Minimum price for a car?

Soldato
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What would you say is a minimum sort of price for a car if you want something that will be relatively ok and in decent condition/service history etc..

Anything much less than £2k? You can buy a lot of tat for £1000 +- and its hard to find a gem in that.
 
Soldato
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Impossible to answer without discussing a specific car. You could buy a shed for £5k, or a minter for £1k, both of which could be different cars.
 
Associate
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^this.

that being said, you can definately get a reasonably tidy focus/astra/whatever for under 2k that will be fairly reliable, with common sense stuff on it (suc as air-con, electric windows, ABS, etc) which will get you from A to B comfortably.
 

Deleted member 66701

D

Deleted member 66701

can get a decent mk3 mondeo for under £3k

You can get a decent Mondeo for under £2k - £1k if you really search.

My Y reg Scorpio Cosworth cost me £900 with 83k on the clock and 12 months tax/mot. Had it two years tomorrow and it's gone through two further MOT's with no failures or advisories.

It's only needed new tyres, a battery and wisbone bushes - all "consumables" imo.

100% reliable, never let me down (you watch it blow a head gasket on the way home).

There are good cars out there for not a lot of money - the art is finding them and making sure the car you are looking at isn't a lemon.
 
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Associate
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im too much of a snob for bangernomics BUT I bought an old Subaru pickup nearly 16 years ago as an mot failure for 30 quid! , a mornings welding later and it passed its mot ..and to my knowlege its still running on a farm / stable yard that I donated it to well over 10 years ago.. so its not nessisarally how much you spend but how wisley you spend it..
 

Deleted member 66701

D

Deleted member 66701

i'd rather rattle around in a 2k omega than put up with one of the worst looking cars ever built.

I didn't buy a fiat multipla. And you've a damn cheek saying that owning a Passat Estate - possibly one of the dullest looking cars in exisitence :p

Couldn't care less about the looks of mine - I bought it for the comfort - although I've got the facelifted version so it's looks are toned down compared to the original "omg chrome everywhere" original".

100_2768.jpg

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I seriously think they've aged quite well compared to a lot of other cars of a similar age (1998 vintage).
 
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Soldato
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Cars sell on ebay for like £20 everyday. Doesn't mean it's rubbish. I sold a car for £50 before as just wanted rid of it. It ran fine and had tax and MOT and went on for years for the guy who bought it from me.
 

Deleted member 66701

D

Deleted member 66701

Cars sell on ebay for like £20 everyday. Doesn't mean it's rubbish. I sold a car for £50 before as just wanted rid of it. It ran fine and had tax and MOT and went on for years for the guy who bought it from me.

yeah, it's a good point. Ran a £50 "scrap rescue" N reg Mondeo for 9 mopnths - just needed a set of pads and discs on the front for it's mot. Sold it onto my brother in law for £250 and he ran it for 18 months before killing it (changed the oil and forgot to tighten the sump plug).
 
Soldato
OP
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I understand you can buy some ok cars for next to nothing, but lets be honest it is pretty rare.

When you look through the masses of junk out there it becomes very tiresome and looking for a car is already a chore.

For around £1k you are going to get much of the same it appears I am just trying to see where that line generally stops.

Would only be using it for trips to and from work, I just hate looking for a car there is so much wasted time looking at cars that aren't as good as people say they are.
 

Deleted member 66701

D

Deleted member 66701

A good rule of thumb is spend as much as you can comfortably afford and buy on condition - not milage or options.

If you're not someone who likes working on cars or who doesn't want to spend time tracking down the right vehicle, then bangernomics probably isn't for you.
 
Man of Honour
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What would you say is a minimum sort of price for a car if you want something that will be relatively ok and in decent condition/service history etc..

Anything much less than £2k? You can buy a lot of tat for £1000 +- and its hard to find a gem in that.

Surely there's too many variables here unless you narrow it down a bit. What do you want or need in terms of a car? What do you consider to be of a reasonable standard? Decent condition to me might appear sub-par to other members of the forum.

I'm pretty sure you can buy reasonable cars for £1k but you've probably got to either be luckier or more knowledgeable than if you were paying say £5k to sort out the dross from the quality. You're also, I'd imagine, more likely to find a bargain at the cheaper end of the scale if the car itself isn't viewed as hugely desireable hence why you might struggle to find anything other than a ropey BMW 3 series for £1k but the same sum might find you a much newer and better condition Mazda Xedos - the point isn't that they're necessarily directly comparable but that what you are looking for in a car could seriously impact on what you pay.
 
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