Bangernomics.

[pistonpopper]

I found myself at a late summer barbeque last night, and while i sat there eating a massive burger and freezing my tits off i was listening to some guy who I don't really know talking about how he's not MOT'd a car in nearly 20 years! His current vehicle is a quite scruffy 2002 Seat Córdoba, a car which he claims he paid less than £100 for and came complete with nearly 9 months MOT. This apparently is what he does, buys a car, any car that has 6 months or more MOT for about £200 or less. Uses and abuses it until its either ruined beyond driveabilty or the MOT expires, and then scraps it! He also said that when he buys a car the first thing he does is remove the VIN so that should he break down he can just abandone the thing unlocked witht he keys in it after removing the numberplates! Sounds a bit of a wierd way to go about motoring but it takes all sorts i guess! Anyway, he went on to talk about some of the cars he's had in the last 20 years, and not all of them were what I would've considered to be rubbish, he even had a Mercedes in the list, but there were a lot of Ka's, Corsas, Escorts, etc. So it got me thinking, what kind of cars can be bought for (lets raise the bar a bit) £500 or less. But they must be driveable, and have about 6 months MOT. Pics will help, but so far I've found these:-



Ford fiesta flight. 12 Months MOT. £360.00



City ROver. 12 Months MOT. £241.00



Mercedes C180 Elegance. 12 Months MOT. £410.00



Vauxhall Corsa. 6 Months MOT. £333.00



Audi 80 SE. 10 months MOT. £220.00



Peugeot 205 Junior Edition. 8 months MOT. £400.00



MG F. 7 months MOT. £350.00



Chrysler PT Cruiser. 6 months MOT. £405.00



Suzuki Wagon R+. 6 months MOT. £200.00



Fiat Punto. 7 months MOT. £295.00

Seems to me that there are some bargains out there, but what can you find?

[rude]

My ex father in law done the same. He done local delivery work around north London so always knew where some £100 banger was laying about. The Rover 216 gti for £200 was probably his best score. Cam belt lost it's teeth eventually but we stuck another one on it with no problems. That got crashed down a ditch in the ice.
It was mainly Minty pov spec cavaliers and unloved rovers though. He had a Mk1 216 in gold that went on forever until the gaffer tape holding it together finally fell off.
These cars had 0£ spent on them throughout their life other than the necessary things like brakes, even then the owners would try to source 2nd hand bits and wheels robbed off of dumped cars.
Then the cull came.

Now we have a load of pre cull stuff with a load of problems. That MGF is worth having if what I've been seeing being trailered about has anything to go by and I've always been fascinated by the chrysler thing... it can be so much more with some work... a lot of work! The Merc aside, the others would just bore me to death!

[astranaut]

I've never paid more than 500 for a car, and ill do routine maintenance like brakes/suspension and servicing, but if something big like the box or head gasket goes it's down the road. Only exception to the rule is my 350 Astra, had it 9 years and beyond how I've modified it, only thing to let go was the alternator until the box went late last year. But if this 200 Vec goes,it will get broken, and I'll probably buy another.

[Roach]

Just did this with a Polo, although I kept it two years so I did MOT it once, that was the only cost other than Diesel, used, abused, never serviced etc.

Paid 400, sold it for 200.... Thats two years cheap motoring in my book!


Some of the best cars I've had are the bangers.... Only reason I'm not driving one now is my old mans beemer isn't getting used, so he insured me to drive it for him.............. Even cheaper motoring!

[strikey]

my 106 cost £300 with 11 months ticket...

......but , barring any biggies , I will definitely be looking to get more than 11 months cheapy cheap motoring out of the old thing. cant really see any reason I shouldn't get 5 years out of it if need be!!

[Gusman_2286]

Various BMW's can be had for £500 or less, this one cost me £500, had just over 4 months mot but only needed new brake lines to get it through for another year.

Looked mint from the other side of the road, less so close up.  Only broke down twice, once in a spectacular cloud of steam when the coolant header blew up, swapped that out in a train station car park and drove it back home.  One previous owner had made hidden pockets in the floor and dash for hiding their sweeties, another put the water pump belt the wrong way round a pulley so that flew off not long after I got it... good times!

