Cheap hack?

[Fladdem]

I know, bike forum blahblahblah....

I want to get a car. The micra of mine is rotten, both sills, front cross-member, they've been patched up so many times now that we're running out of good metal to stick the patches to, it needs four tyres and she's started burning coolant and there's a nice crack in zone A in the windscreen. The MOT is out on the 4th of May.

I want the same again but bigger. You can get a dirt jump mountain bike in the back, without touching it, but my full size XC bike doesn't fit very well, my head touches the roof, and there's not much leg-room under the steering wheel, my knees touch it. Also, it's a one litre. it has no go, driving like gran sees 50MPG but driving like a normal person, just keeping up with traffic, it drops to about 35MPG due to the higher revs needed.

Looking at about 3-400 for the banger. It needs to be a low insurance group, because I've had my licence the grand total of three months so insurance costs a fortune. I'd like another jap car, because they seem to be quite well layed out inside, the pedals aren't stupidly close to each other, like Fiats where if I wear my boots, I will often smash the throttle pedal and brake pedal simultaneously and jap stuff is pretty reliable. I was thinking of something like a late nineties Corolla or possibly a Civic, but lots of yoofs tend to wrap nineties Civics around trees, so may be a bit pricey for me?

Another thought, a few mates and I are going camping in August and only my girlfriend and I can drive, so we would be taking four people each and so may be handy to have some space in the back too.
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Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[Vincent]

Buy my Rover
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Space Is Deep

[Fladdem]

What you got?
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Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[Vincent]

Insurance may be too much. it's my old mans car, in the for sale bit. Rover 45.
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Space Is Deep

[Fladdem]

Just did a quick insurance internet quote thing, comes out about the same as the micra, about £1600. So should only be the cost of swapping insurance over. There's also the tow-bar + bike trailer = taking the 'crossers further afield.

Where are you? I'm in Leamington Spa.
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Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[Vincent]

I'm in Cambridge, the car's in Sutton Coldfield. The local MOT bloke has MOTd it for the last......10 years ish. It'll fly through another.
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Space Is Deep

[Vincent]

I havn't hardly used my trailer since I got it for some strange reason, might consider a deal, trouble is, once it's gone, I'll need it
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Space Is Deep

[Vincent]

Jeez....1600 quid to insure a Micra....that sucks

When you check for the Rover, make sure it's the right motor one, I think it's the 1600 injection.
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Space Is Deep

[Ted]

How about something like a Vauxhall Astra Mk3 (1991-1997ish). I've got a 1.4 petrol which is returning about 40mpg, or at least it was before I buggered it!

The diesel ones (1.7td) return 50mpg.

They aren't the usual 'new driver' car, so could possibly be cheap on insurance...
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'07 Honda CBF500 / '93 Vauxhall Astra (www.fb.com/2wdOffRoader) / '04 Vauxhall Movano
Projects: '81 Honda CX500 x2 / '85 Land Rover One-Ten / ...plus many horticultural things.
||| Bike Test: DAS: PASSED 13/02/2009 ||| Car Test: PASSED 22/05/2005 |||

[Rogerborg]

[Polarbear]

[grr666]

Estate cars tend to be cheaper to insure until you get into the realms of the big Audi and Merc estates.
Look for a GOLF 1.9 SDI Estate. £100 odd a year to tax
65MPG++, Super reliable because boat engine.
Decent torque, room for 4 inside, good load space, roof bar compatible
and well screwed together. cheap to insure because only 65bhp
No turbo to fail and has a single mass flywheel so noisy but again more reliable than a comparable TDI.
Oh and early ones run on veg oil with no mods, depends what fuel pump it has.

Thinking about it, you should find a Skoda Fabia Estate SDI useful as well. Same as above but cheaper to buy
and slightly smaller inside as is based on a Polo chassis so next class of car down.
We had a Fabia Hatch SDI for 5 years, never went wrong, never let us down and we could drive from Bristol
to London (140 odd miles) in it without the fuel needle even moving if the tank was brimmed.
Make sure you get one thats newer than 2001 Y reg, as the VED rate for older ones is nearly double because they were
registered before emissions were put on the V5 and taken into account when deciding tax band.
These older ones are charged the flat rate of tax for a 1.9 (Currently £230 a year).
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Vincent]

[ferrisio]

Mentioned this on another thread but get on Retro Rides and pick up something interesting for a few hundred quid.
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BMW R1100R

[sidewinder]

You can get a volvo estate for the money yo have..v70/40 etc
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"Nitrous is like a cheap hooker, you want to hit it but are scared of the consequences

[sidewinder]

You can get a volvo estate for the money yo have..v70/40 etc
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"Nitrous is like a cheap hooker, you want to hit it but are scared of the consequences

[Alpineandy]

For that type of money you need to look at everything that fits the size criteria and buy the best one. Lean away from cars with too much electrics. If there's a little (independent) garage nearby that specialises in a specific make that you favour then it may be useful to ask them. Similarly, if it breaks down then having a local garage that can look at it can save money rather than having to trailer it for 10 miles.

