Looked at bangers the last few weeks, almost all needed a big service (cambelt etc).

Nissan Almera, timing chains FTW.

I’d agree that at £500 now it’s a gamble whatever. Even the indestructo japanese charisma bypass units I usually pick up can suffer from rust, puting them beyond economic repair (though they are usually a good bet).

Only bonus is older cars are usually a bit cheaper to fix (no DMF for example).. but again if you don’t want to do any of the work yourself I’d set my sights a little higher.

Looked at bangers the last few weeks, almost all needed a big service (cambelt etc).

Nissan Almera, timing chains FTW.

I’d agree that at £500 now it’s a gamble whatever. Even the indestructo japanese charisma bypass units I usually pick up can suffer from rust, puting them beyond economic repair (though they are usually a good bet).

Only bonus is older cars are usually a bit cheaper to fix (no DMF for example).. but again if you don’t want to do any of the work yourself I’d set my sights a little higher.

Nissan Almera, timing chains FTW

My midget has a timing chain……………

My midget is in the shed awaiting tinkering, again!

M_F,

Yup, and don’t whatever you do buy Japanese cars, they’re horendous!
Agreed – we have a Mazda 3, owned from new (4 yrs old now) and main dealer serviced. It has cost us several hundred pounds in brake fixes, uneven tyre wear, electrical faults etc.

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/92

And that is my point exactly – buying a newer car does not guarantee the trouble-free motoring you seem to be expecting for the next 10 years from your CMax.

If you’re not doing a huge mileage then a big engined petrol car would give you a decent choice for £500.

There are a lot of people buying at this price but most will be after the diesels, the big engined turbos will be a lot less economical but should be better cars for the money as less people want them. Something like a T5 Volvo or a turbo SAAB would be my suggestion.

I don’t expect it, however, statisitcaly (0.93^10=0.48) there’s about a 50% chance of it breaking down in those 10 years, and 50% chance it’ll cost me <£300.

Good luck to you then. I can’t argue with math.

I’ve had 3 cheap cars in quick succession

306 gti6 – fun but wallet emptying (tyres, suspension, cambelt)

ford ka – got given it, needed £150 to pass MOT inc a £30 tyre – did some fixes myself and used it for a year – scrapped it as the rust had hit hard

Saab 93 – so far so good – cheapish motoring! (but still fastish) replaced brake pads myself and will service (oil change etc) too

so go for it, just stay away from cheap boy racer mobiles as they’ll most likely need a ton of work

something like this looks good to me!

Nissan Almera, timing chains FTW

What the timing chains that have a bad reputation for stretching at 50 – 70 k miles, and cost something like £700 to fix?

acjim – Member
I’ve had 3 cheap cars in quick succession

306 gti6 – fun but wallet emptying (tyres, suspension, cambelt)

How can that be wallet emptying? (£150, Dunno?!, £115)

£250 for tyres (decent ones, obviously you could go cheap but it was a fast car and responded well to decent tyres)
£150 for susp (broken suspension mount needed to be fabricated)
£300 for cambelt
=====
wallet emptied (my wallet is pretty small)

What the timing chains that have a bad reputation for stretching at 50 – 70 k miles, and cost something like £700 to fix?

No, like the one in mine that has got 140K in it without a bill above consumables.

I’m sure we can all find a horror story if we look hard enough m’kay? But I’ve never heard a single mechanic have a bad word to say about chains other than they don’t get to charge a few hundred for changing them every 60K. Chains are generally expected to be good for the life of the engine, belts are consumables.

TINAS – midgets don’t count, you knew what you were buying into 😉

just got placement list for the next year so looks like I can put off buying a car for the forseeable future 😀

however might need a car for a few weeks in July and hire working out around £170 for a little car and if the fecker breaks it’s not my repair bill, result.

I’m sure we can all find a horror story if we look hard enough m’kay? But I’ve never heard a single mechanic have a bad word to say about chains other than they don’t get to charge a few hundred for changing them every 60K. Chains are generally expected to be good for the life of the engine, belts are consumables.

Sprockets rounded and the chain jumped on my BMW requiring a head rebuild (mashed valves). It had done 250k so not too bad.

personally, I’d go cheaper, and just throw whatever you buy away if it develops a fault. I currently run a leggy diesel mondeo and an mx5. the former is probably worth £200, at a push, and the latter around £500. The former is never going to be serviced, the only work that gets done is what the MOT requires. this year it was some welding and a spring (£220 all in). the cambelt is 10,000 miles past due, as is the oil. Tyres are £20 fitted at the local part-worn place. in 60,000 miles the mondeo’s not put a foot wrong, but its simply not worth spending money on any more

Midget’s not been bad actualy,

Spent about a grand over two years on it, using it almost daily.

That includes tools, stands, hoists, cranes, jacks etc, parts is about £250, the tools could be sold for what I paid for them.