Car hunting, URGH

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I reckon he's just got a massive cob on as he was all set to buy another Skoda, but was thwarted by a feckless seller. 1.4ohv petrol too so perfect* for a long commute.

[skattrd]

...

 

Does a newer plate = moving up in the world? I went from an R reg Volvo (RIP) to an 04 reg Spanish rusty van, I don't think I've moved up in the world.

 

Well, I've gone from a 1998 VW to a 1987 Honda, and I must say driving the 10+yrs older Honda makes me feel like a winner.

[Lacquer Peel]

I'll stick my neck out and say I feel a bit disappointed by some poster's reactions.

 

Felly is in a fairly rough spot it seems, and that is perhaps why he may be coming across a little difficult. I personally don't think that is a decent reason to take the piss.

 

This is a great forum, full of really friendly, sympathetic and helpful folk. I'd hate to see that change.

 

I hope you get sorted out soon Felly.

 

It's not the first time he's been belligerent and stubborn on the forum, don't wish him any harm though. I hope he can find something close to his ideal car and his situation improves.

[Crusty Sills]

I do sympathise with you felly and appreciate you are having a rough time at present.

You don't want a complete shit heap and you want something to commute in.

 

But I've always said that any car with a good chunk of MOT is worth a min of £500.

Unfortunately for the money and time you have your options really are limited.

 

If it helps the Celica is here to borrow for a couple of days if it helps?

Im only in South Norfolk so not a million miles away.

[mrbenn]

The sad fact is that when you're short on cash your choices are limited. I'm sure a lot of us have been there, I certainly have and its not a comfortable position.

 

One £700 car will be a peach; long MOT, good tyres, recent service, maybe even cambelt done. Another £700 example will need a service, couple of tyres, maybe short MOT i.e. nothing actually "wrong" with it but before you know it that £700 car is a £1000+ car.

[garbaldy]

I've just read page after page of tripe but I can tell you this,

if it is true that only minute's after your pay goes into the bank your in the minus then you can not afford a car,

 

And before I hear what do I know well it took me close on two years of freezing my but off on a motorbike to get back on my feet, believe me that will not be happening to me again that's for sure.

[jakebullet]

It's almost like the pimp up for a comedy banger rally, will a sub 1K car get you across europe? Dare you take on the danger of driving an old car? When the reality is yes it will even if you drive it like a cock all the way.

[rml2345]

Old car not up to the job?

Irv Gordon must be gutted then as his P1800 is clearly not capable of the 3 million miles it's already done.

I can afford to run one car. ONE. Currently it's a 954cc Citroën AX which would 100% be capable of an 80 mile motorway commute but probably drive it's occupants daft.

Suck it up. If you're as stuck as you say you are, anything about the right size with four wheels and a decent MOT is the requirement, the rest is luxury.

And before you lambast myself and others about our lack of understanding, perhaps you should read a bit more of the forum.

[Pete-M]

I think most of us on here have been skint at some point. In that awkward situation where you need to put food on the table, have a job that doesn't pay a fortune yet requires you to work odd hours and knackers the option of using public transport.

 

When I've been in that situation any functioning vehicle has been good enough to do the job. It's not as though you have to keep the bloody thing forever, buying a £400 snotter is not a lifetime commitment, it's something to use to get to work in so you can drag yourself out of the blatantly shit situation you've ended up in. It's not a prestige statement, it's a tool to get to work without using public transport, walking, horse wrangling or riding a bike. If it has a dented door that's incentive to get a better job.

 

I've used all sorts of "unsuitable" stuff to get to work in. 25 years ago I was doing an 80 mile / day mainly motorway commute to Rochdale in all kinds of awful tat. Rusty and grievously unreliable MGB GT, Lancia Delta HF Turbo with a knackered carb, BMW 323i with a slipping clutch, Chevrolet Malibu with issues, Fiesta 957 base, Capri 3.0S tried them all.

 

I can afford better cars nowadays but still use a 189k mile, 16 year old, diesel Mercedes estate as my daily wheels. I'll regularly do 200 mile trips in it, and once a year I'll cram a 2000 mile in a week round trip in across Europe. As it's diesel it'll average 35+ mpg even when doing 90 mph across Germany.

