L@@K, there’s a PetrolBlog Shed on eBay.
Time with the PetrolBlog Shed is coming to an end. After five months and 6,000 miles of togetherness, the Accord Type-Shed is on the way out and has this very evening been thrown to the mercy of eBay. How much it’ll fetch is anyone’s guess, but with a month left on the MOT and six weeks of tax, I hope it goes for a little more than the £8 starting price. But there’s no guarantee of this as the market for used cars is frankly rubbish at the moment. If your car happens to be a large, petrol-engined banger, than the market is even worse. Read more 
Bangerwatch: Renault 11 Turbo
French performance cars from the 1980s just look better when they’re painted black and come complete with yellow fog lights. Throw in a red pinstripe around the plastic bits and add some shouty red decals and we may as well be in petrolhead heaven.
Not since the Renault Fuego Turbo have we seen such gloriously over-the-top side decals on a car.
I therefore give you, the Renault 11 Turbo.
The hunt for Sao Penza
According to howmanyleft.co.uk, there is only one Sao Penza left (legally) roaming the streets of Britain. That’s right, just one Sao Penza. And you’d forgotten all about them, hadn’t you?
When I wrote this article last year, I had no idea that the Sao Penza was so close to extinction. But for all its faults and obvious flaws, the fact remains that as a nation we’re down to a single Sao Penza. Granted, there appear to be three laid up, but I think we can safely assume that these are probably sat surrounded by weeds, spiraling into the abyss, never to feel the warmth of Britain’s tarmac again. I’m also pretty certain that the last time I visited the Beaulieu Motor Museum, there wasn’t a Sao Penza mingling with the F1 cars or sat alongside a Ford Sierra Cosworth. Read more
Extreme Bangernomics: Million mile Honda Accord
It is often said that the Honda Accord is one of, if not the most reliable car in the world. Warranty Direct’s survey in 2006 certainly came to that conclusion, as did a Which? Survey in 2009. There are others too, just do a Google search for ‘Honda Accord reliability’ and scroll through the resulting 7.5 million web pages. I can only hope that my very own Accord can deliver the same levels of reliability over the coming weeks and months. Read more
Bangerwatch: Volvo 480
You’ve seen Springwatch, you may have even seen Autumnwatch, but now PetrolBlog introduces Bangerwatch. It many ways it is much the same as the TV show, only without Kate Humble, animals or a primetime slot on BBC television. The idea is simple, PetrolBlog will hunt down interesting and increasingly rare cars that have somehow fallen into Banger territory. By giving them some exposure it is hoped that they will be considered as potential Bangernomics project cars and in some cases, saved from inevitable extinction. There are no hard and fast rules over what constitutes a Banger, but a price of sub £1k is probably a good place to start.
To kick things off, PetrolBlog looks at the Volvo 480, influenced in part by the recent test of the C30 T5 Polestar.
PetrolBlog looks at…Bangernomics
When it comes to used cars there’s one man who stands as a giant over us mere mortals. In fact I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he is one day rewarded with a knighthood for his services to pre-owned motor cars. The man in question is James Ruppert, or to use another name, Mr Bangernomics. James has been a mainstay of the used car section of Autocar magazine for years and is the kind of guy you’d want to take with you when you’re viewing a used car or visiting an auction. Quite simply, James Ruppert is the man. Read more
