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The most modern old shite you can get away with?


CrapCarNerd

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I'm loathed at the idea of buying a modern car. I know its coming and hoping to stave it off till next year. I started thinking though what is the most modern older shite you can buy/get away with? 

Something you can load up the miles on and is: reliable, young enough a garage to fix quickly, not going to have irritating faults such as DPF problems or sensors stopping you in your tracks and also if it does brake down your not going to get "I told you so" from your misses or work colleague. In my mind there are older cars that do this job well (things between the mid 90s and mid 2000s) and then theres loads of stuff after that which is loaded with electrics and £500 trips to the garage. I borrowed my misses 2013 Qashqai last week and it broke down on me... we think it was the DPF and some cleaner seems to have fixed it but it nearly left me stranded and with a lot of ear ache when I got home especially after the garage plugged it in and it came up with a bunch of faults for everything. Anyway... 

My modern old shite choice is: a looked after mk1 Focus petrol. I had a 1.4 Estate for about 7 years and it was great. Is this too old though now? are they likely to fail due to being old even if looked after? Could it do a good 10-13k a year in 2022? I quite like the idea of an auto saloon too just for 100% shite points.

1524236350_Screenshot2022-10-19at18_29_37.thumb.png.100e712f9ab678d5d59a395d077a2cef.png

Shite choice number 2 would be a golf mk4 1.6. My Dad had one of these until about 4 years ago (replaced by a A3 2.0 TDI). It seemed a bit more dated compared to my Focus and was pretty rough in the end but, never really went wrong. I think both his Golf and my Focus had a problem with loosing coolant once, thats all I can think of. Also a student of mine turned up in one today and I thought maybe thats a good Car in the right condition and spec... might seem a bit too old though these days? 

1790637355_Screenshot2022-10-19at18_34_25.thumb.png.ec76bb156580bfb3125a853b5347a09e.png

 

Volvo V70... no nothing about these but I see them around, they look ok and I'd prefer a 940 but in reality thats probably too old and not as safe. The only thing I know about these is a lady i knew in the USA hated her Volvo so much due to the gearbox failing she bought a dodge challenger. 

 

1161793821_Screenshot2022-10-19at18_50_37.thumb.png.a501767cbe417bc875ce909cc88a5c65.png

 

Obviously being an idiot i'd love to go out and buy something like this...

1562613363_Screenshot2022-10-19at18_38_25.thumb.png.91a59b4a6c8e169aba707521e03c3bd8.png

...but its probably a worse idea than the 37 year old car I have to occasionally use at the moment. I figure something non turbo, non Diesel is good. I did think originally of buying an older mini but they seem like money pits? Also they probably have to smaller boot. I hate the look of focus mk2's with a passion but are they any good? I'd love to be really stubborn and buy a Escort mk6 but now i'm being silly 😜 

Love to hear what shite you come up! 

 

 

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I reckon if I were that way inclined I could get away with using my P-reg Toyota Carina E as my only transport.  Modern enough to be usable and safe-ish (ABS, twin airbags), comfortable, reliable, good on fuel, massive boot, and better resistance to rot than a lot of '90s cars.  Objectively it's also dull as fuck but I still love it.

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28 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Mk1 focus would be my choice,preferably diesel.

Failing that it would be a Japanese car of some sort. 

Rust would be the biggest issues on those,the mechanical side of things would be straight forward enough.

Are the Diesel 1.8 Focus engines good? I have no experience with these engines. Are parts still available for them like the Zetec ones? 

 

41 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I reckon if I were that way inclined I could get away with using my P-reg Toyota Carina E as my only transport.  Modern enough to be usable and safe-ish (ABS, twin airbags), comfortable, reliable, good on fuel, massive boot, and better resistance to rot than a lot of '90s cars.  Objectively it's also dull as fuck but I still love it.

I have looked at these before and other Toyota's . Do you have a more modern daily i'm guessing?

 

30 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

I think the main things I really want in a car to use every day are these:

 

1: electronic fuel injection

2: electronic ignition

3: not horribly rusty

 

Really, I could go back pretty far with that criteria, as long as I got one that's not rusty 

Thats true. again I don't know a lot about electronic fuel injection. The Focus I used to have was as close as i've come. Its all Weber and VV carbs since haha   

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Iirc the 1.8 focus diesels (tddi) are the bit more agricultural ones without a dpf= the ones to go for, did dpf s become compulsory prior to 2008 for any diesel.

I suppose bottom of the depreciation curve cars at 10-12 yrs old are still pretty new and modern at 2013 ish, i suppose anything before that would have to have a reputation for rust resistance or be a good checked out example?

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Taking the oddities out of the equation (Trabants, basically), I've always liked and been drawn back to the Japanese cars for quality/reliability, but my fleet is so old now I don't know about anything even vaguely current.  

