100 times better?

[Deleted member 6183]

I was walking down to the village yesterday to meet the Mrs for an early dinner, I was looking at all the nice cars in people's driveways and started thinking about how expensive new cars are these days and how average cars like Fords can cost the same as my first house.

Anyway, as I neared our rendezvous I saw a little Fiat for sale at the side of the road, £400 long MOT, wow, I had nearly enough in my pocket to buy it. If not I could do an online transfer from my phone and drive it off to meet the Mrs.

The rest of the walk saw me pondering whether the £40k motors sitting outside the big houses were really worth 100 times the little car. I suppose it depends on the kind of mileage that you cover so, for context, the posh cars that I passed hardly seem to move off the drive so are unlikely to business tools.

I think that I'm coming around to the concept of owning a cheap,little car. I could always hire something big for holidays and, erm, umm.

I'm sure that I had something more profound to say and I've not communicated this well at all but it just seems out of kilter that the £400 bumper would do nearly all that of a new MB yet might cost the same as one month's rental on a lease where mileage is restricted to something like 8k/annum so is merely a runabout in itself.

100 times better?

 

[Rosso1]

Everyone has a value and it need not be what others see it at.

 

[Scott_F]

The rest of the walk saw me pondering whether the £40k motors sitting outside the big houses were really worth 100 times the little car.

In about 12 years from now the £40k cars will be worth about the same as the little car.

 

[Yugguy]

It's a fair question.

We had our Focus from 18 months old to 12 years when we finally sold it. It had 60k on the clock, complete FSH, everything that ever needed doing had been done. It had climate, elec windows all round, cd changer. I'd fitted a parrot, and a fixed satnav mounting. It had 140bhp so although not blisteringly fast of course it was brisk enough to keep pace with modern cars and hum along at motorway speeds.

I'd kept both the inside and outside clean and tidy and it was mechanically sound. No reason it couldn't have done another 100k without issue.


I got 1400 quid trade in and would have been lucky to get a grand on a private sale.

As a 12-year old Focus, yes that was all it was worth. As a car with that spec and condition it was worth much more.

 

[milleplod]

There's something deeply satisfying, to me at least, in running around in a 'cheap' car. 'Cheap' means different things to different people, of course. In the past, we've leased brand new, expensive cars, and we've bought them too, but since I retired we've put a brake on that sort of spending.

Our R500 cost (well!) under £5k. It has every trimming we could wish for. Its 'different'. I'm not too bothered about the odd mark on it here and there, or if it picks a few more up - I'd be suicidal should a brand new £60k motor get dinged in a car park! Its not the cheapest thing to run, granted, but then again I'm not paying out a fortune each month on a lease. It serves its purpose, and then some, and, more importantly, we're happy with it. I wouldn't be any happier in that theoretical £60k motor.

I do think that as we get older we tend towards more 'sensible' motoring. I know a young couple who lease a Range Rover Sport (white, obviously...!) and they admit that its crippling them....but their friends all have them, you see.....

Pete

 

[merc85]

I bought the Wife a Volvo c70, its done 200k, and cost £200 to buy. It keeps the miles of her 65 X-trail, and Means i dont have to drive my Mb in the rain lol

 

[Ted]

Bangernomics is fantastic.
What's the worst that can happen? you pay the £400 and it falls apart today.
That's a month's lease on a lot of cars today, and I'm sure you would get some scrap value for it.
There is also that smug feeling you get when you drive a car that really isn't costing anything.

I bought an Astra around six years ago for £500. Aircon (coldest of any car I have ever had) alloys, six months tax, just serviced, perfect interior, tidy exterior.
I loved and hated that car in equal measure -loved because it was actually a really good car, wasn't costing me anything and did over 40mpg, hated because it represented the financial position I was in and handled like a boat.
Cost me £100 over the year in service/mot/new wipers - I reckon in total including petrol, tax, insurance, servicing I got a years motoring for under a grand. Sold it for £450 with no tax.

I really love bangernomics.

 

[oldguy57]

Lot to be said for cheap cars that you can leave anywhere. We always run one. My mate just bought a one owner 30k miles A class from a trade only auction site mint except needed a front bumper for £130. Used bumper same colour £30. Cheap motoring indeed.

 

[renault12ts]

So, some of these cars never move, or some have cheap cars so the expensive ones don't have to move...there must be a business in supplying inflatable versions of expensive cars to sit on the driveway and look...smart?

 

[Wheelsnuts]

You cannot beat a banger as a local runabout. There are no parking worries or seeking out that isolated space at the far end of the supermarket car park. I bought a Nissan Micra for £500, kept it 2 years and sold it for £500. It was totally reliable and gave us no problems whatsoever. It may have looked like an upturned bath tub but it served its purpose well. Sound economics.

 

[Druk]

The question was...100 times better? No, but would I want to drive swmbo's shopping trolley further than Tescos? 100 times NO!

 

[Yugguy]

. I know a young couple who lease a Range Rover Sport (white, obviously...!) and they admit that its crippling them....but their friends all have them, you see.....

