<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters.

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Mon 14 May 2012 18:05
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - m887grey

Hello all.

I will be looking for a car in the next few weeks but have a very limited budget of under £500.

I am trying to decide what to aim for at this price range (I know my option are limited).

I am looking for the most reliable and economic motor at that price. Age/looks are not an issue - I have no pride! ;-)

I am tending toward something like a Volvo 240? Forgot to say I want an Estate?!

Any thoughts appreciated.

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Mon 14 May 2012 18:22
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - tony g
The volvos a heavy old lump ,so its not likely to be economical ,parts prices are more expensive ,plus the insurance will be dearer .

What about an early Nissan or ford escort estate ,if you can find one that's not rotted out ,fuel economy will be better and second hand parts plentifull and cheap .

I think you would be better buying a petrol rather than diesel example ,they're simple and easy to fix .

Good luck ,at £500 or less you're going to need it .

Regards

Tony g
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Mon 14 May 2012 18:23
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - Bobbin Threadbare

I enjoy these kind of posts!

For £500 or less on Autotrader, there's a rather motley collection of vehicles. The best few I have found are a very clean and tidy white V-reg Ford Mondeo estate, a X-reg red Volvo V70 and a reasonable looking Ford Focus estate. All petrol, all £495. For £490 there's a reasonable looking V-reg blue VW Passat estate.

For £475 there is a 1999 ex-MOD turquoise Nissan Primera estate with only 39k on the clock and leather seats!

If you look at older cars that are still going, it tends to be V70s and some Japanese petrols.

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Mon 14 May 2012 18:49
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - gordonbennet

Try ebay number 200758927841

Volvo 940 estate with LPG.

My sister is still running our old 940 Diesel estate, and we have kicked ourselves round the garden for years for letting it go, the old bus just soldiers on without any TLC whatsoever (and the car..;), they don't rust and as comfy as a pair of good slippers.

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Sat 19 May 2012 10:30
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - Roly93

I enjoy these kind of posts!

To be honest I dont really !

These posts, are 'how long is a piece of string'. Any car for £500 is going to be a huge gamble and the only real answer is look for a long MOT and if it drives okay with nothing glaringly obvious then its probably worth £500. As someone else has pointed out, rather than looking for little economical cars at this price, you may get a more durable shed like an old Volvo which may see the year out.

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Mon 14 May 2012 21:26
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - bear807
I like this kind of post too lol! I would highly recommend skoda felicia, for 500 it fits economical and reliable. If you manage to find an oldies with 1 in the house, don't hesitate buy it, you will be surprise to find many clean and low mileage car, because the car is so dull no one likes it.
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Mon 14 May 2012 22:13
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - craig-pd130

I reckon the big barges have a better chance of being a decent car at £500, most people will avoid them because of the higher insurance and perceived extra fuel costs.

That said, a friend of mine swears by Citroen ZXs and Xsaras as cheap runarounds. They're not too common, but equally few seem to want them if they do come up for sale. He's got an ancient ZX TD which he bought for £300, it just keeps going on routine services, no rust and costs pennies to insure & run. He got a Xsara for his wife for £550, if I remember right. Both cars have conventional suspension and share the PSA parts bin, so spares are plentiful too.

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Mon 14 May 2012 22:22
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - Avant

Good point, Craig - the PSA diesel and the VAG 1.9 TDI are two of the few diesels one would recommend as cheap buys. They don't have all the appendages that modern diesels have, and they rattle on just about forever if properly maintained.

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Mon 14 May 2012 22:26
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - hallington

my citroen xsara 1.8 estate is 14 years old and engine still great and you can fit single wardrobes etc in it, not had to spend much on parts in the 5yrs of owning it. Does 20ish in urban but 40-45 on motorway

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Mon 14 May 2012 22:37
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - unthrottled

The best piece of advice I can offer is: don't be greedy.

If vendors misprice their cars, it is virtually always on the high side. If a car appears to be underpriced, there's a very high chance that there's something wrong with it, and it is not always obvious to a casual observer.

No matter how much research you do, the vender always knows more about that particular car than a prospective buyer.

I would look at unfashionable models and marques (mainly French ones!). Any car that has stayed on the road for over 12 years can't be all bad-otherwise it would have been scrapped long ago!

