motorpunk

Great. I'm at the show prob Sat and definately all day Sunday, so will get some pics. If any other shiters are about, come and find me on the Absolute Lotus stand for a cuppa and talking of the bollocks.

Cool spot! I wonder if that's off to the classic car show at the NEC this weekend, perhaps for auction.

Lots of love for the Aygo/C1/107 here. Junior had one and it was a needy little bastard, clutch went at v low miles, and it sprang a fuel leak which meant carpets out to clean, and then I saw floorpan rust and it just felt like a cheap, horrible little car. Maybe we just got a bad one, but it was a hoot to drive. K11 Micra, love 'em, and was expecting this as a suggestion. Rust, though, right? And 'normal' tax. Volvo 740.. this was my thinking all along, the earliest are now tax and MOT free and almost certainly classic insurance possible. Never owned one (had an 850 and a V70, though, which were both awesome). Yeah, crap fuel costs, but a better, bigger 'all round' car than the Aygo and C1. The, say, £500 a year you'd save on tax, MOT and insurance over the smaller, newer cars would get you about 2000 miles worth of petrol, which would sort of cover the additional thirst, right? That leads me to this. I guess it's worth £150+ as scrap, so the net cost of the car is almost nothing, soon to be MOT and tax free, too; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145413563279?hash=item21db52e38f:g:Q9QAAOSwwpJlRmIA&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4OOSSiqNwgnbWnLCs5AWeeFs1Ddq70csJID1RlH8TFCk7Jqi1rAQwUBhoWfABSCnJ1%2FK3q9qHPjPG3rpO3Tc43i65JDembcjxoSH8PmI8jpX9RsXswWsXcghSSIz%2FCxPIIEex%2BfKbtCnANokHoxHU7JhiOV2lQ9%2FxvIn23%2BBvqcnYUIv2VlV%2Bvo00CpROEFGyv6PROFOa25CLlY%2B2LcNrMzRVEb%2FvrLRIygtsgETYdijwH7oKaA%2Fx0r9rZJ36wLj1M3h0CjLvPTkIdiWgvWn8Y24mjYXMEUISW2358FVkDtk|tkp%3ABk9SR8SKtbj2Yg Volvo is a cool brand, no-one is making many new estate cars any more, and it's RWD and manual, which I think are all good ingredients for something that might appreciate in value eventually. Is this 'free motoring'?

Ps - there’s a program on Amazon prime called Lemontarians, the hoopties of lemons, and three pedal mafia, which follow two famous teams in lemons. I raced against these two, great crowd.

Me, finishing the race on foot due to dead car. Love this pic.

Give us some good examples of specific cars that would work well in this scenario, if you like 👍🏼

It's a hypothetic question in the title, really. Ex employer stated 3 year old car but I used a fucked old Galaxy because I was broke and my boss daren't say anything and took pity on me. New job probably has rules, too, but I'm not good at reading rules and have been using my old Lotus.

MOT and tax free, classic insurance, plaggy body, reliable old engine, plenty of space and relatively cheap to buy. Good call!!!

Good point. I could have described it better. I mean the cost of motoring, not the motor (car) itself particularly, but only on the basis that the car doesn't depreciate and isn't mega costly to buy in the first place. Merc S210 - Noted, good choice.

Yeah, fair point on insurance. So let's add 'cheap to insure' to the formula for free motoring. Considering your point on maintenance, what specific car would you suggest, then?

I've been lucky enough to own a few cars which I have used as a daily driver, and which have also appreciated in value, cost me very little in maintenance, plus I got a decent mileage allowance on top which means the car was sort of free in the end. Modern cars are so disposable and many jump on the PCP route and that's expensive and wasteful... I want to go the other way and ask a question, thinking of 'make do and mend' (and hopefully start a friendly debate on the subject) - which car would you chose for free* motoring? The starting point could be something tax and MOT free that classifies for classic insurance, that is cheap to buy now but might appreciate, robust enough to use as a proper car (y'know, kids, motorways, winters etc), won't cost a fortune to buy now, can be spannered easily etc etc... I have some ideas but will sit on them as I'm looking for some inspiration for another 'free' car. *Some smallprint; OK, so it's maybe not going to be completely free, but how close can we get on a car that should do 8k a year, start in the mornings, etc etc.

I had a chat with a chap who used to do their PR a few years ago, while watching some motorsport. He was as eccentric as they come.

That’s the best pic in this whole thread

Some from my recent travels. Anyone know what spec the Panda is?

Lovely car. I really miss mine. BRG V spec for the win. Please keep it dry? These rot like bastards as you know.