Bankable banger (or similar)...

Posted by: Top Cat on 01 November 2004

Due to a general change of priorities, we're thinking about selling our 2003 Mini Cooper S, which has been a lot of fun but has retained a surprisingly high resale and we're thinking that the money might be better sitting in the bank appreciating money than on the road depreciating (no matter how slowly).

Anyway, we ought to get around £15k for the MCS, so what we want to do is to get a general purpose 'bankable banger' which is reliable, has a reasonably decent amount of low down torque, is reasonably cheap to run and insure and hopefully fun to drive.

With a budget of up to £5k, what is worth looking out for? I'm thinking older vee-dubs, or something Japanese. My wife detests Vauxhalls (past experiences put her off) and doesn't want anything from Renault, Citroen, Fiat or the like.

Any suggestions? I wondered about older Audis, or even a tidy turbo diesel - decent economy would be nice as the MCS only gives about 26mpg over longer distances, and as low as 22mpg when we drive it hard.

John

PS. The longer-term plan is to park ~£10k in the bank for the next few years whilst I might be doing my PhD - and then buy something nice when we're through the 'frugal phase' (along with perhaps a 252/SC2/250mk2

)

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by JonR

Glad you haven't forgotten that all-important SC2, John

Back on-topic though, I'd love to buy your Mini Cooper S, but £15k is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond my means at the moment, and may be so for some time......

jon

PS: How about a Peugeot 405 Diesel?

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Top Cat

Yeah, Jon, what we're doing is going without for a few years whilst we finish off the house (we've spent a heap of cash on it recently, and though that's almost certainly added onto the value of the house, it's no comfort as we've no plans to sell) and maybe start looking at starting a family. So, yeah, priorities are a-changin... plus, the Maybe-PhD... and the drive to have no borrowings whatsoever within 10 years of now.

405 Diesel - is that a turbo diesel? Ordinary diesels that I've driven thus far have felt really, truly, honestly, hatefully slow. I'm also not convinced about pugs in general... but if one turned up at a silly low price then of course we'd consider it.

John

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by JonR

quote:
Originally posted by Top Cat:
[..]whilst we finish off the house (we've spent a heap of cash on it recently, and though that's almost certainly added onto the value of the house, it's no comfort as we've no plans to sell)[..]

Funny you should say that - I've recently re-mortgaged and spent a heap of cash re-decorating my house - that's why my current overall savings amount to considerably less than 15 grand!! Not only that, I'm also not exactly in a hurry to sell either!

I used to have a 205 diesel which I used to enjoy - had all the ride & handling attributes the 205 was famous for plus I was attracted by the economic benefits of going with diesel. I imagine a turbo-diesel variant was offered with the 405 because it was on the 205, but I could be wrong. Might be worth a look though.

jon

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Stephen Bennett

TC

Used MX-5

You want to have fun, don't you?

And leave enough for a V-Drum/FXpansion BFD set.

Stephen

PS Our live drummer, Andrew booker, is very, very good and is using a V-Drum kit at the gig next week. It's really nice not to be deaf after a Rehearsal!

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Bruce Woodhouse

Whilst I swear by the almost uncanny reliability of the Japanese cars we have owned I'd be slightly wary of really well used one. Eventually things do wear out and the parts costs can be a bit steep. Why not buy a Ford and accept that they are decently built but also cheap to fix. Find a decent Mondeo and you'll have a fine car (although the earlier diesels are a bit agricultural). If it has spent it's time doing motorway runs the mileage may be less of an issue. The Focus is a great drive too, even in lesser engined incarnations.

Bruce

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Hawk

How about something like a Honda Prelude Vtec? or a Civic Vti? Fast, fun and very reliable.. the only issue might be the insurance..

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by NB

A volvo V40 2.0D (

I never thought I would be recommending a DIESEL!)

Regards

NB

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Top Cat

Things are a-swaying...

Over on the Mini site that we frequent, my dear wife has publicly stated that she preferred the idea of saying "sod the money" and trading the MCS for a Honda S2000, which is a fantastic car. So much for being frugal.

