Anyone seriously tried "Bangernomics" as transport

Idly surfing the web (as you do), when I came accross a site extolling the virtues of Bangernomics - basically buying old but sound (often unpopular) cars and running them into the ground. Obviously you need to be handy with a spanner (and a welder ideally), but just wondered if anyone had seriously tried the approach for their main form of transport?

This site was the best one I found on the subject:
http://bangernomics.tripod.com/intro.htm

….but interested to hear other peoples experiences of trying this.

Interestingly 20V Audi's from the late 80's / early nineties seem to be a good choice for the "Uberbanger" without having to slum it too much.

Seems the good ole Mk2 VW Polo's are THE cars if you need a banger on a budget - they have so much seam sealer on them they aparently never rust to any great degree and are built like small tanks. Have to say I can vouch for this having had a D-reg Polo I put about 50K miles on in 2 years…. and was still going strong when I sold it with over 140K on the clock with no rust at all. Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, but I guess you don't buy then for the performance!

The key seems to be getting something that qualifies for classic insurance as well.

Not truly in the spirit of Bangernomics, but I am seriously considering a pre '92 Merc estate - prices are rock bottom for the w124 cars (Nice ones only fetch around ?3-4K, average ones far less, and quite DIY friendly), with cheap parts from the likes of GSF as a runner its tempting as the classic insurance is no more than the Campaign….. Quite like the w123 pre '86 estate cars as they look a bit more classic, but values already seem to be on the up for them as recognised classics.

So anyone tried the murky art of Bangernomics and care to share their experiences?

Chris

Yep. Works great. I must save thousands, by refusing to spend more than ?1000 when buying a car. Unfortunately, I now have 3.

My wife thinks thats what i'm doing with my golf 8O

Seriouly though I seen a few car recently that don't count as bangers but are excellent cars, R 1998 Passat 1.8 20v 53000, ?2400. S reg Vectra SRi 63000 miles ?1600. So older cars unwanted models must be very low.

I ran Hillman imp for a year did 10,000 miles and the car cost ?300 + a new exhaust ?20. cheapest years motoring i've ever had.

If a cars over 15 years old you can get classic insurance :wink:

I work to the rule, 10 miles for every pound spent on maintenance.. If you get tax with a car it's a discountable perk.

So…

My latest aquasition.

1992 Ford Sierra 2.0 Ghia Auto.

Swapped for an unroadworthy capri ~value ?280. Sierra came with 5 months tax so subtract  ~?80.

Therefore car = ?200, times 10 to get the mileage required = 2000 miles…

Cool, done 500 in 2 weeks!

MOT in 6 weeks though, looking at a new exhaust ?100 ( 1000 miles ) and front brakes ?50 ( 500 miles ) MOT fee is not applied in my calculations..

So 3500 need to be covered to break even.

Then if I sell I could get a posetive figure which is passed on to the next car, or a loss passed on ot the next car.. I am unfortunatly suffering a 1200 mile loss on the sierra due to the previous car looosing money….


My MAIN car is a volvo 850 T5, it curently needs to have covered 32k but is now laid up with a smokey turbo after just 12K. And it's value is only ?900 now.. so would be a 9000 mile loss if it was not fixed ( ?400 4000k) and put back into service…

Sounding complex???


My advice is to do it but stick with a car modle you know, break it up when your done and stash the spares for the next one.

TT

Unfortunatly for me I have to buy a car i like, Old and not wanted not a problem, but ugly I can't do. Your T5 sounds nice. on your calculation my golf need to do 18000, which equates to 3 years driving……bargain 3000 down already 6 months. oh new tiyres all round ?200 so add another 2000 miles

I like your style makes it worth while :wink:

Interesting details there twin turbo. I am quite tempted to stick with the VAG group, especially the Audi's as pre '92 cars are widely available with galvanised bodies so corrosion should be less of an issue.

They also use pretty standard fare VW engines and gearboxes with reasonable spares support from the likes of GSF.

I am still very tempted by the W123 & W124 Merc estates though as these are not much more expensive, and reading around people never seem to have a bad word for them. W124's in the small ads and autotrader from anywhere between ?500 and ?4K. Some specialist dealers have really nice cars that seem to sell for not much money with guarantees. Saw a lovely '91 silver W124 with the 3 liter 24V 6 cyl petrol engine, sports auto, eleccy everything and black leather went for just over ?3K with 150K miles on the clock.

I got a quote to insure one of these on a classic policy and it was only about 350 quid fully comp, with FJ - only about 50 more than my Mk1.

Consensus seems to be the W124 E class was probably one of the best engineered cars MB made, before they started farming production out and the Daimler-Chrysler "merger".

Again the likes of GSF have good spares support at similar prices to their VAG / BMW for the mercs so if you DIY running costs should be similar.

With a car like the Benz I figure at the sub ?3K mark even if it gives up the cost I should get a large part of the money back just by breaking it for spares.

As I'm getting to be an older git the insurance seems to be the about the same whatever I have (barring exotics), so why not get a bit of quality / luxury  :wink: . An MB estate will be a good car for lugging stuff about and also a good tow car if needed, and they say you should try at least one MB during your lifetime  :mrgreen:

Saab 9000 is also a tempting choice - again well built with some fairly quick ones out there for peanuts.