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Mon 14 May 2012 23:46
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - balleballe

When we were students two of my mates bought a car for around 500 quid.

One bought a Suzuki Swift 1 litre petrol

The other bought a Nissan Micra (not sure of the engine, but think it was a 1.2)

The 1 litre swift covered around 27k in one year! The only time it broke down was when there was a tyre puncture.. It was scrapped after it failed the MOT though lol

The Micra was used for a daily commute of around 15 miles each way. Lasted well for 6 months; then it was sold for the same price it was purhased

Moral of the story; Buy a small Jap petrol

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Wed 16 May 2012 12:55
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - softopdriver

Get yourself over to the retrorides site:

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=FSW

I've recently seen various decent older cars with loads of life left in them for your budget. Examples include a Proton MPi with full MOT and average miles that looked in superb condition, the seller couldn't give it away for £300 as it probably seems old fashioned to many. There have been Volvo estates, Mondeos, etc, if you just watch the ads for a week you'll probably find something pops up that will grab your attention.

*for bear807: there was a tidy Felicia exactly as you described on there a few weeks ago, a perfect car for a new driver or second pottering about car. For your pleasure:

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=bugmot&action=display&thread=127048

and the Proton:

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=FSW&action=display&thread=123961

Edited by softopdriver on 16/05/2012 at 13:01

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Thu 17 May 2012 01:42
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - Avant

Softopdriver, you've been a member of the forum for some time, so I'll assume that you're just being helpful, and that this isn't your own business.

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Thu 17 May 2012 10:38
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - softopdriver

Avant - apologies if sharing a link to another site contravenes your rules.

I assure you the other site is nothing to do with me at all. I was introduced to retrorides some time ago as a great resource for older, cost effective or slightly offbeat vehicles, and although I'm not looking for such a vehicle myself, I do browse the site a few times a week to see what pops up. I felt that some of the offerings I had seen may have been of interest to a few on here.

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Thu 17 May 2012 21:38
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - m887grey

Hi all, thanks for all the replies, it has given me a lot to think about and I have a far better idea on what to look out for. When I do see a potential purchase I will probably come back for second opinion before I buy. Thanks all.

Edited by m887grey on 17/05/2012 at 21:39

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Fri 18 May 2012 00:28
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - Avant

Many thanks, Softopdriver - absolutely fine. We get a lot of people posting a link to their own business website, pushing their product, which isn't fair on the genuine advertisers who pay for their adverts. No problem in your case.

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Sat 19 May 2012 10:33
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - Roly93

Good point, Craig - the PSA diesel and the VAG 1.9 TDI are two of the few diesels one would recommend as cheap buys. They don't have all the appendages that modern diesels have, and they rattle on just about forever if properly maintained.

I'm a VaG diesel driver but I wouldn't advise any diesel at all at £500...For one thing they are probably more sought after and would not fit £500 budget.

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Sat 19 May 2012 22:44
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - iFocus

I'd go for something like a Honda Accord Aerodeck or a Civic Aerodeck. Can't beat a Honda!

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Sun 20 May 2012 10:10
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - V4 Heaven

Toyota Carina E 1.8 petrol 5 door. Not quite an estate but I have done many a house move with mine and you can fit a 6ft by 3ft bed in the back with the seats down. 42mpg at 80mph, never less than 40mpg at all other times, and mines done 170,000 miles so far. No turbos to worry about. The only downside is group 10 insurance.

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Sat 26 May 2012 03:40
<£500, reliable, economic, nothing else matters. - Mil1194

I must admit we halways have few vehicles ready to roll for a few reasons - in 2002 we bought a 1994 LHD BMW316 with 100ishK (62k miles ) on the clock. There have been occasions that this has done 0 -100miles between MOT's but has NEVER cost us anything between MOT's between 2006 and now. We are now on 265,000k's. It has got us out of holes, lent it to staff to use whilst between vehicles etc. I have never owned a cheaper vehicle over the years. I also employ a few guys who would rather spend 1000-1500£ on an old A8, 735 etc for a year or two just for the fun of itt - only epsensive bits are tyres, pads maybe and if it breaks down then split it for spares. Far more fun in that bracket than Escort estates and if bought correctly then more reliable and well built as well.

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