What's the best car you can buy for £459?

[warren t claim]

Which is apparently the average weekly wage in the UK.

 

Yor choice has to fit the following critera...

 

Capable of 18,000 miles a year.

 

Have a reasonable parts supply.

 

Be readily available on the used car market.

 

Be capable of at least 25mpg.

 

Sadly, this is my choice.

 

[Cavcraft]

 

Probably doesn't fit all of your criteria but you'd get £9.00 change and you could play with the electric rear blind on the way home.

[warren t claim]

Two MPG short!

 

I'll let it in...

[Spottedlaurel]

The Primera I’ve got for sale! If the new owner does the work themselves it should come in under that amount, MPG would be well into the 30’s.

[VWPowered]

What's the best car you can buy for £459?

 

a secondhand one

[trigger]

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

 

Mind you SL's Primera is a total bargain i think!

[Cavcraft]

Two MPG short!

 

I'll take it. Pm me your contact details please Cavette and I'll whang down tonight with the cash in my hand...

 

 

EFA?

[VWPowered]

My honda was a 100 notes...

[Station]

I (finally) sold my Astra GSi today, and I'm in the same boat. I'm really looking for something less frisky and more old pensioner, like a Rover. Is anyone going down to the auctions at all?

[Negative Creep]

I wish I could find an average job.........

[wuvvum]

Hmmm. Is that average wage take home or pre-tax? If it's take home I'm obviously not trying hard enough...

 

Anyway:

 

 

Does 27mpg, and parts supply is pretty good, if fugging expensive.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

I sometimes earn close to that figure in a week, but before taxes, fuel etc. Lame.

 

 

This was £475 with plenty of T&T, it manages about 33MPG on average and 40MPG at a push, it's reliable, practical, mega comfortable and cheap to buy parts for.

Bit slow though, being the non-turbo 2.0.

[r.welfare]

Gotta be pre-tax, tallies with the £21k a year figure the papers keep trotting out every so often.

 

I'm gonna say 405/406 1.9TD, obviously. Or Carina E 1.8. Otherwise I'd nominate my own Accord, as if it was for sale I'd probably put it up around that figure due to the mileage on it. 32mpg and it's done 18k for each of the last 2 years, and 20k/year for the 5 years before that.

[pogweasel]

Hmm, I can't plaY, as my BMW busts the budget by over sixty quid. But hell as I am "above average" #i can throw caution to the wind...

[Formula Autos]

A 1.25 Ghia should provide a reasonably pleasant 18,000 miles per year.

[Guest]

[wuvvum]

I was wondering when the Horsey Horseless was going to make another appearance - we haven't seen it for a good couple of months now.

[worldofceri]

I concur with Len H.

 

This Saab 9000 sold on the 'bay yesterday for a measly £265 with four months tax and MOT.

 

[Shep Shepherd]

A decent Volvo 940 (or a 740...) would make a very sensible £459 purchase in my opinion:

 

[RoadworkUK]

Another vote for the 9000 here. My '92 9000 CSE non-turbo, auto was slower than the moon rising but still gave me a colossal smile with its megacomfortability.

[ProgRocker]

Toyota Camry 2.2 maybe.

[Jon]

Another vote for a Saab 9000 here. Bought for £1000 off Ebay in 2006 with 92000 miles, ours was sold 60000 miles and 4 years later on Ebay and fetched a paltry £310:

 

 

Was a 2 litre light pressure turbo, manual with leather. Some big bills like the clutch and finding cheap ABS sensors was a bit of a ballache, since surprisingly few were available locally in scrappies. Had some other silly issues too, like a broken electric seat switch and corroded petrol tank straps, though they all do that. As others have said, it's not fast but was supremely comfortable, solid feeling and just gave a sense of security in getting you wherever we were going. Also acheived a record 38mpg. Once.

[messerschmitt owner]

I reckoned I could haggle down from 499 to 459 on this ...

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

 

but then I thought, it's a Toyota and I want something more exciting!

 

so I found this

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

 

then thought it may be too bonkers and went for this instead

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[Spottedlaurel]

Toyota Camry 2.2 maybe.

 

Agreed, the 1992-97 model should easily be available within that budget, certainly as a saloon. Unusual to see the ’97-on ones under £500 though. I’m driving my accident-damaged one every day right now, it’s a lovely old thing. Driving dynamics and levels of go are really quite surprising.

[tonedepear]

Split vote here. Saab 9000 for overall awesomeness (although my last was an Auto and wouldn't really qualify for the 25mpg)

 

Failing that:

 

 

Yay!

[Owain-328i]

Currently at £371 with 40 mins left! Could be a right bargain!!!!!

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1998-BMW-520I-SE-AUTO-SILVER-/140508047244?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item20b6eea78c

[sprig]

I'd go for this at £345 + have a bit of cash back in my pocket, not sure what they're like for parts these days but only covered 43k & a years MOT on it.......

 

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201104378378787/sort/priceasc/usedcars/price-to/500/postcode/de159py/radius/1501/quicksearch/true/page/13?logcode=p

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Currently at £371 with 40 mins left! Could be a right bargain!!!!!

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1998-BMW-520I-SE-AUTO-SILVER-/140508047244?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item20b6eea78c

 

Has a coolant loss issue though - could be the kiss of death.

 

I'd go for a mid nineties 318i, or a Saab/Ovlov.

 

The Nova would be hateful for 18k a year. There's no need for it when a tidy 9000 is available for 10p and a button.

[Guest]

£250 on a Volvo 480 Turbo followed by £209's worth of fuses.