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Joloke

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I must admit that I love the: Ah but surely when they are no longer wanted you then have to use the scrappage scheme and go for new again?

 

That sums up modern attitudes very well: A feeling of being obliged to buy something new because you can.  Plus the idea that the old can is unsaleable.  

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I have run cars all my life like this (well OK not the first 17 years...) but have had to re-think the whole bangernomics/shite theory during the last few years. 

 

Why? 

 

Because there is nothing cheap left that I want to drive/own.   

  

The four vehicles that I am left with are going to have to see me out for a good while.   The cost of replacements is now much higher than it was and from an economic point of view it makes more sense to keep restoring them..... 

 

I miss my shite years but there is no way I am going to drive anything modern enough to keep the faith.    

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There's no shame in looking after a cheap ol' shitter. Plenty on here have nice cars, even if they're nice examples of cars most people think are shit. 

 

I do some level of bangernomics, but I'm about to shell out for a cambelt change on my Lexus. I want my cars to work and be reliable, not just be one pricey job away from the scrapyard.

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Are you sure you weren't telling someone about Bangernomics?

The two concepts coincide for a rather large percentage of their length.  The big difference is that Shiters are allowed to lavish unreasonable amounts of love and often money on their cars, whereas the Bangernomics types would just scrap it and start again.

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I have run cars all my life like this (well OK not the first 17 years...) but have had to re-think the whole bangernomics/shite theory during the last few years. 

 

Why? 

 

Because there is nothing cheap left that I want to drive/own.   

  

The four vehicles that I am left with are going to have to see me out for a good while.   The cost of replacements is now much higher than it was and from an economic point of view it makes more sense to keep restoring them..... 

 

I miss my shite years but there is no way I am going to drive anything modern enough to keep the faith.    

 

This is very much my fear. I'd love a P10 Primera, as I think that'd be all the car I need, but they've utterly vanished. 1990s stuff, despite all the 'ooh, moderns don't rot' theory, is fast disappearing. Surviving examples of cars I like are simply being priced out of reach, and the good ones are too nice to subject to my daily shizzle. I think this perhaps why, despite its flaws, the Honda is still on my fleet. It ticks many boxes and is solid, but not good enough to be a future museum piece. The Lexus is merely a gap-filler - a final V8 blowout before my thoughts truly turn electric...

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Waiting for AA vans soon gets boring, especially in the winter.  While there is a certain charm about cars you don't have to care about, such as not worrying about leaving them getting scratched or dented in car parks, older cheaper cars are likely to go wrong more often, and when they do if you're not willing\able to fix them yourself then the cost benefit of having them soon disappears.  The trouble is that a lot of old chod now is still 'modern' in terms of its complexity to repair, so you need to choose wisely and not be too blasé about maintenance.

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Waiting for AA vans is something I don't do. In the past 13 months, it has happened three times, which is about as bad as it's ever got for me. Once when the gearbox exploded in my Rover 600 (couldn't predict that one! I'd just driven it to France and back), once when a £70k XK150 lost all electrics and once when the Bluebird I'd just revived after head gasket failure blew a coolant pipe. An entire year before the Rover, I took on a free Volvo that needed AA assistance to get home. To be honest, that proved that there's shite, and then there's downright shit...

 

I'm struggling to recall a breakdown in the winter, in any car. 

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I'm shit at Bangernomics. The Volvo was meant to be a daily driver for me, like my last 740 was, but I can't just leave things and I even less can bear to see substandard work done!

I've spent a small fortune on that car in the 10 months I've had it. Much of it wasn't needed to keep it going but I want it to be a good one so sod it. I've just blown £180 on getting the alloys refurbished and it'll be getting a set of new tyres, not budget crap either, in the coming days.

Personally I think there's lots of 80's and 90's cars that are still a superb prospect as a daily even now. These Volvo's fill the role for me but old Mercs, BMW's, Rovers etc are well up to the job still. And there's nothing wrong at all with doing them up and making them nice again imho.

Imho cars of the 80's and 90's are disappearing fast at the moment so now's the time if your going to do it. There's absolutely nothing of any real interest to me after the 90's so I'll be sticking with what I've got long term I think.

 

My others are all well established classics and probably not 'shite' really so they get what's needed when it's needed!

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I'm sticking with my R reg 318i Touring. I may* buy something 8-10 years old, maybe a 330i Coupe or a decent E60 530i or something. We'll see. It'll be a BMW because that's what I like. I know lots of folk who can fix them and that's priceless.

 

I did however bid up to £490 for a super clean S plate Merc E240 Auto, nice shade of metallic dark green , beige leather, new wings etc. Went for 600 quid in the end I think. That's what shiting should be about (IMO), beating the system by driving a really smart, pleasant car for bugger all.

 

Not interested in driving old shit (Ford / GM / Nissan / French etc) because I've never understood the attraction of driving rubbish when there are so many decent cars around for fuck all. 

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If you’ve got a thousand quid to spend on a car though, a 3 Series wouldn’t be a wise move though would it?

