start at 20grand, it has leather heated electric seats which even my parents new mercedes amgs dont have , a good stereo , i drove to spain and back with no issues in september. little has gone wrong with it and zero depreciation, i would rather spend my cash on a penthouse and 5 holidays a year
my newest addition cost me one grand a year ago, its faster than the current hot hatches which start at 20grand, it has leather heated electric seats which even my parents new mercedes amgs dont have , a good stereo , i drove to spain and back with no issues in september. little has gone wrong with it and zero depreciation, i would rather spend my cash on a penthouse and 5 holidays a year
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