If monkeys are allowed to drive now, that would explan some of the recent experiences I've had with fellow-motorists.
HF
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Hope you haven't had any more close encounters with escaped zoo animals dragging their knuckles along the ground! :)
Blue
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Hope you haven't had any more close encounters with escaped zoo animals dragging their knuckles along the ground! :) Blue
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Moi? not yet Blue, but no doubt it won't be long.....:(
Nice to see you BTW, hope all is well in your world.
HF
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Yep, everything's going fine at the mo, no car though :( Got to pick it back up tommorow 'cos it's been in getting some rust fixed. I'm going out tommorow night though with work, so if you get any bizarre rambling postings at 3am, it's because I may be slightly drunk :)
I've just had a thought, watch out for any hairy drivers trying to get the skin off their banana (no dirty comments please:), if you see one, make sure you don't beep your horn and you should be fine! :)
Hope you're well.
Blue
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Hiya Blue,
Look forward to any drunken rambling postings at 3am Thursday morning - you might not get an immediate reply from me tho, there is just the remotest possibility that I might be akip!
Hahaha and of course I would not have dirty comments re your mention of hairy males getting skin off their banana - do you not know yet of the total innocence in such things that we wondrous females have?! and of course you were commenting in the most perfect of innocence, I know that :)
Will not beep horn, though, under any circumstances :(
Have a good night out, and speak soon,
HF
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Well hello ebveryone, it's not wquite 3am, but I did promise a drunken post, and I'm not none to break a promise :)
Nothing to ramble about ai;m afraid :( Just had a fgreat night, and found out that there are goinna be 100 job cuts on a department next to ours :( Bit of a damper on the xmas party!
Have a nice night, I intend to be in bed for a whuile now. :)
Blue
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Peugeot 309? Late models were fuel injected. 1.4 fairly quick for its size, GTi would be a lot of fun but expensive to maintain and insure I'd imagine. Anyway the 309 is a 205 with a boot, so you get the handling and extra space. I believe the engines in the 309's are larger and/or more powerful than in comparable models (insurance wise) in the 205 range too ,e.g. 1.4 vs. 1.1. Both are good cars anyway.
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I had a 1987 1.3slx Nissan sunny, which was really good, actually! Quick enought for town and motorway, comfortable, and the height of luxury: 4 electric windows! Very sad when it eventually died at 117k, needing a new gearbox, which I couldn't be bothered to sort out. Mrs Orson's parents have the 1.6 sunny, same vintage, still going without using any oil at all on 164k...
Orson
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I bought a Land Rover for £250. Fun factor - to huge to measure!
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Likewise for £250 for my brother a 3.0L V6 Alfa 164, 1992 with 65k.
Very lucky he has only needed 2 tyres in last 12 months.
as ever
Mark
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Hi Gang!!
Thanks for the recommendations and advice!!
I'm keen to avoid any GTi's or anything else with a specifically "sporty" pedigree, so that I can keep the insurance costs down and reduce the likelihood of buying something that's been thrashed.
Keep them coming!!
Pinchy
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"..£250 for my brother a 3.0L V6 Alfa 164, 1992 with 65k."
That's pretty good. What was supposed to be wrong with it?
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Go for the 4/216 rathe rthan the 4/214.
The 1.4 K-Series engine has great driving characteristics but those long stretch bolts are a liability.
The 1.6 Honda engine doesn't have the same cooling issues.
Watch out for the Rear bushes and the MFU unit. (The only three rover 4/2 serieses I've ever been in had the MFU unit U/S).
8v Cavaliers are great but may well be over your budget.
I've just bought a 416 for 400 quid so I've look as hard in this market as anyone.
--
These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Hi JBW
Thats precisely what we asked asked ourselves when we first saw it. Bro had come up from Devon to Cheshire to get a car as there are more cheapo 2nd dealers here than there.
We originally saw it in the morning as this was first Garage on our list, he has a bit of reputation for getting the prices wrong for non run of the mill stuff. A quick look confirmed it seemed ok except for the electric sun roof which seemed ever so slightly not closed. But at that time it was wedged in amongst all his stock which had yet to be moved out the yard so no drive on offer.
Spent the day doing the rounds and found absolutely nothing apart from old dogs that had been to the moon and back so back we went. Got back just as they were moving things back into yard so we got a drive. Whilst testing it Bro rings Alfa dealers for price of sunroof motor (£450 plus fitting). Car went like a rocket but brakes a bit wooden however a few hard stops got the rust off so back we go and argue him down from £295 to £250.
Got it home and decided to look at roof motor before buying a new one and found a burnt connection cleaned it up and roof worked fine (still does).
Car came with 11 months MOT and 2 months Tax also it was filthy in front footwells but has cleaned up ok.
Bro says it will need new centre section for exhaust, double pipe double box, soon but he has sourced a new one (o/e) for £90 from the Alfashop in Norwich.
