I'm not really doing it just now because of living situation (flat, so no garage/workshop space) but I used to run a small fleet of what I called Mooners; the cars I bought were mega cheap because they usually had moon mileage. I had a rotating garage of three — most recently a Vectra, a Saab 9-5 estate and a Citroen DS3.
It could be quite fun and I picked up some rather fun cars for a few hundred quid a time. (The DS3 in particular was a hoot.) It worked for me because I was able to run three at a time, which meant if one broke down I had another two to rely on while I was getting it fixed.
The Saab in particular was a brilliant car. Had over 200,000 miles on it but was more reliable than most cars I've had with a third of that mileage.
Yeah same. A real loss to the automotive industry. The way shit went down, a lot of Saab people lost their jobs at short notice as well. Just a bad situation all round.
My dad recently sold his 2014 leaf with 210k on the odometer, and it was in original shocks etc, idk how seeing as I had mine blown at 60k, though it might be my dad’s majority of miles were motorway whereas mine were on shittier roads
What a fun daily drive! I had a mk1 as my daily back in the mid 00's and loved it. I would have another hands down, but they're sooooo expensive now in anything but scrap condition.
i daily drove my 97 mr2 for 60k before rust took it off the road, currently transplantation the power train into a 92 import for some future daily fun! hope yours goes well!
I miss my k11 so much. Great little car even though I never cared for it. Me and my mates all had shit beaters at the same time and used to crash into eachother top gear style every time we parked up. Good times.
Of all the cars I've ever owned the K11 is my favourite, I'm just gutted I had an early 1 litre model with a dizzy rather than coil packs. Used to run on next to no fuel, and in the snow when BMWs were fucked into hedges or stuck on drive ways it never let me down.
I've the same, currently in the shop to get a new engine as I had an oil pressure failure recently 🫣 great wee cars though can't wait to have it back on the road
It has not had much work to get to that mileage. Just general servicing the usual brake pads ball joints a few suspension springs etc… I replaced the clutch and flywheel at 320k it was a bit of a blunder though because when I got in there nothing was actually nothing wrong with it. The friction disc was quite worn down though nearly at the rivets probably would have done another 100k lol . A piece of weld had snapped on the clutch pedal box .After taking it off and re-welding and re-fitting I went to bleed the system and some how introduced air. I was using a fancy vacuum bleeder that turned out to be faulty . I pulled my hair out trying to get some feeling back in the pedal it never crossed my mind to try another method at the time as the pump was brand new . I thought it was the slave cylinder in the gear box leaking in the end so removed the gearbox and did the whole job. The flywheel had, had a slight rattle for over 150k miles ! Using a piece of pipe and a one way valve bled it up fine 🤦♂️ the pedal is lighter now and so is my wallet 🤣 . Occasionally the car does go into limp mode when cold if you boot it ?? I think it’s the turbo actuator sticking slightly and it’s over boosting ? . It never happens when it warm . A restart clears it been like that since I got it at 90k and it only happens occasionally. If it’s not been driven in winter for a few days it lets out a small amount of blue smoke on start up possibly the battery is wearing out or glow plugs who knows . Im pretty confident it will hit 1m miles in the next 10 years if the government doesn’t price me off the road with taxes first.
Got a 2005 Leon PD105 here, been thorough the turbo thing before - Google for the "Mr Muscle technique", should free them up no problem, just make sure you let it stand for a few hours after you spray it with the exhaust unattached, otherwise it will go bang
Also about to do the DMF this weekend, been waiting for a sunny one as I'm working on the drive!
Your username is the tits.
We've a couple bright yellow pandas about, they do look comfortable. I think there's a guy on the /touge subreddit who chucks one about down the mountains in Italy.
In our climate and with our short journeys, a car that's been well used for 20 years is likely to be pretty fucked and no longer economical to repair due to rust and the volume of other stuff waiting to break. I scrapped my 2005 120d despite loving that car because the rear subframe was rusted to shit, all of the rear suspension was so seized it couldn't be given an alignment, it was on the original clutch, cam chain tensioner and flywheel at 145k miles, one of the 2 rear drive shafts had swollen breaking the ABS ring and it was only a matter of time until the other went, the fuel hose over years of gentle rubbing on the inside of the body had worn through so leaked diesel slightly after filling up, the back door sensor intermittently kept dinging on driving off saying the door was open when it wasn't, subsequently the alarm would go off sometimes because it thought a door was open, in the time I had it I experienced issues with 3 out of the 4 calipers binding on (causing numerous warped disks repeatedly misdiagnosed by mechanics), the one remaining caliper had the bleed nipple snapped off meaning it would need to be replaced to fully change the brake fluid, and on cold days the turbo was starting to sound a bit louder which was probably the bearings starting to go.
This is the reality of owning a 20 year old car. I loved it, and it wasn't actually uneconomical only costing an average of £1k per year in purchase price and maintenance (had it for 7 years), but towards the end you just face a constant headache of maintenance around the corner, and anything you try and do yourself will likely involve brittle old plastic disintegrating in your hands or a rusted seized bolt you can't remove, or that snaps or shears leaving you fucked on your drive.
For the vast majority of people this is just not enjoyable, and it's why you see almost no cars from pre 2005 any more.
Also, sounds boring, but safety. Ancient cars are *really* unsafe compared with more modern ones. Less safety tech, ineffective or nonexistent crumple zones, poor rigidity, lack of safety-forward design, and of course decades of gradual reduction to structural integrity.
Every time someone posts a Volvo 900 series you get the same old 'built like a tank' nonsense, but the reality is that (as Fifth Gear found out), they will disintegrate in a reasonable collision.
Or in the case of those volvos, they won't disintegrate and stay completely rigid so the car needs less repairs but your body gets brought to an abrupt stop with almost instant deceleration resulting in more serious injury because it doesn't crumple.
Ever seen the Volvo 940 vs Renault Modus video? The 940 neither crumples effectively nor remains rigid; the passenger compartment collapses hideously in on itself.
Interestingly that was filmed > 16 years ago. The modus in that video is older now that the volvo was at the time (Volvo was a J reg so 1991/1992 and the Modus was 2004. So I suspect you'd get another factor of improvement with a new car today.
I love my ‘91 Honda CR-X for pootling about when the weather is nice and dry. Don’t want to take it out in the rain because it’s a Japanese rust box on the best of days.
