Here’s some interesting reader feedback from Gary, who enjoyed the piece on cockroach cars: “I was never a fan of Bangernomics (a bit of a snob) until my 20-year-old Punto went bang last year.”
If I can interject right there, surely keeping a Punto alive at that age is fairly impressive in itself. I always thought it was nice to drive, a popular first car with free insurance incentives. Head gaskets could go and a decade-old one a friend had recently needed a lot of persuasion to keep going because bits kept breaking. I think early ones without the grille will have a following, but try to find one that works. I saw a few from the early 2000s that had issues and no MOT, but below £200.
If you can stomach the stick-on moustache-like grille of the facelift cars, then there are loads to choose from. Fully operational ones from 2004 seem to start at £400, but I’d prefer a prettier Grande Punto from 2006 for very similar money, especially with an off-centre stripe.
Anyway, let’s get back to Gary. “Needing a car quickly, I took a punt on a 53-plate Vauxhall Astra SXi for £500 and with a year’s MOT,” he says. “The car was beautiful not only to look at but also to drive. It went like a rocket.”
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Unjust(y)
That isn't an original Justy that you talk about.
Mitsubishi jeep
The other advantage with the MItsubishi jeeps is that they are RHD, not to mention more creature comforts than the original WW2 US version. I recently met an owner of an original Jeep with full weather hoods but he said his missus didn't like it in the rain since she had to operate the manual non motorised windscreen wipers....
Mitsubishi Jeep
I've never seen a Mitsubishi Jeep in Blighty,but that is tempting,proper Jeep with Mitsubishi build quality sounds good to me