[dazcapri]

I've never paid more than £500 for a car just sold my Vectra for £100 bought for 300 about 4 years ago spent about 1/120 on it brakes/drop links and an exhaust box. I only got rid of it cos someone ran into the back off it a couple of years ago and it was bent and leaking in they gave me a hundred quid to get it repaired(didn't bother)then a neighbour reversed into it and destroyed the front his firm got it repaired but I thought it was time I got rid cos it was tired. I've got a work van so don't do a lot of miles so it doesn't matter if they break down not that the Vectra ever did I've replaced it with a £290 combo van that's just cost almost as much again to mot you can't win them all.

[joem83]

Just picked up a polo 1.4 8v 6n2 off my sister in law with 6 months test for £100, plan is to sell Jeep and run that until it breaks or fails a mot. If gearbox holds out I should break even if it fails a mot lol

[MkX]

I have done this quite a lot in the past, if you know what to look out for you can filter out the crud and pick up something that will give you 6 or 9 months motoring with few problems and cost you peanuts. My cheapest motoring was a £10.00 Orion which I sold for £60.00 when the MOT was up but I'd usually sell cars with a month or two MOT left and get most of my money back.
There are plenty of cheap cars with long MOT's about but not so many pre-2000's:-

Megane. £125.00


Clio. £200.00


Fiesta. £250.00


Micra. £250.00


S40 £295.00


Scenic. £299.000ono *FULL MOT


Corolla. £300.00


Xantia. £300.00

[madmog]

Back in the '80s I knew someone that bought big 4 door saloons for about £50, illegally mini-cabbed for a while then to the knackers yard if he caught the death rattle in time. He was once clamped somewhere private so he removed the plates, radio and I think punctured the tyres. I suspect he bought with some tax remaining and didn't bother updating the V5. It might not have been acceptable in the '80s exactly, but before cameras everywhere and joined up computer databases, much more common.

The hard thing with true bangernomics (as opposed to finding a bargain and cherishing) for me and probably a lot on here is the ruthlessness you need to spend no absolutely money. I'd get a bargain and before I know it have joined the forum, read hundreds of threads on tips and tricks, spent £500 in service parts and fixing bits and pieces that don't really have to be fixed.

[generally01]

Sept 18, 2017 21:03:43 GMT madmog said:

The hard thing with true bangernomics (as opposed to finding a bargain and cherishing) for me and probably a lot on here is the ruthlessness you need to spend no absolutely money. I'd get a bargain and before I know it have joined the forum, read hundreds of threads on tips and tricks, spent £500 in service parts and fixing bits and pieces that don't really have to be fixed.

This is my problem. I bought this 2 months ago for £450 with 10 months MOT;

Golf replacement by Dave Campbell, on Flickr

Needed something to empty a garage and carry scrap which it managed to do perfectly;

The new Passat is earning its keep. by Dave Campbell, on Flickr



It is supposed to be a stop gap but I keep wanting to price up new window scrapers, give it a service, fix the cracked mirror housing etc but its just not worth it.

Dave.

P.S. Just been to Yorkshire from Glasgow this weekend and happily cruised at 70mph and returned 52mpg even though its got 205000 miles under its belt.

[FOAD]

I tend to buy cheap cars but I usually sell them on when I get bored or keep fixing them if I like them. Here's a selection of cars I've bought for under £500.

£80 Rover 220sli


DSC_0406 by srblythe, on Flickr


£500 VW Polo 1.3cl

DSC_0403 by srblythe, on Flickr

£200 305 SRD

DSC_0373 by srblythe, on Flickr

£300 Tata Loadbeta 4x4

DSC_0052 by srblythe, on Flickr

£375 190E

DSC_0806 by srblythe, on Flickr

£375 Alto FX

DSC_0510 by srblythe, on Flickr

£100 ZX TD

DSC_0568 by srblythe, on Flickr

£60 ZX TD Estate

DSC_0158 by srblythe, on Flickr

£450 Volvo 360 and £150 for the other 305 but that had no mot.

DSC_0715 by srblythe, on Flickr


£80 306 td sedan

DSC_0566 by srblythe, on Flickr

£100 216 sli

DSC_0413 by srblythe, on Flickr

£250 Renault 18 GTD

DSC_0259 by srblythe, on Flickr

£300 C15 van

DSC_0556 by srblythe, on Flickr

And £350 for a w123 which I'm hoping will be through an mot with less than £500 spent on it including the purchase price.

DSC_0991 by srblythe, on Flickr


Not really bangernomics but the ability to find cool old cars for less than £500.

[ChasR]

The key thing with bangernomics is having the ability to throw the car away once it is done. It's also weighing up the cost of travelling to places and your time too. Being ruthless pays off.

I debated it but TBH on modern stuff simple things can soon break the bank and old older stuff rust can be a killer.

