No such thing as a cheap car

[sutty2006]

It all depends on you level of skill and how much youre prepared to spend. A post 2000 pre 2008/9ish passat will be common in scrap yards and breakers yards. There probably wouldnt be an issue finding cheap second hand parts to see you though. Hell, if I had to spend 300 nicker on a lock for my cheap shiter id just lock it and leave it locked. (unless it was drivers door of course).

 

I will keep running my 1992 carlton diesel as its cheap. There is that problem where getting odd parts is harder as there arent any around for breaking/or in scrap yards anymore..... but its of that era where things can be fixed to a degree, if you're willing to get your hands dirty and cut slighty enough to bleed. You know the drill.

[artdjones]

Our passat had a drivers door lock that was kaput, along with a rear near side door that would not lock with the fob. Just to buy the locks from VW is around £300 plus then there's the fitting.

 

So thats over £400 on a 14 year old car worth less than a grand. For two items that dont affect the running of the car.

 

In the past I have always looked after my cars - even old ones - and spent where necessary. The problem now is you can lavish £££ on a car and it will still suffer a mechanical prolapse that renders it scrap.

 

The passat has lowish mileage for a pd engine (131k). It needs rear dampers and is overdue for a timing belt - that and a water pump would cost around £300. It also has corrosion on the tailgate which is a bit unsightly.

 

The car is my wife's. I am tempted to just keep running it without spending anymore money on it. I could punt it on but then end up buying even more pain.

 

It seems running older cars is increasingly only for the rich or those with the time to spanner them. Thoughts?

eBay is full of pattern door locks for under £20.

[sierraman]

I read somewhere that technicians were deserting the trade as cars were now that difficult to work on.

 

If pros are struggling, people like us, armed with more enthusiasm than skill, and a blackspur tool kit, have no fucking chance.

No they are deserting it cause there’s fuck all money in it unless you own the garage.

[Guest]

I read somewhere that technicians were deserting the trade as cars were now that difficult to work on.

 

If pros are struggling, people like us, armed with more enthusiasm than skill, and a blackspur tool kit, have no fucking chance.

Yup. I did, and a lot of mates now do other stuff, with less hassle and more money. After a few drinks in the pub last week I had a workshop foreman beg me to go and work for him when he found out I was a tester. He cannot get mechanics or testers for love nor money. RAC and AA are the same, as are proper breakdown tech's. Most won't even open a bonnet anymore, and we weren't even allowed to touch electric cars. Youngsters have very little interest in cars nowadays. All the big car manufacturers are having issues and environmental issues are causing even some of the best engineers in the world to cheat. The pool of simple but modernish cars are drying up fast and the number of folk like us who are willing to get their hands dirty is also getting smaller by the week, and stricter MOT's are putting loads of decent cars to the crusher because of a warning light..

 

The next 5 years are gonna be interesting..

[carlo]

If you run something over, say 10yrs old, you've got to do these jobs yourself or accept it will require regular money to keep it going. Doesn't matter if it's a VW or Bentley, it's going to be expensive unless you're willing to spend your weekend fixing it.

If that's not an option, you're only option is new or lease. Hence the millions of new cars on the road.

The secret is, getting something cheap that requires minimum faffing, but I don't think an elderly Passat is the best option unfortunately (multilink suspension etc)

 

A Bentley is a VW isn't it?

[sierraman]

The light isn’t a big deal. Any garage worth it’s salt will just offer to put the lights out before the test for a few quid. There will always be old bangers in one form or another, probably to the disappointment of some people, unless a car is taken away and crushed at 3 years old when the PCP ends there will always be the tail end of the market. Probably be a better situation in a sense as hybrids and electric cars aren’t prone to the complicated mechanical bits wearing out same as a diesel for example. Chances are in 2040 someone will be posting about buying a £300 (adjusted for inflation of course) Toyota electic whatsit.

 

As far as being a mechanic goes unless you were running the joint you wouldn’t be getting paid anywhere near enough to be worth being covered in shit all day crawling around on the floor arcing your back, working bollock flat out changing timing belts all day while some 16 year old on the service counter has promised it’ll all be done in 25 minutes, then having people bitching about you ‘rippin them off!’. If you own the outfit you can earn some good money but working for someone else won’t see you a rich man.

[Bren]

My local auto spark has very reasonable labour rates. The issue for me is what VW want for the parts.

[iainrcz]

I like pissing about with my cars.

Even as new as they are (around 5 when I get them) they still need me messing with them.

 

Take my GT 86, the outer door seal rubs on the metal quarter light frames, most people on the forum get their hankies out and cry like big pansies, and take their cars to Toyota.

