[coombsfh]

Dear Pumapeople,

What is the best value car you have ever bought?? You could justify this in terms of spending next to nothing (gifts do not count) or you could justofy it in terms of bang for buck.

It is a little hard to quantify the spirit of this thread but here goes my attempt.


My mum works as a nurse and her boss, Big Gay Dave (he won't mind this at all - he is big, he is homosexual and his name is David), was upgrading his car. Mum told me that he was scrapping his old car as ti had failed its MOT and was a bit tired. I asked her to speak to David and encourage him to hold on to the car (a 1.3 micra) until I had seen it.

I arrived at BGD's house and there was the car, a blue micra, with 76k on. As soon as I arrived a camp tirade of woes was thrust upon me. "I am set on getting a fiesta and I can't be doing with any rubbish from this old heap. Just take it away..."

I asked him to show me the MOT failure sheet, expecting to see eons of failure data. I was pleasantly surprised. Brake light, tyre, exhaust. THAT WAS IT! There was a scrape t the bumper and a pin dent here opr there - nothing mega. Admittedly, the interior was a bit of a shrine to Greggs. I spent a fair while marvelling at the time and effort involved in coating the interior of a car with a uniform layer of puff pastry crumbs, ornamented here and there, well everywhere really with glistening purple cadbury's wrappers.

I asked him how much he wanted and he said £50! Though this was a steal, I knocked a fiver off (bastard I know) and promptly took the car.

The next weekend, the bits were acquired, the MOT booked. I gave the car to my mate (for free) as he needed one and for the next 5 years, he and his brother abused it like mad. It was eventually scrapped but for £45, a car for 5 years, that only needed a bootlid (don't ask) and the occasional service seems good value to me.

What are your bargain stories? I have one more but will only post if others join in

Best,

Fred.

[Kizza]

i bought an r reg black escort that had been made to look like an rs 2000 even though it was only a 1.4 for £186 from fleabay it was an mot failure but it only needed 4 bushes and 2 drop links cost me £25 for the parts and fitted them myself. through an mot onto it £40 then ragged the shit out of it for the next 18 months with no problems until the engine blew up in a big way lol but them i parted it out and got £100 back for the wheels, £120 back for the interior, £30 for the boot and about £100 for everything else then scrapped the car and got another £40. all in all i think i had the car 18 months and got about £100-150 for the pleasure of killing it hahhahaha lots of fun in the thing


cheer kieran

This post has been edited by Kizza: 22 September 2012 - 09:54 AM

[Ian G]

The ones where you get paid to run them are always nice.

I genuinely think Pumas are hard to beat, not only are they a very cheap car to run (just don't mention the road tax) - but you also get a bit of spec while you own it. So electric windows and mirrors, air con, heated windscreen etc. You could pay similar money for a Fiesta/Corsa/Micra etc. and not see any of that.

[happy-kat]

Am only on my 5th car ever owned... I suppose my billy bargain was a Mark I Escort for £60 as it was an MOT going to be failure and I did not need an MOT to run it, so I bought it knowing what the faults were and at the tender age of 20 knew no better and sold it on after a year or so for £350! Seen it a few years back (maybe 8 or so now) at it had been fully restored.

[Dogsbody]

I bought a stolen recovered mk4 Xr3i from my local scrap yard for £100. When the log book turned up with the keys it was one owner from new...Mercury Grey. Ran it around for a couple of years before selling it for £400. I replaced I with a bright red mk3 Xr3i proper boy racer car and pretty rare. See my SIG strip pictures.

[quicknick]

1979 Morgan Plus Eight I owned in 1986/7 - the only car I have ever sold at a (small) profit !!

[Dogsbody]

I think I have made money on all the cars I have owned except a Mk3 Escort estate, and the two 1.7 Puma's.
I scrapped a 2ltr Escort van, but all the running gear went into a 2 door saloon shell.
The Red Mk3 XR3i was given to me for some work I did for someone

[melinamotor]

Our little Mk1 focus 1.8 is now 14 years old with 116k showing, we picked it up three years ago for a cool grand. The car still passes its MOT's with nothing going wrong aside from usual wear and tear items. Our C Max on the other hand is a dog

[coombsfh]

 melinamotor, on 25 September 2012 - 12:56 PM, said:

Our little Mk1 focus 1.8 is now 14 years old with 116k showing, we picked it up three years ago for a cool grand. The car still passes its MOT's with nothing going wrong aside from usual wear and tear items. Our C Max on the other hand is a dog

Thanks for all the replies so far. Keep them coming. Nice to know cheap cars are still about.

[puddycat]

My current ford racing puma.... Believe it of not.


I bought it in 2007 (when prices were in the region of 6.5k to 9k for a decent one). I consider it a decent one which is used but not abused. It has now fared quite well price wise, as even though prices have plummetted a tad since 2007 /> I bought it for lower than market price at the time so even with prices how they are, I will not lose money if I ever decide to sell it (which I wont).


And before anyone starts asking if its cat D, stolen recovered etc.... it's not. It's HPI clear and a lovely little car

This post has been edited by puddycat: 29 November 2013 - 09:49 PM

[StevenRaith]

I think my dad has one of the best ones.

