Thank you @OBDeleven-Official for sponsoring this video! Use code "MICK" to get 10% off at https://go.obdeleven.com/MICK
Check out cars supported by OBDeleven and its features here: https://obdeleven.com/features
Why spend thousands on a car when you can have £1000 worth of fun instead? In this video, we take a 2008 Mazda 6 and prove why cheap used cars are some of the best purchases you can make. From financial benefits to unexpected driving dynamics, here’s why everyone needs a beater car in their life!
Buying a cheap used car can be one of the smartest financial decisions. No monthly payments, low insurance costs, and minimal depreciation make owning a budget-friendly car a stress-free experience. Whether you need a daily driver, backup car, winter beater, or just something to thrash around without worry, an old but reliable car can save you thousands compared to financing a new one.
For just £1000 (or $1000 in the US market), you might expect a clapped-out rust bucket, but the Mazda 6 from 2008 still has a few luxury touches! We take a full walkaround and check out its heated seats, leather interior (if equipped), sunroof, cruise control, and all the gadgets Mazda packed in back in the day. Can a cheap car still feel premium? You’ll be surprised!
Buying a cheap second-hand car comes with the big question: Will it break immediately? Mazda has a reputation for reliable cars, but does the 2008 Mazda 6 hold up after 15+ years of use? We discuss common issues, rust concerns, engine reliability, maintenance tips, and whether this bargain-priced sedan is actually worth owning.
One of the best things about a cheap old car is that you can enjoy it without stress. No worries about scratches, dents, or depreciation—just drive and have fun! We take the Mazda 6 on the road to see how it feels, enjoying the experience of a car you can beat on without guilt.
For a £1000 car, you wouldn’t expect much in terms of driving dynamics. But the Mazda 6 has always been a driver’s car, and we put it to the test! Taking it on some spirited drives, we see how it handles corners, acceleration, and high-speed fun. Could this be the best cheap enthusiast car for the money?
00:00 Intro
00:41 OBDEleven
01:54 Considerations
04:30 Walkaround
07:53 Problems
09:07 Driving - cheap car benefits
11:17 Driving - review
12:18 Spirited Driving
14:52 Conclusion
Check out cars supported by OBDeleven and its features here: https://obdeleven.com/features
Why spend thousands on a car when you can have £1000 worth of fun instead? In this video, we take a 2008 Mazda 6 and prove why cheap used cars are some of the best purchases you can make. From financial benefits to unexpected driving dynamics, here’s why everyone needs a beater car in their life!
Buying a cheap used car can be one of the smartest financial decisions. No monthly payments, low insurance costs, and minimal depreciation make owning a budget-friendly car a stress-free experience. Whether you need a daily driver, backup car, winter beater, or just something to thrash around without worry, an old but reliable car can save you thousands compared to financing a new one.
For just £1000 (or $1000 in the US market), you might expect a clapped-out rust bucket, but the Mazda 6 from 2008 still has a few luxury touches! We take a full walkaround and check out its heated seats, leather interior (if equipped), sunroof, cruise control, and all the gadgets Mazda packed in back in the day. Can a cheap car still feel premium? You’ll be surprised!
Buying a cheap second-hand car comes with the big question: Will it break immediately? Mazda has a reputation for reliable cars, but does the 2008 Mazda 6 hold up after 15+ years of use? We discuss common issues, rust concerns, engine reliability, maintenance tips, and whether this bargain-priced sedan is actually worth owning.
One of the best things about a cheap old car is that you can enjoy it without stress. No worries about scratches, dents, or depreciation—just drive and have fun! We take the Mazda 6 on the road to see how it feels, enjoying the experience of a car you can beat on without guilt.
For a £1000 car, you wouldn’t expect much in terms of driving dynamics. But the Mazda 6 has always been a driver’s car, and we put it to the test! Taking it on some spirited drives, we see how it handles corners, acceleration, and high-speed fun. Could this be the best cheap enthusiast car for the money?
00:00 Intro
00:41 OBDEleven
01:54 Considerations
04:30 Walkaround
07:53 Problems
09:07 Driving - cheap car benefits
11:17 Driving - review
12:18 Spirited Driving
14:52 Conclusion
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00The last time I was in this car park I was stood in front of a £72,000 BMW M2 and I was talking
00:07about all the reasons why it's a financially irresponsible thing to do and how it doesn't
00:14actually make you happy because out in the real world on real roads you can't really use the
00:20performance. So what we're going to do today is first of all we're going to stand here and we're
00:24going to talk a little bit of a philosophy about why cars like this are great. I'll take you on a
00:28tour around the car and show you just how much car you get for a thousand pounds and then we'll
00:33take it out on the road and I'll show you what it's like to drive a thousand pound car. Spoiler
00:38this is a brilliant thousand pound car. OBD11 have sponsored today's video but in order to
00:44talk about OBD11 we've got to jump in a different car. OBD11 is super easy to use all you do plug
00:56the OBD reader just down there and then you can scan your car to find out what's wrong with it
01:02and of course I have two faults but we're going to clear them and there we go our faults are cleared.
