Best cheap car you ever had

A Citroen Xsara 1.9 XUD “West Coast” two-door in vomit yellow- uh, gold. Cheap because of the colour, I think, but it didn’t put a foot wrong for 5 years until my sister drove it through flood water and hydrolocked it.

Just Googled for an image and on reflection it looks hideous, but I liked it.

2001 – Pug 306 HDI.  Bought it for £1100 and full tax and MOT with 53k miles.  Ran it for 3 years and bought NOTHING at all, not even tyres.  Just two MOTs at £27.5 each.  Polished the crap out of it and sold it for £1370 with 68k on it.  The thing did 800miles to a 55l tank.

A £2k vw bora. Probably most luxurious car I’ve had leather heated seats so nice. Looked nothing special but was the top spec GTD with a silly amount of power. The ECU fried itself but a back street vw specialist at meadowbank sourced a new one having spent a week working on it. I was expecting a huge bill but it was only £400, most of which was the ECU. Didn’t even charge for the motor electrician guy as he was in doing another job anyway.

When the engine went my local, usually good garage, said it wasn’t worth repairing unless it was the injectors but it was a gamble. Sold as seen on eBay. It was the injectors and it ran for another 5 years.

1985 Fiat Uno 70S .Very lightly built, but nice to drive, quite peppy motor and as it was the original model, the interior with the dash paddles for lights and wipers, good ergonomics

Came on to say the same! Mine was a 999 fire engine model, quite pokey but the ace in the pack was the incredible handling. Even on ditch finders it was a dream drive.

I had a travel alarm wedged in the dash for a clock, looked like it was meant to be!

Downside were iffy electrics in the wet and the body work by alka seltzer….plink plink fizz

Oh just remembered the solid plastic steering wheel, painful to hold on a frosty morning.

Got my mx-5 for £1400 nearly 6 years ago. Lucked out finding a non-rusty one. It’s still worth £2-2.5k now and I’ve only had to spend on consumables for that whole time, despite being a 21 year old car. Honda Jazz is also worth a shout.

Autumn 2010. I was smart/lucky enough to predict that we had a long, cold winter ahead, and it was probably the ‘whitest’ winter I can remember since I’ve been alive.

With a highly modified, low, lumpy engined Eunos Roadster running on 15″ trackday type tyres I had 2 options –

– A set of winter tyres,around £350 for some cheapies

– An entire car

Enter K622 WDV, Audi 80 2.0E (fuel injected 2.0 from a Mk3 golf etc). Complete with 4 decent winter tyres already fitted!

£350, a £45 MOT and a gallon of fresh oil, kept it for 6 months, sold it for….£350!

Identical to this, colour, spec, velour seats, ‘procon-ten’ cables instead of airbags, aero wheel trims… It drove like a bag of shit and probably had 80hp if that, but it did the job.

@Couger2, yes you’re right it was an LS. It was about ten years old when i got my hands on it. Mk3 Cavs were the favourite company car at my first job. I was only an apprentice, but got a drive on occasion. They were much better than the Sierra of the era. There were still a couple of mk2s left on the fleet then.

a 57 plate Fiesta 1.4 petrol

Had the same one myself, such a great little car and engine. Really engaging to drive and very reliable.

Regret selling it when we were given a newer Renault that turned out to be a POS.

mk5 Golf GTI. One of my favourite cars I’ve owned. Was starting to get a bit leggy/knackered toward the end of our ownership but sold it for pretty much what we paid for it and its definitely a car I’d want to own another of.

When I was about 18 (1982) I had a hand painted Triumph Spitfire. It was a deathtrap with rotten A and B pillars and you could feel the car flex when it hit bumps but smiles per mile the best car I had. It wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding but that close to the ground with the top down it felt like a ton 🙂

My first car was a slightly ratty Porsche 968 Coupe I bought for £7000 which I never quite managed to part ways with. It wasn’t particularly cheap to buy or to run but was a bargain in its peculiar way with very little on the road that could match its blend of practicality and visceral joy. It probably ruined more modern performance cars for me forever, turning me from a petrolhead to an ascetic. One of these years I’ll get it back on the road

968? I’ve probably got a few engine parts left over from my 3L 944 turbo build, inlet manifold, throttle body, distributor etc.