I've not done it for a while but here is what I've bought over the years:

-£260 Volvo GLE in 2007
-£220 Volvo GLE Estate in 2007
-£350 Escort XR3i Convertible in 2007
-£300 Renault Clio 1.4 Expression in 2012 ; I actually ended up spending on it as it was terrible with a ripped interior, wrong sized tyres and a really badly gone engine mount; the latter made it near undrivable. I somehow sold it for a tiny profit.
-£400 Mercedes 300D W124 in 2014 ; I was tempted to drive this as it was but really it had some terrible but easy to fix faults ; it couldn't turn itself off without opening the bonnet and none of the windows worked with the doors closed, handy for tight car parks. It's now pretty good ; a mate of mine has it and has gone to town on the car. I sold it on as the car was, bar fixing a diesel leak with a new fuel filler cap; I know there's being cheap but there is also being a hazard to other users....

I also bought the family Mongdeo 1.8 off the old man last year. '07 plate with 325k for £350. It was a superb car that never wanted for anything. However I could not bear spending £200 a year on chocolate brake calipers (it was on its third set when it was sold).

[autojumbled]

I've done a bit of bangernomics in the past.
Currently running a '204 2.2 diesel Nissan Almera SXE which I picked up on the expensive side of bangering for £900, but only because it was totally mint.
It's seen me through almost 5 years and I've done nothing but oil changes and brakes (all for a couple 100).

My best purchase was a 306 D-Turbo which I ran for 1 year, only replacing the radiator for a 2nd hand unit. Bought for £100 with 12 month MOT and no tax. Sold for £400 with no tax or MOT.

Having an banger is great in terms of regular motoring. Not having to worry about car parks and the such really makes for stress-free driving!

[SmokeEm]

Where is that £410 Merc??

[mrbounce]

Not me but in the late 90s my friend bought a standard Mini Mayfair out of a bloke's garden for £100. Put it through an MOT having topped up the coolant and adjusted the handbrake.

He then ran it for 2 1/2 years and spent nothing on it. He was shunted up the back, car was Cat D and he got a £700 payout and put it back on the road. Ran it for another 6 months then sold it as a project for £250. It helped that he had loads of spares but hey it was profit all round!

[pistonpopper]

Sept 19, 2017 11:24:06 GMT SmokeEm said:

Where is that £410 Merc??

It was here:-

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-C180-Elegance-Auto-/282650678612?hash=item41cf4b1554%3Ag%3AHMcAAOSwuiNZqV58&nma=true&si=LnL1UflvZUt7IhfRDV%252BBVxN4Iq4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[Paul Y]

Showing my age but when I was an apprentice back in the early 80's we had a rather spiffing game that if I had a time machine I would go back and rename Bangernomics rather than Sh*tterroulette....

Rules.

Pay no more than £25 (a weeks wages at the time)
Must have ticket and Tax
No repairs allowed.
When it died you scrapped it and got back your £25, give or take a few £

Once a month on a Friday night we would race drive down to TOTS or the Goldmine. We had the reverse of no man gets left behind - breakdown you had to find your own way back to London hence the Roulette...

Looking back how we managed to live past 19 let alone not end up in jail is beyond me but what a laugh. Just deleted a load of stuff here about what we got up...probably for the best...

One night had to get an Austin Maxi back from the Fortune of War with only 3 wheels. That was fun....

My current daily falls into the bangernomics class, well £150 above, but as I see it I am now enjoying depreciation free motoring. Must admit I quite fancy the Merc as well for £400!

P.

[strikey]

surely the ultimate in bangernomics is keeping your budget crate on the road for another 12 months for less than the cost of its potential replacement? I'm certainly no eco warrior but I do hate to see a car scrapped before its really boogered!!

[mondeogrd]

I'm with strikey!

Used to go through the 90s buying cars for £400 with years MOT and run them into the ground. Best was an 81 Cortina for £100 with full MOT. Ok fire damaged but think that made it through another MOT but didnt chance a 3rd. Grew up had a family and started buying real cars but soon started buying second cars that couldnt break the bank. First one was a Fiesta MkII that needed a rear beam which was bought and MOTed for £150, sold 6 month later at a profit!

To bring it up to date, while colleagues are buying PCP cars, i am looking for and finding several 2003 to 2005 Focus from £300 to £900 that i think will pass another MOT or even 3! I just wish the Escorts i am finding doon sooth for similar money were close enough to grab!
All the very best,
Geoff.