will
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,023
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Got an early mk3 golf 1.9 oilburner Just worked out over the past 20 thou' miles its cost £1 for every 10 miles all in - fuel, 2x oil change, 1x brake pressure reg(not yet fitted)1x wing mirror(not yet fitted) front shock mounts (not yet delivered- post strike)+ roof rack and box too. Insurance is not in with the above but is cheap even with the misses as a new driver, tax is not included too which is a bit of a sting but you gotta pay for all then chuffin speed bumps
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'89 Bluebird 1.6LX. $50 for the car, $60 for an entire new exhaust system, $32 for the MoT and all it used in 2.5 years of ownership was screenwash, oil, filters, a timing belt and petrol
Sold it for $100, everything on it still worked (central locking, electric windows etc) and it returned 44mpg towing a fully laden trailer at 55. One of the best, cheapest, most reliable pieces of tin I've ever owned.
From that perspective, I like cars from the 60's and 70's for their simplicity and ease-of-fix-it-yourself but rust, bad electrics and poor parts availability put them in to second place to mid-to-late 80's machinery which is refined enough to be useable, most bits available for cheap at either motor factors or scrapyard and at the end of the day, if it completely breaks, another one can be sought for the price of suitably fixing the one that broke.
Anything newer and you venture into "bad electrics" again and rising price of new spares.
(and yes, I don't have a poundsign on this keyboard, all dollars are in pounds ;P )
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Worked out a while ago that my Amazon costs basically teh same as either of my parents cars (96 Volvo 850 and top spec 2002 Mitsubishi wagon). Servicing costs are very similar, the amazon is more economical, but I use 98 octane in it, so probably costs about the same/km.
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Remade In Australia thereimaginarium.com.au
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After my second L200 SWMBO worked out how much they had cost me (serves me right for keeping records!) . If you include accesories, fuel, insurance, servicing, repairs and depreciation my first one worked out at just over £30 a day!
My second one was about £20 a day due to a shorter commute. This evidence was presented to me by the prosecution when I was looking to buy a third one!
The problem is that I totally loved driving them, even though they used more fuel than my 740 2.3 at the time!
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--------------------------- 89 Masterace Surf 03 Astra 03 V40 Sport 09 E90 M Sport
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kabman
Part of things
Posts: 348
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I've driven a '68 Beetle as a daily for years. It costs virtually nothing apart from oil and fuel. It's been having a full resto for the last year, so it'll last another 40 years or so, so I've been driving a battered '96 Fiesta. It cost me less than £100 to replace the brakes for the last MOT. Apart from that it's cost nothing (did I mention it was free), does 50+mpg but always gives me the feeling that something's about to blow up or drop off at any time.
My Dad has a '98 Toyota Avensis he's had since new. Boring but nothing has ever gone wrong with it. He wants to buy something new, convinced it will be more reliable and cheaper to run. I continually have to talk him out of it. I don't know how he think's anything can be better than a car that he spends nothing on and is 100% reliable. I even change the oil for him.
In the meantime my wife's 5 yr old Smart costs me an arm and leg in parts alone. Stuff you would expect to last more than 5 years like ABS reluctor rings, wheels (corroded), springs, wheel bearings (you have to buy a complete hub!) and exhaust manifold. Luckily I can fix it myself. If I had to pay dealer prices for it she would be driving a Beetle, no question.
At work I drive a new Aston Martin V8. I'm just glad I don't have to pay for everything that goes wrong with it. Suffice to say I could BUY a nice Beetle for what that costs every month.
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I ran a 1979 Jag Series 3 as my everyday car for a few years. It was a nail to look at but for whatever reason I took it for a test and it came out the other side with just a few minor points, so I put it on the road. It had the usual service bits like brake pads and the like, the most expensive bit I put on it was a water pump when the old one started behaving like a garden water feature.
It had a cracked cylinder head, an odd wing, and a big sticker in the back window that said "cos new cars are curse word". I thrashed that old thing everywhere. The only big running costs were it's drinking habit.... 16 mpg at best round town.
I've got another Jag to play with now, so I'm going to be doing this again.
My Parents have had various new cars kicking around and the bills are usually horrific. Likewise, a friends Astra generated some massive bills for a supposedly reliable modern car.
