Well the Zafira has finally gone to the great garage in the sky after dying on Sunday. I just need a no nonsense car that is cheap to run. Don’t care about ride feel or any of that bollocks. I’ve been looking on Cazoo as used with monthly payments is the only real option. Budget of £150 per month at the absolute max.

Anything particularly good or best avoided? I was going to try and go without but public transport is shit. Need to work from one of our sites tomorrow. This entails getting up before 05:00 and spending £15 on two trains to get somewhere that’s 11 miles away for 08:00. No wonder folk are reluctant to give up car ownership 😕

If you want cheap to run and cheap to buy something like a Citroen C1 / Peugeot 107 / Toyota Aygo are right up there. All 3
are basically the same car – tiny petrol engine that’s not very accelerative- but sips a tiny amount of fuel. I had one as a courtesy car a number of years ago and got from Bristol to Croyde and back on about £15 of fuel or something like that – may even have been less.

How many people, miles and bikes etc will feature with this car?

Buy on condition and owner – don’t fix on a model.

Be fussy about this, maintenance costs way outweighs mpg or tax for cheap cars in my experience.

Aygo is one I’ve been looking at. No bikes or people other than me. It’s purely a necessity for work, nothing else really. Somewhere around 8k to 9k miles per year. Quite lucky in that my FiL is a retired mechanic but want to avoid getting something that needs fixing up as he’s not in great physical shape although won’t admit it. I was thinking of doing an access course and getting an electric motorbike as an alternative.

. This entails getting up before 05:00 and spending £15 on two trains to get somewhere that’s 11 miles away for 08:00

The train is slower than a brisk walk🙈

Still need to get up, showered and breakfast and it is two trains and they’ll get me there for about 07:15 but later ones would get me there too late. Plus I’m not walking down the A6 or Silk Road because I quite like being alive.

Thanks for the input. I’ll give you 5 out of 10 for adding a monkey face.

Golf MK4 with the PD diesel engine. I bought one for £400 in March, it’s got 193k miles on it but you wouldn’t know, it’s solid and pulls like a train.

It’s for sale at the end of November but it’ll need work (bushes) for MOT.

Berlingo’s / Pug partners can be pretty cheap and importantly for bangernomics are galvanized. I’ve just bought a mint 2004 2.0HDI and it’s mint underneath as well.

Toyota Yaris is also a cockroach car but I’ve never owned one so don’t have first hand experience.

Mazda 2 bloody brilliant little motor and fun to drive whether you like it or not.

Dacia sandero.

I bought a 3yr old one as a temporary stop gap car as my old car died just before I applied for my last mortgage. That was 4 years ago.

It’s been a brilliant car, insurance is £100pa, very fuel efficient, low VED. Basically costs nothing to run and a new one is something crazy like £6k.

Ooh Dacia sounds good.

Edit – Dacia is about £9.8k new. Will have a look for a used one though.

fun to drive whether you like it or not

I can honestly say I’ve never enjoyed driving any car. Just don’t find them fun at all. Comfortable enough place to be sat by yourself as long as there is music.

11 miles?

Why not cycle in?

Because I need to carry a fair bit of kit, visit different sites and there are no showers or drying, washing facilities at them, I might have to go to more than one site in a single day and A6. I ride bikes for fun, pretty much loathe riding on roads and my only bike is a Stooge. Any more not car related advice I can answer for anyone?

Edit – sorry, in a crap mood. Thanks for the advice so far.

Cheapest car out there is the Suzuki Wagon R.
Can pick them up with under 50k miles from a dealer for £700-900 all day long.

Relatively practical for its size. All those grannies know what’s up

+1 for a Mazda 2. Excellent cars, very reliable and as mentioned above good fun to drive…

Toyota Yaris is a good call. We had one 19 years and its still used by someone locally, running on 22 years old. Despite my looking after the car, red doesn’t age well, nor does the water based lacquers. Most Toyotas paints are knackered after 20 years. Not like Vauxhall after 5.

Look at Nissan Notes. Not trendy but the newer version is cheap and dead reliable, and a good carrier.

Can pick them up with under 50k miles from a dealer for £700-900 all day long.

Relatively practical for its size. All those grannies know what’s up

Only car out there that rots faster than a MK1 discovery boot floor. I wouldn’t bother.

Have you considered leasing?

You could get something like a Fiat 500 or a Corsa for around £150 per month although there would be an upfront cost of £900’ish to pay.

The train is slower than a brisk walk🙈

I read it that the train ended up 11 miles away from the destination not the set off point

Nope, set off point with station I need to be at 11 miles from there. Will take about an hour on two trains and can’t get a later train as then I’ll be late for work. I just think it’s mad how an 11 mile trip can cost £15 and take an hour.

It takes about 25 minutes on a good day in the car. It’s no wonder there are so many cars on the road. I was genuinely thinking of giving up the car but it’s just not practical and will add hours on to what can already be a long day sometimes.

Anyway, I think leasing is probably going to be the best option. Thanks for all the input and suggestions on cars.

Cant believe Honda Jazz has not been recommended yet, great little car

We’ve had 6 years and about 30k out of a £300 2004 Astra G, 1.6 8 valve stone age gutless engine. Does about 40mpg and has only needed consumables. Everything still works apart from the Aircon.

Cant believe Honda Jazz has not been recommended yet, great little car

Mates got a Honda Jizz as he calls it as a company car.. Base model complete with steel wheels, and is always slagging it off.

