My new addition.... a Chavalier !!

[petef]

Well we all talk about new cars and what we can afford and image, and power etc etc..WELL ...! My father in law has just decided to sell his 1994 Cavalier 2 litre GLS..Immaculate condition. 54,000 miles full vauxhall service history..just serviced before he was to sell.. ...velour interior , heated mirrors, sunroof !! Yea a sunroof..and NO air con..all the bits from the nostalic early 90's....
Anyway, he asked me to put it on auto trader via the net. I had agreed to valet / polish etc. When I had finished the job I was amazed at this car. It is like new and it drives like new !!!...........so for 450 quid I am the proud owner of a chavalier !!!...Image???...I am too old for that.. I will not now spend the intended 360 pound on a lease car..I will save the money and put it to the extension fund !!!...

....We will still have a new main car that the missus will use...but for me its banganomics....will keep you all updated on what it costs to run. I travel a 60 mile commute every day so should be interesting. I have made sure the jump leads are in the boot....but then again it only had a new battery last year !!!...

Ohh and plus I am getting 37 mpg with a mixture of back roads and motorway driving....:bannana:

 

[Dieselman]

Cool. I like bangernomics, ultimate recycling. You might be surprised at just how reliable and cheap this car turns out to be.

 

[andy_k]

new cars make little or no financial sense. No matter how you look at it or do the "man maths" they cost a lot more to run than old cars.

We've got two "older" cars;

My 1995 T320 which I paid £1700 three years ago. In that time it's cost me less than £500 in repairs (£300 of which was repairing the aircon which was broken when i bought the car) and about the same in servicing/general maintainance. It's passed three MoTs and the biggest bill at one of those was £80 for replacing the rear brake pipes. We've done about 30k miles in it at an average of 28 mpg and it's probably worth about the same as we paid for it

We've also got a 1978 E280 which we bought for £300 three years ago. It's cost us less than £200 in repairs (so far we've replaced battery, alternator and a couple of perished pipes) although I had to do a bit of welding to get it through this year's MoT and it needs a new water pump as the "slight leak" it's had for the past two years is getting a bit worse these days. In the three years we've had it, it's done about 20k miles and averaged 25 to the gallon. If we were to scrap it tomorrow (highly unlikely) we'd get back a large proportion of our original investment

"Bangernomics" makes so much sense. Negligable depreciation, cheaper insurance, no finance charges and less worries about huge repair bills - if it's too expensive, scrap it and get another

Andy

 

[Ted]

Bangertastic!! Join the club!!
I know I've posted before, but heres my current runabout.
http://www.budbrooke.com/mediac/19082008(001).jpg
http://www.budbrooke.com/mediac/19082008(002).jpg
http://www.budbrooke.com/mediac/19082008(003).jpg

Cost me £500 including 6 months tax, and this one DOES include excellent air conditioning.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING wrong with it. I filled it up on the 6th September and still have 1/4 tank shown.

I am also now prez of the banger club at work.

 

[st4]

Cool. I like bangernomics, ultimate recycling. You might be surprised at just how reliable and cheap this car turns out to be.

Much better for the environment than buying a new eurobox with a DPF.

 

[Seamster15]

Just done the same, hence the Whale and the W202. Sold the Porsche, the lease car is going very soon.

So, now I have alot more cash in the bank and an extra £250 a month saved from the lease car but the best thing is....

I have two Mercedes...!

Simon

 

[gina2201]

My ex bf had a chavalier and it has been the most reliable, most comfortable car ever, he drove me all over the country to buy my cars, Bournemouth and back, Leicester and back, etc etc. Brilliant car to be fair. And he did any work and servicing himself so saved a packet. For £300, bargain I say!

Post some pics up!

 

[94mattda]

Cool. I like bangernomics, ultimate recycling. You might be surprised at just how reliable and cheap this car turns out to be.

I like bangernomics too, i bought an 18 year old Mazda 323, 1 owner from new, local car etc etc for £100. It lasted me just over 2 months travelling to Cardiff from Plymouth. To me thats a car for just over £11 a week. If the head had not blown then i think it would have gone on for ever.... had a decent length mot as well and i even got to send 4 months tax back. BARGAIN and FUN:bannana:

 

[verytalldave]

Well done. Car ownership is all about what YOU are happy with and can afford. Unless your name is J.Clarkson, KJay, T.Needell or L.Hamilton, then image is nothing more than an expensive and unneccesary accessory.

 

[Shude]

Well done. Car ownership is all about what YOU are happy with and can afford. Unless your name is J.Clarkson, KJay, T.Needell or L.Hamilton, then image is nothing more than an expensive and unneccesary accessory.

IMHO with cars like the 190e, w124 and these days w202 you get affordability, reliability *and* image for under a couple of grand

 

[verytalldave]

IMHO with cars like the 190e, w124 and these days w202 you get affordability, reliability *and* image for under a couple of grand

Good Point. But I doubt you would get a problem-free W202 for a couple of hundred squids. Which is the ball park area the OP was talking about.

 

[andy_k]

it's how you define "problem free". A car that costs less than one months finance payment becomes a bargain as soon as it doesn't cost you the same every month

If you buy a car for £250 and spend £500 on keeping it running over a twelve month period it's still a cheap car

Andy

 

[Frank O' Phile]

Well done on bagging a nice Cavalier (at least they're better than a Vectra).

Don't think I've ever spent over a grand on a car.


And the current ride is in the link below.

 

[Zahn]

Had a cheap cavalier TD myself a few years ago, that car would not die, despite a string of careless owners, myself included.
The new car experience left me cold, and smoking around in a £450 230TE leaves me not wanting to go back. But my wife to be does not understand...

 

[bigstuff]

i won a 93 e200 on ebay 3 years ago for £700 with 119.000 full mb history ex wed car so mega clean in & out now done 155.000 had some faults but all fixable with parts from the scrapy ect cant beat a old banger

 

[stevesey]

Watchout for the water pump going - tends to be at around 80K, other than that there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

 

[ms500]

Reminds me of my Mum's old 1988 Black Cavalier 1.6 hatchback we had many moons ago; It was actually quite a comfy car.

 

[CE230]

We had a Chavalier 1.8i GLS for many years and put 150k on it before selling it to a local tyre dealer for £200 as a run around. Couple of brake discs, an alternator and a drive shaft were all that we had to replace. Fuel econconmy was ****e, 25mpg IIRC, was the only reason we got rid of it.