 

Me, stripped it down, lathered both rusty bits in rust converter and hand painted them with black stone chip. Fuck paying for something I can bodge.

 

 

TL,Dr don't buy a car from me, I'm a tight bodging bastard.

 

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[lesapandre]

It all depends on the car you choose and miles you do. 10,000 a year in something over 100,000 is bound to cost. A bit of preventative maintenance especially if the brand has plenty of web tutorials can go a long way. Citroen 1 here had inoperative door latches - stuck shut and not shutting. Some website I forget which advised a coathanger under the internal latch to get open and then dousing mechanism in WD40. I used graphite spray. Works a treat. Previous owner had had garage strip the door trims to open the doors I had the MoT fail and invoice with the car. Citroen 2 key very very stiff in lock - fix graphite in the key hole and press key inwards before turning - tip off this website. As long as there are a few enthusiasts about there is often some quick fix advice.

[myglaren]

I reckon the C5 will be bean tins before too long.   Clutch has been slipping on and off for the past couple of years and it will want a DMF when it does let go.  That will be more than the cost of the car when I bought it.

Hasn't done badly over the five years I've had it and it's on 228,000 miles now.

[Dave_Q]

VAG stuff tends to be pretty well supported in terms of forums and that, I have replaced locks, coded keys etc on mid 2000s ish Skoda and Audi myself using £40 worth of pirate tools off ebay and second hand keys with new immo chips (<£5).

 

What year is the passat and what's actually wrong with it?

[Asimo]

VAG locks and dampers isn't a new thing. My Audis, a 76 A80 and a '88 A100 had busted locks. The doors still latched and opened properly so I ignored them. For about 7 years total.

 

The A80 had leaking rear dampers. The MOT never picked this up because of all the waxoyl I splattered about just before each test. Front dampers were absolutely fucked and I had to do them.

 

 

Waxoyl also did stop the rusty rear panel worrying my wife.

[lesapandre]

I reckon the C5 will be bean tins before too long.   Clutch has been slipping on and off for the past couple of years and it will want a DMF when it does let go.  That will be more than the cost of the car when I bought it.

Hasn't done badly over the five years I've had it and it's on 228,000 miles now.

If you have the space the answer is to store for spares and buy another C5? 

[rovamota]

It's all very well saying you'll finance/PCP a new car in future but will you be accepted for finance? Is the criteria for a PCP less stringent than for finance? The last thing anyone wants is to waste time in a showroom listening to the salesman's schmooze, take an extended test drive only to be told upon your return that you've been declined credit. But then you expected that with a credit score of 254 - but it killed an afternoon and you didn't like the car anyway.

[RoadworkUK]

It seems running older cars is increasingly only for the rich or those with the time to spanner them. Thoughts?

 

Come off it! Far from all new cars are bought by the rich, and the vast majority of new car buyers spend well over £150 per month, mostly on depreciation.

 

Surely not even the most determined Passat can cost anybody £150 per month in repairs?

[myglaren]

If you have the space the answer is to store for spares and buy another C5? 

No space unfortunately.

[SiC]

Your Vectra is a Vectra, that's the problem. No amount of Vauxhall fan boi-ness can ever make them decent. Sell it and buy something better. Anything.

FTFY. I.e. A same aged and same class Vauxhall Vectra C doesn't have much better door lock mechanisms either.

 

All cars have their common problems. Just got to pick your poison. At least this age car (both VAG & Vauxhall & others) only suffer non major problems like door locks. Next generation they got a whole lot worse. To continue the VAG Vs Vauxhall comparison, the diesels in the Insignia and Passat B6 both suffer sudden and catastrophic oil pump failure. I'd much rather have the risk of dodgy door locks than that.

[Bren]

At one time I'd have tackled anything. However middle age, two young kids and shift work tend to get in the way of things. I still enjoy working on my cars - but not this time of the year.

[Tamworthbay]

Come off it! Far from all new cars are bought by the rich, and the vast majority of new car buyers spend well over £150 per month, mostly on depreciation.

 

Surely not even the most determined Passat can cost anybody £150 per month in repairs?

Not a Passat but a mate at work spunked over 10k on a RR in a year only for it to shit its box.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The motor trade is fucked. Cars are increasingly complex, meaning smaller outfits won't be able to keep up. Main dealers are becoming ever bigger and shinier, meaning increased overheads and it's mechanics who suffer, not so much through wages but through the procedures and jumping through hoops. The retail sub main dealer car sales places are increasingly struggling to buy and sell cars that aren't a complete liability. That £1300 you made from a 3.0d X3 has just gone because it shat its turbo 3 weeks later. It's not like putting a clutch in a Sierra. Plus, kids don't want to work on cars and I don't blame them. I don't want to either. There's no romance in first time motoring, so all that buying a cheap Mini or Escort, rooting through scrapyards to find better bits to 'improve' yours...........that's gone. 

