Bangernomics

[Barchettaman]

There’s a bit of confusion here between ‘bangernomics’ and ‘shedding’.

Bangernomics: buy something really cheap and then scrap when the first big bill/unpassable MoT comes in. Rinse and repeat. Cleaning the thing is frowned upon. Ditchfinders if a tyre goes. A ‘devil-may-care’ attitude and good breakdown cover are essential.

Shedding: buy cheapish with a ‘war chest’ for unexpected bills. Renew belts/fluids. Tyres get replaced with decent mud-range. Show it a sponge. Possibly develop a mild emotional attachment.

Shedding ‘properly’ (as per the Passat thread on RC): buy an old VAG estate that you like and replace/renew everything, leaving you with a practically as-new 12 yr old car.

Obviously there is plenty of grey area between these categories.

[Byff]

Bought myself a Volvo V70 estate for £400 while my car was off the road for a restoration.

The drivers window goes up/down wonky and needs guiding by hand to close.
Fuel tank leaks if over half full.
Auto box is very sluggish but it works.
Engine ticks a bit when you first start it up.
It's full of dents and scratches.

But....

The heaters and air con work.
Heated seats work.
The boot is huge for skip runs.
Miraculously, it passed it's MOT.

It only let me down when I came back from holiday and the fuel pump had run dry/stopped working. The AA gave it a whack and away it went again. If that hadn't solved the problem, it would have been towed to the scrap yard. Total amount spent on it in 7 months is £0 (or £50 if you include the MOT).

My car is now back from it's restoration, but the Volvo is still the car that gets used most of the time.

[Barchettaman]

Dog Star said:

Barchettaman said:

I usually buy part-worn tyres or wheelsets on Ebay.de, this saves hundreds of euros too. My winters were €200 for 7mm tyres on nice 17" rims, my summers were €80 for a set of four nearly-new Goodyear EfficientGrip.

This is a really good tip - thanks!

Having done this in the past, I’m not sure I will anymore.

Nexen tyres seem to offer the performance of a REALLY good mid-range for the price of a LingLong ditchfinder, so that’s what’s going on our family bus. €56 a corner in 215/60 r16 seems OK.

[M1C]

Barchettaman said:

There’s a bit of confusion here between ‘bangernomics’ and ‘shedding’.

Bangernomics: buy something really cheap and then scrap when the first big bill/unpassable MoT comes in. Rinse and repeat. Cleaning the thing is frowned upon. Ditchfinders if a tyre goes. A ‘devil-may-care’ attitude and good breakdown cover are essential.

Shedding: buy cheapish with a ‘war chest’ for unexpected bills. Renew belts/fluids. Tyres get replaced with decent mud-range. Show it a sponge. Possibly develop a mild emotional attachment.

Shedding ‘properly’ (as per the Passat thread on RC): buy an old VAG estate that you like and replace/renew everything, leaving you with a practically as-new 12 yr old car.

Obviously there is plenty of grey area between these categories.

Agreed about the grey areas.

I'm very much in your Bangernomics description - with the exception that no breakdown cover is ever sought! Thats just an extra expense! If a breakdown happens, ask a friend or family, it's cheaper! - I will clean occasionally and i do get attached to the cars - but i definitely dont fall into either of your Shedding descriptions.

[Dog Star]

M1C said:

I'm very much in your Bangernomics description - with the exception that no breakdown cover is ever sought! Thats just an extra expense! If a breakdown happens, ask a friend or family, it's cheaper!

That's just taking the piss, IMO. Unless they were terminally impoverished and not just running a banger on the cheap if someone - no matter how good a friend - called me up expecting a tow/something fixed at the side of the road because they were too tight to pay for breakdown cover then they'd find the phone put down on them.

[GeordieInExile]

M1C said:

Agreed about the grey areas.

I'm very much in your Bangernomics description - with the exception that no breakdown cover is ever sought! Thats just an extra expense! If a breakdown happens, ask a friend or family, it's cheaper! - I will clean occasionally and i do get attached to the cars - but i definitely dont fall into either of your Shedding descriptions.

Mine gets a 3 quid (half price!) 'Gold' car wash every 3-4 months, as a special treat.

The garage also gave it a valeting after my last MOT!

[Superchickenn]

The one thing ive started to do is improve on the parts.

All of my Golf's are 150,000 milles plus and two of them are 200,000 plus, therefore the suspension is starting to tiring, ive taken the choice to poly the bushes and purchase new springs and shocks. this will bring the cars enjoyment back for a fairly little expense. I was lucky to find a company that were selling "seconds" with the poly kit due to coloration issues..

[egor110]

swisstoni said:

jeremyh1 said:

swisstoni said:

I used to look for cars that depreciated like a stone.
That way you could pick up something with a bit of working life left in it.