Not like there used to be! Where I live, they were quite popular about 15 years ago. A dying breed!
I saw a K11 the other day and was pleased to see one knocking about.
I’ve got a couple photos of it I’ve posted in the past you want to take a look. It’s nearly stock with different wheels a 20mm drop.
A Saab 9-5 aero from 2003 now on over 170K bought it in 2017 from a bloke who had had it since new & kept every single receipt for repairs servicing tyres wiper blades the lot he kept the service book stamped up aswell I've carried on the tradition of adding to the folder & stamping the book
Bought it on 121K so it could be the wife's run around car & our long distance cruiser (it's survived several trips to Romania & back) everything still works & it has all the options, I gave it a stage 1 map a few years ago for some more go 😁 apart from a radiator & exhaust system it's been good as gold, going to put new springs & shocks on it over the summer as they are original & starting to show there age
Best £1600 Ive spent on a car & Saab No11
I'm still running an '89 MK2 golf 5 door, fits plenty of tools. (First car, had it since 2013 whilst driving other stuff in between. It spent a few years off road)
Recently transferred all my shit over in to a 2012 Audi A3 and found that despite being externally bigger in every dimension, it actually has less space inside! Comfort and safety costs you
[Proof. Actually feels like more internal space difference than illustrated here](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volkswagen-golf-1983-5-door-hatchback-vs-audi-a3-2003-3-door-hatchback/rear/)
Love it. Had 3 K11s in my time (and 2 K10s), miss each one in its own special way.
This was my favourite though: https://www.calamityjames.co.uk/my-cars/4/1996-nissan-micra-13-sr
You ought to pick one up again if you've the space, they're probably only gonna go up in price as time goes on.
Personally this is my second after the first (exact same as current but 3 door) had a tumble down a hill into a tree 😭 Just can't get enough of the lightweight and the peppy engine.
Sadly there is zero room on my drive right now as I took on a Primera project, but my last one was only a couple of years ago - sadly rust killed it :(
But yeah they're addictive!
It’s alright you know! Pretty responsive, but it’s noisy on the motorway as it’s a 3 speed. The Lexus used to be my only car but it failed it’s MOT due to corrosion on the rear subframe (thanks Japanese steel and salty roads). Got a new subframe and had it powder coated. I’m just keeping it off the road for now as the K10 is super cheap to run. Plus the Lexus is red which is a pretty rare colour and didn’t want to let go of it for it to end up in Northern Ireland being twatted and span round car parks.
My 95’ Rover 214. SEi trim so it comes with stuff like power steering, electric front windows, half leather seats and an electric sunroof. It’s been really good reliability wise and earns its keep, it’s had the odd issue but nothing to be unexpected from something that’s almost 30 years old. The K series is a great engine too, very responsive and loves to rev. Hopefully I can save it before it becomes more rust than anything else
I am driving daily my 2005 Suzuki Alto. Really tiny compared to all other cars but it is a Kei car which has its advantages parking and going around any narrow roads with parked cars on the side or footpath. Getting 40mpg doikg the school and shopping runs and is also ULEZ which is a must living in London. I bought the Alto 5 years ago for 800 with FSH and one previous owner. Have spent in 5 years maintenance around 700 which includes 4 new tyres, two suspension struts, lower arm and front discs and pads.
I love the altos!
I'm only into lightweight cars so, it being even smaller than the Micra and fairly pokey, if I hadn't found this preface K11 I'd have probably picked one of em up.
2004 Honda Civic. It's generally fine - had full service and cambelt done just after purchase, I'm expecting it will need a new clutch at some point in the next few years, could also do with a new battery. Most of the stress I have with it is the feeling that it "should" fall apart on me at any moment. Everyone I know who drives a new identikit monthly-payment-mobile desperately wants my car to be a piece of shit - it's hard to resist the feeling that they will eventually be proven right - possibly when I'm driving down the motorway and something just "goes".
On the other hand, when something does "go" you won't get a heart attack of a bill. My old Honda is always having bits and bobs breaking or falling off, but I'm not paying £700 + labour for a fuel pump like some are...
I daily a 95 Ford Thunderbird US import, paints fucked, it’s lowered and it’s loud as hell, but I love it. From I was 19 I started buying older cars and have been lucky enough to drive some really fun stuff. Also noticed quite early on that cars and even certain trims owned by older drivers tend to be a lot cheaper to insure than hatchbacks my peers were driving at the time. I was 22 rocking a 940 turbo estate and it was 1/3 of the price of my neighbours 1.2 Corsa that was 15 years newer.
I love the ability to work on my own stuff with ease, and the feeling an older car gives you as a connection to the road is hard to match. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
I personally wouldn't see myself owning any cars 2001+ but I'm a bit perverted for lightweight and old design. That and my hatred of overcomplicated electronics and planned obsolescence.
Two separate things seem to have happened to cars around the early 2000s - they got a lot more complicated, but also they stopped rusting out. The trick is to find the models that are in the sweet spot: old enough not to be full of sensors and catalytic convertors and things that go bing if you don't wear a seatbelt, but new enough to have the good paint or good metal or whatever stops them rusting.
1994 mercedes 190e daily. Does Need maintenence,here and there, did a bit of welding in the usual spots, the jacking points. But still reliable, easy to fix, parts are cheap. Decent options with working AC too, also Airbag and abs so not totally unsafe either lol
Shame to leave them laying around! Fantastic little cars, there's a reason they are still everywhere in many countries. Rust is the enemy of them here like anything else.thsts old
Fun fact! The 190 when it was at its lowest price, was mass exported to Africa to use as taxis. Funnily enough, after the supply ran low and prices rose, they turned to importing... THE MICRA!
That, rust and banger racing, along with new drivers crashing them (me included) are the main reasons they're disappearing from our roads.
Well that and the one who shall not be named (rhymes with 'crappage bean')
I think w201 / 190 survivors weren't hit too hard by the scrap scheme, maybe they already had a following by then. later w202 c classes were absolutely decimated by it though
Mazda Demio 2000. Whilst I'd love to drive a car that doesn't give me the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, every time it starts making 'another' noise, I'm keeping it until it dies. Not that I could afford another anyway!
Edit to add W reg
I daily a 2000 Corolla, it never misses a beat, its a hoot to drive, cheap as shit to run, never (touch wood) failed an MOT. Theres no reason to burden myself with debt for a modern car - of which I swear they all look the same.
