My £400 shed - Peugeot 207 content.
Discussion
A recent change of base at work has resulted in a near quadrupling of my mileage. As much as I love driving my C63, I couldn't stomach the potential fuel bills.
I'd always fancied the idea of a second Car, to keep the mileage down on the Merc, so this move at work made the decision a no brainer.
By coincidence my Uncle was officially giving up driving and I was offered his Peugeot for the "Bargain" sum of £400.
The headlines were -:
1.4 petrol with 90bhp
Only 43k miles
Full service history
2 previous owners
Last serviced at 42k miles.
This all sounded great but there were issues. That last service was done 5 years ago just prior to my Uncle buying it. My uncle then used the car for a very, very short commute to work, but when he retired 3 years ago the car has effectively sat only moving for its MOTs. The car was also suffering from a porous sump.
For the money I thought it could be worth a gamble.
So here it is when I first got it.
It looks okay from a distance, but having sat so long the paintwork was in a sorry state.
Greenery
Oil slick from the porous sump
For £200 quid I had the car serviced and the sump replaced. Then it was spending some time giving the car a thorough clean. Inside and out.
Trying to make a scrape less obvious.
Some T Cut later
And after a polish and wax, it scrubbed up quite well.
I'm not going to lie, it's not a very nice car to drive. It does not feel like 90bhp. It does however save me a fortune in fuel and keeps the miles off my other car which was the whole intention. With the maintenance I'm into it for £600, which if it stays reliable, isn't too bad.
I'm currently averaging 44mpg in it, which is easily double the Mercs. Within a couple of months it should have paid for itself.
Hopefully it lasts that long.
I'd always fancied the idea of a second Car, to keep the mileage down on the Merc, so this move at work made the decision a no brainer.
By coincidence my Uncle was officially giving up driving and I was offered his Peugeot for the "Bargain" sum of £400.
The headlines were -:
1.4 petrol with 90bhp
Only 43k miles
Full service history
2 previous owners
Last serviced at 42k miles.
This all sounded great but there were issues. That last service was done 5 years ago just prior to my Uncle buying it. My uncle then used the car for a very, very short commute to work, but when he retired 3 years ago the car has effectively sat only moving for its MOTs. The car was also suffering from a porous sump.
For the money I thought it could be worth a gamble.
So here it is when I first got it.
It looks okay from a distance, but having sat so long the paintwork was in a sorry state.
Greenery
Oil slick from the porous sump
For £200 quid I had the car serviced and the sump replaced. Then it was spending some time giving the car a thorough clean. Inside and out.
Trying to make a scrape less obvious.
Some T Cut later
And after a polish and wax, it scrubbed up quite well.
I'm not going to lie, it's not a very nice car to drive. It does not feel like 90bhp. It does however save me a fortune in fuel and keeps the miles off my other car which was the whole intention. With the maintenance I'm into it for £600, which if it stays reliable, isn't too bad.
I'm currently averaging 44mpg in it, which is easily double the Mercs. Within a couple of months it should have paid for itself.
Hopefully it lasts that long.
Cloudy147 said:
Nice shed!
What did you use to remove the greenery please? Got a bit of that on our cabrio roof.
Also, the tcut - was that a scratch into the paint or just on the surface over the paint? If the former would love some tips as I might have managed a similar sort of scrape on my car
Ta!
To remove the greenery I just gave it a good scrub with a sponge whilst washing it. There's still bits of moss under the front and rear screens at the edges, although it's alot better. I'll probably get in about it with an old tooth brush next time I wash it, although with repeated washing it should kill/clean it off.What did you use to remove the greenery please? Got a bit of that on our cabrio roof.
Also, the tcut - was that a scratch into the paint or just on the surface over the paint? If the former would love some tips as I might have managed a similar sort of scrape on my car
Ta!
As for the scrape/dent, alot of it was paint transfer, so the T Cut easily dealt with that part of it. There was also paint damage, it has been improved but isnt perfect. Literally took a couple of minutes and a bit of elbow grease with the T Cut. The dent itself is still there.
krisdelta said:
Now that’s real man maths there, for a moment I thought you’d ditched the C63 for the Pug! It’s scrubbed up nicely and whilst you can get used to the silly speed of the Merc using it day to day, the Pug will make it feel like an F1 car when you get to drive it.
It feels like hard work keeping the pug at 70mph on the motorway. Its not that it can't do it, but it just seems like your thrashing the poor thing. 55 seems like a more natural cruising speed for it. Every overtake needs to be planned ahead and your whole driving style changes. Saturday Just there was a nice day, so I took the Merc into work instead. What a difference,
Cloudy147 said:
What did you use to remove the greenery please? Got a bit of that on our cabrio roof.
To kill the green use some sterilising solution (Milton or generic) make it up fairly strong and brush it in then leave to stand for a while. Rinse off thoroughly. It took me a few goes with progressively stronger mixes to get rid of my algal growth. Afterwards reproof the fabric with fabsil and water will run off rather than soaking in.Well that's me had the shed for a year and almost 7k miles.
