Ridiculously Cheap Cars

[Six-cylinder]

I have noticed that generally the asking price for the older cars we like and classic cars has risen quite steeply in the last couple of years but there are still a few car that just seem too good to be true. I am thinking about interesting, running and MOTed cars you can buy for about £500.

 

In my view these include

 

Peugeot 406 coupe

Jaguar X300

Mazda MX5

 

Any thoughts am I right? What else could I include on the list?

[carlo]

I have noticed that generally the asking price for the older cars we like and classic cars has risen quite steeply in the last couple of years but there are still a few car that just seem too good to be true. I am thinking about interesting, running and MOTed cars you can buy for about £500.

 

In my view these include

 

Peugeot 406 coupe

Jaguar X300

Mazda MX5

 

Any thoughts am I right? What else could I include on the list?

 

Yes.  The 406 Coupe is so too good to be true I just bought one.

[HillmanImp]

Its a British thing. People do not want older cars as your whole social status is based upon what car you drive, even if you do park your brand new Ford Fiesta (bought with 'Buttraper finance Ltd') outside your shitty council house next to the sofa in the garden.

 

The nicer cars with the bigger engines are difficult to insure for youngsters who are the ones wanting cheap cars so they are shunned even more. You can probably get a Pug Coupe for less than a 206 of the same age.

[dome]

My XJ40, even needing a new bonnet and bumper, was ridiculously cheap-although the damage was part of what made it cheap.

[Negative Creep]

Volvo 850

Ford Ka

Rover pretty much anything

Ford Puma

[Mr Livered]

GM-era Saabs. There are some really quick cars out there, nice interiors etc, for £sodall.

[Cavcraft]

You'll often find bigger engine, smaller cars are cheap too. For example a 1.6 Astra, Escort,  Rover 216, Peugeot 206 etc are cheap as people want smaller engines and cheaper tax bands.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

XJ40s seem to have risen in price quite a bit recently. I guess they're not so many left now and they do have a following.

 

There do still seem to be a fair few X300s at £500 with an MOT still. They're a huge amount of car for that - but check them for rust!!

[Skizzer]

Very tidy red Cavalier 1.8LSs, as Retrogeezer will testify.

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/16670-my-cavalier-18ls-for-sale-needing-a-head-gasketlast-chance-£200/

[ruffgeezer]

I want Negative Creep's Volvo, it touches a naughty button for swedes that I never knew I had, well not since Nina Persson anyway.

[Station]

MK2 MR2!

Rear wheel drive, mid engined, excellent build quality and reliability for 250 quid! Why?

[RedSparrow]

Anything with an MG/Rover badge.

Most Peugeots.

[Sloth in a bowl]

I'm thinking that this may be the last year that you can get a running sub £500 Ford Puma, there are less of them about than there were.

[pompei]

A pal of mine had no end of trouble shifting a Volvo estate with LPG for £600.  In the end a 'mad' woman bought it, paying in installments ...

[Jim Bell]

I am thinking about interesting, running and MOTed cars you can buy for about £500.

 

In my view these include

 

Peugeot 406 coupe

Jaguar X300

Mazda MX5

 

Any thoughts am I right? What else could I include on the list?

 

Most of my car history to date is well under £500. You can get a wide variety of very cheap very good auld shite if you have patience and determination.

 

90s Jappanish cars are ridiculously cheap. Primera, Almera, Sunny, Corrola, Celica etc.

[HMC]

The price of scrap seems to have dropped back a bit has widened the range of sub 500 snotters recently

[Richard]

I don't know if this counts as ridiculously cheap, more than I would pay anyway.

 

1988 Jaguar Sovereign 2.9 by GoldScotland71, on Flickr

 

I reckon it would have you in a Hyundai i10 within the year.

[Guest bangerfan101]

chrysler pt cruisers are going around the 6-700 mark on fleabay

 

the only car in my eyes ,as ugly as the fiat multipla

[cort16]

One of my favourite games when I'm bored is to go onto gumtree and autotrader looking for 500 snotters, there's some right bargains out there.