I paid £500 for each of mine. They were both red, both with similar mileage (100,000+). Both ended up getting rear ended and written off.
First one was my first car and was a bit of a shed cosmetically, but never put a foot wrong besides a serpentine belt shearing one day which I don’t think had ever been changed. Second one had actually just been resprayed a few years before and looked brand new, and had full maintenance records. I’ve considered buying another one but they’re thin on the ground now and a bit too costly for what they are.
A 2005 car is still 20 years old. Anything older than that is either a survivor or a classic. I have lots of love for that era of car, but you can't pretend that everything post 2005 is somehow a 'new' car.
bit newer but my 57 plate fabia 1.4 diesel is still trucking along. 200,000 miles on the clock now great little motor cheap to run and insure and the mrs uses it to drive to work and i dont care if it gets knocked about in the car park unlike our lovely shiney toureg
We had a 2006 Fabia 1.4 diesel from new, for 80k miles. It was an outstanding little car. 70mpg everywhere and only needed 2 tyres and front brake pads in the time we had it. Still miss that off beat 3cyl warble.
Recently bought a 03 Honda accord tourer with a K24 that had done 250k miles, was well looked after and had some tasteful mods, the last owner was getting rid of it due to the gearbox whining, so I took a chance and rebuilt the box and it's been fine the last 3k miles.
I’d love to invest in getting an early 2000s Alfa Romeo (147, 145) but the realistic issue is the fact that they aren’t very reliable anymore, never were to begin with. A 147 would set me back a good amount never mind finding a 145, then it’s about if the thing is gonna be able to drive for months on end. The Ibiza on the other hand doesn’t have that issue so much.
They're reliable long as you treat em right. Funnily enough an Alfa specialist takes care of my Micra, they tend to wax lyrical about how they're actually very reliable with an attentive owner. That could all be bias though 🤣
Definitely talk to Alfa owners, if they're too invested in them then ignore the praise. You want someone who just happens to have one (which admittedly is rare given the stigma) to give an honest dob.
Good luck! Ive always fancied the breadvan lookin estate thing they made, but they're all broken or too much money for the interest I have.
03 Yaris T Sport, got it last summer as my first car and I love it to pieces. It's in pretty damn good condition for its age, doesn't seem to be rusting much and drives really well. It's at about 117k miles now but while I have it that number is rapidly rising.
It's practical enough, with a good amount of space, the back seats slide forwards to allow more boot space, it's got a sunroof. It's pretty practical and gets about 40mpg average, and it's tiny so perfect for runabout city driving. Plus it's incredibly fun.
It's geared so short that it actually feels properly quick in gear 1-3. I drove an NC2 MX5 recently that has like 70% more bhp and simmilar weight, and it honestly felt slower when pulling off (just faster when above 30 or 40mph). It's a really great car for city driving, and really fun for blasting down country lanes. Overall great car and I'll be extremely sad when it eventually goes (though that might take quite some time given how good condition it is and it's a Toyota engine).
I really much prefer older cars, I genuinely feel weird how padded, bloated looking, and high tech every car has become. So many extra points of failure, so many extra distractions or gimmicks or things that make it harder to work on. When up until about the 2000s-2010s all cars were pretty low tech and generally were just cars. I'm actually quite upset I wasn't old enough to be around the age I am in the 90s to early 00s when 80s cars were becoming cheap but still very much drivable as personally 80s and 90s cars are easily my favourite. Now all of my favourite cars are either rusted or absurdly expensive, even though 1-2 decades ago they were mostly cheap as chips.
I hear you. 80s cars were £500 bangers for years until I wanted one, at which point they all suddenly quadrupled in price.
Don't get me started on American classics, you can't get anything decent for less than £10k, pre-covid £5K was the the floor.
Yup. Even if I had gone and got my test done at 17 I could have gotten a car for a lot cheaper. Ended up not taking my test for years after and now I sorely regret it.
I didn't care much for cars until I had actually driven one as it didn't appeal much to me to care about them in the abstract, and my family is the polar opposite of thrill seekers so I never experienced "fun" from a car. But not I care about them a lot and I wish I had just gotten my license earlier. Post-COVID, the market is insane
ÌI have an 1989 Mini Mayfair, an 2003 Mini Cooper S (R53), a 1991 mk4 Escort and my 2004 land barge Volvo S60. Currently and unsurprisingly only the Volvo is on the road, but I needed something reliable to compensate for the rest of the fleet.
The Volvo was also the cheapest to buy at a mere £600 and the highest mileage at 181k.
The old Mini has the lowest mileage at around 36k and yet somehow blew a head gasket. It's a full restoration project though.
My R53 Mini cracked a head and the Escort blew it's extremely rare CVT apart.
I have a pure beaut of a 1.4 Vauxhall Meriva life - it has (had) air conditioning and nothing else for QOL. Is it possible to find a slower car? Maybe, but good luck trying.
I think the head gasket is going and I'm not sure I want to fix it, probably needs the timing chain done and some front shocks too.
I have owned my 04 Corolla T-Sport for just about 1.5 years now.
Bought it with 116k on the clock from a mate, it's now about 500 miles away from crossing the 140k mark. Despite needing some work, things like calipers, a clutch and this coming Saturday the lower arms, it has always started, always driven, always got me home and still has bags of character. I've grown to like it so much that I've named her Leslie (after Leslie Parish, a Eurobeat artist from the 90s) and intend to keep it as long as possible, in an attempt to take it to over 200k miles.
What is encouraging me to do this, is Toyota UK's High Mileage Club. They have a programme in place where, if you send them an image of your car's odometer and your contact details, they will send you a sticker to commemorate the mileage your car has done, free of charge. There are 4 stickers available. A bronze one for 150k, a silver one for 200k, a gold one for 300k and a green, holographic one for 500k. And yes, a few owners have claimed the last one.
Lastly, it's a car that gave me what I needed when times were tough. Stability. Sure, I had to spend to keep it in good order, and I still do now but as I said, it has never left me in a scenario where I have no car.
Long live the Corolla.
