I drive a 17yr old Mitsubishi Space Station
Fite me
i drive a 2010 astra cost me about £800 . 2 years ago.
bloke where i work drives an audi a4
anyway its on a lease contact thing costs him £400 a month . after so many years he hands it back. not his to keep.
am thinking why.
as it more or less sits at work all week not being used.
i dont get it at all.as hes only really using it weekends.
When I was at United Carriers I did a bit of extra driving for a local car dealer, auctions, collections and pub crawls, one night I had picked this guy up and gone home in his car. I took it to work the next day as I already had my own car at home.
Our car park was really tight in Howden so I parked it outside the office in the Area Managers space. I went off on my normal run, when I got back there was a message for me, the area manager wanted to see the driver who could afford a Bentley and work for him on those wages. 
Hammy747:
Why would I spend loads of money on a car I use maybe 4 times a month to get from Ipswich to Mansfield and back?First car I had was a 2000 reg golf. Got to 130,000 before the head gasket blew so I scrapped it.
Then got a 1998 reg fiesta for £700. Had done 100,000 when I got it. Made 155,000 before he head gasket blew. Scrapped it.
Now running a 1994 3.1.6 BMW I got for £400. Had 101,000 on the clock when I got it, 6 months MOT and no advisories. Now on 128,000 miles, passed its MOT with no advisories and local mechanic says it’ll last at least another 50,000 with regular servicing. Was one of those models that BMW built to last with parts that rarely needed replacing. Gets 50mpg on the motorways.
When that dies, I’ll just get another old banger. They’re cheap cars to run, lack of engine management computers and electronics means our local grease monkey can fix most problems.
Old bangers have a personality about them as well. And being old and cheap you don’t tend to worry about minor damage and leaving them out in the elements etc.
Now, that is a quality motor
My Mondeo 2lt diesel is 19 years old.Only ever bought a new alternator 2 years ago in addition to annual service.50+ mpg.Excellent machine.
mike68:
Fancy an A3 Sline or similar I do like the Impreza diesel as well having owned a petrol version some years ago, the beauty of motorcycles is you don’t have to be stuck behind a bunch of hapless amateurs, the down side is these people are the ones most likely to kill you.
Don’t do it Mike, the ads are littered with Subaru Diesels with blown engines.
53 plate Skoda exploda.
An old boy near me died and his daughter was clearing her house. She wanted rid of the car and I asked how much she wanted. She said as the car wont start and the tyres are flat she wanted £120 
So there and then cash came out of my pocket and I ran home to get a jump pack and tyre pump and had it up and running in 10 mins.
That car has lasted me for 3 years so far and passed every MOT so for £120 for 3 years running I dont mind driving an older car to work and back!
LIBERTY_GUY:
This thread is meant to be lighthearted, so nobody needs to climb on a soapbox.Have you ever wondered when you look round the car parks of transport yards, why some drivers run around in reasonable cars, whereas others drive around in sub £100 nails?
If you think about it, everyone does their walk round checks at the start of the shift, makes sure everything is in order and working as it should, filling in a defect report for any faults they find and in extreme cases not taking the vehicle out if there are more serious problems with it. Yet in contrast, they will drive around in a tatty car with blowing exhausts, wall to wall rust, faulty electrics and just missing a sign with ‘Nick Me’ written on it?
My Astra Diesel estate is far from being a luxury car - it doesn’t even have electric mirrors, aircon, or alloy wheels, so I am not some snob looking down my nose, just curious as to why someone that drives professionally for a living, wouldn’t want a half decent motor to run around in the rest of the time? Trampers I can understand, as they won’t even see their cars for days on end, but why others?
I now have my tin hat on and patiently await the barrage of replies…
Probably the same reason why mechanics cars old and cheap lol. I can’t speak for others but if you travel a fair distance to work and just keep piling the millage on then it doesn’t make sense to buy an expensive car just for work. Also drivers end up working long shifts where your car is just parked for away from you and you can’t keep an eye on it. For a theif its an easy target as they know you won’t be back for 12 or 15 hours. Also if you look at the car parks where we have to park, they are often cramped with very little space. I suppose if someone searches or puts a ■■■■ or 2 on a new car it would hurt. Buy a cheap run around and use it work if it breaks down or causes problems then scrap it and buy another run around. Its far better than spending hundreds or thousands repairing an expensive car when it goes wrong.
Always said I would treat myself to something tasty,when I was 50.
48 now and started looking around.
Just want something to tuck away for special occasions…take it to the grave.
i’m still cruising around in my 21yo Xsara 
getting to be as rare as hen’s teeth now,the pre-facelift models.
I love my car but get the ■■■■ ripped out of me because it is a Skoda Roomster and was voted the 45th ugliest car in the world. It isn’t pretty, but it is extremely practical. The back seats can be in 3 positions to give more or less room in the boot, each of the three rear seats can come out, be tipped down, or forwards and up independently, so it can function as a small van. I have the scout model so good on rutted tracks . Still normal car size if I need to be in narrow city streets and squeeze into parking spaces.
