14N Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 (edited) Guys n' gals, I'm having an internal disagreement with myself and would welcome your input, thoughts or comments. My Zed is currently my daily driver and has been since I bought it. I used it daily through the winter last year, so have experienced (and survived) all seasons. I'm not just thinking of getting a 2nd car just because the nights are drawing in and winter's on its way. I can drive in snow. I know a 2004 Zed with close to 100k miles isn't a £40k, £50k, £60k+ supercar, but it IS MY supercar and it's sentimental value, plus the time invested in it, to me, is priceless. I'm toying with the idea of getting a cheap, practical daily driver as a 'workhorse'. Something <£1000 that I won't care (much) about getting car park dings, scuffed wheels, keyed etc. I can just chuck a bike rack on it needed or throw junk in the boot. Something I won't have to have that last glance back at everytime I leave it. As I have a shortish drive to the station and catch a train to work, I'm not doing high miles, but my work place could change in the future due to my work, so miles (and fuel) could be a factor again. So, it's not a cost saving exercise, it's more of a Zed preservation exercise. What to do Edited September 12, 2013 by 14N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylefly Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I had a 1.1 s reg 106 as an inbetween cheap car not so long ago and I will say this. In your zed you have to drive pretty fast & hard to be on the edge, in the 106 its always on the edge of performance mainly because it has none. I'm ashamed to say I actually enjoyed it, you can thrash it and still get 900mpg. Some may think being on the edge of a cars limit is pretty dangerous. E.g. I drove it through some welsh roads in traffic at the 60 limit when a sharpish long off camber coner approached. Everyone else took it no problem, the 106 lent over and understeered and it took a lot of skill to stay on my side of the road... thrilling stuff! I believe I have you convinced? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveyjm69 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Im goin to get cheap run around for winter my self one that I dont worry about when shopping or in the works carpark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddcboyle Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I would say go for it. I only drive fri sat sun as i can walk to my work which is 150metres from my room. But if i was driving to work, id be getting a little 1litre corsa to beat up and take fuel consmption, tyre wear etc for when i dont care about having fun. And on ghd plus side, the zed will feel super fast after driving that bucket. The only thing you need to check out is tax and mpg for the second car. Brakes and tyres u can go cheap as it wont be going fast. But some low little cars are the same as a zed suprisingly for mpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Wife has a Mk1 Focus with 80k on the clock, runs great, cheap as chips to maintain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnH Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 How about a Ford Ka? A load of crap (which is just what you're after) and if your friends squint/drink far too much/don't pay any attention what so ever it'll look slightly the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie-B Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 ive got a 528 2000plate with 96k on the clock... still looks good clean adn as its a german tank it stands up to tescos car park better... It has a couple of bits of rust coming through.. I try and keep it clean as well but i really dont care about throwing rubbish in the back of it to go to the skips etc etc... keeps my toy car nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14N Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 I really am considering a Mk1 Focus. Big enough for a motorway run if needed (such as the the airport with cases and stuff) and cheap enough to run and maintain. One factor that's holding me back is the insurance. As I can't apply my (fairly decent now) NCB to a second car, the cheapest premium I'm looking at is circa £370 - £400. I'm paying just over that for my Zed! Plus due to the number of modifications on my Zed, the mainstream insurers that offer multicar aren't interested. A cheap car isn't so cheap when you bolt a £400 insurance premium to the bill. But...... a little bit of body work (heaven forbid),etc on the Zed would be a similar sized bill. Swings and roundabouts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drfeelgood73 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Go the immigrant route..... cheap car ...no tax or insurance..... if caught ..let them destroy it and start again..... If in an accident.... walk away and don't look back.... visit paper shop and start again.