Your criteria for choosing a shiter

[barrett]

Is it hopelessly obscure? Is it made by a defunct manufacturer, or a man in a shed? If not, is it needlessly complicated? Are all parts obsolete? Is it broken, or likely to be very soon? Sign me up!

[TrabbieRonnie]

In my own 20 odd years of driving, I have found that the best cars have one or more features from the following list...

Extending aerial (manual or electrical)

Frameless doors

Longitudinal engine (or otherwise non-conventional)

Pop-up lamps

Forward-opening bonnet

A 'light bar' between the rear lamps

I haven't owned every feature yet, and I doubt there's one car that has them all, but the more the better!  Oh, and it has to make me look back once parked, that's it!

My current fleet scores;

Audi Coupe... 3

Audi A8... 1

Hilux Surf... 2

Mazda 323... 2

Hiace Camper... 2

Trabbi... 1

Disappointing performance from the mighty Trabant here, however, maybe the one contest at which it equals the A8!  The best car I can think of according to the criteria above would be a Supra or Mitsi 3000 GTO?  Can't think of a car that has both pop-ups and a forward opening bonnet?  Lamborghini Muira?

 

I may be up past my bedtime.

[AnnoyingPentium]

2 minutes ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

I may be up past my bedtime.

Me too. REBELSSSSSSS. 

[Scruffy Bodger]

For me it's got to drive well, have some tread on all 4 tyres and have plenty of MOT left. It gives you time to iron things out if they arise.

[HMC]

How far away is it? I’ve been known to fly and sail to get hold of cars before but my most recent purchase was delivered as part of the purchase. 

I simply can’t be bothered with messing about like that anymore. 

[Shite Ron]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

It has to bring joy!

I fully agree with this, it is important for a car at any price.

I usually try to buy a car for less than one weeks wages, and it should be comfortable, reliable spacious and rear wheel drive. Until 15 years ago it was easy, find a nice spec. Cortina and be prepared to do some welding at every MOT, the Volvo 740 is also good but getting more expensive, my latest purchase is a Mercedes S210 E320 and I find it far better to drive than I expected. When I was younger and had a mortgage and lower paid job a cheap car was essential, now I am older and own my house I could afford a newer car and a few people have pointed out I could sell all my old bangers and buy a new Porsche but that does not interest me in the slightest. I genuinely prefer driving older cars. 
It is always comforting to see a car coming from a good home and long term ownership. The previous owner of my Cortina 2.3 Ghia estate had it 11 years and lived in a very nice house, this is probably the best car I have ever owned. The previous owner of my Mercedes had it 13 years and it came with receipts for over £12,000 worth of maintenance and repairs.

The most important thing when buying a car is that it makes you happy and is enjoyable to drive, sit in and look at.

[HillmanImp]

1. Is it a fucking stupid idea?

2. How drunk am I?

If the answer to 1 is yes, the answer to 2 is 'Not enough'.

Solution: Keep drinking until 1 = No.

[1duck]

Does it have 6+ months MOT? Is it Japanese?

That'll do.

[Rocket88]

On 2/1/2022 at 9:35 PM, RayMK said:

This is generally true.  Unusually, my son in law/daughter's 2004 3 door Focus 1.4 which they've had for about 8 years and has had no special treatment looks remarkably good underneath despite its 200k+ mileage and daily use.  I may be tempted to buy it off them if and when I sell my '94 Tipo, although they have no plans to sell it yet.

Being retired since 2008, I look for cars that suit my typical driving routes - country lanes.  Anything reasonably compact which won't destroy its underside on heavily cambered, potholed roads will attract me, provided that it looks respectable, has a clean interior (or cleanable), is mechanically sound and I can get in and out of it easily.  Ride comfort is also important, so modern stuff with stupidly thin section tyres is usually ruled out.  If it is unfashionable and interesting, so much the better.

 

Absolutely with you on ride comfort and big balloony tyres. Good heater, working fag lighter and stereo ( digital radio via iPhone) must be auto. 

