Lets see your budget beaters

[Curtis]

With the increasing likelihood that my fiesta isn't going back on the road, i'm gonna have to start looking for a cheap runabout until i hit 21.

So lets see your suggestions. Rules are the cars value must be less than £400, the mods must be sensible, and they need to be low capacity from the factory

Make me smile guys ^_^

[dubloon]

my polo breadys for sale 1.1 nowt wrong with it solid
£250 check my thread lol

[Curtis]

Lol cheers, not looking to buy just yet, just inspiration of nicely done beaters

[nomad]

Sept 19, 2011 10:50:43 GMT Curtis said:

Rules are the cars value must be less than £400, the mods must be sensible, and they need to be low capacity from the factory

Top tip would be look for an odd-ball, or maybe something that could be neat but is done in the wrong colour (I looked at a Porsche 924 Turbo a while ago - in the sellers words "Dog**** brown isn't the best colour for these is it?")

I got the current motor by listing the "must haves" (same idea as you) and keeping an open mind when I got offered anything. Was looking for a cheap tax-exempt estate, found more than 1 ;D
retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=readersrides&action=display&thread=88892&page=1

Nothing to do with me but saw this before and thought Hmmm - maybe
retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=FSW&action=display&thread=107612
ps. If you or the seller are offering commission - buy me a drink sometime

Have you tried putting a wanted ad on the "Wanted" section?
retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=want

Hope you find what you're after, and remember the pics ;D

[mrzee]

I've just picked up my 4th Gen Honda Civic Saloon for £400 and in a baptism by fire drove it from Lancaster to Newcastle on Sat for the GNR and then back again on Sun. Not a pretty car but I like it and it is a Bloody comfy car!!!

[micrat]

think this owed me about 400 all in, chopped springs and a few cans of paint, 1.2 auto, very reliable, just got a bit too far gone to save!!!

[wichard]

Here's mine:


Cost me £300, then I drove it from London to and around Scotland within a week. 3 and a half thousand miles in about 5 weeks, not missed a beat so far. Now sitting on 205 GTi 1.6 wheels but otherwise standard...

[Brian Damaged]

Here's mine. 1800 8v petrol (so not really wallet-friendly unless you're older than God's Dog, like me), so 30-35mpg knocking about, 40+ on a run. Dead torquey as well.

It looks better in this pic than it looked in the flesh...the paint was flatter than Norfolk. Cost £225 with a couple of months' tax/test back in March. Figured I'd run round in it until they expired, then go buy something else. After two months/2000m of trouble-free motoring I boshed it in for an MOT in May, for which it needed a £6 mirror glass. And that was it. Now it looks like this (some say I've ruined it, I don't care to be honest):

6000 miles in six months without so much as a squeak. If the wheels fell off it tomorrow I'd walk away laughing and buy another one, it owes me nothing.
;D

[Rev. Dick Deluxe]

Owes me about three fifty.

[hughjass]

I got this for £290 back in june 2009..one owner oap

changed the wheels,lowered it etc etc..

I just use it on weekends really.....good deals are out there !!

[speedy88]

This thread makes me feel guilty, my car owes me more than I remember. Stopped counting at 1500

[crazymonkey]

damn i'll have to get a pic of my sunny. cost me the grand sum of £270 so far. needs a few mods but that'll have to wait for a bit until ive got me some moneyz. rest assured i wont be spending more than £400 on it all in.

my old escort cost me £150 and lasted for ages.

[vaughant]

This cost £0 but needed a new engine (£150),few bits for the Mot ,only serviceable items etc and I did circa 20000 miles in 6 months in it from Swansea to ullapool (north west of Scotland) to Galway (western Ireland) and it never missed a beat,returned 40+ mpg at all times,sat at 80/90 and did 115mph once (downhill) but held 110 on the flat.
Sold it for £500 with 5 months tax and 11months Mot(which it went straight through with one advisory).
Exceptional little cars,feel much bigger inside than you think,don't handle brilliantly out of the box but take as much modification as you like,sets of alloys for scrap money,interiors the same,big engine conversions make them seriously quick for very little money.
Absolutely couldn't fault mine.
Oh,make sure it's got power steering,mine had an EPAS set up which was worth £150 on it's own!!!

[ToolsnTrack]

retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=FSW&action=display&thread=107173

This owes me about a grand now. Nice smooth wafty cruiser...

[surprisingskoda]

Group 5 Insurance
40-45mpg (1.3 petrol)
4x100 57.1 ET35 for wheels

Car: £17.01
Repairs & MOT: £83
Wheels: £0

Sold for £200. Wish I hadn't.

[beccasaurus]

My MK2 Golf 1.3 4+E (5 speed) cost me £90 from a scrapyard... it had failed its MOT on corroded brake lines and leaking shocks. Someone must have already started to repair it though as it had brand new full copper brake pipes fitted, then given up and sold it to a scrap dealer, whom I bought it from as he thought it was too good to squash.





I was given 'siezed' coilovers that just needed a bit of work and were good as new, a 16v front splitter, half tinted rear lights, a Powerflow backbox (now removed, I never liked it though!) bought a can of genuine VW paint from an auto jumble for £2 and painted a few little bits like door handle inserts and the middle of the badge for some cheap personal touches, bought some Borbet A's with tyres for £120 delivered, and then it looked like this




I initially bought the car because it was cheap and i've always wanted one, but 4 years on i'm just in love with it, spending lots on it and never selling it :lol: so it's quite different now, but the above shows what you can do on a budget

My best advice is to beg, borrow and steal ;D well not quite steal, but you know what I mean. Trawling forums and eBay digs up some great bargains! I've bought many an item for 99p just by generically searching 'MK2 Golf' on ebay and looking at what is ending soonest.

[gouldygtr]

this is my bad boy, paid only £600 with 9 months tax and test,

2 owner, air con, alloys (put on since pics), FSH

oh and 259k miles !!!!!!

she doesnt use any water or oil and averages 60MPG on a run , good times!

will be selling soon to get an accord Diesel

[DavidB]

Cost 950 quid in 2002 - worth significantly less (maybe is a minus figure) 9 years later.


Vauxhall Astra LSi - Arch Repair by Jibijib, on Flickr

I've spent about 70 quid on it so far.

[Deleted]

bought for £300 and cost under 1k and 3 weeks to build wish I still had it great fun car

[Fiat Daft]

^ that owes me less than £300 ,quite handy for the winters that we have been having !



that also owed less than £300.