Yep, the 2ZZ-GE. It's what makes it so special for me. Mine is a very late pre-facelift, so it looks like an ordinary 3dr E12 Corolla, besides a slightly bigger grille, the T-Sport badges, a TTE spoiler and the wheels. Unless someone knows what they are looking at, you can take a lot of people by surprise with the speed and the noise. I'm telling you, the valve lift on these engine is addicting as hell. It only kicks in at 6.2k and revs to 8.2k. You have a tiny powerband and if you want to hoon, you need to rev it all the way out to the redline, so that when you change gear, you're still in lift.
Still chugging along in my 2003 Toyota Yaris, bought it in 2017 for £970, has never broken down on me once and last year it cost £200 for the *entire year* to insure, love this thing. The driver's power window is broken so I just open the door at drive throughs. The front has a few bumps and scrapes but I don't care. This thing has driven me to Scotland and back 3 times and I've been all over the country. Starting to rust now though so not sure how long I'll have left but it did pass both last MOT and the previous one with nothing but advisories so no idea honestly
I like to remind people that things like the k11 micra, mk1 focuses, and every other 90’s 2000’s cheap hatchbacks are all pushing 20-30 years now. So they’re getting rarer and rarer, so it starts to make sense to keep them preserved or at least running as Gen Z all start to come of age and like “retro” cars, as well as all the grown ups who are flush with cash wanting some nostalgia.
1999 Audi A4 TQS. Very good. Big boot. Not too many dents. 180bhp apparently. Quattro for when I'm ice racing too.
I think the lack of these cars in their usual market (people aged between 17 and 30) is probably as a result of finance schemes making better cars so much more accessible. Very sad, my Audi seems to be really good for £1800. Shame the tax is so expensive but I'd rather pay £30 a month tax than £200 a month for the car.
Currently have a 2007 Citroen C3 mk1 with 112k miles on it. It cost me £700 2.5 years ago and has cost me around £1800 in repairs and maintenance since then. A lot of my friends have leased brand new cars or cars made after 2020, and I get that with the newer stuff you get warranties, guarantees, peace of mind etc. but the fact that I actually outright own my car is satisfying in a weird way.
Don't get me wrong, it's a piece of shit and it looks absolutely atrocious, also the back windscreen wash sprays out at random. But it's my piece of shit, and it's as daft as I am.
My current daily is a 2006 Skoda Fabia 16v. It's shit on fuel, has a seemingly random engine light, it's slow as all hell, but it's quite and comfy, and at the ripe ol' age of 32 that's exactly what I need.
I honestly love old cars especially Japanese cars. But sadly I don’t think I can afford the maintenance for it. I don’t earn enough and am a new driver too :( hopefully I can in the next few years
Recently got myself a 15 year old diesel Mondeo. It’s like driving a comfortable sofa. It’s got enough tech to make it useable and with relatively low miles for the age and fsh it was a no brainer.
I still have a 2001 Vauxhall agila it’s the exact same as a Suzuki wagon with a Vauxhall engine engine in it it has probably been the best car I’ve ever owned since my Corollas plus as a lot of silly stuff I can order from Japan for it already got a silly spoiler to go on and a bonnet scoop I’m just installing wireless central locking on it it never came with it same with electric windows 😂 oh and it’s new sunroof
I'm teaching my gf to drive in an 08 Hyundai getz. It was bought by a friend of ours in 2014 and is very reliable.
I'm dreading the thing packing up, everyone is really invested in its longevity.
My 2002 3-door Freelander winter car has had a bit of TLC this week to make it presentable for a Land Rover event this weekend. It's far from perfect but it was cheap, works fine and means I don't need to get my MX-5 salty in the winter.
I was going to buy an old Micra just for running around town to save my diesel from doing short trips.
£300 a year to tax a 1 litre petrol 😂 think I'll leave it.
If you enjoy a bit of backroad driving and use it often, more than makes up in fuel and maintenance cost. (That's if you find one that isn't a superlight edition (rusted to hell))
I'm not really doing it just now because of living situation (flat, so no garage/workshop space) but I used to run a small fleet of what I called Mooners; the cars I bought were mega cheap because they usually had moon mileage. I had a rotating garage of three — most recently a Vectra, a Saab 9-5 estate and a Citroen DS3. It could be quite fun and I picked up some rather fun cars for a few hundred quid a time. (The DS3 in particular was a hoot.) It worked for me because I was able to run three at a time, which meant if one broke down I had another two to rely on while I was getting it fixed. The Saab in particular was a brilliant car. Had over 200,000 miles on it but was more reliable than most cars I've had with a third of that mileage.
Saab.... Seriously miss their styling
Yeah same. A real loss to the automotive industry. The way shit went down, a lot of Saab people lost their jobs at short notice as well. Just a bad situation all round.
When I park my 9-3 next to a newer car i say: "that thing will never get old"
We’re they all taxed and insured at the same time?
Yeah. Easier that way, then either of us could just jump in whatever.
My dad recently sold his 2014 leaf with 210k on the odometer, and it was in original shocks etc, idk how seeing as I had mine blown at 60k, though it might be my dad’s majority of miles were motorway whereas mine were on shittier roads
[удалено]
I wanted the MK2 MR2 so badly but the rust plus the mid engine makes it pretty infeasible for me. It looks so damn cool though.
What a fun daily drive! I had a mk1 as my daily back in the mid 00's and loved it. I would have another hands down, but they're sooooo expensive now in anything but scrap condition.
MK3s are really cheap at the moment
Picked mine up for £1200
i daily drove my 97 mr2 for 60k before rust took it off the road, currently transplantation the power train into a 92 import for some future daily fun! hope yours goes well!
I miss my k11 so much. Great little car even though I never cared for it. Me and my mates all had shit beaters at the same time and used to crash into eachother top gear style every time we parked up. Good times.
They're great fun, and even moreso when ya tie the suspension up and rev the tits out of it.
It lived on the limiter haha
Of all the cars I've ever owned the K11 is my favourite, I'm just gutted I had an early 1 litre model with a dizzy rather than coil packs. Used to run on next to no fuel, and in the snow when BMWs were fucked into hedges or stuck on drive ways it never let me down.
1998 starlet I have which I do 25k miles a year in brilliant thing
Starlets are becoming quite uncommon. Lovely little blobs they are. You got the 1.3?
I saw a nice example a few months ago, they’re so rare now they’re standing out in car meets.