Who needs a beautiful car? I don’t want to be upstaged by my motor 
NormanInNorfolk:
I love my car but get the ■■■■ ripped out of me because it is a Skoda Roomster and was voted the 45th ugliest car in the world. It isn’t pretty, but it is extremely practical. The back seats can be in 3 positions to give more or less room in the boot, each of the three rear seats can come out, be tipped down, or forwards and up independently, so it can function as a small van. I have the scout model so good on rutted tracks . Still normal car size if I need to be in narrow city streets and squeeze into parking spaces.Who needs a beautiful car? I don’t want to be upstaged by my motor
Is that the one Jeremy Clarkson did on Top Gear once and was quite impressed by it?
NormanInNorfolk:
I love my car but get the ■■■■ ripped out of me because it is a Skoda Roomster and was voted the 45th ugliest car in the world. It isn’t pretty, but it is extremely practical. The back seats can be in 3 positions to give more or less room in the boot, each of the three rear seats can come out, be tipped down, or forwards and up independently, so it can function as a small van. I have the scout model so good on rutted tracks . Still normal car size if I need to be in narrow city streets and squeeze into parking spaces.Who needs a beautiful car? I don’t want to be upstaged by my motor
Our lad had an accident in March just as everything was going into lockdown, he had an Enterprise car for 10 weeks on his insurance as he still needed to work, we went out and bought him a three year old Skoda Citigo, full history, 30.000 miles , 3 cylinder with loads of extras, it cost £5500 and is lovely to drive, he is a big lad but doesn’t care about cars. I had been looking for a Fabia or a Roomster. Nothing wrong with a Skoda these days
Wheel Nut:
Nothing wrong with a Skoda these days
Nope, part of the VAG group, in fact I’m tempted to chop my Audi in for an Octavia VRS diesel…
DAF95XF:
NormanInNorfolk:
I love my car but get the ■■■■ ripped out of me because it is a Skoda Roomster and was voted the 45th ugliest car in the world. It isn’t pretty, but it is extremely practical. The back seats can be in 3 positions to give more or less room in the boot, each of the three rear seats can come out, be tipped down, or forwards and up independently, so it can function as a small van. I have the scout model so good on rutted tracks . Still normal car size if I need to be in narrow city streets and squeeze into parking spaces.Who needs a beautiful car? I don’t want to be upstaged by my motor
Is that the one Jeremy Clarkson did on Top Gear once and was quite impressed by it?
The one Clarkson raved about was the Yeti, the bigger, better looking version of the Roomster, which also comes in a 4x4 model, which the Roomster doesn’t. And the Yeti boot space is actually smaller than the Roomster. But JC did review the Roomster and really liked it.
I don’t know why Skoda discontinued it. There isn’t anything as flexible and small but…roomy on the market. I am taking care of mine!
NormanInNorfolk:
DAF95XF:
NormanInNorfolk:
I love my car but get the ■■■■ ripped out of me because it is a Skoda Roomster and was voted the 45th ugliest car in the world. It isn’t pretty, but it is extremely practical. The back seats can be in 3 positions to give more or less room in the boot, each of the three rear seats can come out, be tipped down, or forwards and up independently, so it can function as a small van. I have the scout model so good on rutted tracks . Still normal car size if I need to be in narrow city streets and squeeze into parking spaces.Who needs a beautiful car? I don’t want to be upstaged by my motor
Is that the one Jeremy Clarkson did on Top Gear once and was quite impressed by it?
The one Clarkson raved about was the Yeti, the bigger, better looking version of the Roomster, which also comes in a 4x4 model, which the Roomster doesn’t. And the Yeti boot space is actually smaller than the Roomster. But JC did review the Roomster and really liked it.
I don’t know why Skoda discontinued it. There isn’t anything as flexible and small but…roomy on the market. I am taking care of mine!
Still wouldn’t say it’s an ugly car…
I’ve got a 15 plate bmw 320d that I pay £160 a month for, do I regret it? Sort of but not really, I like having a nice car and it’s nice to have something to go to work for other than a roof over your head, sort of makes it worthwhile doing the hours. However I liked having a cheap fiesta that I could just leave anywhere and didn’t care what happened to it and it won’t cost an arm and a leg to fix anything on it plus if I ever lost my job it’s an extra payment I gotta worry about but I wanted a half decent car once in my lifetime haha. Give it another year or 2 and I’ll sell it for a cheap run-a-about once I’m bored of it as tbh I drive it 15 mins to work and 15 mins home so I barely drive it except an hour here n there on a weekend.
I live 1.5 miles from my current place of work. When i changed cars last i still spent a large chunk of cash on a nice Mercedes diesel… go figure.
Should walk to work really. Saving grace is i don’t have any payments on it, so don’t begrudge it.
Should run a £500 snotter really, or walk…
Some might earn more than others some might have a big family to look after therefore cant afford one ectr
I would be nice to have a tidy motor a late model Golf diesel takes my fancy, but as we all know 90% of the British motoring public are totally inept and the chances of it getting damaged by said imbecile is almost a given.
You only have to watch the idiots in any supermarket car park anywhere on the planet to get what I mean.
I have a 65 plate Yaris diesel no road tax and 75 MPG and a 59 plate Auris diesel, Toyotas never break and are arguably the most reliable mass produced car
no cam belts no ad blu and no DPF.
As drivers our cars get an easy time of it and, I personally avoid 3 things, Vauxhall and anything french or Italian having said that my brother who teaches and therefore is naturally inept behind the wheel managed 185,000 form a Clio.