01:07The thing that sets OBD11 apart from all the other OBD readers is that they have one click apps.
01:15You can do cool stuff like leave your exhaust permanently open, allow playing video while
01:21you're moving, this is a personal favorite, turn off the active sound design you know the fake
01:27exhaust noise that's in the cabin one click turns that off. OBD11 is compatible with BMW of course
01:34but also the Volkswagen auto group so Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat and Audi and also the Toyota group
01:41including Lexus. I do have a discount code which is MIC and you can use that to get this discount
01:48make sure to click the link in the description below. Right then let's get back to talking about
01:54that thing eh? So philosophy when I was here talking about my M2 I talked about how you can
02:00potentially financially ruin yourself by buying an expensive car well this is the opposite end
02:06of the spectrum if you do this to yourself you essentially secure your future nobody needs a
02:11car payment on a thousand pound car this could be your first car and this could be your last car
02:16I should also mention high mileage 140 000 miles on the clock but you want to be careful when
02:24you're doing something like this pay attention to a few things number one the mileage yeah high is
02:29okay number two the brand do this with a Japanese car if you're gonna buy cheap buy Japanese you
02:35know why they might rust but they won't break this car's kind of almost characterful in the
02:42fact that like it's fucked but it will still drive I'll show you some of those quirks as we
02:48go through um and then the third thing is the service history now if you're doing this properly
02:53you make sure the car has a full service history you know it's been old owned by some 65 year old
02:59Donny that's uh changed the oil on time for 25 years but I didn't do that this car was some young
03:07Polish Don's first car he changed the oil on himself he changed the clutch himself he changed
03:14a bunch of shit himself he did the brakes himself he repainted the wheels himself I better look at
03:20the quality here that's that's um I will say the brakes are actually in reasonable condition you
03:30could just see that the oh yeah it's okay you can see the paint mark but yeah so if you're
03:36gonna do this get one with a good service history don't be like me you're gonna hear me giggling
03:40throughout this video because this car makes me happy I love the idea of like spending a pittance
03:46and having transportation that is actually good it just it feels great you know I've been driving
03:51this more than I have my M2 just because like if I'm going to the shops I'd rather take this
03:56I can put it in car park spaces between two cars and I don't want to die one of the points in my
04:04in my M2 video was that type of car is great if you've got somebody to impress right and I've
04:09got you guys to impress I need people to click on the thumbnails so an M2 almost makes sense
04:14if I'm going somewhere where it does not make a fucking difference if people think I'm cool or
04:19successful now I'm driving this because I prefer driving this and we're gonna get to this point
04:25throughout the video but I think this is more fun to drive than my M2 bit crazy I know right then
04:30let me take you on a walk around so this is a Mazda 6 it's the 2 litre engine with about 160
04:38horsepower it's the same engine Mazda put in just about everything they're still putting in cars
04:44today and they were putting in cars from like 2003 it is a five door because it is a hatchback
04:52body style and this is where we get into the good stuff look at the size of that fucking boot
04:58I could sleep in here my wife detailed the inside of the car and I detailed the outside
05:03but this was like I don't know a month ago and I plan on never washing this again so who cares
05:07right but she did clean the inside so the inside's actually kind of nice and it's a hatchback so you
05:13could if you fold the seats down you could probably I think you could put a sofa in there
05:20like a small little love seat you could definitely put a wardrobe in and it's got the twin exhaust
05:26pipes because Mazda do that when you get the 2 litre engine to make you feel feel cool you can
05:30see the the previous owner that I mentioned has bumped it into some things you can see
05:35bits of damage honestly there's bits like that all over the fucking car who cares look at this
05:40I'll show you something cool now this is something I am not used to passenger space in the back
05:46come on mate you could like okay we're gonna get into this on the driving parts of this this video
05:52right but this is a good comfortable luxury car I'm not even kidding you can have four adults in
06:03here like I have a OCD about having the seats at the same distance which they are but the legroom
06:10is great back here like this is more spacious than some modern cars that I've been in that
06:15are way bigger externally but don't make use of the interior space seats are really comfy
06:21it fits me it's a good car and okay we're gonna get into this more we're gonna take it driving
06:27let me finish walking you around the car electric windows even in the back hey when Mazda built this
06:34in I think this model came out about 2005 2006 this was the top of the Mazda range unless you
06:41went for an SUV but if you wanted a saloon car which in it in the day was the popular choice
06:45this is the best you could get from Mazda this was trying to compete with not the BMW 3 series
06:52but the BMW 5 series this car wasn't designed to compete with like Corollas and Yaris's this was a
