Find me: throw away car for under £1000

Associate
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8 Jul 2014
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Hampshire
Another vote for Mk1 Focus, loved mine, it was used purely as a station and work horse car. You could leave it overnight at the station, it'll still be there the next morning, door dings etc, no bother. Bloody annoying from a principle perspective. Go out, car covered in snow/frost, start first time every time, the heated windscreen was awesome. The only issue is rot, mine was scrapped because of rust had set in underneath. The body shell was; given the dings it sustained was fine.

Saab 9-3, especially the Sportwagon Aero - I would happily own one now. Same with the Alfa 159, the Sportwagon version, both lovely looking cars.
 
Soldato
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Ok, I know it’s 3 times the budget, but hear me out. I’ve been looking at 1990’s Merc barges because I’ve always wanted one and they’re famed for being able to do moon mileage (pre 1995). Surely you could buy one of these with well in excess of 100,000 miles on, put another 30,000 miles on it and sell it for exactly what you bought it for? The one below is mint green with a massive 3 point star in the grille. What’s not to love?!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202010014431453

For the purpose of this thread, I presume the reason this one below is so cheap is that it’s from 1995, made of cheese and most importantly is missing it’s bonnet ornament? The interior doesn’t look like it’s worn at all considering the mileage.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202009053354905
 

NVP

NVP

Soldato
OP
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6 Sep 2007
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12,649
Ok, I know it’s 3 times the budget, but hear me out. I’ve been looking at 1990’s Merc barges because I’ve always wanted one and they’re famed for being able to do moon mileage (pre 1995). Surely you could buy one of these with well in excess of 100,000 miles on, put another 30,000 miles on it and sell it for exactly what you bought it for? The one below is mint green with a massive 3 point star in the grille. What’s not to love?!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202010014431453

For the purpose of this thread, I presume the reason this one below is so cheap is that it’s from 1995, made of cheese and most importantly is missing it’s bonnet ornament? The interior doesn’t look like it’s worn at all considering the mileage.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202009053354905
That mint one is tempting! Is the cheaper one not gonna be mission to keep roadworthy?

The mk1 focus is a nice call as I much preferred its handling to the mk2.

Re: Saabs - hmm... be much better for wafting the mileage than a hatch.
 

Dup

Dup

Soldato
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10 Mar 2006
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East Lancs
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-se...&postcode=bb79pg&price-to=1500&year-from=2007

Newer and likely more reliable than a MK1 Focus. I had mine for hard 7 years and only an accident at ~160k killed it off. Did many long drives and didn't really spend too much innit over the years. There's barely much that really goes wrong with them and both the petrol and diesel are great. One major issue i had was the air con could be problematic, sometimes just a relay, but mine had compressor clutch spacing issues and then it just died completely.

It's more of a nippy car than a big solid Motorway cruiser like the Mondeo that I replaced it with but for the budget and reliability it's certainly more than just livable.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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159,534
Ok, I know it’s 3 times the budget, but hear me out. I’ve been looking at 1990’s Merc barges because I’ve always wanted one and they’re famed for being able to do moon mileage (pre 1995). Surely you could buy one of these with well in excess of 100,000 miles on, put another 30,000 miles on it and sell it for exactly what you bought it for? The one below is mint green with a massive 3 point star in the grille. What’s not to love?!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202010014431453

This is probably one of the most bizarre suggestions I've seen in a thread like this.

He wants to do up to 500 miles a day in a £1000 car. On what planet is a 30 year old 3 litre automatic FOUR WHEEL DRIVE Mercedes the answer?! It'll do about 15-20mpg tops! If he was happy to blow that much cash doing 500 miles a day why would he want to do it in a £1000 car :D
 

NVP

NVP

Soldato
OP
Joined
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Posts
12,649
This is probably one of the most bizarre suggestions I've seen in a thread like this.

He wants to do up to 500 miles a day in a £1000 car. On what planet is a 30 year old 3 litre automatic FOUR WHEEL DRIVE Mercedes the answer?! It'll do about 15-20mpg tops! If he was happy to blow that much cash doing 500 miles a day why would he want to do it in a £1000 car :D
Hahaha :D

To be fair, I won't actually be doing 500 miles every day... but I'd like to know the car could. Mpg isn't too much of an issue.

Why only £1000?
The budget is to allow the car to be disposable :)

How are old Lex? I'm assuming reliability is strong...

it's bigger inside than it looks, like a tardis
Yes this is true... still no though:D
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Nov 2006
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23,712
Hahaha :D

To be fair, I won't actually be doing 500 miles every day... but I'd like to know the car could. Mpg isn't too much of an issue.


The budget is to allow the car to be disposable :)


How are old Lex? I'm assuming reliability is strong...


Yes this is true... still no though:D

You’re not exactly short of cash, why not spend more for a better car? You’ll be doing so many miles in it that the £1000 requirement seems a bit silly considering my first point...
 
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