Re: A cheap car?

I've got an old (W reg) Toyota Yaris, if you can get hold of one of these I can thoroughly recommend it. It's the best car I've had, cheap to run and the only problem I've had with it was it needed a new exhaust. When it eventually dies I won't replace it as we have lots of buses locally, but, for now I wouldn't swap it!

Re: A cheap car?

I used to be quite keen on car mechanics so I'm happy enough to do a bit of maintenance & minor repairs, but I'm getting too fat & old to lie on my back changing gearboxes.
A scrapyard would be my first choice for many spares, hence the preference for a Fiesta.

We once had a Daihatsu Charade willed on us, as they say. It was nice enough to drive, but the spares were as rare as hen's teeth and hideously expensive. Hence, again, my preference for something a bit more common, ie more likely to be found in a scrapyard

I'm not bothered about sun roofs, a CD player, air conditioning, central locking, electric windows, or any of the other bells & whistles. The simpler the better as far as I'm concerned, but finding a basic car now is hard work

A brief Surf shows that there are plenty of cars with MOTs till December or up to a full year

Think I'll go into town tomorrow and buy a couple of magazines, then browse through them over breakfast in Wetherspoons

Re: A cheap car?

Really, when considering what car to buy, you need to assess the TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP rather than the cost of the initial purchase. The latter is a mislead and not representative of what you will pay in the life of the car.

Key factors are:

Initial cost
Fuel consumption and thus cost of fuel you will use
Cost of regular spares (tyres, exhausts, brakes)
Cost of insurance
Cost of road tax
Likely residual value after X number of years

A seemingly "cheap" car can in fact be anything but. The person who buys a low end city micro car can be worse off than the person who bought a high end marque like Audi, Volvo, BMX etc.

The main way to reduce your total cost of ownership is to keep the same car for many years, until it packs in actually. I have had my car for some 14-15 years now. I finished paying for it after the 3rd year. It was an expensive coupe, with a 3.0 litre V6 engine. It's not a road raging petrol head monster mobile, just a plush, sleek, beautifully designed and dream to drive vehicle. I probably paid about £19K for it 14 years ago and it was almost but not quite brand new when I did (no more than 6 months old). It is packed with gadgets that back then, few other cars had, like rain sensitive wipers, auto dimming rear view mirror, electric heated side mirrors, electric seats, heated seats and so on. These days most of that technology is standard fare.

The point is though that this car has never once let me down. Never once broken down and has put a smile on my face every day I got into it and drove it away. Spread over 15 years that initial cost is about £1200 per year. Most people spend far more than that on cars, often buying another car every 3 years or so and losing £000s in depreciation. Many of those cars will be lower marques that will break down, require repair expense and expensive parts. You DO get what you pay for and cheap can be a false economy.

Re: A cheap car?

You do make me smile Realist.

I think most of us well aware of the total cost of ownership but some of us do not have a choice about the cars we buy as it is a question of finance and availability at the price we can actually afford.

I now drive a 2002 Fiat Punto 1.2, bought for £2000 in 2010.

My Astra failed it's MOT and the cost of the repairs were far more than the thing was actually worth so I went to the garage I'd bought the Astra from 13 years before when someone wrote-off my previous Astra and the 1.2 Punto Active was the only one that was what I really needed.

I knew spares were pricey but as I needed transport quickly to try to find another job at the time I had to use all of our savings for this car.

It is very basic - no central locking, no CD Player, no heated mirror - nothing, but it's what I needed and still need.

Locally I get an average of 45 - 52mpg, depending on the weather and the time of year and last year on a long run I got 58mpg coming back from North Norfolk.

The Astra never gave me much more than 36mpg!

Those pricey spares have cost me a bit but I do opt for Fiat spares as I did find some minor differences with cheap spares were not advised by Fiat, spark plugs in particular!

Apart from one major problem it's not let me down since then, unlike my Astra, which was 2 years old when I bought it.

Ideally I'd like a newer car but this car is reliable and will do for us for a while yet; I don't feel any need to impress anyone else by buying something inappropriate for our needs either. stevmk2

Re: A cheap car?

You can easily pick up a decent vehicle for around £500 these days, probably even with a years MOT.

I bought my 1994 Peugeot 405 1.9 Turbo Diesel brand new but now it would only be worth £400-500 however it is still solid as a rock in terms of reliability.

Re: A cheap car?

Thanks for all your comments.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll have a browse round some of the down - market local car dealers

I've also put the word out among friends & acquaintances. I got my last two cars that way, and they were both good buys.

Re: A cheap car?

Ah I've been searching for this thread......saw it a few days ago then lost it lol........I too am looking at getting back on the road after a year without a car. I got rid of my Citroen in February 2014 as it failed it's MOT and needed a lot of welding done and needed a sensor for the brake pump or something and it was to cost hundreds of pounds even for a second hand part. Bye bye car. So I've been managing without one for the past 13 months. I have a lot more money in my bank account that's for sure but I do miss the convenience of owning a car. I have found that I have become more isolated from my family etc as travelling by bus is so time consuming and requires a lot or planning. My arms are much longer carrying heavy shopping bags lol. I still have no idea what car to buy though and would love to hear more from members on this subject.

Re: A cheap car?

if you read the earlier threads you'll see that I had a Daihatsu Charade at one time. It was nice enough, but the spares were expensive and difficult to find
None in the local scrapyards (my usual source) and not many pattern parts from motor factors, so I had to go to main dealers

So, get something common from one of the major names. There will be more parts available, both new & secondhand; and both professional & amateur mechanics will be more familiar with its faults & problems

As a general rule the fewer electric or automatic gizmos the better; but that's not so easy now, as all modern cars seem to have gone that way.

Re: A cheap car?

If considering getting an older car , there are a couple of must do's

First have an API check can done on line to see if the car is a rightoff-stolen-outstanding debt- crash repair

List of companies that will do it for a small fee

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ap...tion+check+api

Next get the AA or RAC to do a FULL mechanical/safety check, don't rely on the sellers say so

finally if from a dealer get a short warranty usually 3 or 6 months

Re: A cheap car?

What MPG did you get on your way to North Norfolk?