Retro has the advantage as it's had 30 - 40 years to have all the problems that plagued them when new worked out by enthusiasts.
Regards
Ric
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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The thing about this hobby is that when any maintenance/repairs that need doing, the majority of us gladly do it ourselves because it's part of what we enjoy about owning the cars! If you get a garage or dealers to do everything for you that's when things start to get pricey.
People regularly come up to me and say 'you're handy with cars, can you look at this' but if I were asked to do a cambelt on an HDi Peugeot or something, I'm pretty sure I'd run a mile!
The wife runs an 06 Mini Cooper, and it's got the TLC pack on it which means we don't pay for servicing, but they still have the cheek to ask for authority to charge £20 to change a rear wiper blade!
As an aside, I've just had the insurance renewal through for my E21 BMW, and it's £99.15 for the year for me and the wife, she's only been driving 4 years, and we're both 27!
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1967 Morris Traveller 1971 Series IIA Land Rover 1991 Golf GL 4+e 1992 Corrado G60 1986 E28 BMW 528i
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Nathan
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 5,626
Club RR Member Number: 1
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Right worked it out this is how much it cost me the last 2 years:
2006 Hyundai Coupe 2.0 Servicing = £223 Tyres = £326
No counting fuel, but to TBH the MPG is 35-40 at best and its all paid for by the company.
Nothing has ever gone wrong with so thats over £500 a yeah, I don't think thats bad considering the amount of miles I do.
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Last Edit: Oct 1, 2009 9:02:57 GMT by Nathan
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My Audi 80 daily costs little to run and parts are pretty cheap.
To get through the MOT this year I spent about £150.00 and that includes two MOT tests as was on holiday after the test and couldn't fix the car quick enough for the retest!
But the car cost £150.00 and costs that a year to maintain. Tax is £180.00 and insurance is not that cheap but I am young so it never is.
Either way it costs about one months worth of finance for a cheap new car to have a retro 80 for a whole year!
That said it only works if you can do the work yourself.
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If I was going to run a newer car as a daily, it'd be something still under warranty. From October last year to July I ran a KE70 every day, put 8k miles on it on four months when I really drove it a lot.. Replaced a clutch and re-built the calipers, former due to a little too much messing about by me and PO, latter due to Norwegian government salting the curse word out of our roads. Apart I was just smiling all the time.. Right now I'm dailying a 88 W124 with 300k+ on the clock and it's working a treat too, replaced the starter and a wheel bearing. Still I think less is more, the less electronics and new age stuff on a car the better. That's why I can't wait to re-build my Rolla and get it on the road again
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Never had owt particularly new, almost always over 13 years old so can't personally compare. Dailys tend to cost around £500 and up PY mix of pro work and lil DIY MR2 was almost a resto so probably spent £1300 or summat and only covered 5000miles Fiesta van is well into 4 figures too but with 2 years service I was happy enough. Don't wanna Jinx the Xantia, but slowly renewing important bits one by one, or six by six. The best thing about starting with something cheap is that its not a massive gamble unless its a money pit and ya fill it with cash n it lets ya down.
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it doesn't matter if it's a Morris Marina or a Toyota Celica - it's what you do with it that counts
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I've ran a 1993 1.4 diesel peugeot 106 as a daily for the past couple of years. It's slow as sin, but 60+ mpg, red diesel and I treat it like dung. Changed the oil and fuel filters once, changed the wipers once, and done very little else, other than maybe a tyre or two. It costs me next to nothing.
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I'm a bit late to this one. Too much stuff on! However, my daily at the moment (though this is a bit of a misnomer as my 2CV and anything else I happen to own at the time share daily duty) is a £266 Citroen BX diesel.
The first week I owned it, it cost me £68 to stop it leaking LHM. Then the alternator went and that was another £100 because I opted for a brand new one. It's about to have a service which will probably be another £200 or so, then it needs the rear arm bearings replacing at some point - another £240.
So, that's £874 - less than a few months of deprecation on new cars! There's nothing complex on the car (as long as you find someone who understands the hydraulics) and it's returning 50mpg, despite towing and motorway speeds. It's comfortable, hugely capacious, quiet enough yet really, very, very simple. I love it.
Best of all, I managed to add it to my classic insurance policy, so it's cost me nowt there too!