I've always preferred older petrols, 15 year old diesels just seem a bloody nightmare world of failed/failing sensors, dpf's etc.  Properly old school dizzlers are ok though, but then there will be rust.

The 2003 Audi is a strange mix of old (engine/box) and new (canbus/space station wiring), so I can imagine a less complex one from the same era like an A4 or something would be a good bet?

I have come to the conclusion with cars that you either spend time or money... you might as well just have one you really like.

Fuck all use that I know, good luck with the search though!

 

 

PS, father-in-law had a ZX estate that literally would not die, was comfy and good on diesel, are there any of them left?

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My Golf mk4 was comfy and mainly reliable but had endless electrial issues and the interior creaked constantly. 

The current pre-dpf Volvo XC70 shows no signs of giving up. 145000 and going strong. It's comfortable, quick and far more economical than a car of that size has any right to be (diesel obviously). Spares are plentiful and maintenance is a piece of piss. The autobox of doom thing is over-hyped if well maintained and not abused. Its 18 years old and the only thing with rust is the exhaust. 

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I had a 2002 Volvo V70 T5 and loved it, but it was pretty new at the time.

 

I currently have a 2011 Volvo C30 T5 which is basically a Mk2 Focus ST. It's new enough to be rust free and fixable by any garage and old enough to be old school big (turbo) petrol engine in a small car fun. What's not to like?

 

(ok lots of people don't like how they look, but fuck 'em)

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The mid-late 90s stuff is alright until you start getting faults with electronic modules, they aren't fully OBD-II compliant so can't be easily interrogated with a universal scanner and sometimes require special equipment/scanners. 

The hassle of ABS faults on 90s stuff is well documented on here, slowsilver's Mondeo being one example. And the Volvo V90 I recently mentioned I had to find a wiring diagram and manually test every component and connection.

Airbag fault? Good luck. Immobilizer fault? Hahaha...

All the tech to bring it into the modern world, but an absolute pain in the arse to troubleshoot

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4 minutes ago, maxxo said:

early 00's PSA chod is the best!

I was never a massive fan but they have grown on me massively

I'd much rather have a 406 2.0 HDi than a MK2 Mondeo 1.8TD for example. A good example of where they've aged better. MK2 Mondeo's are alright but have felt ancient for about 10 maybe 15 years now

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5 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

I was never a massive fan but they have grown on me massively

I'd much rather have a 406 2.0 HDi than a MK2 Mondeo 1.8TD for example. A good example of where they've aged better. MK2 Mondeo's are alright but have felt ancient for about 10 maybe 15 years now

I’ve only exclusively had 90s onwards PSA chod, oldest 93 newest 05

theyve all been great, some have had their moments but all been utterly dependable despite their age

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As a reply to the thread title, I think the MK2 Focus is the last generation shite car, but it depends on how you define shite

If shite = boring, reliable, frivulous to you then it falls in that bracket and they were made up until 2011

But if shite = interesting yet underappreciated, then you'll rightly disagree. 

Basic kit, they feel old, hydro power steering on the low trim levels, manual seats, old fashioned head unit and switch gear (no explosion of buttons etc, like the MK7 Fiesta) 

Just look at this, they made them like that until 2011 iirc

 https://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/2009-ford-focus-studio-16-estate-petrol-manual/1442597716

Another contender is the MK3 Clio. I think they're actually alright in the same way a MK2 Focus is. Boring as hell but reliable and frivulous. The feel of a basic old car but the benefits of a modern - e.g easy parts available, safety, etc. ULEZ compliance as well etc

Never been a massive fan of the MK6 Fiesta. Less so the MK5 and MK4 sadface. People will obviously disagree but that's just my opinion 

Early 00's Renault on the other hand... Electrically fragile and bipolar. Just generally unreliable, think; Laguna 2 etc.. when compared to a 406

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I was managing well with my 2003 Nissan Almera 2.2 dCi up until last year. No DPF on it. I decided to trade in for a modern because I was getting bored with it after nearly 11 years of ownership. 

At the time I bought it I just missed out on a 2005 Corolla 1.6 16v Sport that I think would have been better that the Almera. 

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14 minutes ago, Timewaster said:

What is in the taxi rank?

There you will find cheap to run and maintain cars capable of lunar mileage.

Mk1 Octavia would be my punt.

 

Indeed it would be a great choice. Mk2 like mine is essentially the same car, with more refined but more complex engines. In 2 years ownership, my 1.6 dizzle has been flawless, and in estate shape it really is all the car you could ever need.

Only thing electrical in its very complete history is a dpf sensor under warranty. At 127k it's on its original dpf.

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A friend of mine is having excellent service from a late 90s Almera. Apparently it has a distributor because that's the only thing that's caused problems (can that be true?). Civic or Jazz? 

I'm now on my second mid 90s tdi vw as only car, and they have been great apart from for rust. I don't have 100% faith in them because of their age though - I'm not sure if that's fair or not.

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