Cheap Motoring

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Mr Bump said:
No but people on here just seem to take the same stance every time just reply with "you need a great big old dirty diesel" repeat and rinse
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Well the question was about cheap motoring. 60+mpg derv is generally cheaper fuel cost than petrol..*

Dont know how they'd apply extra parking charges on diesel above though, what do you do take an exhaust sample when paying for your ticket?


*on longer journeys. Agreed that derv and short trips don't mix.
 
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neil_g said:
Well the question was about cheap motoring. 60+mpg derv is generally cheaper fuel cost than petrol..*

Dont know how they'd apply extra parking charges on diesel above though, what do you do take an exhaust sample when paying for your ticket?


*on longer journeys. Agreed that derv and short trips don't mix.
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ANPR camera linked to DVLA would give you fuel type. Then they can be charged more in those kind of car parks. Same goes for ones with a manual number plate entry so you have a personalised ticket.
 
gman said:
8th Gen Honda Accord 2.4 EX, built in Japan and is pretty much as reliable a car as you can get. Hard to find though, especially in Tourer.

7th Gen 2.4 Executive is also still an excellent car and Japanese built, nice in saloon but the Tourer looks like a coffin.

Both come fully loaded and can be had at very good prices, especially the 7th Gen.

Honda diesels don't seem to be as reliable in my experience.
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Think this may be the direction i am heading. Japanese petrol, possibly Toyota Avensis or Honda Accord. There are more Toyotas around so may get a better chance of finding a better Avensis.
While looking through the japanese marques, got to mazda and then got sidelined by some mx-5's. Not sure they fulfil many of my requirements (bar being reliable), but it seems you can get quite a nice mx5 for 2k now.
 
From my own experience you can actually get better than official mpg with the petrol Accord and the 2.4 isn't far off the 2.0 but has notably better performance, especially when the vtech kicks in. Auto boxes do sap a fair bit of performance and economy with the Accords though.
 
Rapscallion said:
Think this may be the direction i am heading. Japanese petrol, possibly Toyota Avensis or Honda Accord. There are more Toyotas around so may get a better chance of finding a better Avensis
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I think you're probably right. There's nothing terribly exciting about Japanese sensible cars - but that's often a good thing. They make loads of them and they are generally very reliable.

You might struggle getting a decent auto though - I reckon the Germans and their friends win at automatics. The DSG is a marvellous invention.

Rapscallion said:
While looking through the japanese marques, got to mazda and then got sidelined by some mx-5's. Not sure they fulfil many of my requirements (bar being reliable), but it seems you can get quite a nice mx5 for 2k now.
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Plus the same again for insurance :D Oh and you'll need a garage for when it rains ;)
 
A dealer told a colleague (they live next door to each other) to look out for rust on the underside of MX-5's. For a modern car this surprised me.
 
srichards said:
Mazdas are famously rusty. It's their real weak point.
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Yep, plus the MX5 is very expensive to tax and far from fuel efficient, especially in the older ones. Very fun motoring, but not cheap!
 
The mx5 was temporary diversion! Yesterday briefly looked at a 2004 133k avensis that has been in the same family for 10 years with history, and am off to look at a 99 accord 1.8 auto with 86k that has been owned by the same man since 2003. The toyota is showing "HEAVY CORROSION NEARSIDE + OFFSIDE REAR SUSPENSION ARMS + SUB FRAME" on the mot advisory, the honda has an almost unblemished list of advisories on the mot history, bar tires, pads and most recently a failure on "Offside Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded outer sil (2.4.A.3)" that must have been repaired as the car passed the test 5 days later.
there is also a mk3 gti a few miles away that has been owned by the same man since 99, but not sure how that would stack up against the above for reliability. But may be a little better to drive. that agin has good mot advisory history.
all are around £600-800...yes I'm a tight git!
 
srichards said:
Mazdas are famously rusty. It's their real weak point.
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That was my main worry when I got an MPS6, the Mazda 6's were notoriously famous for wheel arch rust.
 
Rapscallion said:
The mx5 was temporary diversion! Yesterday briefly looked at a 2004 133k avensis that has been in the same family for 10 years with history, and am off to look at a 99 accord 1.8 auto with 86k that has been owned by the same man since 2003. The toyota is showing "HEAVY CORROSION NEARSIDE + OFFSIDE REAR SUSPENSION ARMS + SUB FRAME" on the mot advisory, the honda has an almost unblemished list of advisories on the mot history, bar tires, pads and most recently a failure on "Offside Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded outer sil (2.4.A.3)" that must have been repaired as the car passed the test 5 days later.
there is also a mk3 gti a few miles away that has been owned by the same man since 99, but not sure how that would stack up against the above for reliability. But may be a little better to drive. that agin has good mot advisory history.
all are around £600-800...yes I'm a tight git!
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I've had two 6th Gen Honda Accords (1.8 and 2.3 Type V) and it's worth noting that they were built in Swindon and not Japan. Whilst still very reliable there was a notable step up with the 7th Gen 2.4 Executive that I had.

