So the government have introduced the new scrappage scheme to inject some life into the car market and get rid of some old smokers that are polluting the roads. If the car is over ten years old and you’ve owned it for at least a year then you can take it to a dealer and part exchange it for a guaranteed value of £2,000. The dealer will then arrange for the car to be scrapped while you drive away in a shiny new car. Sounds great!
But please, think before you exchange! Just take a look at the following classic hot hatches that were for sale on Autotrader recently – these cars would be destroyed if they were traded in.
1983 Volkswagen Golf GTI 1.8 Mk1
- 198,000 miles
- Blue
- 1780 cc
- 12 months MOT
- £1000 ovno
Very original and one of the final year Mark 1 Golf GTI’s. Just MOT’d so 12m ticket. Resprayed at some point in it’s life to what looks like Helios Blue but originally Lhasa Green (not the best spray job imho but ok). Approx 1 inch thick of service history, old MOT’s and Tax discs, 198k miles so just run in. Original 13″ alloys, completely standard car. Usual wear on drivers grey/black cloth seat bolster but other than that not bad for a 26 year old! This car is for an enthusiast, someone who wants to indulge her some TLC! Don’t bother if you want to stick an R32 or 2.0T lump in it – she’s not that kind of girl! Factory sunroof (slight bubbling of rust now but a spare one incl in the sale!), New rear brake pistons for MOT and a couple of solid and flexi pipes with remainder of full set of copper pipes incl. for the future and an extra couple of steel reinforced flexi ones too!.
1997 Seat Ibiza 2.0 GTi
- 111,000 miles
- Artic Grey metallic
- 1984 cc
- 8 months MOT
- £895 ono
Artic grey metallic with contrasting unmarked sports interior-genuine unmodified seat ibiza gti-only 111k backed up by a full service history-2 fomer keepers-seat leather folder with all owners manuals and hand books-electric windows-dual airbgs-remote central locking- power steering-factory sunroof-on board trip computer-cd player-gti logo interior-open rear 1/4 windows-electric mirrors-remote central locking-front and rear foglights-front and rear spoilers-original 15inch alloy wheels-100% standard. £895 ono
1997 Peugeot 306 GTI-6
- 92,000 miles
- Topaz gold
- 2 litre 16-valve
- One year MOT
- £999
Only two previous owners. 6 speed manual. Air-con, power windows, remote central locking. New tyres on the front, rears very good. One year’s mot.
1992 Peugeot 205 1.6 GTI
- 98,000 miles
- 1600cc
- Black
- 1580 cc
- MOT Feb 2010
- £999 ono
Central locking, electric windows, sunroof. In good condition with a lot of history. Mot till February 2010. Recent cambelt change. Nice car in standard condition.
1992 Renault Clio Williams 1
- 76,000 miles
- Williams blue
- 1998 cc
- 6 months MOT
- £1500
This amazing little hot hatch is in great condition for its age, already a classic hot hatch amongst drivers and the press this car is almost sure to be worth far more in the future. Needs some mechanical work and some attention to the bodywork in particular the rear arch – basically some TLC. The car has an immaculate interior and is number 300 out of 500 of the “original” williams Phase 1 cars. There is some service history with the car and it has covered an amazing 77,000 miles from new! It has over 6 months of MOT and is taxed until the end of this month.
This was just a sample I found while browsing through Autotrader at the weekend, but there are plenty of other hot hatches that could be sacrificed as a result of this scheme. 80’s classics such as the Astra GTE, Nova GTE, Ford Escort RS Turbo, Fiesta XR2i, Renault 5 GTE and GT Turbo, Suzuki Swift GTI. Even cars from the 90’s will be vulnerable, as shown above, and you could add the Citroen Saxo VTR and VTS, Peugeot 106 GTI, 106 Rallye, 306 Rallye to this list.
There are some favourites that will survive this cull thanks to their rarity and classic status. The original Mini Cooper is one such car, as its contiuing popularity makes it difficult to find one for under £2000. Other rare hatches such as the ’70s Lotus Sunbeam could also survive, but only because there are so few of them.
OK, so some of the cars above might not be true classics, but they were all entertaining cars in their day and a cared-for example could still be fun today.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the scrappage scheme itself. If it helps breathe some life into the car industry and gets some newer cars onto the road in place of knackered old wrecks then that’s a good thing. But not all of the cars that qualify will be knackered and some people will be swayed by the cash without a thought to what will happen to their previously acceptable car.
So if you’re thinking of part-exing your old hot hatch, just think before you sacrifice it to the scrappage scheme. You might be losing a few hundred quid, but wouldn’t you rather it went to a good home?