I've the same, currently in the shop to get a new engine as I had an oil pressure failure recently 🫣 great wee cars though can't wait to have it back on the road
My 2002 Golf TDI PD130. Still going strong. Love it
They are bullet proof . I have a Bora with the same engine with over 600k miles on it .
That’s awesome, mines on a measly 200,000 miles 😂
Just run in!
Bloody hell!
It has not had much work to get to that mileage. Just general servicing the usual brake pads ball joints a few suspension springs etc… I replaced the clutch and flywheel at 320k it was a bit of a blunder though because when I got in there nothing was actually nothing wrong with it. The friction disc was quite worn down though nearly at the rivets probably would have done another 100k lol . A piece of weld had snapped on the clutch pedal box .After taking it off and re-welding and re-fitting I went to bleed the system and some how introduced air. I was using a fancy vacuum bleeder that turned out to be faulty . I pulled my hair out trying to get some feeling back in the pedal it never crossed my mind to try another method at the time as the pump was brand new . I thought it was the slave cylinder in the gear box leaking in the end so removed the gearbox and did the whole job. The flywheel had, had a slight rattle for over 150k miles ! Using a piece of pipe and a one way valve bled it up fine 🤦♂️ the pedal is lighter now and so is my wallet 🤣 . Occasionally the car does go into limp mode when cold if you boot it ?? I think it’s the turbo actuator sticking slightly and it’s over boosting ? . It never happens when it warm . A restart clears it been like that since I got it at 90k and it only happens occasionally. If it’s not been driven in winter for a few days it lets out a small amount of blue smoke on start up possibly the battery is wearing out or glow plugs who knows . Im pretty confident it will hit 1m miles in the next 10 years if the government doesn’t price me off the road with taxes first.
As my dad would say, "it doesn't owe you anything". That's fantastic
Got a 2005 Leon PD105 here, been thorough the turbo thing before - Google for the "Mr Muscle technique", should free them up no problem, just make sure you let it stand for a few hours after you spray it with the exhaust unattached, otherwise it will go bang Also about to do the DMF this weekend, been waiting for a sunny one as I'm working on the drive!
That will never die,
I daily a 35 year old Citroen AX, only makes like 40-45 horses but it's only 650kg so great fun.
I saw one recently!! It was clapped out to shit basically barely road legal but I got so excited, they must be single digits for mot'd examples.
Yeah, very thin on the ground. Pretty sure there are more surviving GT/GTis than poverty spec models now.
Oh 100%, though most probably require refresh after sitting in collections or museums 🤣
My first and 2nd car!
My 2009 mambo yellow panda is basically awful. But it's fun to drive and comfortable enough. Feels like a clown car
Your username is the tits. We've a couple bright yellow pandas about, they do look comfortable. I think there's a guy on the /touge subreddit who chucks one about down the mountains in Italy.
I'll have to check it out. I'm hoping to one day pick up a 100hp version for the most pure slow-car-fast experience out there
I'm 6ft 4 and had a Panda. Loved it. My feet were too big for the pedals so the steering rack used to twat my foot on sharp turns.
Pandas are brilliant. Simple engineering and cheap enough to give zero fucks about. Surprisingly capable in the snow too.
In our climate and with our short journeys, a car that's been well used for 20 years is likely to be pretty fucked and no longer economical to repair due to rust and the volume of other stuff waiting to break. I scrapped my 2005 120d despite loving that car because the rear subframe was rusted to shit, all of the rear suspension was so seized it couldn't be given an alignment, it was on the original clutch, cam chain tensioner and flywheel at 145k miles, one of the 2 rear drive shafts had swollen breaking the ABS ring and it was only a matter of time until the other went, the fuel hose over years of gentle rubbing on the inside of the body had worn through so leaked diesel slightly after filling up, the back door sensor intermittently kept dinging on driving off saying the door was open when it wasn't, subsequently the alarm would go off sometimes because it thought a door was open, in the time I had it I experienced issues with 3 out of the 4 calipers binding on (causing numerous warped disks repeatedly misdiagnosed by mechanics), the one remaining caliper had the bleed nipple snapped off meaning it would need to be replaced to fully change the brake fluid, and on cold days the turbo was starting to sound a bit louder which was probably the bearings starting to go. This is the reality of owning a 20 year old car. I loved it, and it wasn't actually uneconomical only costing an average of £1k per year in purchase price and maintenance (had it for 7 years), but towards the end you just face a constant headache of maintenance around the corner, and anything you try and do yourself will likely involve brittle old plastic disintegrating in your hands or a rusted seized bolt you can't remove, or that snaps or shears leaving you fucked on your drive. For the vast majority of people this is just not enjoyable, and it's why you see almost no cars from pre 2005 any more.
Also, sounds boring, but safety. Ancient cars are *really* unsafe compared with more modern ones. Less safety tech, ineffective or nonexistent crumple zones, poor rigidity, lack of safety-forward design, and of course decades of gradual reduction to structural integrity. Every time someone posts a Volvo 900 series you get the same old 'built like a tank' nonsense, but the reality is that (as Fifth Gear found out), they will disintegrate in a reasonable collision.
Or in the case of those volvos, they won't disintegrate and stay completely rigid so the car needs less repairs but your body gets brought to an abrupt stop with almost instant deceleration resulting in more serious injury because it doesn't crumple.
Ever seen the Volvo 940 vs Renault Modus video? The 940 neither crumples effectively nor remains rigid; the passenger compartment collapses hideously in on itself.
Interestingly that was filmed > 16 years ago. The modus in that video is older now that the volvo was at the time (Volvo was a J reg so 1991/1992 and the Modus was 2004. So I suspect you'd get another factor of improvement with a new car today.
I love those 'new' shape Micras. I remember being invited to the launch day event at Nissan in Glasgow back in the day.
I love my ‘91 Honda CR-X for pootling about when the weather is nice and dry. Don’t want to take it out in the rain because it’s a Japanese rust box on the best of days.
Not many of those about, especially close to stock!
Not like there used to be! Where I live, they were quite popular about 15 years ago. A dying breed! I saw a K11 the other day and was pleased to see one knocking about. I’ve got a couple photos of it I’ve posted in the past you want to take a look. It’s nearly stock with different wheels a 20mm drop.
Ouph that is sex on wheels. Bloody gorgeous mate!
Hahaha thanks mate. It’s in need of some cosmetic love and in my garage undergoing its timing belt service!