Best £250 he has ever spent
regards
Mark
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Hi Mark
Agree the Alfa 164 is a cracking car to drive. I had 2.00ltr Twin Spark for a long time and really enjoyed it but certain aspects were a nightmare. Dodgy electrics, faulty guages, 2 steering racks, complete suspension re-build plus sundry other irritating and mostly expensive problems. This is not to mention a voracious appetite for front tyres - 12k on a pair of Goodyear Eagles was the best I ever achieved. Finally got rid of the car when my garage tipped me the wink that it would cost me about a grand and a half to get it through the next MOT.
I bought at 45k and P/Ex'd for a Vectra at 126k. P/Ex was £500.
The car's still around locally and looks much as it did 2 years ago when I dropped it. Every time I see it I regret selling it until I remember how much healthier my bank account is since it went!
Regards
Ken A
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"basic, cheap, reliable transport"
Well I think anything requiring expensive spares/specialist attention is ruled out by definition.
Simple to fix, good reputation for reliability, cheap available spares.
Ford Escort , Ford Fiesta or Sierra are all in your budget: a 10 year old one in good condition with minimal rust ( an expensive problem) is what you want.
Thousands to chose from, be picky and you can find a good low mileage (less than 60k) one for £500 leaving lots of cash for repairs and maintenance.
Tyre are cheap, spare cheap and providing it's not shot (watch engine oil/breather for neglect) should do 100k + miles with no difficulty. Any garage/DIY person can do most repairs.
madf
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Hi Gang!!
Having previously owned an elderly high mileage (170k+) VW Jetta, I'm intrigued that VW's haven't made it onto the list yet. I'm seriously considering this marque given the experience that I and others have had, and having an independant VW specialist nearby.
How to people rate the Mk2 Golf, or Passat?
Pinchy
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Check out eBay and see what you can find there - always bargains to be had, but make sure the auction has photos of the car, you can e-mail the seller to ask all the important questions, and that it's near to you to make viewing/collection easier.
I too rate the Jetta, although mine is elderly (1987) it's low mileage (52k on the 1.6 carb engine) and, surprisingly for a car that has always been close to the sea (Channel Islands), no rust to speak of. Nothing squeaks or rattles either. Plus the Jettas are much cheaper than the equivalent Golf. And my TX model is good fun to drive, although the steering (non-PAS) is heavy.
Old Audi 80s are also good as they tend to be bought by older types and are broadly based on Golf/Passat bits, but some parts can be expensive. The bonus of the Audi is a galvanised body so rust tends not to be a problem.
Rover 216/416 is also a good buy - check also your local Freeads paper (if you have one), you can pick up an early G/H/J car round here (Berkshire) with <100k miles and FSH for around a monkey. Classier than your average Escort or Astra too.
Sierras are good value for money, easy to fix and are fun in the wet (rear-wheel drive of course), and £500 should give you a pick of any, bar the Cosworth. Not massive street cred though, and rust can affect a lot of them - but if you get a Ghia, they tend not to be so rusty as they were made in Germany rather than Belgium or the UK (apparently this is a top Sierra-buying tip!).
Hugo's comments re. main dealer trade-ins are especially valid given it's Christmas time and some lucky types (grr) will be getting new cars for Chrimbo. Incidentally, Car Mechanics this month ran a story on a Volvo 360 they picked up from a main dealer p/x for £50 and ran for a year...another sleeper hit in my book (no street cred but capable and again rear-wheel drive).
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Having previously owned an elderly high mileage (170k+) VW Jetta, I'm intrigued that VW's haven't made it onto the list yet.
The problem is that in your original post you said the car had to be cheap to run, but also mentioned 'fun-factor'. So I was thinking VW Polo or Golf 1300, which I reckon are the best all round cars in this price bracket, but not much fun. But if you can run to a Golf 1800GL or an old square-box Audi 80CL, you'll find them decently quick and useful on twisty roads. Also built like the proverbial brick outhouse, and the VW 1800 8 valve motor is tough and simple. Audi 80 Sport (circa 1985-86) has 115 bhp Golf GTi engine, uprated chassis and goes very well. Insurance might be a bit much though.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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p.s. to the landy above. Just recieved my insurance quote for the next year. It remains the same £84 for me and spouse, fully comp NO unlimited mileage.
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If you shop around a few dealers (as mentioned elsewhere in this post) looking for older p/exs you may even get yourself a new-shape rover 414i on an M/95 with about 100k on it for £500. I've just been paid £800 for my 96/N 91k 416SLi in p/ex, although I would have got a straight £1k if it didn't have a ding in the back door that was starting to bubble.
They handle superbly and offer lowish insurance (about a 7 for the 414i)combined with practicality.
Otherwise I would say find the best Polo for your money. They are the car the Golf would like to be!
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In response to Dave's post on the Pug 309, I would look carefully at those.
Yes there are plenty about but I didn't rate the build quality of my D reg SRI.
Having said that it didn't seem to attract a huge premium. I was paying about £140 with equivilent to full NCB for TPFT. I am 35 years of age. This car had the same 1.6 injection engine as the original 205.
However, if you can find a good one for the money and you like it - go for it. They're damn good work horses.
The other thing to consider is the cost of parts. The advice I was given was to shortlist the cars you are to look at and create a shopping list of the most commonly used spares (typical service kit, sparks, filters, pads and shoes ect) phone a few motor factors up and compare prices for bits for each car.
H
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