Has to be reliable though. This is key. Do you have an old car sitting round that has been sterling for you but you’ve since upgraded/got a company car etc? Parents have a great car but upgrading soon?

I need a car within a few weeks for a trip to Europe however I don’t really want something that will overheat etc as I’m carrying a toddler.

Its a minefield and autotrader will no doubt bring up a lottery of cars shunted on as they are knackered/polished up etc to look nice.

Personally, I’d stick with a VAG diesel (early 2000s).

Simple, solid and reliable.

boardinbob had a Daewoo people type carrier on here the other week.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-cheap-bike-car-massive-load-carrying-space-low-mileage

hora – want to borrow my pickup?

Izuzu TF 2.5TD

Sort out your own insurance and pick it up/drop it off in Southampton. If you bend it, you mend it.

It is a double cab so it seats 5. the flat bede takes 5 bikes/loads of stuff. It is a bit creaky but just keeps going and for a short trip it has a certain novelty value.

Daewoo now sold. 1st person to see it, bought it. Not sexy but a really reliable car.

Jesus H Corbett!!! You need a reliable car for a short trip to Europe, and you’re trawling autotrader! You never make things easy for yourself, do you?

even for you, this is surely a no brainer?

Shame I sold the TVR…

I wouldn’t trawl autotrader. It’d be a fulltime job in its self. WCA…hello thats a generous offer and of course- rules apply – damage/pay. The issue is distance as its a bit of a schlap from Soton to Dover via Manchester. Bugga! Did you hear that all the TVR jigs/moulds have ‘probably’ been destroyed so no chance of a TVR resurrection..

Focus 1.6 tdci.. been an absolute gem.

Just bought a new truck but cant bring myself to get rid of the focus and decided to keep it as a spare and for long journeys.

Highly recomend one if you can find one cheap.

*Sits back and awaits ‘I’m stranded by the side of a French Autoroute with a blown motor, and no breakdown cover’ thread*

My aunt is selling a 2004 Nissan Almera, full service history and 7000 miles on the clock.

4 door, 1.8 auto

Yes 7000 miles….

That wouldn’t happen Binners. If need be I’ll take the ickle Citroen C1. I took a Aygo over in 2005. So I know ‘how to’ put up with a tiny noisy one!

ericemel – how much?

*Sits back and awaits ‘I’m stranded by the side of a French Autoroute with a blown motor, and no breakdown cover’ thread*

Just get yourself something that should be reliable and factor in full roadside cover with hire vehicle should it fail on you

Get a Corrola or Civic etc

I’ve got a W plate Honda HRV -Vtec. It’s totally trustworthy and the most “fit and forget” car I’ve ever had. £1500 quid buys an excellent one with a FSH. Nice and safe, plenty of room and 4 wheel drive sometimes (it’s one of those 4wd when needed), can cruise all day at 80 and is a 1600cc so not too thirsty. I’d sell you mine but I love it.

Wrong time of year imo

Ive been looking for 3 weeks locally ….. Up to about 100 miles for. Sub 2k car thats not been to the moon and back and also not running a toy car engine in a heavy motor.

Given the cost of spares for our golf ill be staying away from vag group. Yes my peugeot van is supposed to go wrong more( it hasnt yet) but the cost of spares is a fraction of that for the vw.

Same plea to anyone in aberdeenshire or close btw 🙂

vag diesel ime
i’d go for a golf or an audi A4 myself, plenty of old ones about. I had a golf last car, had over 200k on the clock when I sold it and still got a grand for it, nothing could put it down and the seats fold down for a bike or 2, bonus.

E plate E30 BMW 318, did 230,000 until we finally got rid of it after the head gasket went

VAG 1.9TDI are good, the 5 cyl VAG 2.4 non turbo in the van is smooth, bomb proof but slow.

My 3.0 Auto Beemer would be perfect for the Euro roads, as steady as you like at 120 on Cruise control…..

But you didn’t want it, and now I think I want to keep it. Cest la vie.

Whats the budget?

Any cheap car, Audi or Alfa, that you dont know the history of could be a lottery.

I’d be buying off a genuine seller with a genuine reason for sale. If you’re going down the bangor-nomics route thats as important (more?) than the vehicle, IMO.

Any cheap car, Audi or Alfa you buy that you dont know the history of could will leave you stood by the side of the road.

FTFY 😆

Assuming you’ve weighed up benefit of just hiring one?

I hired a Merc E 200 Cabrio for my Alpine jaunt in August.It cost me £240 for the week,via Sixty at Munich airport.Ok that was an free upgrade on the Eos I had booked but I`m sure youd get a really good deal for something like a Golf.

Toyota avensis 2.0 petrol of the pre 2000 vintage.

I swear the engine was milled form one piece of metal or something, 120,000 miles, no love at all and the f**king thing wont break, i snapped the cam belt on it – Not a problem, non interference engine, cost me more to have the bloody thing recovered that it did to have it fixed.

