Your top 5 frugal motors

[scooters]

OK,

We're alll dooomed - £6bn saved and then loaned to Ireland - inflation rising, wages dropping, unemployment rising. Although many may say over the clinks of champagne glasses that we've never ad it so good. I get the impression that most of us are a tad strapped at the moment.

 

To that end, what are your 5 all time cheap motors?

 

what would you be driving to save cash if.....

 

me:

 

1/ Ami 8/6

2/ Moggy

3/ Metro

4/ 2CV/Dyane

5/ Daf 44

[dollywobbler]

1) Citroen BX diesel. Over 50mpg is pretty easy.

2) Citroen 2CV. Not quite as economical (I average 45mpg) but stupidly simple and quite cheap to run.

3) Any VAG diesel before they got too complex. Skoda Octavia for good shite points, Felicia for optimum.

4) Peugeot 305 diesel. I've got a serious hankering for one at the moment, but perhaps it'd be too much like the BX with all the fun engineered out of it.

5) Reliant Scimitar with an LPG conversion. Also very high on the wish list at the moment.

 

I seem to already own two of those. The downside is that when you own economical cars, you start to wince every time you drive something a bit juicy and the fuel gauge just plummets!

[garethj]

1. Peugeot 205 diesel

 

2. Any car that's registered to someone else - brilliant for forecourt driveaways, no tax or insurance etc

 

3. Company car, and be economical with the truth on your P11D form

 

4. Someone in the street who works nightshift, and you've got a spare key for.

 

5. Motorbike smaller than 125cc. 100mpg here I come

[binhoker668]

My current automotive issue is insurance...

I'm not insured at the mo, and all the quotes I'm getting are plain awful (due in no small part to my crash in the Punto last year...).

And this is for my 1.3 Mazda 323....

TBH I could do with my old 205 back now - am in need of transport, yet mingy as possible, and not a horrible car!

To that end, there may well be a swapsy scenario coming up - anyone?

Besides 205s, what are the utter cheapest and 'gettable' motors for insurance etc?

[Pete-M]

Cheapest things I've ever owned to run.

 

1. Xantia TD. Insanely good on fuel.

2. Escort 55d van. Was given it, and it seemed to average close to 55 mpg, no matter what.

3. Range Rover Vogue SE 3.9 on lpg. Bargain. Probably best value for money out there.

4. Escort RS2000 Mk2 with 5 speed box, on a run it once managed 45 mpg, but I was being sensible.

5. Rover SD1 Vitesse manual. On a long motorway run it'd do 33-35 mpg. Did the same run in a then new Fiesta 1.3 which only managed 36 mpg and I felt like death when I got out.

 

To be honest, I don't really count mpg as a major issue. These new diseasels tend to cost more to keep right than any of the big old blurts I run, and they depreciate so much that fuel is insignificant in comparison. Girl I know bought a 3yr old Polo 1.4 TDi a couple of years ago, she was spanked into it by a salesman and it cost her £7k. She's spent close to a grand over the last two years keeping it going and then sold it for £2k as it had a few scrapes.

 

Jag mpg is nothing to that.

[Guest]

1) Peugeot 106 Diesel

2) Peugeot 205 Diesel

3) Citroen AX Diesel or 954cc Petrol

4) Honda C50/C70/C90 Series

5) Ford Escort / Orion 1600/1800cc Diesel (non turbo)

[dollywobbler]

Bikhoker - try getting an older car. Depends on your age but having a smash on my policy (I wasn't actually driving) doesn't seem to have affected my premiums.

 

At 25, I was insured on a Rover P6 V8 for £144pa. Less than my 2CV and considerably less than my Peugeot 306 DTurbo! (the latter being another cheap-to-run candidate, and bloody good fun too).

[autofive]

1

5) Reliant Scimitar with an LPG conversion. Also very high on the wish list at the moment.

 

this would still only get you about 25-30 MPG (the equilivant of, given that lpg about half the price of petrol, but with reduced MPG, and poorer performance)

[Alexg]

Daihatsu Charade Diesel

Panda 1.1 Active Eco

Metro GTI

Montego Diesel Estate

Raleigh chopper

[pogweasel]

1. Cadillac Eldorado

2. Jaguar XJS V12

3. Horsey Horseless

4. NSU R080

5. Stutz Bearcat

[scooters]

1. Cadillac Eldorado

2. Jaguar XJS V12

3. Horsey Horseless

4. NSU R080

5. Stutz Bearcat

 

LOL

 

no Sherpa??

[dollywobbler]

He's just trying to distract from the fact that he really wants to say Metro 1.0HLE...

[binhoker668]

Bikhoker - try getting an older car. Depends on your age but having a smash on my policy (I wasn't actually driving) doesn't seem to have affected my premiums.

