Should you buy the best or the cheapest?

[stripped fred]

My current car daydream is a celica. I've convinced myself I need one in my life soon. However, knowing what I'm like this could change at short notice. Anyway, the point of this post is that the prices of this model, and I suppose for most cars, vary widely. You can pick up a cheapish eBay example for £600 or some dealers are optimistically asking for £2 to £3k. Then there are private owners somewhere in between.

 

My question is do shiter's think it's better to buy cheap and then do any work yourself/or use garages where needed or buy the best fsh example and hope this means there will be little else to do over the short/medium term? Looking for opinions on all cars really not just celica's.

[steve_earwig]

Buy cheap, learn about the car while working out why it was cheap. flog it on, buy a good one with the knowledge you've gained/scrap it and find something else.

[MarvinsMom]

i've always been of the opinion that you should always buy the best that you can afford 

 

but iz da shitz at autoshite

 

i seem to buy high and sell low!

[garethj]

I've owned a few cars where having a ropey one tainted the ownership experience. Having said that, owning a minter of anything is usually out of my reach.

[catsinthewelder]

I would never buy a mint condition car with FSH because after a week with me it probably wouldn't be.  I've tried having shiny cars and just get really stressed. 

I knew the paintwork on the Cherry was a bit ropey when I got it so the odd scratch from kids brushing past or bushes at the side of a narrow lane doesn't make me cross.  The Disco can have a medium sized RTA and come out looking more or less the same which is ideal with Ms C.

 

If you are going to keep it garaged and only use it on dry days then it would be worth buying a nice one.

[Richard]

Buy the best, but that doesn't necessarily mean the cleanest or most expensive.

[mercrocker]

I have always tried the cheap ones first, made sure I can live with it then looked for the best I could afford. Trouble is you can spend an awful lot in the learning process. Maybe if the price band is under a grand to just over 2 or 3 for the best it might pay to simply go for the good'un first time - possibly easier to sell on if its not right for you.

[HH-R]

The cars I've paid just over a grand for have always been great, the ones I've bought that were about 5 years old and cost a few grand have been absolute nightmares. Not sure if there's anything in that, or just all modernz r you know the rest and the cheaper cars have been from the late 90s/early 00s.

[stripped fred]

I love this site! Where else would you get gems of wisdom like that in the time it's taken me to make a brew! All perfectly good answers and food for thought. It wouldn't be a cherished car kept in a garage, more a usable car that might have the odd bruise. Just want to avoid a money pit or something with a terminal problem.

[Stanky]

Buy with eyes open, nothig else. I have rarely bought the cheapest, or most expensive example of any car and have almost always ended up with a car that isn't a total pup.

 

I usually start with an amount of money, look to spend up to 75% of the budget on an average example with some issues which I know I can fix myself, using - hopefully - less than the 25% remaining budget, then anything left over from the starting figure can be spent on booze with a clear conscience as it was already allocated to 'something else' anyway.

 

Every car I've owned has tought me a lot of things, even the less good examples have tought me important lessons like why cheap tyres are shit or why late 80s Rovers need careful examination of structural bodywork prior to undertaking daily duties, the cheaper the better for me, just give yourself a pot of cash to start with, if you spend all of it on the initial purchase, then you better be damn sure you know its perfect, if you spend 10% on the initial purchase then you have plenty of 'fat' left over to fix the things that are broken without eating into funds allocated to other things like coffee, beer or foreign aid.

 

It only goes wrong when you max yourself out to scrape into buying the shittest example of a car on sale, then have no funding to fix things that are wrong with it.

[forddeliveryboy]

Ones which are well-looked after but with paint needed or a dent sorting are usually the best vfm. People place massive premiums on physical perfection, usually misguidedly.

[Vince70]

I'm never pay a fortune for a motor but I always try and buy the best low mileage rust free example I can..

 

I know I could of found a banger version of my daily driver for £350 to £400 which is on its last legs but I rather pay around £800 for a mint condition low mileage example as I know that rust and knackered interiors and a smoky engine would really bug me and would end up spending a couple of grand more sorting out problems to get it right plus I like an original dealer plate and those little folders with all the books etc you get with a Goodun.

[brownnova]

If you pay top money, and it goes wrong then you'll have less money to fix it with.

