Recently I wrote off my Scooby and unfortunately I’m not in a financial position to immediately replace it with another Scoob.
Instead I plan to buy a car that is cheap to buy (up to £1000ish but more like £500), cheap to insure, tax and is reliable with good Mpg’s but ok for an 80 mile a day motorway commute.
Does anyone have any suggestion to want I could get or anyone with first hand experience of running a shed?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
Ian.

 

I drove a renault 5 shed for a couple of years. 1400cc is cheap to insure, gets from A-B ok, tops out at exactly 100mph. The only major problem was that some renault parts (especially brakes) need special, unique tools to remove/service, so things like changing brake pads myself wasn't cost effective by the time the sepcial gadget had been payed for.

Finally blew up with 150,000 on the clock.

[Edited by kend - 12/11/2003 4:49:49 PM]

 

Depending on your insurance situation a MK2 Golf GTi?

Cost me £260 pa to insure, does 40+mpg and is OK on M-ways.

 

I went from an Integrale to a Carlton gsi. That cost me £300 to buy and another £200 to sort out out a few things and tax for six months so it stands at just over £500. It's a great car, very reliable, comfortable, fast & fun. Insurance is cheap on it too

If buying a cheap car make sure you check it out well and don't buy a total shed or you'll be working on it more than driving it.

Paul

 

go to car-transplants or similar, get a stolen recovered and light damage or even repossesed car

they have some very nice kit on there which is not expensive

i use highway insurance who are not bothered my car is a recorded total loss

 

recently sold my wrx and now driving around in 91H 205GTI while I look for another car. the 205 cost £200, is unmodified, low mileage... and is more fun on the twisty bits than the subaru!

 

Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 8v or a similar Sierra won't cost the earth and will be much cheaper on fuel than a scoob. Alternatively, a Calibra will eat miles all day. Any of the above could cost less than £1000 for a decent example, though an older model.

I'm assuming the 80 miles involves a fair amount of m'way driving.

Vindaloo.

 

When I wrote my Scoob off last year, I got an L-reg Cavalier 1.8LS automatic with 130,000 on it for £500. In the year I had it, nothing at all went wrong and I put about another 10,000 on the clock. I hated Vauxhalls before, but now I love them

 

Thanks for the ideas guys.
About 95% is motorway, started off thinking about Micra/Fiesta 1.0/1.1 but think this will just wind me up.
Used to own a 3000 GSI and loved it but the Mpg's is why I got shot of it.
Want to stay clear of GTI/XR's and the like coz of insurance.
I'm starting to think more along the lines of a 92ish 1.6 escort or simular.
At this rate I think i'll end up changing my mind to a Scoob again.
Cheers.
Ian.

 

Corsas are cheap and chearfull and have good gearboxes.

 

Get a rover 214/216 cheap as chips, loads about, get a low mile one and you probably wont lose anything on it,you get remote locking leccy roof etc on most models,
and as a shed mines not bad
not the fastest thing out there but comfy on the m/way!

 

Toyota Carina E Exec. 2.0, never fails to start.
Guess what, there's a nice '92 on my drive, where did that come from?
They say they're boring but thats only 'cos they never go wrong. That sort of boring I can handle.

 

I saw a Corsa in the for sale section of here the other day. sounded like just the job, 1.4 aswell. Guy was in Scotland though if i find the post I'll edit this one .

couldn't find Corsa, but found this http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?threadid=278781


[Edited by f1 - 12/13/2003 10:07:58 AM]

 

A Corsa is the way to go mate,even better if you can get a diesel.

If you get one just give it a wee service and check the timing belt,they are pretty reliable and parts are dirt cheap.

Ohh, and the good part is that its good for 60 mpg.
My wife loves hers and she won't even touch the scooby now because of the fuel it guzzles.(Result or what)

 

3 series BMW (M30), cost about £1500, RWD, nice drive, good quality and pattern parts means they are not too expensive to run. Thinking of getting myself one next summer as a base for a track car.