Your least expensive car?

[Dyslexic Viking]

As an inspiration from the other thread here about which car has been your most expensive, I ask here which has been your least expensive and cheapest to own over time? 

[bunglebus]

Either my free Passat (from my dad) which has really only needed service parts (including the usual suspension arms) and gained another 100k in my ownership, or my £85 Renault 5 which was fitted with a £90 2nd hand engine. Both very reliable otherwise - I knew the Renault engine was tired when I bought it

[spike60]

I've had an Ascona A 1.9, Pug 205 Gti , mini Clubman and Fiat X1/9 all given free.  Peugeot was the only one in saveable condition. 

[Timewaster]

For years I was known on here as Tontops.

I had a succession of old crocks that were all sub £100.

There was a £50 Metro, an Astra, a Rover 600ti, a Sierra Azura and an AX GT.

All knackered in their own special way.

 

 

 

[PhilA]

$150 Nissan Bluebird 1.6 LX in a fetching shade of About To Rain Blue.

Stuck a $60 Bosal exhaust on it and a $55 pair of Ring Comet spotlights with *ahem* legal wattage bulbs in.

It also got fitted with a proper tow hitch and electrics, so all in all I bolted things to it that were worth much more than the car itself. However, it was supremely reliable and comfortable. 

Sold it and bought a Bluebird ZX turbo for $200 which was the opposite of the car in terms of comfort and reliability, but still I do not regret that decision...

 

Phil

[RayMK]

1990s. For me, it was from one extreme to the other.  My CX GTI Turbo 2 was such an effortless speed machine that I feared for my licence. Then its clutch slipped occasionally during hard acceleration. 16 hours labour + parts was the quote. Expensive. I sold it in a hurry to a very knowledgable guy who was equipped to do the job, so I did not feel guilty. I urgently needed something, anything to replace it for my daily 27 miles each way commute.  On a dark, miserable evening after a search of the local free paper ads I saw a £200 MK1 Fiesta with MOT.  That would do. £20 reduction because the brakes felt iffy.  They failed on the drive home. Handbrake was good!  With a new master cylinder (£30), this horrible, unrefined thing which sounded like a powered biscuit tin was annoyingly reliable for a couple of years. Annoying because I could not invent a convincing reason for the management to approve its replacement. I sold it for £50 to a colleague and the damned thing motored on for several more years.

[ProgRocker]

The ex police 150,000 mile1994 Escort saloon 1.8 diseasel for £250, bought in 2010. A surprisingly good car. 

[iainrcz]

My Panda was £100, and I think my MK2 Fiesta was £120.

[D.E]

That'll be the 140 euro Peugeot 205. Cheapest in insurance (6 euro per month), fuel (1 litre per 16 kilometres is quite easily possible), and so far maintenance as well. Great car!

[Floatylight]

Peugeot 306 FTW!

No 1 - cost minus £950 - Bought for £300 from a mate with 252k on it, did another 30k in 18m then someone went into the back of it and wrote it off, insurance pay out £1250..

No 2 - cost minus £50 - Given free as as a project for Smollest FL, unfortunately made mostly of bran flakes, scrapped, got £50 on top of delivery cost

[clayts450]

My first car, 1969 VW Beetle, bought from a neighbour for £50. Don't think I spent a penny on it before it dissolved into rust on the driveway, and I gave it away to my mate for free.

[artdjones]

In 1987 , just married I bought my brother's Mini 1000,in Citron , YWP323M for £30 needing an MoT. It looked fairly scruffy, the tester said it looked like it had been attacked by moths and crocodiles. He also said it was a much better car than it looked and passed it.

Everyone loves classic Minis, but I couldn't wait to get something else. It was noisy, slow, and felt very unsafe. After 6 months I replaced it with a 1500HL Dolomite. The Mini sold for £170 to a workmate of my brothers who was later convicted of molesting his nieces. Among his lesser crimes was brush painting the Mini bright yellow and screwing on plastic wheel spats while leaving the original 145 section tyres on. I'm not sure what became of it, as my brother didn't have anything to do with him once his other activities were revealed.

[colino]

Forgetting freebies and trade ins, a Triumph Toledo cost me a £15 donation to the previous owners favourite charity. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

I have to admit that I'm a little jealous of how cheap cars are elsewhere. About 250 pounds is the fixed scrap price here and cars under about 1000 pounds exist but they are most often part cars. And getting cars fixed by a mechanic is also very expensive and car parts are often more expensive than the rest of Europe. So a cheap car quickly becomes an expensive one.