[Negative Creep]

I don't know if this counts as ridiculously cheap, more than I would pay anyway.

 

1988 Jaguar Sovereign 2.9 by GoldScotland71, on Flickr

 

I reckon it would have you in a Hyundai i10 within the year.

 

 

The state of that front wing makes that look like a lot less of a bargain

[Bren]

Everything everybody says in this thread is true.

 

After all, there are lots of intelligent people paying thousands for a car because it has £30 a year road tax.

 

I have known colleagues to get rid because they needed to fork out for tyres or an exhaust.

 

On the plus side, it means plenty more shite for us.

[garethj]

A couple of years ago I was in £500 cars, however currently I'm in opulent luxury of £1000 cars.  I'm so fucking posh now I hold my little finger out when drinking a cup of tea.

 

I paid £500 or less for:

Pug 205

Volvo 740 estate

Ginetta G26

 

And I was being picky, looking for something different to the norm.  If I wanted something a bit newer and Japanese / Korean / MGRover I'd have had even more choice.

[Squire_Dawson]

The Jag - run it until t&t expires then stash it in a barn for 20 years, forget about it and it'll be worth ten times as much.

[catsinthewelder]

Chap next door is smoking round in a £300 RX8 or rather he was until the ring gear decided that it didn't want to stay on the flywheel any more.  It was still running fine but needed a bump start.  Apparently it's going to be a right twat to fix as the flywheel is torqued up to 600lb/ft and without the ring gear theres no simple way of stopping the engine rotating.

[tooSavvy]

^^^^^^^^ NO Valves >>> fill chamber carefully with hemp rope (not nylon) ??

 

TS

[Bren]

Chap next door is smoking round in a £300 RX8 or rather he was until the ring gear decided that it didn't want to stay on the flywheel any more.  It was still running fine but needed a bump start.  Apparently it's going to be a right twat to fix as the flywheel is torqued up to 600lb/ft and without the ring gear theres no simple way of stopping the engine rotating.

It's a pity this cannot be applied to my vectra - there's no simple way of starting the engine rotating.

[andy18s]

1 to squirrel away?

Cougar 2

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Cougar-V6-2-5-MK2-/181390821432?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2a3bbc4838

 

Total bargain,less than 500 sold in the UK due to Ford pricing it up there with BMW ect

2.5 v6 aren't as bad on fuel as any other biggish engine

2.0 are going fast (no pun intended) as the banger boys have latched onto the cheapness

Mondeo st200 underpinnings so parts are easy enough to get,if sometimes pricey

[Ian_Fearn]

Vauxhall Omega. Ticks all the boxes. RWD, big power, low grip.

 

I paid 900quid with 12 months tax and test for a 2000 2.5 V6 Elite Estate. 80k on the clock, everything works. Just needed a set of part worn Taiwanese ditch finders and a glove box latch.

 

MUCH better value than the relatives Fiat 500 diesel which I keep being reminded does 65mpg and only costs 30 to tax. Who give a damn when it cost £13k?

[Pete-M]

That Cougar V6 I had. 130k, face lift full spec, full main agent service history, other than a couple of minor scuffs and the bit where I had the sill repaired didn't match perfectly but otherwise a tidy thing.

 

Would anyone but it? No. I sold it to a mate who put it in for the MOT which it flew through once he'd cleaned up the brake discs. He averages 32 mpg from it and loves it. Did 700 faultless miles in a week. A lot of car for £200.

[gordonbennet]

Its bloody crackers now, no one wanted your Cougar, but they'll sign up for gawd knows what interest rip off to buy an utterly boring horrible wheeled washing machine that they believe does 60mpg (which would be 50 if they did brim to brim on a run) and costs them £30 ved, and loses 50% of its cost price in the first two years....or a pcp rip off then get their knickers pulled down when they return the thing with minor scratches and dings.

 

Some of these people shouldn't be allowed out without a carer.