That used to be large French saloons. I don’t know if there is an equivalent these days.

still big o Citreons if you love the spanners and playing with the fault code reader all weekend
The c5 and C6 if you love the workshop that much

Funny enough it was a C5. Bought it for £4K at 3 years old and ran it for 10 years.
Regularly serviced - it was fine and had no rust.
Don’t trot out that old pub folklore just for the sake of it.

Plus is there anything more comfy for under a grand than a c5 , I don't think so.

[strain]

Theres a fine line between bangernomics and a petrol head

Current steed of a fiesta cost me £150 with 73k on the clock. 6 months in and its great but I have done some work to it that wasn't necessary.

Fixed drivers window
new interior (with working tile handles)
New steering wheel
tinted headlights
new mirrors

other bits that are needed
new wheel bearing
rear tyre
oil pressure sensor
new drivers door lock

On the to do - new suspension (rear shocks are gone)
new coolant bootle and full flush
oil and filter change (have the bits just need time)
4 decent tyres (will go new and spend more than the car cost)

I think ultimately i'm happy to pay the little extras as I like to know everything works on my basic car and its safe, I'm happy knowing I'll never lose serious money, things like tyres are consumables so I don't include them in the cost of the car, its ownership which any car has, if this dies I would either replace the engine or strip it for parts

[Toaster Pilot]

strain said:

Theres a fine line between bangernomics and a petrol head

I don’t understand the correlation at all

[Integroo]

Toaster Pilot said:

I don’t understand the correlation at all

Buying bangers and putting time and money into fixing them vs buying bangers then punting on with a short MOT when you are scared it will fail badly.

Edit: or ofc scrapping when it explodes

Edited by Integroo on Tuesday 20th March 10:39

[Toaster Pilot]

Bangernomics is buying a stter and spending the very bare minimum on it, binning it when it sts anything expensive

It’s the polar opposite of giving a st about motoring

[egor110]

Toaster Pilot said:

Bangernomics is buying a stter and spending the very bare minimum on it, binning it when it sts anything expensive

It’s the polar opposite of giving a st about motoring

Depends what you buy surely ?

Is someone with a £500 puma going to have a better handling car than mr boring with his white leased Audi A4 like every other clone ?

[Integroo]

egor110 said:

Depends what you buy surely ?

Is someone with a £500 puma going to have a better handling car than mr boring with his white leased Audi A4 like every other clone ?

I suppose the question is buying a £500 Puma then spending a bit of time and money refreshing the suspension, new discs and pads, new tyres, changing the oil and filter, still bangernomics?

[egor110]

Integroo said:

egor110 said:

Depends what you buy surely ?

Is someone with a £500 puma going to have a better handling car than mr boring with his white leased Audi A4 like every other clone ?

I suppose the question is buying a £500 Puma then spending a bit of time and money refreshing the suspension, new discs and pads, new tyres, changing the oil and filter, still bangernomics?

Depends, mines only just done 60k so still pretty tight.

Oil and filter is such a cheap job to do it's not worth factoring in.

Discs and pads cost what maybe £100 ?

[Toaster Pilot]

Integroo said:

I suppose the question is buying a £500 Puma then spending a bit of time and money refreshing the suspension, new discs and pads, new tyres, changing the oil and filter, still bangernomics?

No.

Driving an old cheap car you care about and maintain and bangernomics are completely different things.

[Hoofy]

Being a petrolhead is about enjoying driving.

[Integroo]

egor110 said:

Depends, mines only just done 60k so still pretty tight.

Oil and filter is such a cheap job to do it's not worth factoring in.

Discs and pads cost what maybe £100 ?

Provided you do the work yourself, all of the above might cost £500? Then you have a well-sorted banger. Ofc, if you can't do the work yourself, it is more expensive.

[CX53]

I quite like having older cars. So much so I’m looking at trying to terminate the current lease early or buying an accompanying banger because I’m doing more miles than anticipated and if I carry on I’ll be hit with a £600 bill for the extra.

£600 would buy a decent old banger! I certainly wouldn’t begrudge spending £500 or so making it right either. I think you just have to choose the right car to plough money in to...

Sort a few niggles on a non rusty and well maintained petrol focus or Corolla and you could probably get a few years out of it at least. Or if you do what I’ve done many times and buy something more complicated like a Saab 9-5 aero and it could eat in to your maintenance war chest and lots more with a single visit to the garage.

Quite tempted by a 106 1.5D next.

[M1C]

Dog Star said:

M1C said:

I'm very much in your Bangernomics description - with the exception that no breakdown cover is ever sought! Thats just an extra expense! If a breakdown happens, ask a friend or family, it's cheaper!

That's just taking the piss, IMO. Unless they were terminally impoverished and not just running a banger on the cheap if someone - no matter how good a friend - called me up expecting a tow/something fixed at the side of the road because they were too tight to pay for breakdown cover then they'd find the phone put down on them.

Absolutely disagree. If a friend has a breakdown - i will help them, they would do the same for me - thats what friends/family are for. Again though, i've been lucky and haven't really had any breakdowns, despite my previous bangerage.