 

If you can buy a half decent roadworthy car for 800 quid - and always buy with a full MOT - and get a year from it, then you're doing well. I refuse to drive an old Focus or Vectra though. Fuck that. 

 

I think now it's a game to be won only by the very well informed. Low mileage honeys from 'that' period are the cars to buy and cherish now, and fucking pray. 

The surprise here is Lord Sterling's  Ex Breadvan E46 318i with that ghastly engine. What a heap of festering dogshit they are, but his has been amazing........

[w00dy]

It's a tough game, but can be good fun. I like to try and buy interesting stuff cheap and hope that if it's any good I'll get more than I paid for it offsetting some costs or know that someone will still want it even if it goes a bit wrong. Bought a nice E39 528i and got away with servicing and a few little bits and sold it for about 1.5x what I paid so that was a winner, then bought a Saab 9000 which failed it's MOT, but someone still gave me 75% of what I paid with a full ticket.

 

I reckon I've done alright on the sensible stuff, but then I'll always get tempted by something stupid and plow far too much cash into it.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Come off it! Far from all new cars are bought by the rich, and the vast majority of new car buyers spend well over £150 per month, mostly on depreciation.

 

Surely not even the most determined Passat can cost anybody £150 per month in repairs?

 

 

Faced with the choice, I'd put 150 quid into a new car every time. It's a fixed amount. The car is new and it works. The Passat is just a pain in the rectum.

[RoadworkUK]

The motor trade is fucked. Cars are increasingly complex, meaning smaller outfits won't be able to keep up. Main dealers are becoming ever bigger and shinier, meaning increased overheads and it's mechanics who suffer, not so much through wages but through the procedures and jumping through hoops. The retail sub main dealer car sales places are increasingly struggling to buy and sell cars that aren't a complete liability.

 

Yup. To such an extent that I really can't figure out how the PCP model can possibly be sustainable. That 'Guaranteed future value' is based on somebody wanting to own it second-hand after three years. It's only a matter of time before an unwarranted three-year old car becomes such a rolling time bomb of complexity that nobody will want to touch it.

[Sir Snipes]

Yup. To such an extent that I really can't figure out how the PCP model can possibly be sustainable. That 'Guaranteed future value' is based on somebody wanting to own it second-hand after three years. It's only a matter of time before an unwarranted three-year old car becomes such a rolling time bomb of complexity that nobody will want to touch it.

I'm surprised we're not there already.

[Bren]

The garage I use for MOT are very good but will not get involved in anything complex - diesels with turbo issues etc. are swerved. It's easier to say no to a job than to say yes and have all the shite that goes with it when it's issues re surface or something else goes wrong.

[sierraman]

You can always rely on the doom and gloom on here. Not every car is about to explode at 3 years old.

[cort16]

I think the new MOT regulations may cause some issues in a few years time they seem specifically designed to drive diesels off the road.

[Matty]

For my 2 penorth it depends how you view it. I have 3 old cars because that's what I want. The joy went out of cars for me about 2008. I could get 2 new cars on finance (and have no fucking money!) But I don't want to. Best way to look at it is you could spend about £800 a month to basically rent 2 cars that after a certain amount of time you don't even own or buy your own stuff and accept the fact that every so often you have to spend brass. If I spend £800 a year on maintenance on my 2 everyday cars then it's been an eventful year. Plus if you suddenly find yourself temperily between jobs no one comes and takes your car away...

[CortinaDave]

A lot of it is luck with old cars. Currently i have a 52 plate MG ZT V6... paid £350 for it back in february.... it cost about £150 to get through the MOT in May(including a tyre) and i had to get a new thermostat fitted last month at a total cost of another £150. Apart from that its been 100percent reliable and ive knocked up 15k in it... to work and up to aberdeen and back from Fife most weeks. Yes it has a few issues - the doors dont all lock and the airbag light is on, but i consider anything under a grand a year total cost a cheap car... plus I really enjoy driving it and its spot on for the job.

[tapir]

It seems to me there are now too ends to the spectrum, you either take the new golf 1.5 tsi leased for £197.79 per month, have a new car on the drive and not worry about it

or 

you take a car with 12 months MOT but "well used" and drive it till it dies, 

 

Anything in the middle is the problem, spend £5-8k on a new (but not that new) is the worst position to be in, spend £15k to get something nearly new eg:audi A3 and still only have a year left on the 3y warranty, then your committed to spend, I can totally see why people go for the fixed price monthly options for cars or buy a cheap dacia brand new.