Rover 75 1.8t - Much love??

[BorniteIdentity]

As soon as cars start to become trouble, they get James Brown'd no use getting sentimental to what is all intents and purposes an appliance. The Mondongo will get sacked off if it has big bills looming, that is a certainty, because it is far less aggro to replace

You have developed highly sensitive spidy senses then - being able to guarantee that the car you're buying doesn't have other issues looming. After all, who sells a perfectly working car?

 

Say you bought your Mondeo for £600. You scrap it for £100 because it needs a clutch at £400. The car you buy may have a perfectly good clutch, but anything else may let go. At least with a car you know, you're negating the unknowns somewhat.

 

Don't worry, I know the Bangernomicist's Bible inside out.

 

But there is something to be said for keeping a car going.

[Felly Magic]

Come on, if the cost of replacing the car is cheaper than a huge repair bill, common sense says get shut. Been running cheapies for years now, and the best was the Felicia, had very little spent over 4 and a bit years, and did a staggering 65k in it, it was pensioned off because the Mrs hit something and damaged a driveshaft, plus it had been running with OMGHGF for at least 20k, it was a case of running it until it died. The replacement Almera she managed to kill by boiling it dry after a rad hose blew, clearly she didn't notice the temp in the red, she said she expected a buzzer to go off FFS.

 

I've had cars over the years that I've spent way more than their financial worth keeping them on the road, and to be brutally honest I'm sick of doing that, every year spending hundreds to MOT, then not long after something mechanical failing, such as a clutch, had that with an Uno and a Fiesta 16v, both hydraulic clutches, both bum raping. There comes a time in a cars life when it becomes one bill too many, so it goes over the bridge, especially with the miles our cars do, the Mondongo is in use to commute 80 miles round trip up to 6 days a week, so we need a reliable car, I suspect the last owner of it was pig sick of spending on it, after 2 front springs, clutch and rear calipers in the last year of owning it

[rovamota]

I've been running a 54 plate MG ZT 1.8 Turbo for nearly six years now that I bought for £2400 with only 33k from new from a dealer. It had HGF repaired just before I bought it and over the last 34k miles I've covered in it it has had 2 services, a new clutch, a handbrake compensator (common issue), a water pump and cam belt, an inlet manifold gasket, rear exhaust section and front brake pads, though not necessarily in that order.

 

More recently, I've had to have the front drop links replaced three times in the last 18 months. The original ones lasted 10 years and only failed an MoT due to perished dust covers. I bought a new set from DMGRS and fitted them myself and they failed after 8 months. I got a full refund but didn't buy from them again and instead I paid to have a set fitted by the local garage. They've lasted 6 months and have just been replaced FOC. I suspect I'll be back there again for another set soon.

 

Still, I'd say that's pretty cheap and reliable quality motoring for 6 years.

 

 

[0ldCh0d]

A bit more...

 

Who buys these cars at the end of the lease?

 

A three year old car, that's been maintained & serviced by the book and is unscratched with just 8,000 miles per year on it.

How much do they cost?

Are they given away for peanuts?

Or sold at a premium?

Whatever, surely by buying one of these you're taking on all the mental, financial depreciation that until recently, the first owner was expected to bear. 

And at 6 years old?

Must be worth sodding pennies?

 

They usually end up in the car auctions, Described as "Finance company direct"....

[Snipes]

I'd like a turbo but I just couldn't be arsed knowing it was bound to boil up eventually.

[stripped fred]

My 406 cost me £200 just over a year ago. I've spent about £600 on it since which is obviously more than it's worth but mostly just maintenance items such as brakes and tyres. It makes financial sense to me though as it's still low cost motoring. If it needed a new clutch tomorrow I'd probably do it as I know the rest of the car is OK. Scrapping it and buying an unknown car at this price point, especially if bought through the common routes of eBay/Gumtree rather than on here, would be more of a risk. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules though. Some people scrap a car worth a lot more when a big bill comes along. It's also not just about running something for as cheap as possible as some cars get under your skin.

