Morgans.....born into them!
Everyday driver....was performance now running costs. When I bought the daily driver, I checked the cost of a pair of tyres, cambelt and waterpump kit and an annual service. Went for a 5 year old Skoda Octavia 2.0 litre estate with just under 40,000 on it
Our local Facebook market place is littered with premium marques which the owners could not afford to maintain with minimal service history and dubious part worn tyres - maybe a case of champagne lifestyle, lemonade budget?
Arwyn
I guess for the majority of my life I have had automotive tastes that by FAR exceeded my water budget, At times Lemonade might be considered luxury....(-: But if you are born a petrol head, no point in moaning about it, you just need to learn to find a way round the obstacles if at all possible...?
First car I ever bought was a Frogeye Sprite as a a non-runner, my pals and I pushed it home, that Sprite taught me a lot about car corrosion and car buying...Though I did in time get it MOT`d
As for pushing my luck in budgetary terms, I guess the prime example of that might have been owning two 4276cc Jensen interceptors, in a bid to make one reasonable car out of the two, which in time I managed... During the seventies fuel crisis... Duh..!!!
I suspect running costs may not only be marque related but indeed the difference may be more likely to the possible differences in the same marque between pre-digital and digital, the latter seemingly presenting ever more possibilities for expensive failure in time..... For sure when digital is working well it can be far more reliable than old carb points and plugs, but try to fix digital at the side of the road seems potentially a tad more complex..? As for parts costs , if available, it can all get very expensive and very quickly...... Been there done that....OUCH..!