Pete

Keeping up with the Jones is really one of the stupidest things to do. Because there is is always someone better off than you. Besides, I simply would not want the kind of friends that judged me solely on my financial worth.

 

[JLR1969]

I had this dilemma recently and came to the conclusion that you generally buy a car with either your heart or your head.

Head - It makes commercial sense and will probably be boring, dull, safe and cost effective

Heart - It makes no commercial sense and will be fun, fast, new, exciting, flash and lose a lot of money

Personally I have lived my whole life using my head and its time to go with my heart for a year or two.

 

[renault12ts]

Keeping up with the Jones is really one of the stupidest things to do. Because there is is always someone better off than you. Besides, I simply would not want the kind of friends that judged me solely on my financial worth.

It's in their heads...their friends probably don't judge them.

 

[Red C220]

Our R500 cost (well!) under £5k. It has every trimming we could wish for. Its 'different'. I'm not too bothered about the odd mark on it here and there, or if it picks a few more up - I'd be suicidal should a brand new £60k motor get dinged in a car park! Its not the cheapest thing to run, granted, but then again I'm not paying out a fortune each month on a lease. It serves its purpose, and then some, and, more importantly, we're happy with it. I wouldn't be any happier in that theoretical £60k motor.



Pete

I get this.

I think hard about where I'm going in the SL as I'm a bit paranoid where I park it. Oh and width restrictions with the huge curbs (it's very wide car.)

This is one of the major benefits of Mrs Red being a Blue badge holder. I get much wider parking bays!

I'm less worried about our E class.

There's no way to justify buying new, the numbers don't add up. But it is nice.

We've decided to change from the 3 year cycle though. We've bought our SL to keep for the forseeable future, I don't have any intention of ever selling it unless it become horrendously unreliable and therefore would lose it's joy.

Our E Class PCP is up in September next year and it's being replaced by an Audi S6 Avant, which like the SL we intend to keep for long term.

The advantage with Audi is they offer a warranty extension to 5 years when you buy new for an extra £1300, which seems a sensible option on a car like this. But the big plus is I can get it painted any colour I like for £2600.

 

[Adrian5405]

My other car (SEAT Alhambra TDI) was 4 years old when I bought it 9 years ago at a cost of £11k.
It only has 28k on the clock, and now has 115k.
The car has been an absolute joy to own and drive and is a big part of the family, it's has taken the family to all four corners of the country and to France without missing a beat.
If I were to sell it, £1500-£2000 at a push maybe
I service it myself so no big bills, cheap on fuel, tyres, tax (ish) loads of room and I'm not too worried where I park it.
It's a bit like a trusty old labrador, very faithful and won't let you down lol

Whilst I also love the Mercedes, if both sets of keys are on the table which do I pick up? Yep, the old bus keys.
There is just something about older cars I love.

Or course in anyone wants to buy me a 63 I'm sure I could learn to adapt.

 

[JLR1969]

I get this.

I think hard about where I'm going in the SL as I'm a bit paranoid where I park it. Oh and width restrictions with the huge curbs (it's very wide car.)

This is one of the major benefits of Mrs Red being a Blue badge holder. I get much wider parking bays!

I'm less worried about our E class.

There's no way to justify buying new, the numbers don't add up. But it is nice.

We've decided to change from the 3 year cycle though. We've bought our SL to keep for the forseeable future, I don't have any intention of ever selling it unless it become horrendously unreliable and therefore would lose it's joy.

Our E Class PCP is up in September next year and it's being replaced by an Audi S6 Avant, which like the SL we intend to keep for long term.

The advantage with Audi is they offer a warranty extension to 5 years when you buy new for an extra £1300, which seems a sensible option on a car like this. But the big plus is I can get it painted any colour I like for £2600.

You say you wont buy new as the numbers don't add up but have a PCP. Is the PCP not the same as buying new except you pay a load of interest as well to make it even worse?

 

[Darrell]

I love bangernomics.



This cost me £800. 2 previous owners (family) 76,000 on the clock with 52,000 from Jaguar. It's wafting us off to La Rochelle in a couple of weeks.

 

[BTB 500]

Bangernomics is fantastic.
What's the worst that can happen? you pay the £400 and it falls apart today.

For short trips / local driving I agree. But if you are on holiday with the family plus luggage etc. and it falls apart that's not so great!

 

[Red C220]

You say you wont buy new as the numbers don't add up but have a PCP. Is the PCP not the same as buying new except you pay a load of interest as well to make it even worse?

I didn't say I wouldn't buy new, I just said the numbers don't stack up.

I do buy new, but I freely admit the maths doesn't stack up. I buy new so I can specify what I want and it's nice getting a new car.

Sometimes though PCP or contract hire can be cheaper than buying if you know you are going to own the car for a fixed term, in my case 3 years.

Our E class is a perfect example. The PCP cost including deposit is a lower total cost over three years than the depreciation. So in that case it makes sense.

What I have decided to do now though is keep the cars longer, in that respect buying them outright is probably better as the depreciation curve flattens out substantially after year 3.