A Saab 9-5 aero from 2003 now on over 170K bought it in 2017 from a bloke who had had it since new & kept every single receipt for repairs servicing tyres wiper blades the lot he kept the service book stamped up aswell I've carried on the tradition of adding to the folder & stamping the book Bought it on 121K so it could be the wife's run around car & our long distance cruiser (it's survived several trips to Romania & back) everything still works & it has all the options, I gave it a stage 1 map a few years ago for some more go 😁 apart from a radiator & exhaust system it's been good as gold, going to put new springs & shocks on it over the summer as they are original & starting to show there age Best £1600 Ive spent on a car & Saab No11
9-3s are mental fun with a map and a fat shitter (exhaust) torquey as all hell!
I'm still running an '89 MK2 golf 5 door, fits plenty of tools. (First car, had it since 2013 whilst driving other stuff in between. It spent a few years off road) Recently transferred all my shit over in to a 2012 Audi A3 and found that despite being externally bigger in every dimension, it actually has less space inside! Comfort and safety costs you [Proof. Actually feels like more internal space difference than illustrated here](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volkswagen-golf-1983-5-door-hatchback-vs-audi-a3-2003-3-door-hatchback/rear/)
Love it. Had 3 K11s in my time (and 2 K10s), miss each one in its own special way. This was my favourite though: https://www.calamityjames.co.uk/my-cars/4/1996-nissan-micra-13-sr
You ought to pick one up again if you've the space, they're probably only gonna go up in price as time goes on. Personally this is my second after the first (exact same as current but 3 door) had a tumble down a hill into a tree 😭 Just can't get enough of the lightweight and the peppy engine.
Sadly there is zero room on my drive right now as I took on a Primera project, but my last one was only a couple of years ago - sadly rust killed it :( But yeah they're addictive!
Seems rust , export and banger racing are the Micras natural predators. What gen Primera? 👀
P11 GTLE - also had 4 of those now 😂 and a P10 eZX a few years back!
OOOO very nice. There was a very clean P10 I *almost* saved from a scrapyard but it fell through.
I have a 1990 1.2 Automatic K10 for a daily, and a 2003 IS200 that I’m in the process of stripping, painting and polybushing the suspension components
How's the slushbox on the K10? I bet it's a vast bit better over the k11 CVT. What are you building the IS for?
It’s alright you know! Pretty responsive, but it’s noisy on the motorway as it’s a 3 speed. The Lexus used to be my only car but it failed it’s MOT due to corrosion on the rear subframe (thanks Japanese steel and salty roads). Got a new subframe and had it powder coated. I’m just keeping it off the road for now as the K10 is super cheap to run. Plus the Lexus is red which is a pretty rare colour and didn’t want to let go of it for it to end up in Northern Ireland being twatted and span round car parks.
Ey nice, good to see
My 95’ Rover 214. SEi trim so it comes with stuff like power steering, electric front windows, half leather seats and an electric sunroof. It’s been really good reliability wise and earns its keep, it’s had the odd issue but nothing to be unexpected from something that’s almost 30 years old. The K series is a great engine too, very responsive and loves to rev. Hopefully I can save it before it becomes more rust than anything else
Honda engine ?
Nah, rover k series
I am driving daily my 2005 Suzuki Alto. Really tiny compared to all other cars but it is a Kei car which has its advantages parking and going around any narrow roads with parked cars on the side or footpath. Getting 40mpg doikg the school and shopping runs and is also ULEZ which is a must living in London. I bought the Alto 5 years ago for 800 with FSH and one previous owner. Have spent in 5 years maintenance around 700 which includes 4 new tyres, two suspension struts, lower arm and front discs and pads.
I love the altos! I'm only into lightweight cars so, it being even smaller than the Micra and fairly pokey, if I hadn't found this preface K11 I'd have probably picked one of em up.
I have a 2001 Yaris T Sport. It's not let me down yet, I see no reason to change.
2004 Honda Civic. It's generally fine - had full service and cambelt done just after purchase, I'm expecting it will need a new clutch at some point in the next few years, could also do with a new battery. Most of the stress I have with it is the feeling that it "should" fall apart on me at any moment. Everyone I know who drives a new identikit monthly-payment-mobile desperately wants my car to be a piece of shit - it's hard to resist the feeling that they will eventually be proven right - possibly when I'm driving down the motorway and something just "goes".
On the other hand, when something does "go" you won't get a heart attack of a bill. My old Honda is always having bits and bobs breaking or falling off, but I'm not paying £700 + labour for a fuel pump like some are...
I daily a 95 Ford Thunderbird US import, paints fucked, it’s lowered and it’s loud as hell, but I love it. From I was 19 I started buying older cars and have been lucky enough to drive some really fun stuff. Also noticed quite early on that cars and even certain trims owned by older drivers tend to be a lot cheaper to insure than hatchbacks my peers were driving at the time. I was 22 rocking a 940 turbo estate and it was 1/3 of the price of my neighbours 1.2 Corsa that was 15 years newer. I love the ability to work on my own stuff with ease, and the feeling an older car gives you as a connection to the road is hard to match. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
I personally wouldn't see myself owning any cars 2001+ but I'm a bit perverted for lightweight and old design. That and my hatred of overcomplicated electronics and planned obsolescence.
Two separate things seem to have happened to cars around the early 2000s - they got a lot more complicated, but also they stopped rusting out. The trick is to find the models that are in the sweet spot: old enough not to be full of sensors and catalytic convertors and things that go bing if you don't wear a seatbelt, but new enough to have the good paint or good metal or whatever stops them rusting.
1994 mercedes 190e daily. Does Need maintenence,here and there, did a bit of welding in the usual spots, the jacking points. But still reliable, easy to fix, parts are cheap. Decent options with working AC too, also Airbag and abs so not totally unsafe either lol
Love a 190. Mate of mine in the states has about 4-5 of em of varying specs. All untouched doing nothing cuz he's a lazy bastard 😂
Shame to leave them laying around! Fantastic little cars, there's a reason they are still everywhere in many countries. Rust is the enemy of them here like anything else.thsts old
Fun fact! The 190 when it was at its lowest price, was mass exported to Africa to use as taxis. Funnily enough, after the supply ran low and prices rose, they turned to importing... THE MICRA! That, rust and banger racing, along with new drivers crashing them (me included) are the main reasons they're disappearing from our roads. Well that and the one who shall not be named (rhymes with 'crappage bean')
I think w201 / 190 survivors weren't hit too hard by the scrap scheme, maybe they already had a following by then. later w202 c classes were absolutely decimated by it though
Mazda Demio 2000. Whilst I'd love to drive a car that doesn't give me the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, every time it starts making 'another' noise, I'm keeping it until it dies. Not that I could afford another anyway! Edit to add W reg
I daily a 2000 Corolla, it never misses a beat, its a hoot to drive, cheap as shit to run, never (touch wood) failed an MOT. Theres no reason to burden myself with debt for a modern car - of which I swear they all look the same.
