Which budget buy?

[Bollotti]

Hi

I am in need of a runaround and have a hankering for something a little different.

I have a Land Rover Defender 110 as my family car, as I have 4 kids. However for most days, I only need a 4 seater. In these tough economic times, I am looking for the following:

1) Minimum of 4 seats
2) Cheap to buy (sub £1,000.00 preferably a lot less)
3) Economic to run (petrol, diesel, LPG, not fussed)
4) Cheap to insure
5) Good parts avaiablity
6) Easy to maintain
7) a "Classic" possibly a sleeper, which is currently out of fashion

Now I have had many classic cars that I have run in the past, MG's (Midget, BGT), Stag, Saab (95 and 90), Mercedes S500, various Range Rovers and Land Rovers.

I am thinking along the lines of something from the 1980's. Maybe a Rover SD1 diesel or Mercedes 190D or 240D.

Has anyone any suggestions or comments on my initial choices?

[M Paul Lloyd]

A difficult one to answer, after all one persons dream car is someone elses shed...
but for what it is worth I would consider the following.

Volvo 240 ?
Austin Montego
SAAB 900 (non turbo)
BMW 325 (bit over budget)
Vauxhall Carlton (not the Lotus version)

[Bollotti]

Funnily enough I have been looking at Volvo 240's, as they seem to age really well. My dad had a 340 and the bodywork was in excellent condition for the 15 years he had it. I did rule them out though on fuel economy. I think my Land Rover would be better on the juice.

I did look on ebay for a MG Metro, but they seem to be thin on the ground, and the ones for sale were low minters at over £2,000.

I did fancy a mini, but the prices are way too high.

[MG Mal]

I did fancy a mini, but the prices are way too high.

Go for the Metro.
1275, 3 or 5 door, more room cheaper to run, and get a good un and there worth there wieght. and only increase in value.

MG's MG Turbo's and VP's come at decent mney mint, but still under a grand for most.

They rot just like mini's so it cant be used as an excuse, plenty parts available, and cheaper tha mini's.

Fun to drive mega cheap to run and service, and insure.

Plenty about, up coming collectable so a good investment too if you keep a good one good for long enough.

Insurance companies recognise them as classics too.

[rich.]

nissan sunny diesel, brilliant little cars...

[SirTainleyBarking]

I did fancy a mini, but the prices are way too high.

Go for the Metro.
1275, 3 or 5 door, more room cheaper to run, and get a good un and there worth there wieght. and only increase in value.

MG's MG Turbo's and VP's come at decent mney mint, but still under a grand for most.

They rot just like mini's so it cant be used as an excuse, plenty parts available, and cheaper tha mini's.

Fun to drive mega cheap to run and service, and insure.

Plenty about, up coming collectable so a good investment too if you keep a good one good for long enough.

Insurance companies recognise them as classics too.

I used to thrash a Rover 115SLD 200 miles a day for work. Bought at 55K, crashed it 100000 later. Compared to a landrover or another big car its a hoot to drive. Yes they do rot, weak spots mechanically are the rear suspension arm bearings, and other odds and sods. A nice little ride

[JPB]

....I used to thrash a Rover 115SLD 200 miles a day for work.........A nice little ride

And the ideal car for business use if your employer pays by the standard capacity allowance scale since 1500cc is in the biggest group, so gets you the highest level of expenses, but the car has a sub-1549cc engine, so if you have to pay for tax, it's in the cheaper band of the pre-2001 VED rates and it should use far less fuel than anything else of that engine size. The little Peugeot engine doesn't mind a drop of veggie either, so I'm told by colleagues who run them for all of the above reasons.
Yes, good call.

[Bollotti]

Yes, that is a good call. Any other suggestions, as my other half does not like metros (although I do).

Any body running anything slightly bigger, but with LPG? I do not know anyone running a LPG car, so would be interested in peoples comments.

This of course opens up large luxury cars. I have previously run a Mercedes 500 SE, which was a beautiful a car and very reliable (if a little thirsty on the juice).

I really fancy a Rover SD1, or possible the later 827, which seem to be very good value of money.

Currently going through a British faze in my car ownership, after several years with Mercedes.

[MG Mal]

827's work well on lpg if fitted properly.

I know of a few guys on www.rover800.info that run lpg 800's .

Mal.

[TerryG]

I run a Range Rover with LPG. If anything it runs smoother on Gas than Petrol. It DEFINITELY gets better emissions on Gas.
My last LPG RR it felt slightly down on power with gas but would still tow my mog on a trailer at "motorway speed" up hills with no problem. This one i don't feel any drop in power when i hit the switch. I think that is because my new one has a closed loop system so it uses a lambda to get the mixture spot on where as the old open loop "carb" style system always felt like it was too rich or too lean no matter how i set it up.

If you are looking at a "modern classic" with a proper fuel injection system you can get a multi-point LPG system which is much more efficient than the "old" vapouriser style ones for the right car.
http://www.tinleytech.co.uk/ these people supply every LPG bit you can imagine
http://www.lpgforum.co.uk/ the best place on the interweb for advice on lpg, fitting, problem solving, etc.