Bangernomicst mil

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So, anyone into this? The reason I ask is I'm trying to convince the brother in law that he needs to start down this route. After numerous failures where he's bought a car from a garage on outrageous finance, only to have something major go wrong with it or him to do something daft and then he has finance and a maintenance loan on the go, his latest one, a 55 plate Corsa that he topped the radiator fluid up on, forgot to put the cap back on and drove it for 2 weeks until the point where the whole thing overheated and cooked itself. So at present he has the balance of finance to pay of around £500 and about £200 of e loan he took out last year to pay for MOT repairs. I said I'd have a look, and in all honesty, it will probably me who buys it for him, so I want to get him something that is as bullet proof as possible.

Main gist of he thread are what kind of cars make good bangers? I'm edging towards recommending something like a Mondeo 1.8 on an 03/04 for around the £5-600 region. Anything else put there that would be worth considering. He does about 15 miles a day commute mon-fri and a small amount of personal miles n the weekend.
 
I'm not sure a banger would resolve issues such as forgetting to put the radiator cap back on. It doesn't matter if it's a £500 banger or a £150k Ferrari 458. Carelessness will unfortunately and ultimately lead to a damaged car.
 
flibbage0 said:
I'm not sure a banger would resolve issues such as forgetting to put the radiator cap back on. It doesn't matter if it's a £500 banger or a £150k Ferrari 458. Carelessness will unfortunately and ultimately lead to a damaged car.
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Certainly would resolve the issue of it costing £150k when you do though.
 
Sounds like he has a banger anyway if the finance was only £500 :p

Think with bangernomics you have to prepared to look after it a bit yourself to keep it going so is this the right approach for him?
 
But being without a car is not an option. He's a really nice guy, just he gets himself into financial trouble easily and is fairly gullible when it comes to dealers/cars so would go in and pay full price and top whack finance without even questioning it.

So back to the question, what sort of cars do people look to buy for doing this kind of thing. The main things I'm looking for are as close to 12mths tax and 12mths MOT as possible and baring any major fubar moments like the Corsa, something fairly reliable.
 
The finance was about £2.5k at 15% APR when he got the car originally, like I said, he's a bit too trusting of people. I'd probably be doing the basics of servicing for him, like brakes, oil, filters etc
 
Yeah, buy a Honda. All the important expensive bits (engine, clutch, gearbox etc) are uber reliable, servicing is relatively cheap and old ones are easy to work on. They all rust eventually, but normally in obvious places that makes it easy to check for.
 
I have used bangernomics a few times in the past and have just returned to it again.

Previously I had a V6 Shogun, really tidy but the waterpump had let go, engine overheated while towing and the timing slipped! Paid £140 for it, spent £240 on parts (water pump, belts, tensioners and anti roll bar links)
After a year I let the m-i-l drive it, 5 years later its still going, It would most likely still fetch £400 if we where to sell it.

I have always had close ties to the motor trade so trade ins are usually the best way to go. I have a 2002 Hyundai Accent at the moment, one owner from new, he bought it 2002, had it serviced every year and traded it back in with us again earlier this year. I paid £400 for it, its Mot'd and taxed, does 51mpg on my 2 hour commute and is comfy with a good stereo. These are very reliable and the parts are so cheap. I am saving £6-8k a year over running my old V8 daily so I can now justify buying a retro hot hatch!
 
Sounds like a mechanically inept friend of mine. He buys a cheap car and does zero maintenance on it. When it runs like **** and he thinks it runs the risk of not getting him to work he scraps it and buys another one.

He doesn't do many miles but even still I'm amazed how much use he gets out of these cars. In fact I say 'these' he is only on his second one, the first (a mk3 Golf GTi) simply refused to die. Actually he did resort to topping the water up every so often once the head gasket went (plain water, no coolant) and got another year out of it.

His cost of ownership is a small fraction of what I spend even ignoring depreciation.
 
chanjy said:
Not quite.. if you want a Mondeo size car, I'd definitely look at a Honda Accord if I were you. Really reliable!
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Accord driver here, and I can vouch for the above :D

Though I have a gen 7 which will set you back at £2500+ (and definately not a banger ;) )

Can't comment on the gen 6 cars but i've seen many with 150k plus on the clock so on that basis a well maintained car will see you for a long while....And you can pick them up for £500-600
 
james1985 said:
I have a 2002 Hyundai Accent at the moment, one owner from new, he bought it 2002, had it serviced every year and traded it back in with us again earlier this year. I paid £400 for it, its Mot'd and taxed, does 51mpg on my 2 hour commute and is comfy with a good stereo. These are very reliable and the parts are so cheap. I am saving £6-8k a year over running my old V8 daily so I can now justify buying a retro hot hatch!
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2 hour commute in a Hyundai Accent, dear god, think i'd rather hang myself.

No problem with saving money, but it must be worth spending a few hundred more per year not to drive a total and utter steaming pile of a car.

For example a B5 TDI Passat, or Mondeo will cost about £500 more to buy and be a much much better place to sit.
 
Almost certainly not the answer you are looking for...:p

But the first thought that occurred to me on reading the OP was...

An Air cooled VW Beetle!

They are pretty indestructible, All you have to do is put oil in it!

(Even if the fanbelt fails and they overheat it is generally a rather gentle affair! They just stop and are usually fine once they have cooled down again)

If you wanted to make it really idiot proof you could wire up a relay that cut the ignition if the oil light stayed on for more than a couple of seconds!
 
Question for those running one - how well do 1.8-2.0 Mondeos fair at 10-12 years old? Are they well built? I haven't been in one for years but a lot of the ones I see around the place look fairly scruffy.
 
Off to see an 04 plate 2.0 Mondeo Ghia with 130k on the clock for £650, 9 mth tax and 11mth MOT . Anything to look out for?
 
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