Wife’s current car. £900 Toyoya Corrola diesel bought of on old chap whose family had decided that he should no longer be driving (Holy other thread tie in Batman!). Low mileage for the year (80000)  and not a single straight or unscuffed panel on it apart from the wheels that are absolutely immaculate (I don’t think he ever parked within 2 feet of the curb). Hopefully it will last us several years.

In 2013, my SiL had had enough of her beat up 2002 diesel Mondeo Estate, and after being insulted by a dealer on p/x offers, gave it to us for £150. The entire rear bumper was covered in gaffa tape, holding the bumper on, which she had applied on the hard shoulder of the M4 in an emergency. She’d had the clutch done twice and was convinced it had been clocked. It had 135k miles on the clock.

We got the bumper sorted and that was the car I learned to drive in, and soon was using it for DJ gigs up and down the country. We kept it for 3 years, and it gave us about 40k miles worth of hassle free trundling – would happily sit on the motorway at 85mph all day long, and was so undesirable that even when I somehow managed to leave the key sticking out of the door for an afternoon in a car park in Tenby, nobody bothered to steal it. It was noisy and when it rained you had to drive with a window open if you didn’t want it to become a sauna, but we liked it.

Eventually, the engine shat the bed and we got rid.  Should have done it on ebay, but we saw some charity that would take your car, scrap it and donate the money to charity.  Unfortunately, scrap steel was at an all time low and I think it made about £20 for the starving kids.

My first car a cavalier base spec saloon 1982 vintage ex company car so already had 110000miles on the clock bought for £100 when i was 17 and named Doris

went on many an adventure the first one a few weeks after passing my test me and some mates set off for west france with a french road atlas and some tents for two weeks managed to get it stuck on the beach somewhere near la rochelle

many miles were covered many bumps and scrapes where had got crashed into by a farmer in his landrover towing a horse box with three cows in it which meant it became multi coloured with two different coloured wings and a bonnet from the scrapper and still it wouldnt die

when i lived in london it got broke into so much the door locks where just holes in the door so i stopped bothering to lock it was never nicked

when it got to around 200000 miles the cam seized going around the wandsworth one way system dragged it home took it apart got a new cam from the scapper cleaned it all put it back together and another 10000 miles before rust killed it so i had it crushed in battersea watched it go in the big machine with a tear in my eye loved that car comfiest seats ever!

I bought a mk3 Golf GTI just after writing off my old Polo, bought for £800 and was absolutely bombproof, not one issue with it and sold it for £600 a few years later. Also had the mk5 GTI which was a great car, only sold because we needed to be able to get child seats in the back. Would own another.

Peugeot 205, the 1.9 diesel model. When I bought it for £300, it had done 130k miles. I put another 120k on it and sold it for £200 to a colleague who’s son still drives it around.

a 57 plate Fiesta 1.4 petrol

We still have a 1.4  54 plate Fiesta that my OH bought at 6 months old.

172,000 miles so far and the only current mechanical issue is it’s always drunk oil at a rate of a bout a liter every 5000 miles.  Other than that it’s just had routine (mostly DIY)  servicing, a couple of exhausts and one suspension strut.

The inner skin on the doors is also beginning to rust which I think will be what ultimately leads to it being sold/scrapped in another couple of years when that starts to show through the outer skin.

Peugeot 205, the 1.9 diesel model. When I bought it for £300, it had done 130k miles. I put another 120k on it and sold it for £200 to a colleague who’s son still drives it around.

Love this one.

Always cheers me up when I see a 205 still on the road.

Always cheers me up when I see a 205 still on the road.

“My” first car was my Mum’s 205 Trio. 1.0 but 5-speed. I drove that like I didn’t own it, but somehow survived.

Very rarely I see them in Queensland (always 1.9 GTI) and point them out to my boys, who are suitably unimpressed.

I only own (was still on finance) one cars in my life but it was so reliable there was only normal maintenance needed like oil change, brake pads and tires change only. It was my life saver and without it I wouldn’t have survived during the major economy downturn in the far east.  Not fast and only 660cc.  UK retail price new was around £6k.  I bought mine second hand 3 year old in the far east for equivalent of £4k,  It would have taken me 5 years to pay it all in the far east.

(the one Jeremy Clarkson laughed at).

Mk3 Cavs were the favourite company car at my first job. I was only an apprentice, but got a drive on occasion. They were much better than the Sierra of the era.

