Just picked up what seems to be a right bargain.

Went looking for a car for the missus on Sat and looked at so much 'mint', 'one careful owner' garbage we were a bit flat when we started the puter up Sun for another search.

There she appeared, 5 miles away, for peanuts. After all the crap we looked at I called the seller, could be a diamond in the dirt?. It was cheap because the mot was up and the alternator was toast.

Have a Nissan alternator, (same) and my mate could get Fred Flintstones car through an mot for a pint and 20 smokes so I grabbed  a tidy little 2006 Renault 1500 turbo diesel, with service history for........

300 quid. AND the missus is chuffed, its even £30 road tax. Result 

Nice work, I'm keeping my eye out for a similar deal. Some bargains to be had out there.

A mate bought a Mini   , 1400 turbo  diesel   , 70 mpg,,,,, amazin ,,.  2004  too,  worth  a lookee Paul,,

Just a quick follow up, got the car home, wash and hover out showed nothing untoward.

Confirmed the engine noises were no more than the alternator.

My mate did me a full service and mot, that was 2 track rod ends and the front anti rollbar bushes, reline the rear drums oil and filter. Not bad at all for 142000 miles.

So all in with taxing it squared away ready to run, fully checked over and serviced by a mechanic I trust (not many of those) , 620 quid. And that's including the 300quid to buy it in the first place. currently with the wife settling in to it (her driving style is not efficient) its doing 60mpg, AVERAGE. I can see 70+, possibly more on a proper run. From basically an old nail. Comfy too.

I'm calling that a result.

Its weird to drive though, its a really small car, actually smaller than a clio but has so much space inside you allow yourself too much room on the road. Its really quite odd.