So, maybe this bankable banger won't be so bankable or banger-like after all. I'm not sure - the S2000 is *great* fun, but I'm trying to be the grown up here and do the sensible thing and she's being a bit 'caution to the wind' and suggesting the S2000...

Maybe I've found some leverage to buy those Quad ESLs after all...

"My darling, I've decided: you were right. We should buy the S2000 as we'll probably not have a better time to own such a car. Yes, you have convinced me. Oh, and one other thing... you remember those funny looking radiator-like speakers... we-eeeelll...."

John

PS. Despite all of this, I'm still not convinced.... confused. Do the sensible-shoes thing and be all grown-up, or be a bit rock-and-roll and buy the S2000...

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by seagull

TC,

You are Nuno on speed and I claim my £5.

From sensible banger to S2000 in 2 hours 18 minutes.

Why not just keep the Mini?

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Top Cat

Why not keep the Mini? Ah well, here goes:

It's a lot of fun, but despite that it's not quite the car for us. I find that despite the fact that it is surprisingly quick, to get at this speed it really needs to be revved. Of course, the S2000 is the same, but has a fair bit of extra power over the S.

Other reasons include poor fuel economy - often less than 25mpg - and unforgiving ride quality, plus also the temptation of selling the car for almost what we paid for it - minimal depreciation. With the increasing number of these beasties about (quite common now) that can't last.

I'm still in the 'money in the bank' camp on this, but the S2000 is one cracking motor and I've kinda missed open-top motoring since trading on my old MX5.

John

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by NB

for less than £5k you caould get a very nice Nissan 300ZX, loads of fun

Regards

NB

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Stephen Bennett

quote:
Originally posted by Top Cat:
Things are a-swaying...

Do the sensible-shoes thing and be all grown-up, or be a bit rock-and-roll and buy the S2000...

Do you have to ask!

Stephen

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Top Cat

True, but I am sure it would be black-balled by the Mrs. She's a fussy girl! I think she'd find the styling a bit dated or something. Me, at that price I wouldn't really care. However, things are done by consensus these days, and her single vote usually carries more 'say' than mine... as one would expect.

Damn women... tsk.

John

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by NB

Quote:-

However, things are done by consensus these days, and her single vote usually carries more 'say' than mine... as one would expect.
----------------------------------------------------------

don't you just love relationships eh, we have one rule for ours, hers!!!!!

Regards

NB

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Hawk

let me think about this... a chance to have an S2000 and at the same time for her indoors to owe you one... or a banger? If it was my call id order the Quads! and afterall you sound like your already on a roll with the house thing and the move to mac etc so why stop now

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by Stephen Bennett

quote:
Originally posted by Top Cat:
Damn women... tsk.

John

Sara was very keen for me to get the MR-2.
Maybe you need to change something other than the car?

Stephen

Posted on: 01 November 2004 by long-time-dead

Get a good diesel Mondeo, Quads and lots of new shoes for the missus. Have a nice weekend away in a good hotel and think of the money in the bank.

Posted on: 10 November 2004 by Top Cat

Update: it looks like we can get £15k for the MCS - or settle for less and sell it directly to a local BMW dealer. Such is the continued demand for used New Minis, this means the depreciation since new (Sept 2003) should be less than £2k, which I don't think is too bad for a new car for a year.

Anyway, we've done some research and the current choice banger is a Golf TDi - chosen on the basis of perceived reliability, availability, affordability and economy.

Does anyone have any experience of ~1998-to-2000 era diesel Golfs, good or bad?

At the moment we're averaging around 16,000 miles per year, and given that a good diesel can get around 50mpg whilst the MCS gets 25mpg, I'm reckoning we'd save ~£1200 (i.e. 320gal @ £3.82/gal, based on 640gal/yr for the MCS versus 320gal/yr for TDi). Coupled with the fact that my servicing costs will be zero other than parts (father in the trade) and MOTs (normally FOC for the same reason), it's gotta be worth considering.

So, what's the juice on the Golf TDi - any models/revisions/colours/etc. to avoid?

John