In my short driving life
I have had so many cars, I must be getting quite an expert now. In seven years, it works out I've had a car roughly every six months. And one day I shall actually get a nice car, not the £300 cars I've had to buy because I am skint.

I have had a:

Yugo Tempo (upgraded to...)
Rover 414 (TWO gear box failures)
another Rover 414 (head gasket went)
Toyota Carina II (Drove into a sapling)
Renault Laguna (Drove into a ditch)
Daewoo Espero (Thermostat went and couldn't get a replacement)
another Daewoo Espero (superceded by below)
yet another Daewoo Espero (superceded by company van and later caught fire)
Peugeot Partner (company van)
Ford Ranger (company van)
Ford Mondeo (loan car from my brother)
Vauxhall Corsa (Isle of Man registered - suspension collapsed)
Renault Laguna (Driveshaft went)
Vauxhall Vectra (Pile of shit, everything went)
BMW 318 (current)

Sadly my R-reg BMW is the best car I've ever had, I'm just glad to drive something that works and has only broken down twice. Although, she is LPG so it is nice to fill up with cheaper fuel :)

Ninja edit for spelling!
( VandenPlas can't think of anything clever - no change there!, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 15:54, 11 replies)

This is why I'm not going to buy a cheap car
as it must end up costing you more in repairs and hassle.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 16:00, closed)

I agree
completely. However, when you've only got £500 in your bank account, you can't afford a half decent car up front. Sadly, credit isn't realy an option, either.

One day though, one day! I'll have to get a Honda Accord.
( VandenPlas can't think of anything clever - no change there!, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 16:12, closed)

The price of the car isn't the factor
it's the inherent shitness factor. Rovers, Daewoos and French crap will always fail on you, even when new. For the same money you can get ultra-reliable old Volvos, BMWs, Hondas which only have niggling flaws rather than catastrophic failures.
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 18:20, closed)

Not true in my experience,
A generic British/French/Korean car of the same age and mileage as a German/Japanese car is a hell of a lot cheaper. I need a bigger car for carrying all my tools and something that does reasonable mpg so I dont get crucified on fuel, e.g. I loved my Corsa, but it was just not practical.

Although for the record:
The standard rovers were shit, only the 600s and 800s with the T-Series Honda engines avoided the problems of eating head gaskets. On the other hand, my 414 did 40mpg and was 100bhp. It was fantastic unitl the sodding gear box went. Then the replacement one went after two weeks.
The first Laguna I had was the next best car after my BMW - it was reliable, did 50 mpg, had air con and extremely comfortable on long drives. My second Laguna was the same, okay the drive shaft wore out, but hey, she'd done 215,000 miles, I was hardly surprised.
Volvos are ultra reliable and built like tanks, I agree, but also like tanks, they drink fuel like they're going out of fashion. I'm not talking about the new ones, I mean the old 240s and their ilk - the same goes with BMW and Mercs.
Honda and Volkswagen are good safety and economy wise, but they have the price tag to go with it - honest-to-god, they cost a good £500 to £1k more.

Unless of course you know where to get such a car cheap, I am all up for ideas.
( VandenPlas can't think of anything clever - no change there!, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 18:57, closed)

Can't comment on the UK car market as I emmigrated six years ago
but the rate at which Poles are bringing back heaps does suggest there's a hell of a lot of 500-quid sheds out there that can still do many more miles yet. And you don't see them bringing back French rustbuckets.
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 20:58, closed)

I bought a Volvo 440 GLT fairly recently - short mot, month of tax, all for the princely sum of £120, nice stereo thrown in because the vendor couldnt be bothered taking it out. For that price I was expecting it to clap out soon. Took it down for an mot when that ran out - the tester was impressed, said it was solid underneath, engine was sweet and the bodywork was very good. Failed the mot though - needs new brakes all round, wiper blades and an engine mount (not part of the mot, but not wise to leave it) - definitely worth getting those minor problems fixed I feel.
(Freakmandu, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 22:45, closed)

I can match your 414 woes
with a 214 that had two gearbox failures, three clutches (these were related due to incompetence at the dealer, we only paid for the original one clutch replacement out of that lot), and a gone head gasket.

We got £100 for it in part ex, as it the head gasket went the day before we were due to swap it and it was still driveable - with what looked like mayonnaise in the engine.
( Fronds are waving gently on, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 17:06, closed)

Yeah
They were notorious for head gasket problems on the K-series engine, I should have kept a better look out for it.

The second gear box was a recon one, and I'm sure it was the shoddy recon rather than the part as such. I got a better recon out of it and I traded that and my Carina in against my first Laguna.

My Carina was awesome, but was full of rust I remember the dealer's face when we brought it round after he'd agreed the deal. Serves him right for not leaving enough petrol in it to even get to the nearest petrol station - we managed to coast it onto the forecourt and push it up to the pump!
( VandenPlas can't think of anything clever - no change there!, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 19:04, closed)

Fucking hell
even the BMW is one of the shittest BMW's they ever made; an E36.

They made assembled the Espero 5km from where I live, in Warsaw. It's just an old Vauxhall Cavalier with a pointier nose.
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 18:19, closed)

Correct
But the internals are modfied Cavalier parts, for example the thermostat is exactly like the Cavalier's, except the outlet for the pipes are in a different arrangement, just enough so you can't use the Cavalier part (I tried).

Actually, they were all very good, all of them got passed onto various family members, and were surprisingly comfortable with quite a lot of poke in them. The LPG that caught alight was due to the idiot who bought it off me, rather than the car itself.

And yes, I am well aware the 318 was a crappy rep's car prone to overheating, coil problems and a thousand and one other things. Still, the rear wheel drive gives a very smooth ride, she happily does 35mpg on petrol which is not bad for an old heap (more like 60-65 on LPG). I also like that it has a camchain rather than a belt.
( VandenPlas can't think of anything clever - no change there!, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 18:41, closed)

Chains alright, but still, that was the dullest 3-series ever
I'm rebuilding an E30 at the moment
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Wed 28 Apr 2010, 20:56, closed)