[anonymous user]

That's easy for me (ignoring things I was given), my first car a 1959 Austin A35 two door deluxe, bought for £10. A triumph of hope and enthusiasm, over ability, saw it running well enough to drive around the garden and field. My father was going to teach me how to weld and get it roadworthy. Unfortunately that never happened and I eventually sold it to a friend of my brother for £25. One of the few times I've made a profit on a car.

[bezzabsa]

£25 Yugo 45... needed a mirror and 1 shock, missfire was caused by PO torquing a valve open!!!!

ran it for just under a year, never had to put a spanner on it !!

[Conan]

Anyone ever actually got paid to take a car? There's plenty of free cars for sure so in order to beat that I reckon that's what you need.

[Bren]

£50 for an SD1. A 2300 with solid body but as usual borked 2300.

I also paid £125 for a sierra XR4i. Not the V6 but the 5 door with the i4 twink.

[hairnet]

£40 quid for a fiesta mk 1 that had been under a tree for 18 months

got it running and in for mot and passed

ran it for 3-4 months until i was hit from behind by a bus while i was waiting to turn left at a junction

£400 payout (its a long time ago)

 

[hairnet]

4 minutes ago, Conan said:

Anyone ever actually got paid to take a car? There's plenty of free cars for sure so in order to beat that I reckon that's what you need.

bought a skoda rapid coupe that the guy gave me 10 quid to put petrol in it cos there was literally none in it (he insisted )

 

[D.E]

Oh, I almost forgot the Suzuki Swift I bought in 2015 for 222 euro. A bit more expensive than the Peugeot, but broke it up for spares (it used lots of oil and my intent was to either fix or swap the engine and then sell it on, but it turned out to be terminally rusty as well) and made a profit of several hundred euros.  I never intended to keep it for long anyway, so this one probably shouldn't count.

[Barry Cade]

£1.20 for a Saab 900i, off ebay with a slippy clutch. Couple of hours later slippy clutch was fixed and a nice pioneer stereo fitted. Couple of hours later it was gone.. lifted for no tax. I told them to keep it.

[HMC]

 

[beko1987]

My ex @Kiltox free Laguna 2. Was a wonderful car, but far beyond saving. Got a year out of it blowing various fluids out of itself before throwing in the towel before it threw it in on me 😂

[Ben_O]

Lada Riva in 2004 has got to be my cheapest.

1989 model in that dark red they did. 1.3 I think.

Was mot'd and taxed for several months and I paid £30 for it.

My previous car had been written off and I  was due to attend my apprenticeship training programme which now involved a train ride from Kent to Nottingham. The company paid for my train ticket and I used that money to by the Lada and put the fuel in to get me there and back.

The intention was to scrap or sell it when I returned as 17 year old me didn't want to be driving a Lada but it was perfectly adequate and so I ended up running it for a few months of total abuse and eventually the utch slave popped a seal and it went to a guy who was exporting them. Thibk he gave me £200 for it lol

Cheers

Ben

[captain_cal]

Just been given this ULEZ refugee, 55k. Let's see what the MOT in December says before singing its praises.

[stripped fred]

A maestro that I was given when without wheels. It had a months' MOT and smelled of cigarettes so I had to drive it with the windows open.

I bought a blue Skoda Estelle 105 Lux around 1996 for £60. Did some work and got it though the next MOT. Sold for £400 to a girl about my age who arrived with her dad. I rang her after and ended up seeing her a few times over the summer. I thought I better bail out though as I wasn't sure how long the engine would last...

[Eyersey1234]

11 minutes ago, stripped fred said:

A maestro that I was given when without wheels. It had a months' MOT and smelled of cigarettes so I had to drive it with the windows open.

I bought a blue Skoda Estelle 105 Lux around 1996 for £60. Did some work and got it though the next MOT. Sold for £400 to a girl about my age who arrived with her dad. I rang her after and ended up seeing her a few times over the summer. I thought I better bail out though as I wasn't sure how long the engine would last...

Do you mean the Skodas engine or the girls? 🤣🤣🤣

[Eyersey1234]

Least expensive car to own would probably be the £250 Matiz I bought as a stopgap then sold to @Kerrof this parish for what I paid for it a few weeks later. Sadly he didn't have it long either as it turned out to need a load of work doing for the MOT. 

[busmansholiday]

Work colleague was scrapping his Triumph Acclaim as he'd bought an Avensis. Gave him the £30 the scrappies had offered (obviously years ago). Ran it for a few years until I jet washed the engine bay. Got a fiver for it from the local scrappies !!!!!!!!