To my eternal chagrin, I never drove a Sierra. A girlfriend’s dad has a Sapphire (ie, the saloon), I used to go “ooh!” every time I walked past it.

Peugeot 205, the 1.9 diesel model.

When I bought the Escort, it was parked next to a 205 1.9 GTi and my gran was pestering me to get that instead because it was smaller. Aye right, I’ll buy that if you’ll agree to insure it for me.

To my eternal chagrin, I never drove a Sierra. A girlfriend’s dad has a Sapphire (ie, the saloon), I used to go “ooh!” every time I walked past

My second car in 1993ish was a 1989 Sapphire 1.8 GL, a decent car at the time, it was cheap being ex fleet,  cost little to run and hid its high mileage well.
The Cavs had a better gearbox, nicer interiors and were a more modern car. The Sapphire was epic in the snow though.

Dad had 3 cavaliers in a row (company cars). A nasty beige bog standard one, followed by a red SRI with a spoiler, then a bronze-coloured C-reg CDI with electric everything (well windows and sunroof!)

I’ve had a selection of charismatic cheap cars.

1981 Cavalier 1.6 4 speed saloon in gold was older than me and was bought around 2002 for the price of it’s remaining tax (£120) with 12 months MoT and new tyres. Bike travelled on the back seats due to some quite sizeable holes from the rear arches into the boot. Rear doors periodically needed kicking open from the inside as they corroded shut and no seat belts in the back. Many other things not right but you could absolutely flog it through the back lanes in third.

Most missed by my friends is the £150 Nissan Bluebird which was like sitting in someone’s front room with it’s big comfy seats. This plus being a 1.6 made it a considerably better first car than my friends 1.0 Fiestas, Polos and 106’s. Was cheaper to insure too.

We always had cavaliers when we were kids, company cars… 3 of em stayed in the family til the end, we were going to keep the last one but it got killed by a truck, poor thing. One of em had a redtop in it for no apparent reason, it was supposed to be a gls or something like. Plus we had the added patriot effect of John Cleland and David Leslie out killing people in them every weekend in the btcc.

I had a tidy 1991 1.6 Pug 205GTI as a run about in the mid 2000s.. bought for £1100. It was great fun and a previous owner had put 1.9 wheels on it and a ‘throaty’ exhaust.

I serviced it myself and replaced the radiator and various bits of metal cooling system which had turned to dust, and it needed a clutch (£300 with labour) before we got tired of not being able to hear the stereo or hold a sensible conversation on the motorway, and the roof paint was starting to flake off.

Sold it for £700 to an enthusiast who had driven to London from Dorset…

then a bronze-coloured C-reg CDI with electric everything (well windows and sunroof!)

I had a gold A-reg CDI, with brown velour interior and the slowest electric windows in the world.

Was donated to me after my dad’s pal passed away in the early noughties (so I wasn’t gonna include it in this thread since I paid nowt for it)

Still one of the most comfy cars I’ve owned and went surprisingly well for such an old, bland thing. I remember dropping a pal in a new Saab on the B roads.

Vauxhall (Dis)Astra Mk2, 1.4 (14NV engine).

Originally belonged to a close friend.
At about 100,000 miles it got hit by an uninsured driver.
Not too damaged, so he gave it to me, gratis.

I put a new wing on it and sat on the bonnet to “flatten it” a bit.

Used it for another 175,000 miles.

Commuting, carrying mucky bikes all over the country, used as a service barge when pal was rallying, used on navigational scatters and one road rally.

Whenever the snow looked good we would raz up to the Scottish ski resorts, sleeping in the car to save a few pennies.

Welded up many times – every panel was a unique shade of red/pink.

Cambelt broke. £13 quid and 20 minutes later; cam belt fixed.
At about 200,000 I changed the clutch “as a precaution” – about an hours work – you didn’t even need to take the gearbox off to get the clutch out!

The heater “system” allowed you to have warm air directed to the windscreen and your feet and also have cold, fresh air directed at your face AT THE SAME TIME. (Not had this in subsequent cars.)

Eventually gave it to family member who used it successfully in banger racing.
When the shell gave up he re-used the engine in another banger as it performed well against the 1.6 16v units.

If the fates align, there may be pictures, below:

Bike transporting holiday wagon:

Hotel D’Astra, Tomintoul:

Glenshee Alfresco:

Peugeot 205, the 1.9 diesel model. When I bought it for £300, it had done 130k miles. I put another 120k on it and sold it for £200 to a colleague who’s son still drives it around.

