Which cheap and cheerful car for ringmeet?

I have contacted the seller of this Streetka, it's still available and registered and I will have a test drive later this week. Let's see if I can live with that thing even for this short amount of time...
It's not quick, that's for sure... :ninja: Granted, it's quirky and a convertible, but that's about the only two things which it has going for it...

I have contacted the seller of the MX-5, I am cycling through that borough on my way to work, thanks for the heads-up.
 
No problem. The thing with these particular cars is the rampant rust, and you cannot really see the trouble spot in the front chassis legs because the components in the engine bay obscure the worst parts (the NB has some "strengthening" steel layers in there between which they rot, the earlier cars are not as bad in those regards). But with a stopgap car for lols it's different, all you need is long TUV and gasoline in the tank. The top looks okay on the Mazda as well.
 
That MX-5 drives seriously sweet. :) Waaaaay better than the Streetka and man you sit low. 😍 Downsides are the scratched paint, a wet-ish lower engine and a pretty rusty power steering master cylinder. The seller definitely didn't dress it up, that's a plus, it's an honest car and has it's faults. He said it burned about half a litre of oil in the last two years with about 5k km, that should be normal, right? According to him he advertised it for 2750 Euros before he lowered the price to the current 2100.

If I'd have to buy one of those cars it'd be the MX-5 for sure, I don't really care about scratches as long as it's a rear wheel drive roadster and it drives well.
 
If I'd have to buy one of those cars it'd be the MX-5 for sure, I don't really care about scratches as long as it's a rear wheel drive roadster and it drives well.
There must be something liberating in driving a car that is mechanically sound and don't care about aesthetics.
 
That MX-5 drives seriously sweet. :) Waaaaay better than the Streetka and man you sit low. 😍 Downsides are the scratched paint, a wet-ish lower engine and a pretty rusty power steering master cylinder. The seller definitely didn't dress it up, that's a plus, it's an honest car and has it's faults. He said it burned about half a litre of oil in the last two years with about 5k km, that should be normal, right? According to him he advertised it for 2750 Euros before he lowered the price to the current 2100.

If I'd have to buy one of those cars it'd be the MX-5 for sure, I don't really care about scratches as long as it's a rear wheel drive roadster and it drives well.
Sounds decent! I don't think you can find a better driving car for 2k, especially if the tires are okay. I wouldn't worry about that oil consumption either in this case, over two years it can seep from here and there on a 170k km car. He'll probably shake hands for 2000.
 
There must be something liberating in driving a car that is mechanically sound and don't care about aesthetics.
So you mean the french, italians and spaniards are very free? :p

Sounds decent! I don't think you can find a better driving car for 2k, especially if the tires are okay. I wouldn't worry about that oil consumption either in this case, over two years it can seep from here and there on a 170k km car. He'll probably shake hands for 2000.
Yup, the tires are from 2016 (front) and 2019 (rear) and have a decent amount of tread on them. Additionally the seller has winter tires on steelies as well which he would chip in. I don't know the conditions of them since they are in storage at a tire shop, but I don't care anyway since I won't use them anyway.

I just checked insurance prices. The insurance company I insured my last car has a clause in their terms that if you get a new insurance within seven years of terminating your old insurance you can get your old no-claims bonus. I sold my last car about 3 1/2 years ago so this is well within those seven years. This means if I only insure it for July through September I'll have to pay just 61 Euros instead of 128 Euros for partially comprehensive insurance. Nice! Getting only third party liability would cost just 10 Euros less so it would be crazy to not get partially comprehensive insurance. I could even get fully comprehensive insurance which would be an additional 10 Euros, but for such a cheap car that wouldn't make any sense.
 
Depending on things, I might even take it off your hands in September :think:
You mean depending on if I stuff it into the barriers at the 'ring or not? :p Granted, it's not impossible, seeing that in the last two years I have driven approximately 1000 km in total while I cycled about 18000...
 
You mean depending on if I stuff it into the barriers at the 'ring or not? :p Granted, it's not impossible, seeing that in the last two years I have driven approximately 1000 km in total while I cycled about 18000...
There's that :-D but also my car plans. I'll have to hand back the 2er in August (officially) or late September (hopefully, if they're flexible) and plan to not order a replacement until spring 2023... aiming to spend most of the winter in the Canaries, no point in having a brand new car sit in my garage all winter. I don't really need a car to bridge that gap, which is just a long-winded way of typing "MX-5".
 
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If you can negotiate a long TÜV on the MX it would even make sense as a winter beater. It's a bit snug for a grown man but the heaters in these are certainly alright. And since it's a bit rusty already you won't feel bad about using it year round.
 
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