Cheap reliable runabout - do they exist?

Z

zebedee37

New Member
After an unbelievable period of unemployment (which was starting to threaten my P6's!) and also giving up on the London taxi which went through a blind mans MOT in the UK..

I need to source a cheap reliable car so that we have at least one running spare! Any suggestions (thinking of getting in the UK as prices here are crazy)

So feedback on 10 year old or above cars please. What to seriousely avoid, what is a bargain etc

(Where do the Top Gear team find their cars?- those challenges to get a car under a grand and turn up with a Lexus!)
 
Hi zebedee
I would go for the poor man's Passat- Skoda Octavia- better diesel & estate. I bought one new nine years ago and never looked back. Beware ex taxi though!
 
Get a Kia Pride. Ugly little cars but they are dirt cheap, £100+ for MOT'd example. And they seem to go on for ever. The one I had did me for a year until my new car arrived, I sold it on. I did loads of miles in it, it was a little loud at 80mph but could do it for ever. I did one trip from Stansted to Southampton at 80 almost all the way, M25 slowed me down a little, took 3.5 hours non stop, she did not flinch an inch. One of the most reliable cars I've ever had and I abused it to the max!
 
Used car prices are going mad here too, hard to find anything under £300, pretty much anything is worth £150 in scrap now, so the really cheap stuff just gets weighed in instead. Been having trouble finding 800's in scrap yards, all the owners keep telling me they don't bother leaving them in the yard long, just go straight to the crusher for the cash, hardly anybody wants the parts so not worth sitting on them.
You are best getting something that's easy to cheap to get parts for, all cars break (especially at this end of the scale) so you want something that you can fix easily. I'd avoid anything too modern on the basis that all the electronics makes it hard for the home mechanic to sort. But then again, anything without these electronics is probably going to be 15+ years old by now !
Ford and Vauxhall are pretty much always the cheapest things to fix, depending on local supply, might be different where you are.

I'd avoid anything rover with a K series engine, that includes kv6's such as late 825's and 75's, they kept telling us the problems were sorted but they still continue to blow up regularly.

You probably want a diesel of some sort, although these seem to command a premium these days, although the increase in diesel prices has virtually eliminated any economy advantages. They tend to be more reliable in general, old Pugeots seem popular.

Oh, and avoid anything Alfa, you just don't want to go there !



Edited By webmaster on 1214262896
 
Having thought about it, I would be happy to run a p6 as a cheap runabout, sounds daft but as long as your reasonably carefull with maintenance I don't see why you couldn't run a nice (but no too nice) 2000 as a daily driver. I used my "not very practical" convertible as daily driver for a couple of years, even took the family on holiday in it, which was interesting as you couldn't hear the kids in the back at 70, due to the wind blowing through the roof ! :D

At least with a P6 you know where you are, fix it with a pair of mole grips and a hammer....

I guess it depends on the mileage you intend to do in it.
 
webmaster said:
Having thought about it, I would be happy to run a p6 as a cheap runabout, sounds daft but as long as your reasonably carefull with maintenance I don't see why you couldn't run a nice (but no too nice) 2000 as a daily driver.
I guess it depends on the mileage you intend to do in it.
Click to expand...
If you can find a solid base unit and protect it from corrosion in the future with copious amounts of waxoil, a 2000SC manual P6 would make an ideal daily driver.
Make a few improvements to aid reliability and they can do sterling service on a daily basis, and are not too bad if you keep on top of any problems as they arise.
Should be able to easily get about 30mpg out of them as well.
 
For a while I've been thinking that a great daily runner would be a tax exempt 2000 running LPG. With LPG under 1/2 the price of petrol and no tax to pay you can't get much cheaper to run than that !

Ok repairs can get a bit pricey but no more than taking a newish car to the main stealer.