Edit, new cam belt, fitted was about £120

Assuming you’ve weighed up benefit of just hiring one?

I’m not adverse to hiring a car. The issue is for ‘little’ more I could own a whole car for longer than a week. The other is issue is what if someone gently (and I mean gentley as well) scuffs one door in a carpark. I doubt I’d find a Chipsaway when I’m tired/in France etc so that may be £500 hire excess blown ontop of upto £300 hire for Uk-overseas-Uk travel in one.

I’ve also read the stories of post-hire a debit has been made for ‘damages’ found.

The other is issue is what if someone gently (and I mean gentley as well) scuffs one door in a carpark. I doubt I’d find a Chipsaway when I’m tired/in France etc so that may be £500 hire excess blown ontop of upto £300 hire for Uk-overseas-Uk travel in one.
I’ve also read the stories of post-hire a debit has been made for ‘damages’ found.

You can cover all that on the hire

Assuming you’ve weighed up benefit of just hiring one?

This is Hora we’re talking about here. Never assume anything.

Just hiring a car would be the sensible, economical and easiest option and is therefore clearly wrong!

Now… about this ‘wheel’ invention that everyone’s been harping on and on about for thousands of bloody years. I think its probably a flawed concept, and with a bit of thought, I could do it better…..

Wrong time of year imo

second that – I wanted to get cheaper spare motor this time of year when my van was facing a major money repairand I was swithering on whether to commit to it, so my plan was to lay it up and get a cheap blatter run about (a bit of patience and research got it sorted for a 10th of the price I feared however). You need to be desperate to sell just now – this time of year people aren’t selling good cheap cars, they’re selling cars that are failing in ways their circumstances can’t afford to fix.

Economical?

I hired a diesel Insignia for 4days a month ago. That cost me just over £70 as the car I was supposed to be getting was downgraded/lost in their system so they bumped me up.

I doubt very much I’d get a Insignia again for £70. I contacted a couple- its upwards/towards £300 all in for overseas.

I could drive down to Dover in my car, leave my car at Calais but again its ££ and I’ve driven half the total journey in my own car.

I was going to borrow my bro in laws new car but hes just got it, doesn’t want it driven that far ‘yet’ so thats out (remember his Audi S3 and Golf V6 that I had of his binners!).

Say I buy a great old car for £600. I could use it as a biking car as well/sell it post Christmas for the same….but then I could buy a £600 money pit that costs me £300 to repatriate… oh hum

Driving a £600 car across Europe – I presume with small child in the back? Fair do’s. What could possibly go wrong…..?

This has got the law of sod written all over it, I’m afraid. The (previously) most reliable car in the world, will wait until the remotest spot, furthest away from the ferry, then lunch some critical, and now unavailable engine part

*Sits back, once again, and awaits ‘I’m stranded by the side of a French Autoroute with a blown motor, and no breakdown cover’ thread*

Cheap and reliable = MkII Micra.

Good point. Sods law will be hanging around the corner smoking a tab ready to mug me.

but then I could buy a £600 money pit that costs me £300 to repatriate…

[img]http://www.hondagarden.com/shopimages/products/thumbnails/5-litre-plastic-fuel-can-green-250.jpg[/img]

Say I buy a great old car for £600

You could buy a smashing car for £600 but you’d need to be driving it for 3 or 4 months before you knew if was a great car or not.

😆 takes number plates off and..

Good point. Sods law will be hanging around the corner smoking a tab ready to mug me.

You knows it!

This is like the episode of Top Gear when they were driving three old cars across part of Africa with a bush mechanic in a Beetle sat always at the back..

I can see I’m going in the C1.

Just waiting on my delivery date for my new Co Car – fingers crossed before xmas – so will have a 2.0 02 plate Golf GTI for sale with 8 months Mot and 2 months Tax – Full service history 2 cam changes receipts and all work needed done on it its ever needed, 2k back had level 3 service . 128k on clock Apart from replacing what i would consider consumables its been spot on, I have been doing 600-1000k PM motorway miles in it for the last 12-18 months and never let me down Cosmeticaly it polishes up well also. Guess id want about 1k to take it off the drive when the new one arrives, im near watford

Take a tip Hora – there is no way you can be sure that buying any car that old/cheap is going to be reliable for a trip to Europe. WCA’s offer is very generous and you’ll be hard pushed to beat it.
.
Why risk it, especially with a child and if you break down, a night or 2 in a hotel will cost you more than a hire car anyway!

Why risk it

If you don’t actually know Hora, imagine a child with severe ADHD whose just drank a 2 litre bottle of coke, in one go, through a straw

Like that child, every 0.7 seconds a new thought pops into his head. Hey… what if I…. (insert mind-bogglingly stupid idea, which any sensible person would immediately dismiss, here)

He provides a valuable public service, in making the rest of us appear rational. Give thanks to the lord for Hora. If he didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him 😉