You can pickup an auto 2005 7th Gen fully loaded executive for around £1,200 these days. A lot of car for the money. The manuals are even cheaper.
 
Rapscallion said:
there is also a mk3 gti a few miles away that has been owned by the same man since 99, but not sure how that would stack up against the above for reliability. But may be a little better to drive. that agin has good mot advisory history.
all are around £600-800...yes I'm a tight git!
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Personally I'd pay an extra £400 for one that hasn't been heavily corroded.....

I guess I think if it's lasted 10 - 12 years then it isn't going to fall apart, but stuff that has been fixed could easily go wrong again.
 
Just been to look at the accord and it is immaculate, a typical old mans honda. genuine reason for sale (he needed something higher for his wife to get in and out) and shook hands at 600.

PS there was some urgency so needed to get the best i could locally and soon, and was happy to find this car in such good nick. see how this goes and will be looking more closely at the 7th gen honda over the coming weeks.

Thanks all.
 
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srichards said:
Mazdas are famously rusty. It's their real weak point.
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The paint quality on Mazdas (certainly on the 58 reg Mazda 3 we had) is very poor, the worst I have ever seen on any modern vehicle. I was also disappointed by the dealership customer service and their reluctance to rectify faults on an in warranty vehicle.
 
We have been looking at buying a second car again because we both need one for work (I am getting fed up with the train).
I compared a 1.9 diesel Octavia (55 reg) 55MPG - tax £135 per year, to the same reg 1.6 petrol version 35 - 40MPG and £220 per year tax.
Why on earth would I wish to pay all that extra money for a petrol car?
 
Rapscallion said:
Just been to look at the accord and it is immaculate, a typical old mans honda. genuine reason for sale (he needed something higher for his wife to get in and out) and shook hands at 600.

PS there was some urgency so needed to get the best i could locally and soon, and was happy to find this car in such good nick. see how this goes and will be looking more closely at the 7th gen honda over the coming weeks.

Thanks all.
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Congrats. If you ever need to check out parts you can find everything at the Lings Honda Parts site, prices, part codes etc. Very handy.
 
Rapscallion said:
Just been to look at the accord and it is immaculate, a typical old mans honda. genuine reason for sale (he needed something higher for his wife to get in and out) and shook hands at 600.

PS there was some urgency so needed to get the best i could locally and soon, and was happy to find this car in such good nick. see how this goes and will be looking more closely at the 7th gen honda over the coming weeks.

Thanks all.
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Cheap(ish) motoring I think...

They are pretty reliable and with luck you should be fairly safe for the next 10 years [emoji4]

Might be heavy on petrol but hopefully has been cared for properly for the last 18 years. A guy down the road from me has a 1980 Civic that seems to go on forever.
 
Petrol fumes have never killed anybody ,unless poured into a wine bottle with a lit rag in the top .:pint:
 
the black fox said:
Petrol fumes have never killed anybody ,unless poured into a wine bottle with a lit rag in the top .:pint:
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Well, the lead in it did. You know, when they used to add lead and lie about how safe it was.

Also, lots of people die from sniffing petrol every year.

But yeah, diesel is the one we're worried about this week ;)
 
Benzene isn't a very nice thing to breathe in or have in contact with your skin. Not sure which is worse - lead or Benzene.
 
Since this thread is wandering around, I'll chip in. As with most complex things there is no simple answer. You need to define "the environment" when spouting off about diesel vs petrol. Petrol emits more CO2 which means more climate change, flooding and droughts kill people. Diesels emit more NOx which kills people. So depends whether you value one person's life over another...

Also manufacturing a car creates a lot of CO2 and other pollutants, as does scrapping/recycling it. In general once the car is manufactured it is better to keep it running than scrap it and make a new one.
 
the black fox said:
Petrol fumes have never killed anybody ,unless poured into a wine bottle with a lit rag in the top .:pint:
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Believe me if I had to drive petrol car I would even gladly pay someone to fill it up for me. Can't stand that smell. Oh, and it damages your lungs and nervous system. Really evil stuff. Newer cars appear to control petrol vapour emissions - probably still new enough and working properly; however plenty of 10-yo and older cars literally spew out clouds of vapourized petrol and other toxic VOCs. So much for dirty diesel. Kettle Pot basically.
 