There are quite a few old Renault 5s coming on the market where the owner (who bought it new) has now had to stop driving. They're a simple car, quite reliable and pretty cheap to fix. But quite a few of them are 'autos' which aren't good. 4/5 doors are rarer but a little bigger, but maybe still too small. Same with a few other cars but the 5 is electronics-lite...
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The above comment isn't necessarily the truth and anyone that says it is, is only correct if it's the truth or they're bigger than me.

[Fladdem]

I'm a mechanic for a Honda dealership. It's just the civic runners we have are all far too expensive for me to insure, or else I'd buy one off the company. I'd fix the micra myself, but I can't weld yet and weighing up the price of repair vs scrapping for £80 or so then getting a better car is a tough call.

I was thinking of a Volvo estate too, an old 240 would be cool, but misses the reasonable fuel economy by a good chunk, my dad was gentle with his and struggled to get more than 25mpg, but parts would be easy to get hold of, where I work used to be a Volvo dealership too, and we still have some parts knocking about and can get ahold of anything...

Like someone mentioned, in order to be cheap on insurance, I need to avoid common chav-mobiles or common first cars. I'm not fussed between petrol or diesel, but if diesel, I want to avoid turbos and DPF's for the reasons mentioned, simpler the better.

The Rover is out of the question, they want near enough another £700 to change the insurance and make up the difference.
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Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[Alpineandy]

If the micra is a decent car except for the welding then see if one of your colleagues that can weld will do it for you.
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The above comment isn't necessarily the truth and anyone that says it is, is only correct if it's the truth or they're bigger than me.

[Fladdem]

The micra's alright, but I fancy a change and like I said, I quite fancy something slightly larger for my six foot four frame.

No one welds at work, all welding is outsourced to another garage down the road, they quoted £275 for the welding. I need to get four new tyres at some point, they're all down to about 2mm (£30 a corner), two of the wheels have been squared off from off-roading in it and banging it over a massive rock on the nearside, so say a tenner a rim from a scrappy(?) plus whatever it may cost to sort out the screen. So roughly, about £400 to sort it out to proper-ness plus whatever it costs to get the windscreen sorted to get it through the MOT. I will have a look around to get cheaper welding done, or see if I can find someone, but if not, that gives me a budget of about £450 plus scrap value to get another banger.

Insurance and tax will have to be paid for as well, but that's just one of those things.
____________________
Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[Ted]

Don't dismiss all turbo diesels, sometimes there is very little difference in the insurance, unlike with turbo petrols.

Also, if it's a 15-20 year old banger, you might be able to get classic insurance, which might save you a few quid.

Again, I'd put a vote for a Vauxhall Astra F (Mk3), either 5-door hatch or estate, 1.7TD are the best. I've been driving for 10 years, and had 34 vehicles (I used to get bored quickly), the most repeated vehicle is the Astra Mk3, two 1.4 petrols (including the current one), one 1.7TD, and one 1.7TD van.
Whenever I'm in the market for a cheap banger thats cheap to insure, that's where I start looking...
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'07 Honda CBF500 / '93 Vauxhall Astra (www.fb.com/2wdOffRoader) / '04 Vauxhall Movano
Projects: '81 Honda CX500 x2 / '85 Land Rover One-Ten / ...plus many horticultural things.
||| Bike Test: DAS: PASSED 13/02/2009 ||| Car Test: PASSED 22/05/2005 |||

[The Wobbly Orange]

An early ford focus would do you well. The 1.6l engine should be cheap enough to insure
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People tell me I am lovely. How wrong they are!

[Vincent]

[winz]

I used to have a mk3 VW Golf TDI, must have done 180,000 miles by the time I got rid of it. Nothing went wrong and they're pretty cheap to run and buy, economical and do go a little when you need it to.

Have you considered an older Passat estate TDI?

[stuarthouston]

I just bought a 2004 Astra G 1.6 'Twinport' with 85k and full service history for £600, so not far from your price band. Needed an EGR valve, but now runs well. Cheaper to insure than my old Fiesta, too.
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'96 Honda CG125 BR-T