Bangernomics best bang per buck?

[320touring]

smoking about in the burds 172 the last few days I've come to understand just how much I've missed a good petrol engine.

 

So, whats the best petrol engined car out there for sub £500?

 

any age, manual/auto, large or small-what would you have?

 

for me:

 

large auto: Jag x308

 

small manual: Renault clio (even the 1.2 can be fun!)

 

 

large manual: BMW e46 328/30i

[LabRat]

For me it'd would have to be a pre face lift Saab 9000 Cd saloon, preferably with an auto box and in 2.3 turbo flavor. I know there are better driving machines out there, but the 9k just felt right to me, plus it fit my odd dimensions, which was always a bonus!

 

Small petrol would be a ford puma 1.7. Brilliant fun to chuck about and went like a scalded cat

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Taff]

hard to grumble about the kettle in my F, goes like sticnk with the VVC kicked in

[hairnet]

730 v8 or w126 saloon

 

small - mazda 323 v6

[Cavcraft]

[HH-R]

Mitsubishi with the 1.3 i-MIEV engine.

 

Tough, cam chain, VVC, quick, frugal.

 

EDIT: the i-MIEV is a car, I know what I mean but can't remember what it's called! MIVEC?

[dome]

Go big or go home

 

Seen the temporarily mildly non running XJR for £350?

 

Go buy it.

[320touring]

Where can you get an e46 330 for under £500?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-330I-SE-TOURING-AUTO-2000-SILVER-MILEAGE-115000-PETROL-SPARES-OR-REPAIRS-/252156583720?hash=item3ab5b41f28:g:bdoAAOSw5ZBWOdhK

 

never said it had to be MOT'd running etc:)

[320touring]

Go big or go home

 

Seen the temporarily mildly non running XJR for £350?

 

Go buy it.

 

Already in discussions but reckon someone got there first

[320touring]

730 v8 or w126 saloon

 

small - mazda 323 v6

little point to a 3.0v8 in a 7, 4.0/4.4 aye

[sierraman]

I'm going to get pilloried here but the Mondeo mk3. Passat beating quality for less than £500. 2.0 fairly quick, easy 32mpg I get from mine. Doesn't rust - what more could you want!

[320touring]

I'm going to get pilloried here but the Mondeo mk3. Passat beating quality for less than £500. 2.0 fairly quick, easy 32mpg I get from mine. Doesn't rust - what more could you want!

very sensible, but is it a great engine?

[cort16]

You can still pick up the odd ratty 850 t5 for 500 quid. I also heard the 2.5 MG ZS is a total flying machine. I've never been in one but I hear good things about them.

[320touring]

You can still pick up the odd ratty 850 t5 for 500 quid. I also heard the 2.5 MG ZS is a total flying machine. I've never been in one but I hear good things about them.

agreed re the t5

 

as for  the mg - I think its the same lump as  the 75, not the fastest, but sound nice

[cort16]

The ZS is a much smaller car though but with the same power.

[rantingYoof]

My best experience with bangernomics was the Volvo 480.

 

It was a 1993 K plate, 2.0 8v engine with 110hp. The car was light, and the 8v Renault engine was very torquey, so it had some oomph to it, although the noise wasn't particularly tittilating. Typically comfy Volvo seats, and it would do 30mpg to a mixed tank, and 40+ on a run - not bad!

 

It had a very low mileage for its age, and I bought it off a gentleman selling it on behalf of his father, because his father was no longer fit to drive because of ill-health.

 

It had a 10p sized patch of rust on one arch, and that was it. Very unusual for a 480 of that age! The funky 1970s arcade machine dashboard still had every single pixel too, and if I remember correctly it came with a good amount of tax and test.

 

Apparently you can break into the rear glass hatch in around 8 seconds using a coat hanger. And, um...it apparently had "Lotus" designed handling. Or maybe the delivery truck drove past a Lotus factory once? I dunno. I took it on an airfield day and it rolled about and understeered like a bastardising understeery thing. The DUNKING DITCHFINDERS probably didn't help.
 

I paid the princely sum of £550 for it, and drove it for a long time, simply MOTing it and maybe having a windscreen wiper replaced, as well as having it serviced. I sold it for £550! Quids in!
 

POP UP HEADLIGHTS FOR £550 BITCHES!

