Cheap Motoring

[mad al 146]

Well it is if you have a bit of space and can use some spanners. We bought a 1997 Daihatsu Charade 1.3 GLXi in 2000 for about £3,500 and our old banger.

It had a little over 30,000 on the clock with one previous owner.

It now has 107,000 miles on it and the only "new" parts bought over and above two cam belts and service bits have been an exhaust system and front pads. All the work apart from the cam belts has been done by yours truly. Now being familiar with the cost of Jap car parts prompted me to do something when a strange sound started to raise it's head in the top mount of a front suspension leg.

Last year I came across an identical car on eeekbay, two years newer, 47,000 miles on it, taxed, tested but had a noisy engine, I paid between two and three hundred quid for it (can't remember the exact amount........alzeimers, you know Kay ) and that was delivered to my door.

Changed the whole front suspension set up, you'd be talking £K's at a dealer and this morning the car decided to dump the contents of the radiator overnight, so took the rad and fan out of the spare car and fitted that straight in the cost of the rad alone is £121 and that is not a genuine replacement

The car, even these days returns 45mpg (not with me driving ), is low tax and by doing what I do costs hardly anything to run compared to the rest of the 4X4 taxis around here. Although it has depreciated a lot in seven years £31/2K to a couple of hundred quid, it has been worth every penny.

 

 

Anyone else do this or does everyone get ripped off at the garage?

[Guest little lurcher]

my dad is a scarp man dealing in cars and scrap metal , hence why i have a isuzi trooper standing me in at with full service and filter changes at less than £400!!! ideal for having a look aout wth the dogs in , dont matter if it gets filthy either? diesel comes from either the scappers in the yard or veg oil and derv mix from tescos!!! its on garage fuel cheaper than my focus c-max was so can imagine how much cheaper it is with veg oil and freebies!! i have a brand spanking new astra with 120 miles on the clock sat in the car park , had it over a month and have driven it 3 times!! prefer my old trooper

[mad al 146]

my dad is a scarp man dealing in cars and scrap metal , hence why i have a isuzi trooper standing me in at with full service and filter changes at less than £400!!! ideal for having a look aout wth the dogs in , dont matter if it gets filthy either? diesel comes from either the scappers in the yard or veg oil and derv mix from tescos!!! its on garage fuel cheaper than my focus c-max was so can imagine how much cheaper it is with veg oil and freebies!! i have a brand spanking new astra with 120 miles on the clock sat in the car park , had it over a month and have driven it 3 times!! prefer my old trooper

 

 

Yep the new car thing is such a con and like you say "prefer my old trooper" , I think that diesel vehicles being forced onto jo public was one of the biggest cons in motoring history , now that just about every one and their family's family has one they are starting to feel the pinch, or should that be stranglehold

Edited February 29, 2008 by mad al