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Time for a new car ... have been super lucky with petrol estates circa £1200 in the past.
It's three years since I last had to buy and the supply looks very different this time around...has the market changed? Is it the wrong time of year?
And is there a generally agreed price point where a car stops being bangernomics worthy?
I'm looking at V8 Audi - that's 15 years old - and it's tempting, but I'm trying to decide if it's a good idea at circa 3.5k with a good history.
I don't think there'd be anything bangernomics about either running or servicing a V8 Audi, but I wouldn't let that stop you. I'd love an older S4 but can't quite justify it at the moment.
FWIW, I think true bangernomics is buying around the £1k mark and wringing every single last mile out of it.
I bought a low mileage 2004 V6 Jag XJ in 2017. Mint car to bang in motorway miles for work.
Paid £3600 for it. Probably worth the same now.
IME I’d say do it. Make sure you budget for your regular annual services tho’
I think if you’re looking at a cheap but fancy car like a V8 Audi (A8 I assume?) for £3.5k there’s a chance you’ll be able to waft around for a few years lording it up in your leather lined boardroom on wheels, but equally any number of seemingly unimportant systems could fail and cost multiples of the cost to repair and your £3.5k goes off to the scrappy.
It’ll also cost you a fortune to run, the tax will be 315 or 555 a year to tax depending on which one it is and mpg will be low 20s that’s not really Bangernomics,
A former colleague had a hellish time with the auto box on their (fairly old) A8. Cost them a lot of time and £. Whether it's a common fault I couldn't say but if it's juicy and huge with relative rarity I wouldn't call it bangernomics.
Potentially cheap luxury motoring but you have to be prepared to accept some shocking bills or write it off economically on a car like that. I might take a punt on something like that instead of £10-15k on a newer more mundane car IF I didn't do big miles but I wouldn't necessarily expect the overall running cost to be dramatically less.
If it went pop in 2months could you afford to take the hit?
A 15 year old V8 Audi is a big bill just waiting to happen!
do not just scrap if they are rare. Put them on ebay as a project.
Bangernomics would say buy a Toyota Corolla/Avensis or Ford Focus/Mondeo or V70 with straightforward and lower cost parts on them.
LuxoBarge Shedding says buy the Audi V8.
If it's in good nick, I would.
Petrol, manual box, lower spec models, don’t fuss over colours, all good advice. Trawl the FS boards in supermarkets, convenience shops, your local FB selling pages too.
Some of my best cars have been my cheaper purchases from the above methods. Avoid Autotrader like the plague, mostly crap at that money.
The last two old Jags I’ve bought (logic should work with your soon-to-be audi too), within the first week of ownership I took it my local independent specialist for a full service and with the clear instruction “if you spot any major issues stop, and tell me and I’ll move the car on before I’m too financially or emotionally attached”.
I’ve had four now. The last two:
- 9yr old S-Type Sport: bought for £4,300 ran it for 20mths, got £4,600 for it.
- 2004 XJ my missus thought I’d spent around £6k/£7k on it. Genuinely surprised that I’d spent £3,600. I reckon I’ll get at least that when I sell it on.
Critical to keep on top of servicing and a mid-year oil change too. Budget £1000pa just in case (inc tyres and ‘surprises’).
Worst case scenario is a catastrophic failure in which case I’ve lost £3k/£4K which is equivalent to first year depreciation (at least) for anyone buying from new.
**but benefitting from the engineering of a £50/£55k car.
I'm currently stuck in the when to cut your loses on my 2010 basic zafira.(not exactly a banger I know).
It's in the garage now with a few things needing sorted and the ECU being sent away for inspection and hopefully repair.
Even if it costs me £1500 in repairs at least I'll have a hopefully sorted car for a good while longer. It's not saleable as is, and if scrapped I'd be buying another big unknown for a couple of thousand.
When is enough enough with an older car repairs/bills??
I'm also sick of the garages saying how old it is, is 9 years old really old?!
BTW my record buy was an old polo for £50 that sounded awful, but ran without fault until I donated to my sister in law for her to learn to drive in. Bloody annoyed as her husband decided it wasn't posh enough and scrapped it! I'd have had it back if I'd known!
best bangers are small Japanese cars. bit uncomfortable on long journeys but so what. buy a Haynes manual, learn how to change pads/discs and exhausts - its not that hard. and remould your own tyres with an angle grinder!!!
What are you looking at? B6 S4 and C5 S6?
I’m also sick of the garages saying how old it is, is 9 years old really old?!
The age of a car is a significant contributing factor of how much more time than the autodata book hours gives that the job will take. They are set on a box fresh car. Few stuck bolts through age related corrosion and the garage has no profit and a customer who is frustrated when his cars not ready that evening.
I don't put bangers in for repair I do it my self as garage labour costs render the car scrap quickly.
Agree on labour cost balance. My independent guy is 500metres away from the main dealer and is run by a chap who is Chair of the regional Owners Club so definitely reliable and safe/fair
17 year old Nissan Primera here, owned it since it was 10 months old. Loaded with kit, petrol, now't goes wrong.
Can't think why I'd sell it.
Well, I used to do basic stuff on my car myself (pads, discs, fluids and filters), but don't have anywhere to work on it just now as I have to park on the road.
Garages here certainly seem to just like fitting new parts rather than fixing anything.
Part of that's due to the way new mechs are trained via dealers apprenticeships largely
And partly down to how modern cars are manufactured.
Where I can strip and rebuild the wiper motor of the landy in an hour or so.... The one on the peugeot is a bolt in bolt out riveted together lots of guesswork to get parts/make parts job.
I've just joined the bangernomics crowd.
Bought myself a lovely A6 last year to ease the pain of a long commute.
10 months and 15000 miles later I've bought a cheap Polo diesel for £900 as I winced every time I looked at the mileage creeping up on the Audi.
I looked at loads on Auto trader up to £1500 any make, any colour etc and it was all scrap.
I didn't expect a new car but it really was all sh#te.
One evening on Gumtree and I found a little gem.
2 owner car 72k loads of history and very tidy.
Well chuffed. Let's hope it just keeps on going.
Only done one commute so far but seems OK.
Looking forward to being able to do the work myself when it's needed too.
£400 Astra G SRI.
94k on the clock.
runs like a dream.
Circa £1k is not bangernomics 🙂 Thats a luxury car!
We tend to buy 'nearly new' and keep them. My missus Yaris was new and we kept that 17 years - very little went wrong with it.
My son is due a policy in the summer, and will have about £5k to spend on a car. Currently his 'candidates' are a 4-5 year old Kia Rio or similar, or possibly a 10 year old BMW (much more expensive insurance). I have warned him about expensive repair costs as he won't have the 'maintenance' cash to splash. Insurance is the bit issue at 81, and he could get a very tidy Rio for that money.
The key is not buying an abused car - even a relatively new car could be a money pit, but if it's been looked after, you'll be fine buying old cars.