[cort16]

CLK 320 with mot for 400 quid

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/mercedes-benz/mercedes-clk320/1145212338

[twosmoke300]

Gotta be a t5 , Saab turbo or a puma I reckon

[Noel Tidybeard]

primevil gt

[D Spares & Tyres]

Got to be an Alfa

 

Doesn't matter which model really, they are all a bargain

 

+1 on the Puma if there's no Alfas

[J-T]

Alfa 156/166 with the busso V6

[fatharris]

little point to a 3.0v8 in a 7, 4.0/4.4 aye

I disagree, I've got the 2.8 in my 7, and I'd say it was adequate enough.

 

I mean, I'd still rather have a V8, but Herman's my daily, and I'm not totally hatstand.

My best experience with bangernomics was the Volvo 480.

 

It was a 1993 K plate, 2.0 8v engine with 110hp. The car was light, and the 8v Renault engine was very torquey, so it had some oomph to it, although the noise wasn't particularly tittilating. Typically comfy Volvo seats, and it would do 30mpg to a mixed tank, and 40+ on a run - not bad!

 

It had a very low mileage for its age, and I bought it off a gentleman selling it on behalf of his father, because his father was no longer fit to drive because of ill-health.

 

It had a 10p sized patch of rust on one arch, and that was it. Very unusual for a 480 of that age! The funky 1970s arcade machine dashboard still had every single pixel too, and if I remember correctly it came with a good amount of tax and test.

 

Apparently you can break into the rear glass hatch in around 8 seconds using a coat hanger. And, um...it apparently had "Lotus" designed handling. Or maybe the delivery truck drove past a Lotus factory once? I dunno. I took it on an airfield day and it rolled about and understeered like a bastardising understeery thing. The DUNKING DITCHFINDERS probably didn't help.

 

I paid the princely sum of £550 for it, and drove it for a long time, simply MOTing it and maybe having a windscreen wiper replaced, as well as having it serviced. I sold it for £550! Quids in!

 

POP UP HEADLIGHTS FOR £550 BITCHES!

I'm disappointed in you, elsewhere this would have been a wall of Auto trader links by now!

[Guest Renault20tx]

Big Auto - got to be a Jag 

Small auto - a Ka

 

Large manual - Talbot Solara

Small manual - Talbot Horizon

 

Come to think of it, did they ever do an automatic KA?

[R9UKE]

Hard to beat the Renault Safrane for a bangernomics all rounder. Literally nobody looks for them so they're cheap as chips. Get the 2.5 Exec Auto and you have the comfiest seats to waft around on and a Volvo 5 pot roar when you put your foot down.

 

When it breaks my small automatic would be a Pug 206 Roland Garros.

 

When it overheats, the fall back would be the Volvo 440 I bought for buttons and couldn't kill it. One of the single most surprisingly likeable cars I've ever had.

 

You could have all three of the above and still have change for a years RAC membership

[320touring]

Well in that case, what about a Honda S2000 that's been rear-ended?

 

 

iif that floats your boat:)

 

personally I'd be bored before it reached the powerband!

[320touring]

The ZS is a much smaller car though but with the same power.

shows how much I know ZS=45 then?

[cort16]

Yip zs is 45 or 400 in old money. They v6 ones are reasonably rare most are 1.8's

[Guest Renault20tx]

Hard to beat the Renault Safrane for a bangernomics all rounder. Literally nobody looks for them so they're cheap as chips. Get the 2.5 Exec Auto and you have the comfiest seats to waft around on and a Volvo 5 pot roar when you put your foot down

Yes, I test drove one once, it was just like you say. It had 160,000 on the clock, so I balked at paying £400 for it - you can often pick them up with half that mileage for £200!!

[320touring]

CLK 320 with mot for 400 quid

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/mercedes-benz/mercedes-clk320/1145212338

 

 

that looks pretty damn good- are they quicker than the 230 kompressors?

[Honey Badger]

iif that floats your boat:)

 

personally I'd be bored before it reached the powerband!

Only someone whos never driven one would say that, because you have about a second and a half before the world goes batshit crazy and starts moving pastyou at an extreme rate of knots and unlike a mildly lukewarm dizzler, the fun is only just starting at 5000rpm.

 

Best big autofor under 500 - Has to be GS300 as you get all the wafty leather and a great straight 6 engine but it probably all still works.