Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Wed 6 Aug 2025 20:33
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - SLO76
I’ve been asked to find a car by one of my old customers. Chap has had a 2008 Vauxhall Astra 1.8 that I sold him around nine years ago and wants something a bit newer. There’s little wrong with the car he has, it’s a few minor things that it would need for a fresh Mot in a few weeks, but despite my advice to stick with what he has and that another 12/13yr old car at £3-£4k will almost certainly land him with repairs bills too, he can’t be talked out of it.

Picked out a few for the shortlist. Two Toyota Yaris 1.33’s, a Vauxhall Viva, and a couple of Vauxhall Astra J’s with the belt driven 1.6 petrol motor.

The first Yaris was about five different colours, and had more runs than an IBS sufferer after a curry. It was a mess.

Next Yaris (a 2014 five door in silver) looked good on first acquaintance, but hadn’t been serviced in 6yrs despite being advertised as having “good service history” the bonnet wouldn’t open and it was absolutely rotten underneath. It had lived all its life on the coast and was rapidly dissolving. An unwise £4495 buy, it will be lucky to pass another ticket and with the trade away relative firm to the dealer I once worked for. They offer these cars up and do nothing more than give them a valet and a lights and levels check, they don’t prep them at all. Their 3 month warranty was pretty much worthless too. Sad to see a once decent firm stoop so low.

The first Astra, a 2015 car in red with 88,000 miles up for £3495 looked ok, but the front tow hook cover had been torn off when it’s obviously been towed in after breaking down… doesn’t half put you off.

The next one was the one he bought. It’s a higher spec 63 plate 1.6 Elite in grey with 80,000 miles up which was very fresh indeed. Full history, working a/c, and a new exhaust from flexi pipe to rear box. It has a minor misfire on test drive, which will almost certainly be a coil pack on one of these. He’ll fix that, service it, put a years ticket on and do a timing belt and water pump, plus gave my old punter £495 for the Astra he’s had for 9yrs and only paid £2300 for. I’d say he got value from that. If it had any Mot left I’d flog it for him, but being a less popular 1.8 it’s not an easy sell to budget conscious buyers.

I do quite like the 1.6 Astra J petrol as a budget family hatch or estate, whether it’s a manual or automatic. They’re a bit dull, but they’re cheap, simple and pretty robust… fingers crossed.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 6 Aug 2025 20:56
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - Big John

I helped a friend buy a car for about the same £3k ish budget just over a year ago and my goodness at that price point there is some garbage about.

Most things we looked at I suggested running a mile - quite a few had terrible shut lines and I suspect evidence of body repairs. Some had surprisingly bad rust underneath even though no mention on the shiny new MOT. We did look at a nice-ish Astra (similar age) that looked promising - except for evidence of previous oil in the coolant expansion bottle. In the end we found a rather nice late model mkII Octavia.

However it was clear that £3k only buys you what you'd have bought for £1k pre covid etc. So £3k is the new banger price in my opinion. I was also surprised at how rusty some of them were - clearly it's still a thing.

Edited by Big John on 06/08/2025 at 21:05

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 6 Aug 2025 21:14
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - Xileno

I think of a 2014 car as being quite new but then it's eleven so certainly middle-aged. I suppose it's partly the Scottish climate with lots of road salt. A friend has a 2008 Focus that spent it's early years in Aberdeen and it's a mess with rusting sills and wings.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 6 Aug 2025 21:20
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - SLO76

I think of a 2014 car as being quite new but then it's eleven so certainly middle-aged. I suppose it's partly the Scottish climate with lots of road salt. A friend has a 2008 Focus that spent it's early years in Aberdeen and it's a mess with rusting sills and wings.

Yeah, absolutely kills em.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 7 Aug 2025 18:09
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - Steveieb

My previous A4 2003 Tdi 130 had wings that were in a terrible state but the underside and exhaust were both perfect at 170 miles.

There is one featured on You tube with 500 k miles and similarly very little underside rust and an original exhaust.

From what I have read the Jaguar X type was notorious for rusting sills as they were plastic coated.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 7 Aug 2025 18:39
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - SLO76
Much depends on where the car has spent most of its life. Our local climate kills them off early. One thing that did surprise me on a wee trip to Finland a while back was that there seemed to be loads of old cars on their snow and ice covered roads, far more so than anywhere in the UK. Must be the salt used on our roads, assume they don’t do this.

Edited by SLO76 on 07/08/2025 at 18:57

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 7 Aug 2025 19:18
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - Xileno

My initial thoughts were it's probably more likely that owners pay to fix their old cars as most things in Finland are expensive. But then I found this link which shows that the cost of running a car in Finland and the UK as a % of average salary is very similar:

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-13005103/...l

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 7 Aug 2025 19:37
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - paul 1963

My initial thoughts were it's probably more likely that owners pay to fix their old cars as most things in Finland are expensive. But then I found this link which shows that the cost of running a car in Finland and the UK as a % of average salary is very similar:

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-13005103/...l

I suspect its more to do with the weather, Finland gets deep snow so they probably use ploughs rather than salt, my son lives in the North East of Scotland ( Buckie for those that know the area) and most roads are cleared using snow ploughs.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 8 Aug 2025 12:34
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - galileo
Much depends on where the car has spent most of its life. Our local climate kills them off early. One thing that did surprise me on a wee trip to Finland a while back was that there seemed to be loads of old cars on their snow and ice covered roads, far more so than anywhere in the UK. Must be the salt used on our roads, assume they don’t do this.

Finland is well known for producing lots of top Rally drivers, snow, mud or gravel don't seem to trouble them at all. Similarly studded tyres are popular in Scandinavian winters for many drivers.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 9 Aug 2025 19:42
Banger(ish) shopping in Ayrshire - Steveieb

Surely rusting panels are down to the quality of the metal and the treatments.

My Audi 80 had a galvanised body and was in perfect condition when i parted after the diesel engine failed .

Should have had a replacement engine fitted !

Reply | Report as offensive | Link