[AxWomble]

Rust, as I can’t yet weld. 
 

Beyond that, there’s a great comfort to knowing it was so cheap that you can scrap it in a year without feeling too pained. Anything beyond that is a bonus! I like the idea of matching tyres from makes that I can pronounce, but if the car is cheap enough (£250 say) then I’d happily look past that kind of thing and budget in for cambelt and tyres. Current daily has completed 12,000 miles under our care and has now earned itself a new cambelt and waterpump, which are probably at least 10,000 overdue by now - no records of it being done apart from once in 2005 and I doubt it’s the same belt on it now! 

[sierraman]

10 hours ago, Shite Ron said:

I fully agree with this, it is important for a car at any price.

I usually try to buy a car for less than one weeks wages, and it should be comfortable, reliable spacious and rear wheel drive. Until 15 years ago it was easy, find a nice spec. Cortina and be prepared to do some welding at every MOT, the Volvo 740 is also good but getting more expensive, my latest purchase is a Mercedes S210 E320 and I find it far better to drive than I expected. When I was younger and had a mortgage and lower paid job a cheap car was essential, now I am older and own my house I could afford a newer car and a few people have pointed out I could sell all my old bangers and buy a new Porsche but that does not interest me in the slightest. I genuinely prefer driving older cars. 
It is always comforting to see a car coming from a good home and long term ownership. The previous owner of my Cortina 2.3 Ghia estate had it 11 years and lived in a very nice house, this is probably the best car I have ever owned. The previous owner of my Mercedes had it 13 years and it came with receipts for over £12,000 worth of maintenance and repairs.

The most important thing when buying a car is that it makes you happy and is enjoyable to drive, sit in and look at.

A weeks wages? Fucking hell how much are you on given the current used car market?! 🤣

[Shite Ron]

Granted the days of a £400 Cortina are long gone and even a 740GLE estate is now a lot more. I am now paid a lot more than when I was in my 20’s, there are some advantages to being older 🙂.

There are still some bargains about though if you are patient. I think the E class S210 is currently undervalued as the Cortina and Volvo were for many years, as long as you are not obsessed with having a new reg. plate or impressing the ignorant masses then there are still bargains if you look around and are a bit lucky.

[AnnoyingPentium]

4 minutes ago, Shite Ron said:

as long as you are not obsessed with having a new reg. plate or impressing the ignorant masses

Stick a private plate on it and no-one has any damned clue how old it is... unless they're less than ignorant.

[sierraman]

I think in people generally nobody likes to feel as if their ‘standard of living’ has got worse, for a lot of people getting out of a newish SUV and having to ride about in a 2005 Astra is beyond the pale. Fortunately I’ve absolutely no shame.

[JMotor]

10 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

1. Is it a fucking stupid idea?

2. How drunk am I?

If the answer to 1 is yes, the answer to 2 is 'Not enough'.

Solution: Keep drinking until 1 = No.

Wot he sed. 

Saved me writing basically the same thing. 

[fraser.innes.3]

I buy cars that are not shite when I get them, but become shite over the years.

Sent from my JNY-LX1 using Tapatalk

[2MB]

On 2/2/2022 at 10:04 PM, TrabbieRonnie said:

In my own 20 odd years of driving, I have found that the best cars have one or more features from the following list...

Extending aerial (manual or electrical)

Frameless doors

Longitudinal engine (or otherwise non-conventional)

Pop-up lamps

Forward-opening bonnet

A 'light bar' between the rear lamps

I haven't owned every feature yet, and I doubt there's one car that has them all, but the more the better!  Oh, and it has to make me look back once parked, that's it!

My current fleet scores;

Audi Coupe... 3

Audi A8... 1

Hilux Surf... 2

Mazda 323... 2

Hiace Camper... 2

Trabbi... 1

Disappointing performance from the mighty Trabant here, however, maybe the one contest at which it equals the A8!  The best car I can think of according to the criteria above would be a Supra or Mitsi 3000 GTO?  Can't think of a car that has both pop-ups and a forward opening bonnet?  Lamborghini Muira?