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilMH Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I have a 21 year old Toyota Corolla Auto as my daily driver. Still unbelievably reliable, no rust, totally relaxing to drive and cheap to run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 (edited) What i did was to knock up a spreadsheet working out total cost per month of running the zed as a daily runner compared to running it at weekends and having an old shed for the week. For my mileage it wasnt worth it. My zed was costing me about £1300 a month all in including £450 of petrol plus insurance, servicing, tyres, depreciation etc. One of the biggest things as you mention is the insurance on a 2nd car. Whilst you can get an old banger for £500, you`ll end up forking out £500 on insurance, then tax, then tyres, servicing and all that stuff. For me it didnt work out any cheaper. Where I was fortunate is that my wife ended up getting a company car so I had her NCB to play with. So I bought an old diesel banger, ran it with her NCB for about 6 or 7 months until we sold it. Running the shed saved me a bit each month, It saved me about £200 on fuel alone, but that was about it really as I still had insurance, tax (my zed was the £490 a year or whatever). It still depreciated at the same amount and I still needed MOT etc. I guess it didnt need servicing so quickly & tyres lasted longer, but thats about it. In the end, I sold the shed & the zed and bought one car which I felt would be best of both worlds. One thing I will say though is that if you only use your zed at the weekends you`ll appreciate it much more. When I was running it on my 100mile daily commute I started to resent it. Id be stuck in traffic watching the fuel gauge go down. Having to fill up twice a week. Then when it came to the weekend I just didnt fancy going out in the car having been driving it all week. But, once it becomes a weekend only toy. My god the difference is amazing. You dont care about the mpg and you just get in it and have a really enjoyable ride out. I guess some of it might be psychological. If its a weekend car you associate driving it with having fun and enjoyment. If its a work day car you get in it and are feeling crap cos your off to work. Still, coming out of the office and getting into the zed after a days work was quite a nice feeling. Edited September 12, 2013 by rabbitstew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke0549 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Im selling my zed as I use it for work and do 300-400 miles per week. using a tank of fuel a week is not fun. I would buy a second car, but due to being 21, insurance will be an additional £900 per year. Seems pointless. so just selling for something cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATTAK Z Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I've just sold my shed (Arosa 1.0S) mainly because my daily driver is so much more comfortable, has the performance capabilities of a Zed, and is easier to drive ... Oh and OP, don't forget you'll have to walk past your Zed to get to your shed and this can be sooooo difficult !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Same logic as I used mate. Keeps the miles of the zed and I feel safer in the snow. My one tip, dont sit with a bottle of scotch and browse Autotrader, it gets expensive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longsh07 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 (edited) I brought myself a 106 GTi this time last year with the intention of using it over winter and then preping it as a road legal track car over the summer. It cost me £1100 but insurance pushed that up quite a bit. It looked clean, no major MOT problems and despite having been fitted with the definition of all chavy exhausts (seriously you could fit like two maybe three 350Z exhaust tips in the end of this thing!) drove pretty well. (I took this off pretty quick by the way ) A few weeks later when the rain came, so did the first major problem, an epic leak. Having decided driving around in a swimming pool to not be a great idea I set about stripping the carpet and sound proofing (which was going mouldy and stunk, how the carpet kept this smell out of the car I do not know). Eventually tracked down the leak, got it sorted and to be fair, the car severed me very well over winter. Would I buy a car that cheap again, even as a beater? No. So my two pennies worth would be to increase your budget if you can, you are after all going to be spending a lot of time in it as a daily. The cars I looked at were all £1000 +/- £200/300 and for 8/10 of them you could tell! Up the budget a bit to nearer £2k and you could find some obviously loved cars from owners who just needed to get their cars gone for what ever reason. Edited September 12, 2013 by longsh07 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scobie140 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I've done this the last two years, bought a scrapper with 1years Mot for less than £500, last year was a 1.2 punto and this year a 1.25 fiesta. Cheap to insure and ridiculously cheap to run and maintain if it does break. plus if you want winter tyres you can get them for less than £100 where as winter tyres on the zed will cost you over £500 anyway. plus its good to have a crap car you don't care about when going to busy car parks or football games etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopedmark Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 The problem You Will have is NOT driving the Zed every day Will do your head in ,at first anyway, my Zed is my 2nd car as you know, always will be but I still get that excitement when it comes to going