Still, I think true bangernomics is in the sub ?1K category, so that might rule out anything too tasty!

Chris

Been working this way for a while …

'87 BMW 518i - ?70 + ?30 in parts to fix leaky exhaust manifold - 5k Miles - sold for ?300 - 7000 miles up

'89 Merc 300CE - ?950 - sold aftermarket wheels and tyres ?375 - had original set refurbed for ?120 - sold radio for ?100 and fitted ?18 CD back unit.  Did about 20K in it and sold for ?821 - Maintenance costs were about ?350 - 25500 miles up on that one

Current banger - 94 Pug 405 D Estate ?250 - Spent about ?350 on maintenance - Done 15K so far - 9000 miles up so far

Giving me a running total of 41500 miles up - well over 2 years motoring  

Im thinking about getting something banger ish, you seem to be able to get reasonable mondeos or things like that for about ?500 and there are always loads of them in the scrappies.

I usually think I have been violated if I spend more than ?500 on a car - I never spend more than ?1000 on one.  Reason?  Well I bought a brand new Citroen Saxo a few years ago and spent loads and loads in finance, servicing, etc, etc, etc and vowed I would NEVER make that mistake again.

I've had all kinds of interesting cars, early '90's Lancia and Alfa Romeo make good buys, as do '80's Volkswagens.  At TSR the other day there was a BMW 520i for ?450 which looked to be in good condition and would probably have given a few good years of service without much major expense.

Mind you, cheap cars are good but free cars are even better!!

Saab 9000.

Did you knwo that it's basical a Lancia Theama/Fiat Croma… The doors are the same!!

Personaly bangernomics for me is in the sub ?1k catagory, if your thinking of 4k then you can buy a brand new car for that money..

If you buy a ?3K car and its trouble then thats 3k stuck in an investment..

If you buy a ?300 car and its trouble then that a car to the scrapper…


We are now at a point in time where cars on the road don't generaly suffer from terminal corrosion. They are also generaly mechanicaly well engineerd too. This means that cars are lasting a lot longer, driving prices down down down..

It used to be the case that any solid running car without an MOT was worth ?300-?400.. Now the lack of an MOT makes a budget car virtualy worthless..

TT

I paid ?50 for a 1994 Mondeo TD last August. It was tatty, pink, got 155k on the clock, overdue a belt change and came with 3 months MOT.
I spent nearly ?100 on a cambelt kit, new battery and service items. It needed a new wishbone (supplied with car), a couple of rear arb links and a couple of brake pipes for a new MOT.
I've now covered over 8000 miles in it, including a 1500 mile round trip to Scotland at christmas, and it hasn't let me down once, ok the washers froze at -13 but I'll forgive that one. All in it owes me ?250 which is probably what I'll get when I sell it in the spring, so that should be near enough 10,000 miles free motoring  

Steve_Matthews said

Well I bought a brand new Citroen Saxo

You just went down a notch in my estimations  

Steve_Matthews said

and vowed I would NEVER make that mistake again.

At least you learnt by your mistakes

I'm not even going to try working this out.. probably around 600000miles down  :cry:

The governmetn realy should star to seriously look at reducing the number of new cars sold each year.

Hundreds of still useable cars are just being thrown away.

A tax insentive to keep older cars going would be great.

The manufacturers will tell you that modern cars are greener and more efficient…. But it takes vast amounts of energy and resources to build every new car.

TT

The one big problem with bangernomics is knowing when to cut and run…

Do you spend ?250 on a clutch change? or just buy another UNKNOWN banger… you have to be able to envisage how much life you think you may get out of the car once it's fixed…

TT

No - you spent ?40 on a clutch kit and fit it yourself.

The key to bangernomics is seeing a car as a piece of metal, glass, plastic, rubber and cloth - you can't afford to get attached.

Ermm, yeah… I tend to leave the golf to the garage… But they have quoted me ?120+vat just for a set of valves and head gasket set!! ECP do it for ?70…. I think they are rapidly loosing my business..

I am attached to one car, had it 11 years and 5 of them it's been sitting in the garage ocasionaly getting worked on.

I won't let the wife get rid of the golf…

The volvo owes me too much for me to cut my losses at the moment.. If it was only a couple of hundred pounds lost I could hapily see it go.. Although it is ENORMOUS fun… Makes little peugot 106 drivers fume when an old volvo can keep up and then fly past Wolf in sheeps cloathing the T5…

TT

check out my ?35 bargain with 6months mot FSH and a webber to boot

just annoys me that i paid ?90 for tax :cry:   came without alloys but need some street cred.

Cool, did it have the alloys on too!

Bargin anyway…

TT

That'll do nicely!!

My Mars Red Mk1 Golf is a little different to my other cars - it gets lavished with no expense spared…

I bought a 1993 astra convertible 9 months ago for ?850 with 12 months mot and 6 months tax.  Wanted a run around so I could garage my mk1.  Just sold it this week for ?1000.  I spent ?40 on a battery and ?90 odd on 6 months tax.  Tax is not part of the sale so can claim half of it back!  Never had it serviced or needed tyres etc.  9 months free motoring!!