I,m gonna drill a 3 inch hole in my bonnet just above the oil filler cap ,take off the cap and fit a 6.0 mtr windsurfer mast and sail in it , oh s*** wait a minute I need my engine running to get power steering and braking ,back to the drawing board :withstupid:
 
Get an early Landy Diesel - no power steering or servo on the brakes...
 
Let's have some pics of the Honda sounds like a great vehicle maybe you can get a cheap lpg conversion
 
I'm sure it's about £1,200 minimum for a quality and reliable lpg conversion. Used to think about it myself but now I'd just lease a PHEV instead were i to continue leasing when my contract expires next year as it would suit my commuting better. But nothing available just now suits my requirements.
 
Get a Toyota Prius my last 3 all did over 140k and never missed a heart beat. At present I have mercy b200 had it 4 years and no probs but not done the mileage of the Toyotas
 
wave01 said:
Get a Toyota Prius my last 3 all did over 140k and never missed a heart beat. At present I have mercy b200 had it 4 years and no probs but not done the mileage of the Toyotas
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Prius, particularly the older versions are not very nice to drive or be in. Lexus has some much nicer V6 adaptations of the same thing. I know which one I'd rather have.
 
People can laugh but my ten year old MK 3 Clio passed its MOT with zero faults 3 years in a row and never broken down and the roads where I live are some of the worst crap full of holes in rural wales you could imagine.
 
My Focus Cmax 2.0 TDCI is proving relatively cheap to run, great mileage and longer trips, plenty of torque, and spacious. Only "big" piece of work it's going to need this year is timing belt and water bump change, as I've hit 122K and it's due at 125. So I should probably get that done sooner rather than later
 
KitsuneAndy said:
My Focus Cmax 2.0 TDCI is proving relatively cheap to run, great mileage and longer trips, plenty of torque, and spacious. Only "big" piece of work it's going to need this year is timing belt and water bump change, as I've hit 122K and it's due at 125. So I should probably get that done sooner rather than later
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Don't panic to rush to get it done,

Nobody in my family ever changed a timing belt in our lives and have old bangers.

Zero failures
 
So far...

WHEN (not if) one does go, it's likely to be the end of the car since a replacement engine is likely to be an uneconomically viable repair. Should the failure happen on a motorway, the consequences could be severe and should the neglect be seen as a contributory cause, your insurance could be invalidated. Worst case scenario but it could happen.
 
srichards said:
Mazdas are famously rusty. It's their real weak point.
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Alan Clogwyn said:
Yep, plus the MX5 is very expensive to tax and far from fuel efficient, especially in the older ones. Very fun motoring, but not cheap!
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Early Mk1 mx-5s rusted, mostly sills at the rear. Later ones dont, or at leat not in my 7 year old one that I'm currently driving due to no motorbike :(
Road tax on a 2010 2.0 sports tech (6 speed, hard folding roof, leather all the toys) is £240 so not expensive
35mpg if gentle, 30mpg-ish if driven at pace.
 
I was looking at electric cars, think they'd be ok as town cars but not for a daily 25 mile commute, 20 miles on motorway. Plenty of Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe around reasonably cheap, with the battery packs on lease but the range is poor.

New Tesla 3 might be good when available - 250 mile range
 
Nod said:
So far...

WHEN (not if) one does go, it's likely to be the end of the car since a replacement engine is likely to be an uneconomically viable repair. Should the failure happen on a motorway, the consequences could be severe and should the neglect be seen as a contributory cause, your insurance could be invalidated. Worst case scenario but it could happen.
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Yeah I'm not in any huge panic, we don't do a lot of miles. I just have a diesel because we tend to do long trips when we do use the car with my parents living 300 miles away. MOT is due in September and I'll probably just get it all done at once.
 
A long time ago I had a Rover 416 and the timing belt went on the M6 in the overtaking lane, the engine went bang and something big from the engine bay went flying off, bounced under the car and kicked up behind me only just making it over the windscreen of the Porsche behind me.

I shudder to think what the consequences would have been had it smashed into his windscreen as the sudden loss of power and me trying to get over to the hard shoulder was bad enough for the other cars around me.

I also had a Mark 4 Astra timing belt snap up at Loch Lomond. Was doing about 60mph but nobody else around. Had to replace three valves which was pretty fortunate all things considered.
 
GTG said:
People can laugh but my ten year old MK 3 Clio passed its MOT with zero faults 3 years in a row and never broken down and the roads where I live are some of the worst crap full of holes in rural wales you could imagine.
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Poor advice.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...ed&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

Absolutely loads there in the link above. We bought several, most of the misdiagnosed as something else. I have to admit I had trouble myself with failed tensioners thanks to believing in fake receipts from the previous owner (fake as in no work done, money taken, printout given); luckily no major damage done.

So go on, make us bargain broken car :)
 
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