out in her.A second car isa good idea and a Focus is perfect, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14N Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 Guys, thank you all for your response. Your points certainly do ring true in many cases and I think one problem (as mentioned above) I ceetainly will have is not driving my Zed. Although it's my daily, I do still enjoy my short drive to and from the train station (even more so after fitting the K1 ). It's just the parking up and leaving it in the car park all day that is a concern - I generally arrive early and sit in the car watching the awful attempts at parking going on around me, often wincing waiting for the horrible scraping noises. I digress... I have had a 'second vehicle' for many years, that needed to be taxed and insured, but often only used on sunny Sundays - I own a motorbike, so the concept of a second vehicle as a toy is not a new one. But since getting my Zed, my bike has pretty much laid redundant and I can honestly say that when that sunny Sunday now comes, I much prefer taking the Zed out to stretch her legs. So, it looks like it's time for me to find a daily driver, have the Zed as my weekend toy and (come spring) sell my bike. Slightly bitter sweet I guess. Let the hunt begin..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p4blo32 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I'm pretty tempted to do this myself, in fact was eyeing up some Micras the other day on autotrader (keep it Nissan n all that!). At the moment the Zed is my daily but I'd really like to have something cheaper to run for my commute, which is about to go up to 35 miles/day, and something that I don't care if it gets knocked about. Could also put the Zed on limited mileage insurance then which should bring it down a bit. One problem I do have is space, not sure where another car would go at home! I also quite enjoy coming back to the Zed after driving something else, over the summer I rented a Mustang GT in the states, and the Zed felt like driving a rollerskate after that! Much more fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmr1980 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 (edited) My Zed is just a weekend toy - or "after work" toy as I use public transport - however, as a daily driver I'd be to preoccupied to use it - certainly the way people park around London! Personally, I'd use a little rot box that you don't care about - and keep the Zed for fun! Besides, do you want to use the Zed for short little runs in start stop traffic or leave her to eat up the twisties? Edited September 12, 2013 by wmr1980 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmikester Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I was debating a second car a while ago chatting with my dad and had the same problem with insurance to which his answer was get a convertible z for him with me as a named driver for the nice days as it only looks gd with it roof down n the sound would be amazing and just use the coupe when the weather is not that gd love the idea but don't think it's cost effective Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 (edited) sit down and do the maths... work out exactly how much the Zed is costing you to run then work out the same for the shed then factor in how much not running the Zed into the ground is worth to you and if the maths stack up go for it. Mine is a weekend or trip away toy, an expensive toy but a toy all the same. my wife has a car (BMW convertible) and i have another car (BMW diesel Touring) i also have a bike which i use for 6 months of the year to get to and from worth then it sits in the garaged sorned over winter. for me the maths doesn’t add up! the Zed is a silly expense that financially we could do without but we can afford it so we do it, you only live once and all that... recently we did some thinking about consolidating cars... selling the wife’s car and the Zed and getting something a bit silly... 4ltrs and V8... yes once we done the maths it actually worked out we would save a grand a year by doing it! the wife would have to use the diesel a bit more but it still added up. trouble is we both like the Zed... and she likes her BM so we would be selling two cars we both enjoy to buy one that we are unsure about. sorry just realised that a lot of the above doesnt actually help you out... Edited September 13, 2013 by SteveM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14N Posted September 15, 2013 Author Share Posted September 15, 2013 BREAKING NEWS UPDATE I've just bought this beastie. 2003 Astra SXi 1.8 16v. 2 previous local owners. £595. Not only has it already got a pair of winter tyres fitted, it also has white dials AND a rear spoiler. Which must be worth 50-60bhp. Gonna service it and change the cambelt for piece of mind, but pretty happy with my purchase. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KC350Z Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Want a shed race Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14N Posted September 15, 2013 Author Share Posted September 15, 2013 Want a shed race Ian Once I get used to the power and how much down force and rear grip that spoiler gives me, you're on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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