Bangernomics- the game's moved on

Yes, totally agree - anything old that is actually up and running seems to £1k plus. Anything actually 'retro' or 'classic' seems to be silly money. Doesn't seem that long ago when you could buy a cheap runaround with at least 6 months mot for £500 or so.

As for drum kit capable cars - Rover 75 Tourer, if not the preferred Diesel versions, seem to be relatively cheap . . .

Agreed. There just isn't the same market there was, everything seems to have doubled in apparent value and cheap,stuff appears to be cheap because it's knackered. Exceptions to this would be finding a ULEZ orphan and saving it. Perhaps something like a mk1 Octavia tdi estate. Unless you need to access Greater London often which is a pain and limits things further 😑😤

Today, I've looked at a 2.2i Vectra auto, which was ok, but £1500 and a 1.8 petrol Mondeo, that had seen better days in almost every way, but was still advertised at a grand.

Last week I test drove an old XC70, with almost moon mileage which turned out to have a faulty awd system, making it purely fwd,a few electrical gremlins as well as needing 4 tyres. That went for £1850.

A Primera/75 tourer would certainly be considered, but as I'm perilously close to the Ulez zone a petrol one would probably make sense.

£1500 is the buy-in cost these days, with even Mk4 Golfs and old Scenic's (the ones that survive) making that sort of money. Cars at £750 are "No MOT, should pass no problem" and rocking around with 4 bald tyres.
It happened since the price of new cars skyrocketed (blame covid if you like) and that has trickled down. It's harder to get old cars that aren't knackered because people can't afford to trade up as easily as a handful of years back and there are lots of people nursing along an old banger. I know quite a few people - solid good earning middle class people too - ekeing out the last year or two of cars that in my mind are still almost new.

Conversely I think classics are very cheap right now, proper classics that is, not retro stuff like a Mk3 Escort for £17,500, but I mean like a 1960s Austin for £1750 ready to drive - but I think that is due to lessening demand for those older models that aren't really up to being used regularly and being less relevant to the current disposable income demographic.

They are still out there if you hunt around, - unfortunately with the evolution of eBay and FaceBay, the amount of "classic dealers" has done through the roof and the days of the roadworthy bargains are pretty much gone.

Take a look at Autotrader now and you'll be lucky to find anything in decent condition for less than 1k.
It wasn't all that long ago I used to get stuck into the £500 or less section in the Autotrader. Happier times..

You might be better thinking outside the box as already said with mk1 Ocatvias/Superbs and maybe the odd Merc wagon.

There certainly seems to be a lack of cars in the couple of hundred-500quid bracket now.

Even at work, people want top money for the rare car we get in thats uneconomical for them to have repaired.

Usually the cheap stuff is from people with many cars, or a pool car from a business.

I was fortunate enough to rehome a friends car, but I'm keeping quiet at what I paid for it

The car prior to the Multipla was a 406 hdi estate, which I thoroughly enjoyed owning,right up until the electrics went wonky,and you couldn't turn off the wipers or radio! The speedo would also stop for an hour or so every few days, but even with those foibles, it served me well.

Peugeot 308 SW; This is what I drive at the moment. We bought ours new in 2010, and still have it today with 0 breakages, now 100000 miles. It does 54MPG and has the largest boot space of it's class: 600 litres.
I am not keen on the styling, but equally it served us very well, and is worth pennys: This one is on ebay, and many more.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266990242814?_skw=peugeot+308+sw&itmmeta=01J83A9CS5J8SV6XJ7464STJGV&hash=item3e29dbcbfe:g:7~sAAOSwjdVm5aOj&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnb69FD6j2AP9kZ86NgkdLHgsSuppbK4PerJl9bQ0Xu62cEJcHJ4U4V2CuIRcyxrxr6%2FAUrASvyGz%2BKSYIu5o7aNfbm17RIDjkJwkK9VzGfM%2Fd4XJP8zYc%2F4yw9jJQWAkHdyZX%2B4kY5jPB3NjJ8KbjaKVFaU5bo%2FJxnUqrzPB%2BeKnwDZ2Ir2RAUn0RFiDMjlZdVqiQ1lPuqTjLKmdRfUwf6zAhuteZDnfFeWEO7I7PCPiNItC9M7YKLhlR9ggq1a3uUD9UVo793AHNWQSuLbp8JKX8Y6VNv6IR7Zo5sp6V31A%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9LMperAZA

What about a Berlingo? A brief search found this one for well under a thousand. A few advisories and probably not ULEZ friendly if that matters but otherwise seems to fit your criteria. 

But people with decent old (as opposed to classic or retro) cars seem to just want to keep hold of them. Someone I work with has a first generation Volvo V70 and she said she's never going to sell it while it still works as there's no more modern car that does anything better than the one she's got. The Volvo will probably outlive her.