 

At 25, I was insured on a Rover P6 V8 for £144pa. Less than my 2CV and considerably less than my Peugeot 306 DTurbo! (the latter being another cheap-to-run candidate, and bloody good fun too).

 

Jeez. I dunno what I'm doing wrong! I'm 36, have a clean licence (for 18yrs or so), it's only a 1.3, and am getting cheapest quotes at around 600/700 clams!

Very frustrating - need wheels for xmas and me daughters!

Grrrr....

[dollywobbler]

That's why I suggested classics. My Subaru Legacy was costing more like £300-400 a year to insure. It's one reason I've ditched moderns altogether. Why pay so much for insurance when I can insure all of my older cars on one policy for less than £150? Sure, there's no NCD, but as long as I don't give in and go modern, I'm fine!

[Angrydicky]

2CV

Reliant Robin/ Rialto

Mini

A35

Fiat 126/127

Metro HLE

Cavalier 1.7TD was pretty amazing on fuel as well, although the car doesn't really do much for me tbh.

[dieselnutjob]

all wrong

you want a Maestro turbo diesel. 60mpg easy

you'd also probably need to dip the entire car in waxoyl once a year though

[barefoot]

... when I can insure all of my older cars on one policy for less than £150? ...

 

Can I ask who does that sort of a policy please?

 

(I'm not dodgy, I've got lots of NCD, it's just a pain sometimes & it looks like you have it sussed)

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

That Rover SD1 with the 27 litre tank engine.

[Guest]

Lincoln Continental Mark V.

[Negative Creep]

The most economical I've owned in rough order

 

 

1) ZX 1.9d

2) Sunny 1.5

3) AX 1.0

4) Almera 1.5

5) erm..........

[Barry Cade]

190D on Veg. 46.6 MPG at 76p per litre on new stuff, and 0p on old stuff. Classic insurance at £127 a year and never any issues with it.

 

I've just sold it and don't really know why...

 

Suzuki SC100. group 1 insurance, 55MPG.

Panda 750. 65 MPG and group 1 too

Audi 80 Sport, old shape. Never got less than 40 MPG

Passat GL5 estate always did around 40 MPG too.

[flat4alfa]

1) Peugeot 106 D

 

2) Rover 218/418 are cheaper to buy than the equivalent Peugeot with same engine, drive nice too. Just don't put veg through your Lucas CAV

 

3) Sinclair C5

 

4) MB Games Big Trak

 

5) tootsies.

[Lankytim]

I have Maestro Diesel and can confirm its AMAZING on fuel. Its in the garage and I don't use it. INFINITE MPG!!

[Negative Creep]

I have Maestro Diesel and can confirm its AMAZING on fuel. Its in the garage and I don't use it. INFINITE MPG!!

 

 

Surely since it doesn't move you are doing 0 mpg?

[Rusty Pelican]

Montego / meastro diesel ,

190D

My mate runs both of these ( meastro version ) on veg oil for added scrugeness ,

NOT a 318i E30 Beemer , 34.4 MPG on a run

[Angrydicky]

all wrong

you want a Maestro turbo diesel. 60mpg easy

you'd also probably need to dip the entire car in waxoyl once a year though

 

My Maestro 1.3 petrol seems pretty economical actually, a tank of petrol seems to last forever in it. Must be doing at least 40mpg

[Timewaster]

Of all the daft things I did with my diesel Metro (Rover100 Kensington - they rebadged it you fool!) putting diesel in it isnt something I remember doing much - if at all.

The current Octavia estate averages 52.something according to the computer. Not bad for a painful stop start A road commute.

The previous 405TD did similar mileage.

The fuel cap lock on Mrs tops 206 HDi has probably seized up as it is used so infrequently.

Oh, and then there is the Cosworth. Heavy foot = single figure mpg (but )

[Mr Lobster]

Had a Citroen AX 1.5D that was insanely good on fuel. Similarly the Suzuki Alto was enormously cheap to run.

 

Trouble is, I'd much rather spend a bit more on fuel and be driving something I enjoy...

[ProgRocker]

Citroen Visa 17D

Fiat 126 BIS

Fiat Panda Eleganza 1.3 CTDi

Daewoo Matiz 0.8 SE+

Renault 4 GTL

[HMC]

peugeot 405td- got 53mpg on a lengthy A road trek- and never cost me a penny in repairs. dirt cheap but nowadays hard to find a goodun

vauxhall cavalier 1.7td- 60l tank and on one occasion got around 640ish miles to a tank. needed a new clutch but other than that was very easy on the pocket.

saab 900t16- unusual choice, but with its long top gear I once nudged 40mpg on a run on the a303. partly because the gearbox was on its way out and made unpleasant noises if you nailed it

vw beetle 1303- filled the tank once before i sold it after realising it wasnt my kinda thing.