cp, I ran a new Fiat (siecento) bought from a car wholesale place with delivery milage (2 miles on it) for £5400 I ran it for 4 years, 3 of those with the comfort of the warranty, it was worth £2500 after the 4 years.
I have had 25 cars in my time some expensive some very cheap, some new, some nearly new, some old or very old. BUT the Fiat was an absolute hoot, and by far the cheapest car to run all things considered.. I would be buying a new Panda today if only finances allowed.
(not my bike)
Been running my banger for 8 months now.
2000 Honda HRV bought for it 3k but 2k is completely possible. Had 4 new tyres FSH and one owner so was a bit more expensive. Insured via my good lady for 220 fully comp!
Cost so far nil other than MOT and Tax. I fully expect this to not cost me a bean to run as the brakes, bearings and other common wear points are all in VGC.
Hondas are reliable and this one is big enough and useful for transport as it's basically a short estate on stilts. 1.6 lump does a good 35-40 on a run, quite nippy the looks have grown on me as well.
The car before was 25k+ worth of big volvo with all the bits and I keep asking myself what I was thinking - A car is transport nothing more.
Id say look at
Mazda
Honda
Lexus
Toyota
Cheap to run, insure, reliable and apart from the lexus OK on Fuel. Watch out for ex cabs though.
Still reckon in London you are better off with streetcar and a portable washer
It's not too bad if you take a car for 72hrs, works out to be £180 with an 800 mile allowance (after that it's 23p per mile), this includes fuel. But if you just want to go for a day, it's £59.50 for 24hrs inc just 30 miles and then 23p per mile (so a day trip to Afan as an example would cost around £160 inc fuel...) If I wanted to drive down to Dorking it'd be around £70 for 12 hours hire inc fuel...
So let's say I do a day trip once a week, this'd be 52 x 70 = £3640, or if I did a 3 day hire every two weeks, this'd be 26 x £180 = £4680... starts to get expensive, but it does mean almost zero hassle car ownership I guess?
een running my banger for 8 months now.2000 Honda HRV bought for it 3k
We have very differing ideas about what makes a banger 
I am the bamgernomics king. I have driven approx 100,000 over the last 3 years for a purchace cost of £525 . Bought a MK3 Golf for £100 1994 1.9td. ran that for 18 mths, alot of the time fueled on Veg oil. Then bought a Citroen ZX 1.9td estate and have put 50,000 miles on it. It cost £425 . Apart froma driveshaft and wheel bearing where i smashed it into a kerb on the ice it has been remarkable . 60+mpg, thousands of miles on Veg oil, and gets me everywhere .
If i were in your position I would look for either a 306 TurboD estate , or a Xsara Td Estate. They are french so electrical gremlims will be the most common fault. If you can find a good 1995 - 1997 vintage 2 / 3 owner car with history at around 120k with the cambelt just changed then have a good look at one.
Big enough for weekends away, with very good economy. If you can get a XUD engine'd 1905cc one then you can blend veg oil in the fuel to reduce your fuel costs.
GSF carry every spaer part at sensible money too .
Alternatives Golf MK3 estate 1995 -1997. Good cars well made. Audi A4 , parts and insurance costly. Passat tdi estate, pre 1999 models getting cheaper. If you can find a clean one, a Nissan Primera derv estate , alot of ex taxi or mini cabs but good cars. wouldnt get an Omega or Volvo. Pug 406 , but only if its genuine , they put the XUD engine in the pre '97 models so veg them up too. Beware as they were also taxis .
Recomend a Mondeo TD (old Endura engine) Mine was still gonig strong at 140k miles when the local garage killed it. Cost me £750 with 90k on the clock.
My first car was a 1995 Proton Persona 1.6XLi, 9 years old at the time. Covered 12k miles before the headgasket died and I had to scrap it. Bought for £200, got £60 for it but it did once cost me £40 for a new tyre...
Best advice for bangers, go for diesel, usually last longer, go for the most simple possible, fewer electrics the better, more mainstream the better as easier to get cheap bits from scrappy if required.
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