 

You're being far too picky. If it has wheels, an MOT, is insurable and it's likely to be reliable enough to get you to and from work then it is good enough. Your budget is good enough to buy any one of thousands of possible options but you're making it fucking difficult.

 

It's not as though most 15 year old motors are bad things. They've made it this far. Most of the French stuff is long dead, and whatever is left is buttons to buy.

 

Man up, bite the bullet and stop being a tart.

 

Fuxake, I've been known to buy cars out of the paper when I've been stuck in distant cities and couldn't bring myself to pay the extortionate train fares home. Train from somewhere @ £120, or buy a £400 E32 735i from the Loot, shove £40 fuel in and flog it for £450 if it makes it home in one piece.

[TataBobu]

SOMEONE BUY THAT ELANTRA AND ROFFLE IT!

 

I would, with both my hands. But I wouldn't roffle it. Could you just imagine the collection thread?

PS: I asked the seller if he'll hold on to it for a month, until I could be there. It's a really long shot, but who knows..

[ChinaTom]

I'm doing some sums at the moment so as the calculator is out, let's face some depressing facts that ought to be considered.

 

Assumption#1: Broke, treading water, hand to mouth. Know the feeling well - always expecting it to happen to me for probably the 10th time. Basically, every penny counts. Pride kicked into touch.

Assumption#2: Ought to know better but cars make me irrational. I know how I see things, and I'm probably wrong. Don't seem to care. Seeing my aspirational set of wheels parked outside somehow seems to compensate for the rest of the shit I have to go through. It's compensation.

 

Here's the only plan: Take the second assumption and feel good about burning it, stamping on it - even hold it responsible. Stick with Assumption#1 because otherwise, the following is going to set fire to assumption#2 for you.

 

You will be covering around 2,500 miles a month from a "take every paid day available" 80 mile daily commute when considering the other trips you will make. Your ideal petrol powered 10 year old car will return an average of 34 mpg all things considered. You're going to tax it, insure it, put tyres on it and service it a lot more than you expect. You will set out your monthly budget thus:

 

Insurance: £25

Tax: £18

Fuel: £384 (add 60% if you secretly buy 2 packets of fags each time you fill up hoping they get paid for by driving extra economically - maybe that's just me)

Tyres: £30

Servicing/MOT: £50

 

So you absolutely know you are going to need to find a minimum of £500 a month to run this car in order to earn your income. I suspect you will not be getting mileage expenses at 45p a mile.

 

It will absolutely definitely need more expenditure than that. The windscreen has a £50 excess, and you'll get through at least one a year. I bet the brakes will need another £150 in he course of 30,000 miles.

 

So, will you please at least acknowledge this in your quest for a SUITABLE vehicle. My advice (I assure you I perfectly understand the meaning of 'broke' - you NEVER forget it) is to evaluate the suggestions here based on economy, insurance group, VED; and not give a flying fuck if it is a bit bashed about. After that vehicle has got you reliably, predictably and confidently through the dark times, you will even start to love that dented door. Diesel will give you about £150 extra a month. There is your tax in month one, your servicing after month 4, and after month 12 you have spent £900 quid less.

 

It's Summer soon - East Anglia is a nice dry part of the country. I'd be looking for a motorcycle and think of the money I am NOT spending. If health determines otherwise, fair enough.

[Ratdat]

Mrs Ratdat used to commute 100 miles a day in a 1973 Datsun 1200. Just sayin'. 

 

End of last year she was doing a 50 mile commute daily plus doing her rounds of private patients in the evening in my Nissan Prairie which is 27 years old and has 170k on the clock. Now she has upgraded to the wondrous modernity that is a '96 Toyota Paseo.

 

She has always used cars 12 years old or more...often more than 20 years old. In the last 15 years I can recall only a couple failures to proceed. A failed HG on a T72 Bluebird and a dead battery on an Alfa 156. Look after an old car and it'll do what ever you need it to. Age is just a number.

[plasticvandan]

living hand to mouth?more like ass to mouth

[Pete-M]

Lolz, you say you don't want to drive a shit box after work?? You say this and you were driving around in a focus???? Really if you want to make a statement about how miserable your life has become .... Buy a focus!!!

 

Your turning down cars that are perfectly fine just because you have found a dent or its the wrong colour!

 

You drive buses, you are not royalty, buy a Suzuki swift and get over yourself!