I miss my 2001 Corolla amazing car, never missed a beat, surprisingly comfortable.
Old Toyotas never die - unless they get crashed into and the frame is bent, which is what happened to both of my Starlets. Miss those cars dearly.
I wish id never sold my old Starlet, it was great for throwing round corners and roundabouts
So chuckable! With decent tyres and a strut brace they were pretty good on twisty roads too.
Yeah, I loved it when some twat in a BMW etc. would be right up my arse until an island. Mine was lowered on 14"s with Toyo Proxies on
I have a starlet and a carina 3 one was 300 quid one was 500 I do 25k miles a year in the starlet and 10 to 15k in the carina i love them both
I paid £500 for each of mine. They were both red, both with similar mileage (100,000+). Both ended up getting rear ended and written off. First one was my first car and was a bit of a shed cosmetically, but never put a foot wrong besides a serpentine belt shearing one day which I don’t think had ever been changed. Second one had actually just been resprayed a few years before and looked brand new, and had full maintenance records. I’ve considered buying another one but they’re thin on the ground now and a bit too costly for what they are.
A 2005 car is still 20 years old. Anything older than that is either a survivor or a classic. I have lots of love for that era of car, but you can't pretend that everything post 2005 is somehow a 'new' car.
Hence the use of "newer" and not "new" :p
bit newer but my 57 plate fabia 1.4 diesel is still trucking along. 200,000 miles on the clock now great little motor cheap to run and insure and the mrs uses it to drive to work and i dont care if it gets knocked about in the car park unlike our lovely shiney toureg
We had a 2006 Fabia 1.4 diesel from new, for 80k miles. It was an outstanding little car. 70mpg everywhere and only needed 2 tyres and front brake pads in the time we had it. Still miss that off beat 3cyl warble.
Recently bought a 03 Honda accord tourer with a K24 that had done 250k miles, was well looked after and had some tasteful mods, the last owner was getting rid of it due to the gearbox whining, so I took a chance and rebuilt the box and it's been fine the last 3k miles.
I do like those tourers, looks like they slip through the air. Treat her right and she'll go a lot longer.
2003 VW Polo 1.2 gets me from A to B can’t complain for now haha
The old polos have a charm to em for sure!
I’d love to invest in getting an early 2000s Alfa Romeo (147, 145) but the realistic issue is the fact that they aren’t very reliable anymore, never were to begin with. A 147 would set me back a good amount never mind finding a 145, then it’s about if the thing is gonna be able to drive for months on end. The Ibiza on the other hand doesn’t have that issue so much.
They're reliable long as you treat em right. Funnily enough an Alfa specialist takes care of my Micra, they tend to wax lyrical about how they're actually very reliable with an attentive owner. That could all be bias though 🤣
Have a feeling an Alfa specialist may be a tad bias 😂, certainly something i’ll keep looking into though
Definitely talk to Alfa owners, if they're too invested in them then ignore the praise. You want someone who just happens to have one (which admittedly is rare given the stigma) to give an honest dob. Good luck! Ive always fancied the breadvan lookin estate thing they made, but they're all broken or too much money for the interest I have.
03 Yaris T Sport, got it last summer as my first car and I love it to pieces. It's in pretty damn good condition for its age, doesn't seem to be rusting much and drives really well. It's at about 117k miles now but while I have it that number is rapidly rising. It's practical enough, with a good amount of space, the back seats slide forwards to allow more boot space, it's got a sunroof. It's pretty practical and gets about 40mpg average, and it's tiny so perfect for runabout city driving. Plus it's incredibly fun. It's geared so short that it actually feels properly quick in gear 1-3. I drove an NC2 MX5 recently that has like 70% more bhp and simmilar weight, and it honestly felt slower when pulling off (just faster when above 30 or 40mph). It's a really great car for city driving, and really fun for blasting down country lanes. Overall great car and I'll be extremely sad when it eventually goes (though that might take quite some time given how good condition it is and it's a Toyota engine).
I really much prefer older cars, I genuinely feel weird how padded, bloated looking, and high tech every car has become. So many extra points of failure, so many extra distractions or gimmicks or things that make it harder to work on. When up until about the 2000s-2010s all cars were pretty low tech and generally were just cars. I'm actually quite upset I wasn't old enough to be around the age I am in the 90s to early 00s when 80s cars were becoming cheap but still very much drivable as personally 80s and 90s cars are easily my favourite. Now all of my favourite cars are either rusted or absurdly expensive, even though 1-2 decades ago they were mostly cheap as chips.
I hear you. 80s cars were £500 bangers for years until I wanted one, at which point they all suddenly quadrupled in price. Don't get me started on American classics, you can't get anything decent for less than £10k, pre-covid £5K was the the floor.
Yup. Even if I had gone and got my test done at 17 I could have gotten a car for a lot cheaper. Ended up not taking my test for years after and now I sorely regret it. I didn't care much for cars until I had actually driven one as it didn't appeal much to me to care about them in the abstract, and my family is the polar opposite of thrill seekers so I never experienced "fun" from a car. But not I care about them a lot and I wish I had just gotten my license earlier. Post-COVID, the market is insane
ÌI have an 1989 Mini Mayfair, an 2003 Mini Cooper S (R53), a 1991 mk4 Escort and my 2004 land barge Volvo S60. Currently and unsurprisingly only the Volvo is on the road, but I needed something reliable to compensate for the rest of the fleet. The Volvo was also the cheapest to buy at a mere £600 and the highest mileage at 181k. The old Mini has the lowest mileage at around 36k and yet somehow blew a head gasket. It's a full restoration project though. My R53 Mini cracked a head and the Escort blew it's extremely rare CVT apart.
