The Cheapness project.

ChroniC

ChroniC

ChroniC

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
10,281
Considering the rising cost of everything at the moment, i've been thinking about the cheapest way to own a car.
If you have no problem with what you drive and only cost is the factor that effects you then what is the cheapest motor you can legal get on the road.
Most of my information is second hand from articles and fifth/top gear, but i recon it can be done, for less than 500quid.

Buying a car isnt cheap, but if Clarkson is to be believed then theoretically, if i were to go to a dealership, i may be able to take a part ex they don't want for £1.
Let assume for the sake of arguement i can pick up anything i want, i would be looking for a diesel car, pre 83. This is going to solve two costs, no road tax, and fuel economy.

So far we have a £1 car, with free road tax, (hopefully mot worthy, let assume it is, £40quid for that)
Obviously insurance is going to vary, but in my case, over 25, 8yrs ncb, pre 83 1.6 diesel isnt going to be more than 200quid.
So for £241 max i have the car, this is where it may get a bit silly.
Im going to run the car on a mix of diesel and vegoil.
Having looked at the info, an old diesel with except vegoil/whitespirit/diesel mix with no conversion happily, costing maybe a few quid to change filters slightly more regularly, possibly the only conversion may be a pre heater of some kind.

Look about used filter oil can be bought in bulk for 15p a litre (plus 27 duty if your honest) 42p a litre if you are, 15 if your not.
With the remaining 250quid i have from the 500, let assume 30miles to the gallon, at 42p a litre, thats roughy 600litres, which at roughly 4litres a galon is 150gallons x 30, 4500miles - the cost of some real diesel, roughly 3500miles.

Of course this is all speculative, and i dont know if this can be done but for 500quid you could have a car on the road and runing for months maybe . no??
 
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It has to be pre 73 to avoid road tax.

The only pre 73 diesels worth looking at are the Merc diesels, and they will be incredibly agricultural and not that economical. Of course, an engine transplant would be an option. You also won't get one for £1.
 
Really i always thought it was 25years. It is of course speculation.
Any bright ideas on a cheap diesel, pre 73 or not with lowest road tax.
Anyone reacon its possible to own a pre 73 motor that will work :)
 
Something that old, hmm its gotta be a van because i can't think of any 73 road cars with a diesel engine, its gonna be totally pants, not worth saving a few quid a year and having to drive an non turbo diesel engined van.
 
surely a newer car that fits into the new £35 tax bracket will be a lot less costly to run. I can't Image a 35 year old car to be at all reliable by modern standards.
 
olv said:
surely a newer car that fits into the new £35 tax bracket will be a lot less costly to run. I can't Image a 35 year old car to be at all reliable by modern standards.
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The point is to own and run a car for less than 500quid. A new car isnt going to be that cheap. :)

Firestar_3x said:
Something that old, hmm its gotta be a van because i can't think of any 73 road cars with a diesel engine, its gonna be totally pants, not worth saving a few quid a year and having to drive an non turbo diesel engined van.
Click to expand...

Its not really about the comfort as i have no intention of doing it, im just trying to work out what the minimum cost a person could acheive is.
In your case, i could pick up a astra TD van, and old escort or cav for about 200quid. So cost isnt rising to badly just yet :)
 
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olv said:
surely a newer car that fits into the new £35 tax bracket will be a lot less costly to run. I can't Image a 35 year old car to be at all reliable by modern standards.
Click to expand...

So instantly it HAS to be a post 2001.

Have you heard of depreciation? Its a running cost.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
So instantly it HAS to be a post 2001.

Have you heard of depreciation? Its a running cost.
Click to expand...

point taken. even if you're paying £150 a year in tax or whatever it is, a 30+ year old vehicle is going to cost a lot more then that in maintenance.
 
olv said:
point taken. even if you're paying £150 a year in tax or whatever it is, a 30+ year old vehicle is going to cost a lot more then that in maintenance.
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True, but older cars are a lot easier to maintain by your own means. I have heard people say that beetles are very easy to take apart and fix. Whats to say that a haynes manual and cheap scrappy parts you cant fix a good example of any old car.
You could even still get a mot'd older car with tax on it maybe for 150quid, run it into the ground untill they both run out and just pay for vegoil and insurance.Then go find another.
 
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ChroniC said:
Im going to run the car on a mix of diesel and vegoil.
Having looked at the info, an old diesel with except vegoil/whitespirit/diesel mix with no conversion happily, costing maybe a few quid to change filters slightly more regularly, possibly the only conversion may be a pre heater of some kind.

Look about used filter oil can be bought in bulk for 15p a litre (plus 27 duty if your honest) 42p a litre if you are, 15 if your not.
With the remaining 250quid i have from the 500, let assume 30miles to the gallon, at 42p a litre, thats roughy 600litres, which at roughly 4litres a galon is 150gallons x 30, 4500miles - the cost of some real diesel, roughly 3500miles.

Of course this is all speculative, and i dont know if this can be done but for 500quid you could have a car on the road and runing for months maybe . no??
Click to expand...

You will need to check out each car you're looking at for running veg oil, mainly there will be problems with the standard fuel pump if it's not a Bosch one (I think). Depending on what car you're picking up - you could run into further problems.
You're also allowed to use upto 2500 litres of Oil per year without paying any additional duty.


If I wanted to buy and run a car as cheap as I thought possible, I think I'd be looking at something like 306/Xsara/ZX with the 1.9 XUDT engine.
 
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Ah haa. Someone else has seen the light. Tax exempt. Historic insurance. Easy mechanics. Welcome to Baja world! :)

The only downside is economy, comfort, and oily fingers. However only the chassis has to be pre 73. My long term goal is to lift almost everything from a more modern car and make it more refined. ;)

Personally I've been looking for a sensible winter car. There are a few I've been looking at. At the moment my favourite 'tax free' is a Wolseley 1500. With a set of decent alloys and a nice paintjob I think it would look ace.

Also, dont rule out a pre 73 Morris minor, 2CV, or Mini. All economical and simple engineering.
 
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I guess it depends how much you value your free time. I would get insanely bored and frustrated of constantly having to fix an old car in my spare time just to save a few quid in tax. You might be different though.

I do think that penski's idea of a small, crappy french car 106/205/saxo/AX is the simplest way to cheap motoring in theory.
 
It's all about cost vs. time, you will spend ages sourcing and fixing old bangers that could leave you valuble time to make more money if your THAT poor. Also often a thing people often over look is saftey, would you want to be in a car from 1973 in an acciedent? I sure as hell wouldn't. What that sir? Amputation of both legs in a 40mph head on? Awsome!
 
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