Shhhhh - the secrets out ;-)

You hear that? We're so rich we can behave poor?

Thats a really good little article. I made the mistake of buying a car on credit and now I'm paying for my mistake! Its only a relatively small amount of money but the car has depriciated so it works at all levels. Its why retro's are a good idea becuase they reach a point where they can't depriciate anymore.

Retro Cars are different to not new anymore bit boring, not so 'specal' cars. However I have had thoughts of a 406 or a Mongdeo recently, if I needed that kind of car- to replace the sapph! , but i'd still need my retro/performance fix out of commute/duties etc.

Related; he's righta bout that speed thing. I was looking at a site from the police that lists mobile cameras weekly on local roads, scary. Is the game really up?

Tigran, how much will the Focus'sz next MOT cost, and calculate your deprciation in th time you have had it too?

I know what you mean though, I have spent hundreds and hundreds on the MR2 this year, probably have its market value in it now! but thats a bit different, halfway house bargains like my Sapph are out there...

i was having a discussion with a clio owner at work the other day.

she said i must of spent a fortune on my mini sinse i got it, i said i paid 800 for it and ive probably spent 600 (over estimation i hope) so far. i asked her how much she paidfor her clio...£4795!!!!! where is the sense in that, the same model mini as mine, same milage same condition are advertsied in Mini Mag around the 1200 - 1400 mark, so whos being daft with a retro car?? i think I'm winning on that front IMO

That's a cracking article.

My wifes currentl car is also our 'newest' - a 1992 Volvo - it's got a an ECU and a cat on and everything!

But people do seem to wonder why we run such old cars (my Scirocco is the second oldest in the sizeable car park). Conversely I wonder how people can afford all these new, shiney, very expensive new or nearly new cars... given I think I am on an above average wage*

Plus my running costs are mitigated by having an F-in-L in the trade. Some people must be taking on some huge debt?

*Please don't think I am bragging, if above average not by much, and I am just trying to illustrate a point.

I only buy my cars with cash, when I can afford it, the Audi most recently for £250, done 4000 miles in it in 2 1/2 months (that's 20,000 miles/year at this rate ), went through the MOT no problem and not had a single problem luckily.

I hate hearing this rubbish about old cars are unreliable Only poorly maintained cars are unreliable, properly maintained cars are not. My friend was paying £200 a month for her W-reg Fiesta which cost her £500 to get through the MOT and its a bag of cr@p ;D

My mate is a good example - worked his way up to a brand new Clio 172, bought on finance but his own money paying it off (he was 20 at the time). Then traded it in at 18 months old for a Clio 182.... best part of 14k, on finance again.

At this point he was paying £275 a month, and would have had to find a fair few grand when it was time to pay up or give it back. So he had a thought. He flogged the car and took a loan, since paid off, to cover the £1500 or so difference between what it was worth and what he owed. Given he was used to his nice quick cars, he spent £2k on a Calibra V6 in excellent nick but even this was overkill.... sold that for pretty much what he paid, and bought a diesel 306 for £600 - in the 6 months since he's spent about £150 on tyres and a new door (car was cheap as it had a big dent in the door - £30 fix).

So his Clio over 6 month would have cost £1650 and it wouldn't be his. His Pug has cost £750, including purchase price, and he could sell it on for that.

My wife and her ex paid £8k worth of finance from a Yes-style car credit place for a 1997 Mondeo in 2000. It's now worth probably £700 with high mileage but excellent condition. Most of the major work has been done (new clutch, new cambelt, two wishbones) for the near future so it's service items from now on.... be absolutely crazy to sell it for a new car. It's reasonably quick, it's huge, it gets us everywhere without incident.

The best example is my Audi - paid £275 from a salvage yard. Ran it for a year, bought all the spares it needed from eBay (headlamp £6, rear light cluster £9, door release cable £1.50), sold the stereo for £100 and the rest of the car for £550. All it cost me was petrol and tax/test/insurance and I reckon I probably broke pretty even over 6 months - free motoring!

if only my family understood.

we bought a 1.4 Fabia from new, and my mum paid it off for 3 yrs, at the end of which we still owed 3.5k. at which point my dad got cash for cars through work and paid it off and continued to run it for another two years. because work was paying off the loan, it only cost him servicing/mot cost and it was fine. unfortunately, he had to replace it, because his company said it was too old!

apart from the Scimitar and my fleet, the oldest car in my family is 2002! All of them are paying loans / car payments here there and everywhere. And only the RS has anything close to character... ?!

I keep telling them to buy a Capri! lol