The below picture was taken only a couple of days ago.
To be fair its has been pretty reliable and I've not seen less than 40 mpg since ive been running it.
The costs for the year have been fairly reasonable. Excluding the initial purchase price, service, replacement sump, tax and insurance, I've spent the following
£100 - two new tyres fitted
£200 - CV joint and oil service
It has developed a very small oil leak from the front drivers side of the engine. It doesn't appear serious, but I've still to properly investigate it.
As a result of having the shed I was able to SORN my C63 over winter, saving £150 in tax. To my shame I've only done about 2.5k in the Merc over the past year.
In January I had a rented Fiesta eco boost courtesy of my work, and managed to put 2.5k on it in 4 weeks.
I put the Merc back in the road last week. That was an expensive day. MOT, B service, Gearbox service and replacement light levelling sensor. But if has been good to start using it again and the benefits of Corvid 19 have meant very quiet roads :-)
Last month i moved to a new office, so my daily mileage has more than halved over my previous daily commute. I'll continue to use the shed depending on the weather, but hoping to use the Merc a bit more now that my daily commute is more reasonable.
Long term, if the shed remains reliable, i'll keep it and probably SORN the Merc come winter time.
The below picture was taken only a couple of days ago.
To be fair its has been pretty reliable and I've not seen less than 40 mpg since ive been running it.
The costs for the year have been fairly reasonable. Excluding the initial purchase price, service, replacement sump, tax and insurance, I've spent the following
£100 - two new tyres fitted
£200 - CV joint and oil service
It has developed a very small oil leak from the front drivers side of the engine. It doesn't appear serious, but I've still to properly investigate it.
As a result of having the shed I was able to SORN my C63 over winter, saving £150 in tax. To my shame I've only done about 2.5k in the Merc over the past year.
In January I had a rented Fiesta eco boost courtesy of my work, and managed to put 2.5k on it in 4 weeks.
I put the Merc back in the road last week. That was an expensive day. MOT, B service, Gearbox service and replacement light levelling sensor. But if has been good to start using it again and the benefits of Corvid 19 have meant very quiet roads :-)
Last month i moved to a new office, so my daily mileage has more than halved over my previous daily commute. I'll continue to use the shed depending on the weather, but hoping to use the Merc a bit more now that my daily commute is more reasonable.
Long term, if the shed remains reliable, i'll keep it and probably SORN the Merc come winter time.
Almost MOT time for the shed.
The car had developed a knocking sound from the front suspension, and there was a bit of play in the FOS wheel. The front number plate had also started to deteriorate, and both head light plastic lenses had seen better days.
It was time to get a bit pro active.
I ordered a new front number plate (15 quid) and a Holts headlight restoration kit (16 quid) and set about cleaning it up.
I then stuck the car into my local mechanic and he diagnosed two front ball joints.
£200 quid later and the car was sorted and also given a full years ticket with no advisories.
It could have been worse I suppose.
The car had developed a knocking sound from the front suspension, and there was a bit of play in the FOS wheel. The front number plate had also started to deteriorate, and both head light plastic lenses had seen better days.
It was time to get a bit pro active.
I ordered a new front number plate (15 quid) and a Holts headlight restoration kit (16 quid) and set about cleaning it up.
I then stuck the car into my local mechanic and he diagnosed two front ball joints.
£200 quid later and the car was sorted and also given a full years ticket with no advisories.
It could have been worse I suppose.
Edited by Terzo123 on Thursday 13th August 23:35
4 years on and the shed is still going strong.
Its now on 64k miles, and i still generally get over 40 MPG to and from work, although this has dipped slightly recently due to the cold weather.
Late last year i had a friend replace the timing belt, change the plugs and give it a full service, and also replace both front CV joints. It also needed a a rear spring and Shocker to get through its last MOT. I've also recently replaced all 4 tyres.
All in all i've probably spent about 800 quid on the car since last year. Double it's initial purchase price.
Its seems difficult to get anything decent under a grand these days, so made sense to keep the Puggit running. Given the work done, it should hopefully be good for a while.
Its now on 64k miles, and i still generally get over 40 MPG to and from work, although this has dipped slightly recently due to the cold weather.
Late last year i had a friend replace the timing belt, change the plugs and give it a full service, and also replace both front CV joints. It also needed a a rear spring and Shocker to get through its last MOT. I've also recently replaced all 4 tyres.
All in all i've probably spent about 800 quid on the car since last year. Double it's initial purchase price.
Its seems difficult to get anything decent under a grand these days, so made sense to keep the Puggit running. Given the work done, it should hopefully be good for a while.
The cheapest car to run is usually the one you have. <1k bargains are few and far between now. I think the cost of living crisis has stopped people going for £300 a month lease deals and they've dived into the shed pool, drying most of them up. Everything I see under a grand near me seems to be an absolute dog.
Glad this little thing is plodding along, doing exactly what you ask of it.
Glad this little thing is plodding along, doing exactly what you ask of it.
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