Needed a second car for ratting about in, heard a mate had a volvo going cheapy cheap. MOT, tax, the works, but it was making an awful noise, and he feared it wouldn't make it to the scrapyard and didn't want to pay to have it towed. Dad said he'd take it away for him.

Of course, dad knew that the volvo 340 series had an aluminium propshaft that would strip itself where it joined the gearbox in the rear, making the whole car shake when trying to apply power. £35 for a a prop. An hour fitting it. Drove it off the driveway, drove it for five years, then scrapped it when the rust became too much.

There was a tank of fuel in it - probably what he paid for the prop - so he classed it as a free car.

He did a similar trick with a Sierra that needed a clutch change and wouldnt get in gear (obviously). Garage had quoted the owner £300. Dad said he'd take it off his hands for £150. He happened to have a Sierra clutch kit he had never put into a mates car.

Put car on stands, dropped the prop, slid gearbox back on the rails, put clutch in, drove it away. That one lasted a solid five years, too!

My dad is a bastard

[Turby]

Lotus Exige S1 - prices have been rising over £1k a year for the last 5 years at least

[Black Kat]

I've had a couple of bargains. Few pumas for £250 and less. But the best one was my Capri 280 Brooklands bought it for £800 about 7 years ago. Had it valued at £7000 3 years ago. My favourite bargain was a Volvo 960 estate 3 litre 200bhp rwd paid £250 first time round sold it for £400 then bought it back a year later for £100 drove it like a hooligan plenty of sideways action and upsetting the local boy racers. Then scrapped it for £200.

[Johnclem88]

My second car when I was 18..e36 compact. Bought it with 155k on the clock 1.9 16v engine. Did a track day in it after having it a couple of months. Bought some cheap coilovers and 'sport' exhaust from Ebay, got it as low as it would go over the M3 wheels. Promptly rolled it over into a hedge, spent a lot of time prepping it for paint and had it fully resprayed for £400 and fixed the engine mount that snapped from rolling it back onto 4 wheels after the accident

Did another track day at Bedford (by this time it was on 180k and only had basic maintenance) having replaced the brakes with £20 discs off Ebay, Halfords pads and £40 worth of 'special brand' tyres..did NOT experience any mechanical problems on the day, neither did the brakes fade or show any signs of giving up (I have no idea how with such crap discs and pads!). Stayed with a lot of much more expensive machinery!!

Spent all it's life on the limiter or going sideways. Never broke down. only issue it had was the drivers window falling in..

Simply felt indestructible. Only cost 1.5k, and very little maintenance. Best bang-for-buck car I've owned.

Swapped it for an MX5, by that time it had 195k on the clock.

[Mangham54]

 Turby, on 25 October 2012 - 12:35 PM, said:

Lotus Exige S1 - prices have been rising over £1k a year for the last 5 years at least

In a similar vein Vauxhall VX220.

Bought it for £8000, sold it for £7500, nearly 3yrs later and with a further 30odd thousand miles on the clock. Pretty much any of the VElise cars are simply a different experience to drive and for the £500 devaluation (okay there was a bit more than that spent on maintenance and replacing dirty/scuffed parts) there has not been another car to touch it.

The Puma is a good car, but jumping into a VElise chassis car is an altogether different experience. I crave another more than it is right to! However my budget is Puma money, not Loti money, so hence why I am here (it was the best of the cars Iooked at, at around £1k, but not sure it will produce the same entertainment per pound.

Here is my old lovely - very very sorely missed:



was swapped for this:

[nytram]

i surpose the latest car i just got , a landrover freelander r reg got it with no mot put on 4 tyres good s/h ones , abs sensor , rear exhaust box , lambda sensor ,mot test new set locking wheel nuts ,and a very good clean inside and out £325 in total got it for towing good car

[quicknick]

 nytram, on 19 February 2013 - 10:04 PM, said:

i surpose the latest car i just got , a landrover freelander r reg got it with no mot put on 4 tyres good s/h ones , abs sensor , rear exhaust box , lambda sensor ,mot test new set locking wheel nuts ,and a very good clean inside and out £325 in total got it for towing good car

Watch out for head gasket failure if it has the 1.8 K-series engine .

[nytram]

 nytram, on 19 February 2013 - 10:04 PM, said:

i surpose the latest car i just got , a landrover freelander r reg got it with no mot put on 4 tyres good s/h ones , abs sensor , rear exhaust box , lambda sensor ,mot test new set locking wheel nuts ,and a very good clean inside and out £325 in total got it for towing good car

thanks quick nick ,the head gasket was done last year so all is well i do need to do couple of jobs but nothing serious

[m4tth3w]

A 1998 impreza wrx wagon.

320 bhp, had loads of expensive upgrades as it was originally a show car although it was a bit rough round the edges when I got it (9 years old when I got it)

It was serious fun to drive. Sounded like thunder and it was best value as it's the only car I've ever had that I sold for more than I paid for it. A grand more to be precise.

[bennyboy1]

certainly not the puma
only owned it less than a year
and judging what they have been going for the past few weeks on flea bay ( including spotless examples )
then I have lost quite a few hundred quid