 

I may be up past my bedtime.

The Vestatec Magnum had pop-up headlights and a forward opening bonnet, as well as a heckblende and a longitudinal engine. I think it would have a retractable aerial as well to give a score of 5

https://carakoom.com/blog/poverite-li-vy-chto-eto-kupe-vestatec-magnum-sozdano-na-baze-bmw-e30

[AnnoyingPentium]

On 2/2/2022 at 11:24 PM, HillmanImp said:

1. Is it a fucking stupid idea?

2. How drunk am I?

If the answer to 1 is yes, the answer to 2 is 'Not enough'.

Solution: Keep drinking until 1 = No.

And this is how I nearly bought a Vectra with a rotten door a few nights ago...

[TrabbieRonnie]

1 hour ago, 2MB said:

The Vestatec Magnum had pop-up headlights and a forward opening bonnet, as well as a heckblende and a longitudinal engine. I think it would have a retractable aerial as well to give a score of 5

https://carakoom.com/blog/poverite-li-vy-chto-eto-kupe-vestatec-magnum-sozdano-na-baze-bmw-e30

Just Wow!

 

[JimH]

1. Do we need a smoker?

2. Can I buy it with the very, very least amount of effort on my part? YCRTA "Is it for sale here?"

3. Does it run on petrol?

As long as the answer is yes I can make most things work. 

[dome]

If it's for me as a "keeper"

Do I like them?
Does it offer something special
Is it broken in some way?
Is there some feature or characteristic about it I've not had before in a car?

If the answer to the above is Yes then I'll take it. 

The broken thing isn't a deal breaker but let's face it, people don't usually sell perfectly functioning cars so at least if you buy one that you know it's broken you're one step ahead. Maybe.

For a project

Is it cheap?
Is it broken in a new and interesting way that I've not fixed before so I can have fun* and learn along the way?
Will I be able to sell it easily once I'm done ideally without losing money on it overall?

[straightSix]

For a shitter, it has to not have some fundamental flaw that'll render it fucking fucked mate. That way I should hopefully get some life out of it. The goal is cheap transport here

Ideally it will have remote central locking, working AC and auto dimming rear view mirror. Not once have a I had a car with all three though

[AnnoyingPentium]

With you on the air con. Mine worked enough* on the Fabia when I brought it home... now there's a distinct lack of conditioned air.

[Fumbler]

My criteria usually is:

Is it fun* and interesting**?

Do I have space to hide it from my disappointed family?

 

 

*terrible
**utter dross

[CaptainBoom]

Will it get me home? That is all.

[MikeR]

cheap , easy to fix by a local garage , takes lots of miles , tyres are cheap , easy to hide in a car park shade of silver ...

bin looking at the pre loved  market ..FFS   .. lots of miles and lots of dosh wanted !!

hello old shiter me old car  , want a bit of work doing , no problem !!

[Shedking]

Past shiters include 3 Mercedes and a couple of BMW'S,  all were OK but something major rendered them not worth keeping.  That's when I decided premium shitters are a liability for long term ownership.  For stress free bangers I stuck to unfashionable, petrol engined, easy to work on and dirt cheap to repair.  Last 2 heaps have cost me a combined total of £950 and lasted so far 6 years. MOT due in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed. 

[Andyrew]

Prices is a big one for me, i enjoy cheap fun and tend to lose interest in most cars over the £1500 mark.

When something drops below that amount it starts to tickle my pickle even tho before it didnt and the same goes for stuff that goes up in value, my interest fades.

If something peaks my interest i usually do a rough calculation as to what the car would break/scrap for. If i can get 75% of the cost back easily enough then i see it as a low risk purchase. 

 

 

 

 

[320touring]

I have two criteria:

 

1. Do I want to do a buy?

2. Is there something for sale?