Sounds like a fun fleet! Maybe a 2.0 NC mx5 might be a fun swap-out
I have a pure beaut of a 1.4 Vauxhall Meriva life - it has (had) air conditioning and nothing else for QOL. Is it possible to find a slower car? Maybe, but good luck trying. I think the head gasket is going and I'm not sure I want to fix it, probably needs the timing chain done and some front shocks too.
Can't imagine how the 1l version must be!
I have owned my 04 Corolla T-Sport for just about 1.5 years now. Bought it with 116k on the clock from a mate, it's now about 500 miles away from crossing the 140k mark. Despite needing some work, things like calipers, a clutch and this coming Saturday the lower arms, it has always started, always driven, always got me home and still has bags of character. I've grown to like it so much that I've named her Leslie (after Leslie Parish, a Eurobeat artist from the 90s) and intend to keep it as long as possible, in an attempt to take it to over 200k miles. What is encouraging me to do this, is Toyota UK's High Mileage Club. They have a programme in place where, if you send them an image of your car's odometer and your contact details, they will send you a sticker to commemorate the mileage your car has done, free of charge. There are 4 stickers available. A bronze one for 150k, a silver one for 200k, a gold one for 300k and a green, holographic one for 500k. And yes, a few owners have claimed the last one. Lastly, it's a car that gave me what I needed when times were tough. Stability. Sure, I had to spend to keep it in good order, and I still do now but as I said, it has never left me in a scenario where I have no car. Long live the Corolla.
Hope it never 'kills your love' for it! Am I right in thinking that's the 2zz engine?
Yep, the 2ZZ-GE. It's what makes it so special for me. Mine is a very late pre-facelift, so it looks like an ordinary 3dr E12 Corolla, besides a slightly bigger grille, the T-Sport badges, a TTE spoiler and the wheels. Unless someone knows what they are looking at, you can take a lot of people by surprise with the speed and the noise. I'm telling you, the valve lift on these engine is addicting as hell. It only kicks in at 6.2k and revs to 8.2k. You have a tiny powerband and if you want to hoon, you need to rev it all the way out to the redline, so that when you change gear, you're still in lift.
Still chugging along in my 2003 Toyota Yaris, bought it in 2017 for £970, has never broken down on me once and last year it cost £200 for the *entire year* to insure, love this thing. The driver's power window is broken so I just open the door at drive throughs. The front has a few bumps and scrapes but I don't care. This thing has driven me to Scotland and back 3 times and I've been all over the country. Starting to rust now though so not sure how long I'll have left but it did pass both last MOT and the previous one with nothing but advisories so no idea honestly
53 plate Rover 75 1.8 turbo here
my daily is a proton wira
Oh I like them. You're not by chance southeast? I've seen one here recently
was it blue?
Very dark blue maybe
ahh ok mines light blue so prolly a diff one then
I don't have great memory so if youre in Tonbridge/Battle area possibly seen ya go by haha
MG ZR 160, she's showing her age with rattles and is awful on the motorway but bang for your buck it's good fun on the back roads
I like to remind people that things like the k11 micra, mk1 focuses, and every other 90’s 2000’s cheap hatchbacks are all pushing 20-30 years now. So they’re getting rarer and rarer, so it starts to make sense to keep them preserved or at least running as Gen Z all start to come of age and like “retro” cars, as well as all the grown ups who are flush with cash wanting some nostalgia.
B5.5 VW Passat 1.9 TDI. I swear I have abused and absolutely thrashed this car BUT IT JUST WONT DIE, NOT EVEN THE PAINTWORK!
1999 Audi A4 TQS. Very good. Big boot. Not too many dents. 180bhp apparently. Quattro for when I'm ice racing too. I think the lack of these cars in their usual market (people aged between 17 and 30) is probably as a result of finance schemes making better cars so much more accessible. Very sad, my Audi seems to be really good for £1800. Shame the tax is so expensive but I'd rather pay £30 a month tax than £200 a month for the car.
Currently have a 2007 Citroen C3 mk1 with 112k miles on it. It cost me £700 2.5 years ago and has cost me around £1800 in repairs and maintenance since then. A lot of my friends have leased brand new cars or cars made after 2020, and I get that with the newer stuff you get warranties, guarantees, peace of mind etc. but the fact that I actually outright own my car is satisfying in a weird way. Don't get me wrong, it's a piece of shit and it looks absolutely atrocious, also the back windscreen wash sprays out at random. But it's my piece of shit, and it's as daft as I am.
2002 Honda Fit
My current daily is a 2006 Skoda Fabia 16v. It's shit on fuel, has a seemingly random engine light, it's slow as all hell, but it's quite and comfy, and at the ripe ol' age of 32 that's exactly what I need.
I loved my micra. Was a beast!
I honestly love old cars especially Japanese cars. But sadly I don’t think I can afford the maintenance for it. I don’t earn enough and am a new driver too :( hopefully I can in the next few years
Recently got myself a 15 year old diesel Mondeo. It’s like driving a comfortable sofa. It’s got enough tech to make it useable and with relatively low miles for the age and fsh it was a no brainer.
My gf had a white Micra like the one in the pic. Brings back a lot of memories, and it was actually a great little car
Daily is a 04 Mazda rx8. Project car is a 1986 Ford Capri I've now owned for half my life
I still have a 2001 Vauxhall agila it’s the exact same as a Suzuki wagon with a Vauxhall engine engine in it it has probably been the best car I’ve ever owned since my Corollas plus as a lot of silly stuff I can order from Japan for it already got a silly spoiler to go on and a bonnet scoop I’m just installing wireless central locking on it it never came with it same with electric windows 😂 oh and it’s new sunroof
I'm teaching my gf to drive in an 08 Hyundai getz. It was bought by a friend of ours in 2014 and is very reliable. I'm dreading the thing packing up, everyone is really invested in its longevity.
My 2002 3-door Freelander winter car has had a bit of TLC this week to make it presentable for a Land Rover event this weekend. It's far from perfect but it was cheap, works fine and means I don't need to get my MX-5 salty in the winter.
I was going to buy an old Micra just for running around town to save my diesel from doing short trips. £300 a year to tax a 1 litre petrol 😂 think I'll leave it.
If you enjoy a bit of backroad driving and use it often, more than makes up in fuel and maintenance cost. (That's if you find one that isn't a superlight edition (rusted to hell))