THE cheapest car to buy, insure, run and repair?

Jimbo Mahoney

Jimbo Mahoney

Jimbo Mahoney

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18 Oct 2002
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Until I have money to burn (which could well be never), I am a big believer in a car is something that takes me from A to B.

I currently drive a 1994 306 DTurbo with 140k on the clock. It's pretty cheap to run (being diesel), insure (being diesel) but I can feel the onset of repairs costing more and more....

When the time finally comes to swap to something else, what should it be?

I'm thinking something like a 3 - 5 year old mass produced Japanese car? Or maybe a Ford (for purchase price and parts availability reasons). My instinct would lead to me to a Ford Mondeo (eurgh) or a Toyota Corolla...

What do you guys reckon?
 
The Mondeo's are cheap in that they are very reliable and cheap to fix if something does go wrong. However, they don't offer very-small car levels of ownership cost unless you do low mileage - tyres are £50+ each, they'll do 25-30mpg around town, if you do under 10k this is no problem but more than that and it can mount up.
 
Surely something like a Daewoo Matiz 890cc, Fiat Chinquento 900cc, etc

They're all group 1, have tiny engines that use little fuel, tyres cost <£30 each, etc

They're not all that nice though
 
Depends how much you are willing to sacrafice.

If you PURELY want A to B and nothing more, then perhaps a Matiz is the way forward. However its only redeeming feature is that its cheap to run. It is without question a terrible car in every other way - even the fact that you still need a couple of grand just to buy one of the horrid things.

Quite why my grandmother insists on buying a BRAND NEW one every 2 years is beyond me.
 
Oh, I agree with you. It really isn't a nice car

How about a Citroen C1/Peugeot 107/Toyo Aygo (same car underneath). These are very cheap to insure and run (AFAIK the Citroen is cheapest to buy) but not at all nasty

They haven't been on sale for long though
 
ajgoodfellow said:
How about a Citroen C1/Peugeot 107/Toyo Aygo (same car underneath). These are very cheap to insure and run (AFAIK the Citroen is cheapest to buy) but not at all nasty

They haven't been on sale for long though
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Problem with those is they cost £6-7k. So yes, it'll cost pennies to run. Which is great. But it'll cost seven grand just to buy the thing.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Quite why my grandmother insists on buying a BRAND NEW one every 2 years is beyond me.
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Isn't that grounds for declaring someone insane? :)

If you want cheap to run/fix/insure, then a 2CV would be a half-decent bet. Mechanical simplicity of cutlery, nothing to go wrong at all, uses no fuel and you can pick up a fully working, taxed and MOT'd example cheap. Not the most stable vehicle in a cross-wind, and slower than Fox's grandmother's car-buying thought process apparently, but fine for driving between points A and B.

Note that the above recommendation is only half-serious. I just happen to like the 2CV for it's endearingly simple nature, and the fact that they are a huge giggle to drive flat out. Well.....at ~60mph. Downhill. With a following wind. Slipstreaming a truck convoy.
 
The Hyundai Atoz + or Amica GSI are deacent enough cars, both are 1ltr, have excellent fuel economy, low insurance and tax. These particular models come with electric windows, air conditioning, alloy wheels etc. My brother drives an Atoz+ (replacing it shortly for something bigger) and has never had any major problems with it. It's not the worst 1ltr on the road either (happily sits at 70-80mph on the motorway with little fuss) and compared to the Matiz they are much better cars.
 
[TW]Fox said:
She wants another one. I dispair I really do.
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*Sigh* Some people really are beyond help regarding cars. I often wonder why the Matiz advertising slogan isn't "Slightly better than the bus, or stabbing yourself repeatedly with a rusty fork!"....at least it would have some measure of truth to it.
 
fiat chinqo
i payed 200 for mine + £90 for a gearbox seal thing. its lasted 3 years ith just a new radiator, 2 * front pads, 2 * front tyres and a gear cable. reliable and cheap to run, repair, insure, fuell ect. no street cred though.
 
vauxhall and fords will be cheaper to repair than most others, japanese things need less repairs, but if they do go wrong they can cost more.

i would probably say a corsa 1.5 (or is it 1.4?) CDTI would be cheap and get high mpg from its 1500cc 16v diesel. there are other cars with 1.4 and 1.5 cdti engines as well.
 
Jimbo Mahoney said:
I currently drive a 1994 306 DTurbo with 140k on the clock. It's pretty cheap to run (being diesel), insure (being diesel) but I can feel the onset of repairs costing more and more....
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Lets compare repair costs jimbo :) Mine has just passed 142k and it wants new stuff monthly!
 
Hyundai Accent

Ive got a couple of friends who bought these while returning to full time education. You can buy a 2000/2001 model for under a grand, give you over 45mpg and are about insurance group 4. They were reliable and extremely cheap to run from what they said.

However they were boring, unrefined, cheaply made and have little to no resale value.
 
How about a Volvo 440? Many Volvo owners will buy the thing brand new and foret to change their cars for 15 years and when it ticks over a certain mileage, they wander down to Volvo and buy another, just a newer version. You could pick up a 440 for next to nothing, pretty wll built, not very complex and will generally have mega service history and have wanted for nothing
 
A friend used to drive "cashpoint" cars. He would watch the adverts in the local paper for a small cars with 12 months MOT/Tax that cost less than he could withdraw from the cashpoint (was £100 at the time :)) . If it was any good he would buy it and drive it for the year , if it then failed the MOT he would scrap it and buy another.

He reckoned £100 for 12 months motoring was a good deal :D
 
Zip said:
Go buy a moped :p
I dont think you could get much cheaper :D
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True :D

Just watch the tyre and servicing costs - I don't normally service mine myself because it's a fiddly pain in the *** so that's £80 and the tyre change costs about £100 because the back of the bike has to be stripped to get the back wheel off.

Other than that 85+mpg, £15 tax, £160 insurance with business calls and no traffic :cool:
 
Or there's the classic car route. Pick up a rough 100E, Mk1 Cortina, or some other small older 60's Ford because of the cheap parts and strong body. Spend £150 on new brakes and new engine electrics (points, etc) and hey presto a cheap fully patina'd cool runabout. 35mpg, cheap insurance, it won't break down if you've changed the electics as above, it'll never fail an MOT and you get free tax. Plus you'll sell it for more than you paid for it! Any of the non-sidevalve ones can do 100mph and tuning goodies are abundant and cheap.
 
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