[Kiltox]

They usually end up in the car auctions, Described as "Finance company direct"....

Vast majority worth having are sold in closed trade only sales to big firms - anything that makes it through to an auction where it'll be described like that will be the dross nobody actually wants - coming soon to a "can't get credit? Take ours at 9999999% apr" type dealer near you

[The_Equalizer]

I'm firmly of the school of thought that there's definitely some value in knowing a car, especially at our level of motoring. Cars in AutoShite price bracket invariably need something doing to them and there's normally a list of common faults with any model. If you've got those fixed you're normally well ahead even if it's not reflected in the value of the car.

 

I bought a Mercedes  W202 C230 Kompressor manual for £1500 - it cost its first owner about £37K in real terms. Over fiver years of ownership I did various work including big jobs such as rebuilding the suspension/brakes and small ones in replacing the wiper motor, wind regulators, heater motor fix and the like. There is of course servicing too. I even spent a small fortune on welding. In truth it cost about £1K/year run (repair and servicing only). Instead I could have bought a different W202 a year, but they would have no doubt suffered from the same problems I had fixed on mine. It finally failed its MoT on mega rust in the off-side sill (I'd had the other replaced previously)*. I replaced it with a CLK 230 Cab. for £1550 and, unsurprisingly, it has already had a new front anti-roll bar and bushes plus an extensive service. I've also now got a blowing manifold to sort.

 

*In a very strange twist of fate some chap and his dad noticed the C230 sans MoT sitting on my drive. No one had ever spoken to me about the car before - most people in this part of the UK seem to hold great stock in having a new motor 'out front'. However, his dad gave me £500 for it and said he was off to do all the necessary welding work. Despite pointing out that there was a huge amount he was good to his word and I've just discovered (as of yesterday) he's got a new ticket on it. It's up for sale at £950. I mentioned it to the wife. Her reply - "you're not buying it". I'm so tempted!

 

I suppose it's horses for courses.

[Ghosty]

Aye, my R8 was only £300 but I've probably spent going on that again on repairing HGF, service items etc. I think it's worth it though as everyone that as much as sees it bloody loves it - also it's really not going to want for much now for a good long time, and given some overdue care it'll be a reliable steed.

[rovamota]

This has just been posted on the Facebook page.

 

 

A mere 40k and weighed in due to MoT fail...

 

 

 

[trigger]

Is that all?! Jesus we live in a wasteful society.

[Bren]

If that was a picasso or a fucked 3 series it would have been saved.

[twosmoke300]

Thing is it would need rear discs and pads , handbrake shoes , the quadrant under the carpet as well as back plates and fitting kits . Thats a pretty penny on its own then it will prob have other issues too like dmf / fuel pump issues or hgf if it's a petrol . Doesn't exactly look like a loved example does it

[SiC]

Rear tyres I bet too - probably old, cracked and perished.

[twosmoke300]

Ahh yes - another thing that pushes cars over the edge .

[Vince70]

It seems mad that a lovely low mileage motor like that gets weighed in for basically service items and maybe a secondhand wiper motor.

My theory is if I have to spend £500/£700'a year on servicing and repairs on an old car as long as it's a decent example it's worth doing so even new cars still need that kind of money spending on them if going back to the main dealer for a yearly oil change for that stamp in the book.

[oldcars]

This has just been posted on the Facebook page.

 

75 1.jpg

 

A mere 40k and weighed in due to MoT fail...

 

75 2.jpg

Want, just so i can clean the poor bugger 

[timolloyd]

The thing I like about this place is that we all basically want to know that work has been done on our cars, and done to a standard we're happy with. I bet most people here would still run shite - or second hand cars at least - even if or when they can afford new.

 

There's also something amazing about saving an unloved mechanical thing. Felt this way ever since I rebuilt an old bike as a kid, or pulled a mower from the skip and got it working.