Fuck all wrong with a decent spec Focus.

[gdhaydock]

[mrbenn]

Lolz, you say you don't want to drive a shit box after work?? You say this and you were driving around in a focus???? Really if you want to make a statement about how miserable your life has become .... Buy a focus!!!

 

I don't want to get involved in a slanging match but thats a shitty thing to say.

[John F]

[nigel bickle]

We've all got 'ol'd' cars here, that's the point of the Forum!

 

Whilst some are older than others, we all drive old'uns for a reason; so to denigrate old, here, doesn't really work.

 

I was driven to Leeds/ Castleford and back to the south coast on Monday in a ratty old Lexus, purchase price £102.

I drove/ was driven to southern Belgium yesterday in an old 1992 imported Nissan, purchased on here 2 years ago. At no time did we check fluids or levels on either, just jumped in and went. I will probably return in a 36 yr old Seat, but who knows!

 

Don't dismiss, out of hand, when funds are tight. Especially here, where you will get an honest appraisal. Old cars rock!

[John F]

[John F]

I used to commute to work (round trip of 108 miles per day) in an 18-year old Calibra.

 

Total FTPs in 3 years? One. Because I'd replaced a section of fuel pipe with hose & managed to crimp it slightly where it went into a bracket, so that was an own goal. Sorted in minutes once I'd got it home.

 

It also had the plus point, if you're bothered about things like that, of standing out as being a bit different & sporty-looking next to the 3-year old borings in the company car park.

[oldcars]

Not sure if this is near you or not but be like me, only a bigger winnar cus you haz a shuma 2

Arches and sills look clean that's were mine has gone as do the front wings. Nice place to be comfy for a long commute too.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-02-KIA-SHUMA-LX-1-8-PETROL-MANUAL-5-DOOR-HATCHBACK-SILVER-/272128849448?hash=item3f5c24b628:g:AB8AAOSwQYZWueak

[BorniteIdentity]

I'm covered on other cars. Find something ya like near me and I'll get it to you. I did offer to collect you from train stations around derby and notts too. Offer still stands too

Likewise. I'm not sure where you live but I see you drive the A14. My family are at one end and I'm at the other. You find it I'll bring it.

[saucedoctor]

That Shuma 2 has no MoT.

[BorniteIdentity]

Ah. Right.

 

I'll stand down. But if he's going to be decent then he can borrow my Avensis until he's up on his feet. Free tank of pez and some groceries too.

 

That's an honest offer.

[John F]

"Help me find a car" threads are invariably a pile of wank.

 

Especially now with scrap prices at rock bottom, it's easy enough to find something fairly local with a bit of MOT for a few hundred quid.

 

But there's not much can be done by anyone else if the desired vehicle has to be e.g. less than 5 years old, capable of carrying 5 adults and 3 child seats across Europe at 150 mph whilst averaging 75 mpg on veg for a total outlay of a creased Beano and, as always, half a licked Twix. And it has to be metallic red, with lots of 3s in the registration number 'cos oor lass likes the number 3.

 

There's simply no need for people to share such unrealistic expectations with the world.

[gdhaydock]

I spent 3 years doing a 90 mile a day round trip commute in a 10 year Ford Escort with the 1.3 OHV engine.

 

It looked an absolute dog, but I put 90000 miles on top of the 119000 it came with and only FTP'd once (wheel bearing collapse) - twice if you count the day it finally died when the timing chain let go and took a chunk of the engine with it.

 

It was an ace car, I paid less than £500 for it, didn't worry if it got scratched as it was battered anyway and just drove it with a complete lack of mechanical sympathy.

 

I bought that car in July 2003 after my 18 month old Audi A4 was written off. (I had negative equity on it, therefore the insurance didn't cover the full value - I have never borrowed money to buy a car since as that bit hurt)

 

I guess what I'm saying is the same as everybody else, just swallow your pride and buy something that will get you to work and back

[SiC]

Last Active: Yesterday, 10:37 PM

 

I think we've all scared him off.

[Jim Bell]

Mayhap the fellow has found a grand enough stick to support a moon.

[oldcars]

That Shuma 2 has no MoT.

  didnt see that. Maybe they will put one on.

[Pillock]

When car hunting, you can only choose two from the following three points:

 

Correct spec

Cheap

Available now.