Great little car though I think and reasonably good looking. There’s just nothing particularly interesting about it, which to be honest is the point. Cheap, reliable and a tool for a Job.

Jazz

Yaris

Non wrotten polo

No need for finance of you can find 1500 quid

It takes about 25 minutes on a good day in the car.

To do 11 miles?

A Scooter. Even a 50cc one would probably be quicker, and nothing cheaper to run.

Cheap car (Yaris etc) and a comprehensive breakdown cover? If you are lucky not to pick a dud, it’ll be a lot cheaper in the long run and do the same job. Also no worrying about car park dents and scratches from a lease car…

I was going to say Jazz. Bt when we were looking for a car for our two offspring we tried one plus all of the Toyota, Citroen, etc mentioned in the thread. We ended up with a Hyundai i10. It does about 6000 miles a year, 45ish mpg even on short runs, costs buttons to insure and tax and is cheap to service.

Came with 50,000 miles on, now closer to 70,000 and outside normal serving, only had one biggish bill to replace an ABS sensor (which is a nightmare to get too).

It’s a great little car to drive as well, bit noisy but otherwise a really well sorted small but quite big inside car. Tiny boot tho.

To do 11 miles?

nope, I made that up for a laugh! Yes, to do 11 miles. Lots of traffic and stopping and starting

Sorry funk, I was really mocking the uselessness of public transport

. I just think it’s mad how an 11 mile trip can cost £15 and take an hour

Essentially that.

It was me being in a foul mood so o should be apologising. It is an utter piss take and doesn’t help encourage you to give up on the car 😕

As others have suggested C1/107/Aygo are cheap, basic and functional.
Hyundai i10 is another good call
Any Toyota
Skoda Fabia
Nissan Note
Honda Jazz
Fiat Panda
Avoid Vauxhall Corsa (rotten subframes)

If it’s always that 11 miles – Electric bike?

As the OP is getting wound up by off-topic suggestions, how about an illegal e-scooter – perhaps with a rocket booster attached for longer trips?

Mazda 2 bloody brilliant little motor and fun to drive whether you like it or not.

+whatever for Mazda2. Ours is 16 years old, 108k miles, just keeps going. When bits do go wrong, they’re cheap to fix (which reminds me, must book it in for it’s six-year-overdue timing belt change)

It’s basically this, and I’d buy this, and it’s near you (I assume, from talk of the A6 and Silk Road)

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109077084293?postcode=sk122an&include-delivery-option=on&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&advertising-location=at_cars&radius=30&sort=relevance&make=Mazda&model=Mazda2&price-to=3000&page=1

As others have suggested C1/107/Aygo are cheap, basic and functional.

Yep, I have got 2. A 95,000 mile 10 year old and a 3 year old. Other than tyres, brake pads and a rear silencer it has cost nothing in parts over the 10 years.
The 3 year old one (still the latest model I think) is a better car though as they improved engine torque range so drives better but it all round feels like a better car. It is difficult to get less than 60mpg from it.

Yep, I have got 2. A 95,000 mile 10 year old and a 3 year old. Other than tyres, brake pads and a rear silencer it has cost nothing in parts over the 10 years.

Sounds like the one I had, apart from the clutch needed doing at one point.

2013 – early 2017 (or thereabouts) is £0 VED too

It is difficult to get less than 60mpg from it.

Try driving down the A6 and the Silk Road at eight in the morning…

IHN
Full Member
Mazda 2 bloody brilliant little motor and fun to drive whether you like it or not.

+whatever for Mazda2. Ours is 16 years old, 108k miles, just keeps going. When bits do go wrong, they’re cheap to fix (which reminds me, must book it in for it’s six-year-overdue timing belt change)

It’s basically this, and I’d buy this, and it’s near you (I assume, from talk of the A6 and Silk Road)

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109077084293?postcode=sk122an&include-delivery-option=on&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&advertising-location=at_cars&radius=30&sort=relevance&make=Mazda&model=Mazda2&price-to=3000&page=1

No MOT and needs a little bit of love – (advisories)
slight gear oil leak from offside drive shaft seal
Offside Front Road wheel slightly distorted (5.2.2 (c) (i))
Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin front pads (look) low (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
Nearside Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge worn down too 3mm (5.2.3 (e))
Nearside Front Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material (1.1.11 (c))

but chip them down to closer to a grand and keep the gearbox oil topped up.

Cazoo looks like an expensive way to own a car especially when talking of basic ‘white goods’ commuting cars.

No MOT and needs a little bit of love – (advisories)
slight gear oil leak from offside drive shaft seal
Offside Front Road wheel slightly distorted (5.2.2 (c) (i))
Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin front pads (look) low (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
Nearside Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge worn down too 3mm (5.2.3 (e))
Nearside Front Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material (1.1.11 (c))

but chip them down to closer to a grand and keep the gearbox oil topped up.

Yeah, there’s nothing that worrying, or expensive to sort, there. Ours had it’s front discs and pads done at its MOT and it was £100, inc VAT and fitting and a tyre can be had for peanuts (and that’s assuming you can’t just swap it for the spare, or do a bit of tyre jiggery-pokery and but the worn-ish tyre on the wobbly-ish rim, and have that for the spare).

Aygo (or variant)and Yaris both good shouts.

Back in the days of 26″ I could fit a Camber and a Rockhopper with the wheels off and me and a mate in the Aygo.