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Sept 19, 2024 15:04:01 GMT
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You have to remember that while £250 used to buy a crappy but drivable car, £250 is a meal + drinks for 4 people in a nothing-that-special restaurant now.
Inflation has pushed everything up in numbers but not necessarily in spending/buying power....
You win one way, you lose another. Cars which have crippling tax, insurance, maintenance, ULEZ non-compliant will be cheaper to buy. But its a TCO game. When I bought a Mk2 Cavalier for £110 at the auctions the most expensive thing which could have failed was a £50 clutch or something. These days you buy a Vauxhall whatever and you can find a couple of grands worth of main-dealer-only stuff goes pop (or went pop and the seller hid that from you)
I bought a decent* XJ40 Sovereign for £1200. 11 months MOT and so on. But who wants a 36 year old Jag (even if it says its a Daimler?)
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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 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Sept 19, 2024 18:12:28 GMT
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I've always loved a bargain but decent car. I've never, ever spent more than £1200 on buying any car and I've had some lovely stuff. I particularly like finding nice cars when they're in their value trough.
A few years ago I gave up looking for a budget family wagon after months of fruitless searching. The base price in this part of the world (deep South England) on Autotrader was £1k and that was in every case, a ropey ****box with faults in every department and a questionable MOT, that would likely as not fail the next one dismally.
Gumtree and eBay were full of clowns, scammers and over priced tat. I don't use FB, never have, so I got someone to look for me and stumbled upon a high mileage Mk1 Focus C-Max diesel for sub-£1k. Tested, all standard and even the A/C was icy cold. It was the sole car I ever found that fit the requirements, that was in good order and cheap (as in, old money cheap). I'd add that my requirements were not demanding, just tested, not rotten, everything in working order and basic spec apart from working A/C.
It's been one of the best cars I've owned. Keep fit rear windows, I've only just got round to replacing the Ford 6000 head unit with a modern single DIN one and ... who cares. One of the last generation of cars that's basic and it's genuinely all you need in a family wagon. Bags of space, comfy as you like, easy to sit in when you're stuck in traffic and fairly simple, but with useful features like the modular rear seats. I'll only replace it when it gives up or gets to the point where repair is completely uneconomical.
I can see buying cars getting very difficult for me in the next few years, I don't want screens, apps, electronic everything or ultra low profile tyres. The first things I do in a modern are 1) work out how to turn off the screen and 2) brace myself for the bone crushing ride at the merest hint of a pothole. Only once you disable the screen you can't operate the radio, climate or turn off any one of several dozen useless options like lane assist. If you need things like lane assist, you shouldn't be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.
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briang
Part of things
Posts: 82
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Sept 19, 2024 21:59:10 GMT
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Having seen that you cannot find an acceptable replacement for less than £1000 could you instead spend the money repairing your current Fiat? I note that you don't say what has failed, but a quick scan through the MOT history shows no mention of corrosion (on a 20 year old Fiat??)
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dazcapri
North East
Enter your message here...
Posts: 1,058
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Sept 20, 2024 5:13:04 GMT
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I've always bought cheap bangers till a couple of years ago I decided to buy something a bit newer,66 reg Peugeot 208 diesel.It's the first car I've ever had finance on and it'll be the last,I panic bought it during covid lock down because my grand vitara packed up and I couldn't find anything cheap even though I paid 70% cash and the last bit on finance I've never felt like it's my car. It's going very soon and I'll be looking for another small 4x4. A few months after buying it I bought a Vivaro van for £500 from my brothers work, I drive a tipper end up covered in dust/mud and thought the car was too good for that,I've looked at getting a newer van and if I spend £2-2500 I'll be able to replace my van with exactly the same thing,it's shocking how much they've shot up in price. Just out of interest I put it through emr and scrap it was nearly £300.
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Mk3 Capri LS
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Sept 20, 2024 6:44:15 GMT
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Having seen that you cannot find an acceptable replacement for less than £1000 could you instead spend the money repairing your current Fiat? I note that you don't say what has failed, but a quick scan through the MOT history shows no mention of corrosion (on a 20 year old Fiat??) It's certainly still an option. The clutch and DMF need replacing, but the issue could also be something more sinister, which would only be apparent once the box comes out. The clutch/dmf is around £900 to fix,and it would need transporting. My dilemma is that the Multipla, bought for £500, has done 137k, is on its original turbo and is also overdue another cambelt. The bodywork is pretty poor and although reliable, is very much worn out. I've not got the time/ will to do the clutch myself, especially as it would need to be done on the driveway and I'm concerned that throwing the best part of a grand at it might prove wasteful, especially as I'm venturing into the Ulez zone more now, and it's not compliant. Saying all of the above, I'm still not 100% sure what to do.
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misteralz
Posted a lot
I may drive a Volkswagen, but I'm scene tax exempt!
Posts: 2,431
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Sept 20, 2024 8:31:45 GMT
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Yes you are. You've got a grand budgeted for a replacement which could throw up all sorts of horrors, or you could spend less on something that's known to be good. Ish. The sunk cost fallacy isn't always fallacy, you know?
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Sept 20, 2024 8:54:28 GMT
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Yes you are. You've got a grand budgeted for a replacement which could throw up all sorts of horrors, or you could spend less on something that's known to be good. Ish. The sunk cost fallacy isn't always fallacy, you know? I think you're probably right, I'm just not used to spending big money. (for me) on cars,let alone repairs! Anyone recommend a good recovery service near Aylesbury, to drag a Multipla to Mr Clutch in Hemel?
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skinnylew
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 5,604
Club RR Member Number: 11
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Sept 20, 2024 12:40:43 GMT
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Still throws up the damn ScamLEZ issue though. Makes my blood boil and I wasn't in a position to even cast my vote against the poisonous little cretinous charlatan.
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Sept 20, 2024 14:27:28 GMT
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Still throws up the damn ScamLEZ issue though. Makes my blood boil and I wasn't in a position to even cast my vote against the poisonous little cretinous charlatan. It's certainly something that I can't just ignore. I'll have to work out what it'll cost per month and see if there's anything I can do to mitigate the extra expense.
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skinnylew
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 5,604
Club RR Member Number: 11
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Sept 20, 2024 18:07:25 GMT
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Still throws up the damn ScamLEZ issue though. Makes my blood boil and I wasn't in a position to even cast my vote against the poisonous little cretinous charlatan. It's certainly something that I can't just ignore. I'll have to work out what it'll cost per month and see if there's anything I can do to mitigate the extra expense. I have half my fleet non compliant and none are diesels. I mean none of them have been on the road a good few years so it's not the worst problem but it is a pain none the less as they are all in limbo as retros/90's cars (2x Ax's, 2x106's, Fiesta mk3, Toledo V5)
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,937
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Sept 20, 2024 18:22:45 GMT
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Sept 20, 2024 21:25:20 GMT
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That's a good shout 👍 I'm working for the next few days,but my local garage has said to pop in and have a chat about my Multipla's clutch on Tuesday, and to weigh up the options.
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