Really the only thing missing is a 5 speed conversion for motorway cruising.
 
webmaster said:
Really the only thing missing is a 5 speed conversion for motorway cruising.
Click to expand...
We are obviously thinking along the same lines here. I love the V8 and still have one (engine in bits!) but you just get hit very hard at the pumps, in normal use I can get 20's mpg with that (5 speed) but I would want to be well into the mid 30's with a 5 speed 2000.
I would say start with a Series 2 2000 auto (for the bigger tunnel) and then fit the LT77 with a TR7 bellhousing to get the starter on the correct side. I like the round clocks too so would like to get those in there as well somehow. Id start with a TC if I thought the LT77 would fit in the tunnel.
Another one to add to the list of future projects!
 
Mmm - Slight variation on the same theme, what I'd want would be a 2200TC engined car with a ZF 4spd overdrive auto and probably running the V8 final drive ratio - all in an early S2 tax exempt 2000 auto shell. And, as Harvey says, with the round dials and back lit dash rail. The TC bit would be for the big valves, but I'd be tempted to put both petrol and gas multi point injection on it - whilst it can be very satisfying, tuning twin SU's palls for me after the third or fourth time! Handling is better on the 4 cyl shell as well thanks to the longer bottom front wishbones.

But that doesn't answer Fenton's question really, does it!

When it becme apparent that my daily driver 3500 (The English Car) was putting up stiff resistance to leaving garage premises (mission creep on a giant scale set in, triggered by it losing the race to its first MoT to the dreaded tin worm - and once you've started, where do you stop?) I too needed a cheap runabout daily driver. First victim was crap car 1, a D reg 1.0 Polo. Looked awful, but just kept on passing MoT's. Had a periodic issue with drawing air into the inlet manifold after the carb, but once you knew what it was, simple enough to patch up for another year. It did 50mpg and cost nearly nothing in repairs. When bought it looked fit for the scrappy and between a number of us we got another 6 years out of it. I eventually passed it on to my Godson because it was only a 4 spd and I do mainly long motorway runs and my hearing was deteriorating!

The moral of the story is to buy something on perceived mechanical condition - and the worse it looks the better. Then have the courage to have an attitude of if it breaks take it down the scrapyard and get another one. Low mileage is a drawback - high miles is better cos it means the engine hasn't been subject to stop start all the time. For some reason low miles cars often seem to be disproportionately rusty as well. If you go in with that attitude it doesn't really matter what you buy! And sooner or later your likely to be surprised and delighted by buying a really good one!

Chris



Edited By chrisyork on 1214318889
 
I don't know how relevant this is, but my Austin is my cheap runabout at the moment. The suspension is not to everyone's taste, but i have got used to it, and with an engine tuned for torque that can pull a long final drive, it is reasonably quiet on motorways, lively enough if you want to play, and with gentle use (up to 70 mph) it averages easily over 40 MPG. Since i have it for years and i know it like the palm of my hand, i can be preventative with the service even if the only thing it usually asks is frequent (every 2K miles) oil and filter changes. Of course we don't salt the roads over here (OK, maybe just a few days per year) so we don't worry about rust.

Anyway, the reason i am writing this is different. Our government, alleging environmental reasons, (read financial reasons) threatens to punish the use of anything that does not cover the latest emission regulations with a very expensive road tax. If this comes true, then the viability of using an old car as a cheap runabout or even as a cherished classic is non existent. They want to drive us into spending out every five years or so on a modern plastic rubbish. Environmental policy ... my backside :angry:

So what is the situation on your countries? Have you heard anything similar?

Demetris
 
I have thoughts of running a V8 saloon P6 with LPG conversion. But need to find one thats in good enough condition and also cheap!! So no chance on that. My 2000TC is being used at teh momentbut she is a tad thirsty for my 60km round trip. And a couple of LPG converters have turned their noses up at her. (When I asked about LPG conversion on here a while back a good sugestion was to "engineer" things so the air intake was more accessible - however my engineering skills are zero!)
 
Saab 900's can be picked up in mint condition with 12 months MOT for around 250 - 300, alot of car for a low price although perhaps not the most economical

If you don't care what you drive around in then a vauxhall astra is cheap to buy and run - and if it breaks cheap to fix - although not much style and not that pleasant to be in
 
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