I think you just need a different mindset. I'd personally rather have the occasional need to tinker with things - which is easily done on an older design - than have a car that I'd have to take to a proper, expensive garage if something went wrong. The way I see it - for the cost of a new car (once you factor in finance, depreciation and servicing) I can own several older cars. Result surely?
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1986 Citroen 2CV Dolly Other things. Check out my Blog for the latest! www.hubnut.org
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I have to admit, My modern daily (well mine and SWIMBO's). Is a 1996 Honda Civic, Brought it in April, and to this point it's wanted for nothing (even MOT was a straight pass), we've done 5000 miles in it, neither of us go easy on it, I love the fact it's a Honda so i can rev the balls of it, she's just rough with it. So far all i've had to do was break out the silicone and re-seal the rear light lense cause it was leaking in. Had to change the front wing, My fault, not the cars! lol (it's also damn good on fuel, another bonus for it)
I know to 90% the population it's not seen as modern, new, or uptodate. But to me, it's the joint newest car i've ever owned along with a 1996 Mondeo (also a stomping good car). It's still in the situation where if anything did go wrong it might put me off trying it my self. I hear about some newer stuff (and some a little older) and the repair bills scare the s**t out of me! My friends 2002 BMW for example £700 for a rear window £600 re-con turbo (suplied not fitted)
My "retros" don't usually demand much, but much gets spent in mods! I don't mod the civic, i cant see anything that would improve it. However when they do break, usually it's summut i can fix!
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diff
South East
Posts: 1,165
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Jo's job as a management accountant means she is doing 500ish miles a week in 1979 2.0 mk1 cavalier and apart from a rad and a water pump its survived well for the last 2 years. Was so impressed with this that I got rid of my modern 1996 audi a4 as a daily in may and bought a 1.6 mk5 cortina and can recommend it. Cheaper but most of all a lot more fun and makes a jouney much more interesting .
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i think theres a simple in theory but complex in practice equation which says...
the older the car the cheaper the parts but the more regular the servicing requirement and the higher the level of "preventative maintenance" you need to do.
The newer cars need less tinkering and less parts but when you do need those parts they are more expensive.
More modern stuff tends to be a bit better on fuel too.
With the moderns, best to stick to the "good" brands to avoid unexpected big bills as much as possible really.
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1937 Austin Street Rod - 1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1976 Rover V8 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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my daily is a 1990 polo 1043 cc of raw power and 5 gears... does 30miles a day on the motorway and some trafic at the end and still only costs a tenner a week to run.... everything is available for em either at gsf or my shed.. but so far nothing has gone wrong... at all.. and in the six months ive had it ive put 5000miles on it... Thats surely a slight exaggeration! Works out at about 100mpg lol. To keep the Carlton on the road maintenance wise as standard has so far cost me about £15. It does about 27mpg around town and high 30s/low 40s on a steady motorway run. Matt serously I'm not joking... in honesty i do 60 all the way there and back.. and at both ends the points of destination are less than half a mile from the motorway... but its great... just me in the car too helps i guess... still on the 10quid today...
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oh and its only monday to friday not weekends
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the other thing i have noticed with new cars is that they seem to use the cars sold in the first 6 moths of a car production as sort of guinea pigs for ironing out bugs these days with 3-5 recall per week from all makes for little things like bits of trim breaking to pretty major things like hubs snapping off . very little gets reported about these recalls but its enough to put me off ever wanting a new model in its first year of production
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I think back in the day it was the first couple of years not just the first 6 months... Henry Ford used his buyers in 1932 to test his new V8 engine because he'd not got the proper test facilities and he wanted to get it to market quick. Theres a website in the US which lists all the recalls for every model for every year going back way back. I know I looked up 1966 Buicks and the like on there. Not sure if there is anything like it in the UK where we are more secretive about this sort of stuff. My ol' man bought a new Jag in 1986 and it had 3 recalls before it left the dealers. And it failed PDI. Took like 2 months to be delivered from the dealer to my dad. New-new cars seem like financial suicide anyway. Best get one where someone else has paid the worst of the depreciation. With some thats 6 months old from a car supermarket, with some 3 years old. Heck, theres whole websites and forums all about buying new and nearly new cars!
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Last Edit: Oct 1, 2009 19:29:46 GMT by akku
1937 Austin Street Rod - 1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1976 Rover V8 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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