 

However buy a bottom end grotter then you might spend all your money fixing it.

 

I usually aim for something in the middle, but out depends what comes up when I'm looking really!!

 

Most older cars come with some issues that we only find out about after purchase!

[ruffgeezer]

When I bought my 306 Cab, I looked at quite a few ranging from very cheap up to budget busters.  To be honest most had one or two of the common faults, but a couple of the really cheap ones were utterly hanging and just making good on the high scrap prices of the time.

 

In the end, I paid just under a monkey for one, and did all of the work needed myself, sure it stands me nearly what I'd call an expensive one, but the difference is, I know it's had a cambelt done properly, I know the roof is in very good shape now, and I know that I wouldn't have that faith in an expensive one bought from some fat fuck in a cheap polo shirt on an old petrol station sales forecourt.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Just buy something looked after, it will be far cheaper in the long term!

[drum]

Keep looking for that one owner from new, private sale Celica that's had all its services. The owner has got fed up spending £500 on a dealership service and wants rid.

 

It is out there...

[stripped fred]

Lots of good advice there, thanks folks. I've read it and I'll read it again and digest it. Setting a budget and only using some of it on the car is a good way of doing it as they usually have something wrong don't they? Will also not buy the first one i see which is another trick of mine!

[panhard65]

I just buy cheap and sort it out myself. My Rolls was just over breaker money and has had a grand spent on it but I know that it has had all the main faults they have sorted. Mileage is the biggest lie ever low mileage cars can hide more problems than a high mile example. Why buy a 60k mile car that will be due new brakes cam belt clutch etc when you can get a 100k one that has had all of these major comsumable jobs done already. Buy on condition not the pile of bills that supposedly show it has been looked after.

[dollywobbler]

Price is often not correctly linked to condition. There are some shocking 8 grand 2CVs out there for instance, and some surprisingly tidy ones for 3 grand.

 

Spec can often wrongly force prices down too. A lesser Celica may be a good chunk less than a fire breathing one, and arguably not necessarily less fun in real-world conditions.

 

Rot is the major consideration really. Rarely cheap to sort out.

[tommotech]

For me you need to consider purchase price and cost of ownership. Buying the cheapest doesn't necessarily mean it will be cheaper in the long run, but the most expensive can also be a money pit if bought badly.

Buy with eyes wide open and look for a car that has needed to be reliable for its owner, ie had money spent when needed.

 

Usually though a Toyota ought to be decent enough to attract reasonable owners, in order to remain reliable.

 

Good luck.

[fred]

Only bought a car for 2 grand once that was a failure . of all my 100 car odd purchases most were 300 - 600 area, from the papers, IE Giffers who dont know how T'internet works, and with the bonus feature you get tea and cakes and a full run down of the cars history

[derskine]

I always tend to buy the worst and spend a lot of time fixing it.

But, it works for me. I've ended up with a couple of cars I like and they haven't cost me near what they could have.

[Junkman]

 

Should you buy the best or the cheapest?

 

What's the difference?

[billyboy406v6]

Buy private, and check the owner out as decent people tend to sell decent cars. Avoid yoofs as they is stooopid !

[steveo3002]

buy private and get the most rust free one you can  

[Bren]

The cheap ones are cheap for a reason.

 

In 1997 I paid £750 for an SD1 Vitesse then wondered why it was a pile of shite - scrap efi cars were selling for that much as the efi bits made good money.

 

Needless to say it was fucked, even after spending loads on it it was still fucked, I broke it and sold the bits.

 

Buy cheap, buy twice.

[sierraman]

Buying a crap example is likely to cost you more to put right than to buy a decent one to start with. My only exception to this would be a smoker to knock about in for a bit

[sierraman]

Buy private, and check the owner out as decent people tend to sell decent cars. Avoid yoofs as they is stooopid !

There's some private vendors out there that think the old Focus they are selling on has aged like a fucking fine wine.

[cros]

One of the very few modern cars I'd like. Would prioritise good interior as that's the bit you see. Wanked out seats and evidence of previous driver being an animal would be the end of the fucking world.

[capsuleboy]

You should always buy the best.

But of course, like the rest of us, you will in fact buy the cheapest.