 

To win at Bangernomics you need to pick wisely, something that’s been looked after and is fairly common so when something like an exhaust goes you aren’t in for some serious wallet damage. Secondly you’ve got to anticipate when your times up with something, when there’s an looming list of stuff like clutches and intermittent impossible to rectify FTP causing problems you need to judge when to fuck it off before it does you a bad turn.

 

Above all you’ve got to remember all cars cost money. It’s just the way you are doing it isn’t costing you £250 a month to rent it.

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Are you sure you weren't telling someone about Bangernomics?

 

Wise words FOAD,  wise words.

 

 

Eeeking another 12 months ticket out of a Focus Ghia at minimum expense isn't autoshite as it was neither unpopular, rare or disliked when it was in production.

 

Welding a set of sils on to a 5 door 1.4CL, followed by the rest of the boot floor as it fell out when you started on the sills is Autoshite, it's unloved, rare and was as popular as a dose of ebola when it was in production.

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I'm shit at Bangernomics. The Volvo was meant to be a daily driver for me, like my last 740 was, but I can't just leave things and I even less can bear to see substandard work done!

I've spent a small fortune on that car in the 10 months I've had it. Much of it wasn't needed to keep it going but I want it to be a good one so sod it. I've just blown £180 on getting the alloys refurbished and it'll be getting a set of new tyres, not budget crap either, in the coming days.

Personally I think there's lots of 80's and 90's cars that are still a superb prospect as a daily even now. These Volvo's fill the role for me but old Mercs, BMW's, Rovers etc are well up to the job still. And there's nothing wrong at all with doing them up and making them nice again imho.

Imho cars of the 80's and 90's are disappearing fast at the moment so now's the time if your going to do it. There's absolutely nothing of any real interest to me after the 90's so I'll be sticking with what I've got long term I think.

 

My others are all well established classics and probably not 'shite' really so they get what's needed when it's needed!

My sentiments exactly, loving my 740 as a daily.

 

Its so nice having a large barge, people do let you out!! :) or so it seems!

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Wow! I go out for a cheap meal and come home to my thread which has gone mad! True its probably not quite as it was but owning an older car is always cheaper than having to shell out those dealer prices.

 

And your not backed into a corner for several years on a contract for something you will never own :(

 

Some you will win others loose but you choose when you bail not some finance company waiting for your last drop of blood :(

 

I must admit though the best argument I have had with Non Believers is how much money they are saving because their new car does 60mpg but fail to see they are paying thousands more for the priviledge................................

 

Indeed. I've never understood the "Oh, it'll cost £200 to MOT? I'll spend £4000 on a new car then," mentality which seems to thrive in this country. I'd just spend the £200. I'd probably refurb the alloys and fit a brand new exhaust as well, even though it might well be scrap before too long. My Daihatsu Sirion is a key example of this. I even had the fuel filler replaced under recall! Shame they couldn't replace the entire back end...

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I like the shitetastic threads where someone spends a heroic amount of time/effort/blood/sweat/tears on maintenance/resto of a rare but not-particularly-valuable car (or one which refuses to die). A certain Tagora and Pugrot 306 spring to mind straight away. And then there's Bollox' escapades...

SambaS' threads always used to be great, too, especially the blue Alpine resto. I wonder what happened to that one?

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I'm happy to spend money on shite, I paid £200 to have a cambelt put on the 306 recently as I hate spannering and particularly cambelts. I personally put new bottom arms on it though.

 

I love the fact that scratches and dents don't matter. I don't have to worry about the kids scuffing the interior. Parts are cheap. It makes for stress free motoring. Its a tool, not a status symbol

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305 van. Average £120 a year on mechanicals and maintenance over 17 years. Including engine swap and a change of gearbox. Suits me sir !

 

And I know when something needs doing before it FTP's. Mostly. Oil and filter every 6 months on about 12,000 kms a year.

 

Mind you, having no electronics to go wrong keeps the cost down I'm sure. You can't beat a well lubricated, ooer, keep fit window for always working.  

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Mind you, having no electronics to go wrong keeps the cost down I'm sure. You can't beat a well lubricated, ooer, keep fit window for always working.  

 

Ha!... agreed >> ToMM© has a Turnip Watch engine + Lexus Electric everything = Not a bad place to be  ;-)

 

TS

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My fleet of a KV6 manual 800 and an '98 Audi A4 ought not inspire confidence, but they've just been reliable.

 

I think nothing of jumping in either and making a lengthy motorway journey, mixing it with the sales reps in the outside lane. It simply doesn't occur to me that I'm in anything but an ordinary car until I reach my destination, whence I find nothing in the car park that isn't at least ten years newer.

 

In fact, when we jokingly accuse certain cars of being 'appliances', that's exactly what I want mine to be. I bought my hi-fi amplifier, new,14 years ago because I liked it. I don't want to replace it with owt newer, and I rather hope it has plenty more years in it. My cars are the same.

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