My first car 🙂  £500 I think, a blue one, it was good but got written off by driving into a motorcyclist (to be fair, he did run a red light in front of me. He was fine)

I had a gold A-reg CDI, with brown velour interior and the slowest electric windows in the world.

I didn’t realise they existed as old as that, I thought Dad said at the time it was a new model… maybe it was the 2.0 that was new.

After pranging my pride and joy I spotted a 106 Graduate 1.5d (n/a) for sale on the side of the road. It was mine for £250, I ran it for a year spending nothing on it, paid off my debts, and then sold it for £250.

We bought a mk1 Focus 1.6 for £350 and ran it on a shoestring for 5 years then sold it to WBAC for £300 last year.

It still drove really nicely but rust got the sills and it was uneconomic to repair .

1986 VW Passat. £500 from a main dealer who’d taken it in PX on a new car.

Brilliant car, I wish that I’d persevered, no cat or any of that nonsense. My SiL filled their diesel with a tank mostly full of petrol, bro drained it into the Passat, it ran quite happily on dietrol/petsel

Got rid when tyres had to be ordered in especially (small 13″ wheels but wide tyres) and the fuel filler neck rusted away. The rest was VGC, but impetuous youth…

I didn’t realise they existed as old as that, I thought Dad said at the time it was a new model… maybe it was the 2.0 that was new.

Sorry, mine was a CD, it didn’t have any I.

Just like this:

I’d forgotten about this one! First car was a 1.8D Ford Orion that I bought from work for £150. It had been one of the rep’s cars and so had done a stratospheric amount of miles ( it had been round the clock at least 3 times) but because the clock only had 5 digits it said that it had only done 32000 miles. The rest of the car was immaculate and so when someone pulled out in front of me and it got written off they sent their insurance assessor out to inspect it gave me £11080 for it “Due to the unusually low mileage for the year”!

I,m glad that it went when it did because the engine was getting VERY tired (down to second gear for any hills at all)!

Just like this

Hahaha that’s the ones. Dad had the hatch with the I. I remember those wheels well. Bastard to clean…and he kept kerbing them.

Hahaha that’s the ones. Dad had the hatch with the I. I remember those wheels well. Bastard to clean…and he kept kerbing them.

Can’t say I ever spent much time cleaning the wheels on mine 😀

Wasn’t a bad-looking car in the saloon format eh? Apart from the gold colour obvs.

in 1995 I bought a Y-reg 1983 Opel Ascona 16.S off my brother for £400. He’d bought it as an MOT failure for £50 and fixed it up and passed an MOT.

It was a great car, black hatchback front wheel drive like the old Cavalier SRi, with an alloy cylinder head. 140k on the clock.

I drove that car everywhere, it went to Cornwall, Scotland, London, Wales and it never broke down once. It ran really well and was pretty nippy for the time.

I’d left it on a mates driveway when we went to Cornwall for a w/end and some git stole it. Drove it about four miles, trashed the engine, warped the cylinder head and crashed it into a ditch. That was then end of that, really good car and it had to be scrapped.

I bought a 2001 Vauxhall Vectra Estate from a STW user (I’ve forgotten the username as it was 15 years ago!). It was £800 with 100k on it, I drove it for another 40k, diy serviced and it never needed more than oil/filters and one set of pads/discs.  I think I spent less than £400 in parts/oil all in to service it over that time.  I used it for company car use at 45p mile, I’m fairly sure I made back £1k as it much cheaper to run than 45p a mile.  At the end of its life it suffered several mishaps, someone drove into the back of it, nothing severe, so I ended buying back the car from the insurers for £400 after getting a £1k payout.  I eventually sold it for £500.  I think overall I made £2k out of the car in ‘profit’, it never broke down and did 50mpg without trying.

When I started work,I used to get a lift in with George in his green Humber Sceptre Mk II.

When he retired ,he gave me the car.

His final words were ” She might need a bit of welding for the next MOT”

No shit man 🙂 ,I spent the next year (on my apprentice salary) trying to save it.

Fab thing though with it’s nod to the US styling.

I didn’t have the skills (or the money) to keep it running ,so it’s last trip was to the scrapyard 🙁

https://classicandsportscar.ltd.uk/humber-sceptre-mkii-44000-miles/classic-cars-sold/66293

Like this one ^^