06:59luxury car in 2008 you would have gone to a showroom and and test driven a Mercedes E-Class
07:04and thought oh my monthlies are a bit high and then you would have gone to Mazda test drove this
07:10and thought oh the monthlies are really good you could buy it for a thousand pounds now with a bit
07:14of miles on let's finish the walk around with the driver's seat it's got a bit of wear nothing too
07:20bad it's a lovely place to be this is the crazy thing Mazda were putting effort into making cars
07:26in 2008 so was every other car manufacturer so buying a car this old doesn't necessarily
07:32mean you get a shit product yeah you might have a slightly older product like there's no
07:36infotainment but the stuff that matters the way the pedals feel the way you sit the positioning
07:42of the armrests the way these buttons fall to hand the reach to the steering it just all feels
07:49good and there's more good feelings as we get out on the road there are some questions about
07:54reliability on cars this old and i have had some problem i'll turn the ignition on the car on and
08:01i'll show you some of the car's quirks because you know it's almost 20 years old listen to this
08:07there's something wrong with the blower motor it's not probably it's probably not the blower
08:16motor it's probably the thing that directs where air goes um it's fucked so it makes that noise
08:20every time you turn the ignition also it's got a weak battery so on the back seat i've got a
08:25battery charger like booster thing in case i can't start the car um actually this morning i was i
08:31haven't driven it for a week i was very worried it wouldn't start so this is my procedure to get
08:36in the car this morning let's see if the piece of shit will turn on come on baby
08:50oh it's making the noise that's usually a good sign come on baby
08:56oh let's fucking go it actually started but you know it works it's just a bit iffy all right let's
09:04get out of here get on the road and we'll talk more about how the car drives an important point
09:08to mention with cars like this is that you don't have to baby it or care about it like if there are
09:15some bushes that are sticking out from the road and they touch your paint on my m2 i'll be like
09:20oh my god no must avoid death no because it's like a 5000 pound bill if you scratch a quarter
09:27panel in this car every panel's already scratched i don't care like you're not worried in town
09:33situations someone's gonna pull out and you know dent the car and then you're gonna have this
09:38insurance headache to deal with and now you're gonna have to declare it on your insurance for
09:44the next five years and all of this shit someone could just crash into this now and i'm like all
09:49right i'll buy another one having a car you don't care about is a superpower i'm about to do something
09:58that i would never do in my nice car and that is go to a supermarket and park next to humans i would
10:06park right here which is as far from the entrance as physically possible because then i have less
10:12chance of somebody you know but do you know where i'm gonna park now i'm gonna park next to the
10:16fucking doggy i could park right here
10:24look at this i would never ever in a million years leave the m2 like this but you see it's so
10:31empowering like i'm not even joking it sounds like i'm being cringe and silly and joking whatever
10:36but i'm really not maybe you won't understand this until you've owned like a really nice car
10:40that you've worked super hard for and means a lot to you right that's what the m2 is to me but this
10:46car i don't care drive into it i'll drive it into something i really couldn't give a shit
10:54and that is a powerful way to feel because it means every journey is automatically less stressful
11:01every journey doesn't have to be a risk assessment of oh we're not going to go to this hotel because
11:06the area is not great so i can't park the m2 in the car park and all of this shit you don't have
11:11to deal with any of that you just get in the car and drive it you know and if someone crashes into
11:15it who the fuck cares and immediately the first thing you notice in this car is just how smooth
11:23it is the engine on 140 odd thousand miles it's a four cylinder two liter it should not be this
11:32smooth but it's lovely it's tractable look at this 1500 rpm i'm turning right now and it's just like
11:40yeah waft we come into a national speed limit we drop a gear
11:48you know it hasn't got a lot of power but it's got enough to get you going the car's also not
11:54too wide so you that you you're not too worried sending it through some of these narrower roads
12:00look at this fifth gear 50 miles an hour just over 2000 rpm this is how it sits on the motorway just
12:07over two two and a half thousand rpm i can whisper in here and you can still hear me the suspension
12:13is super cushiony and soft the steering is direct slow down so we can have a little bit of fun let's
12:21go it's not even that slow to 60. a car doesn't need to be fast to be fun but you know what's
12:42crazy in the middle of every corner this steering rack is telling me stuff which i am not used to
12:50with the m2 let's go through this a little bit quickly and as i turn in yeah the steering's doing
12:55stuff it's great it's brilliant you don't get that with electronic racks anymore and you know what
13:04i've been driving electronic racks for so long that i forgot what a good hydraulic steering
13:10is like and don't get me wrong this is still super light like i can like you know it doesn't
13:15do much off there we're moving a little bit it doesn't do that much off center it's not like
13:20some super quick steering rack and it's incredibly light but it drives well like it's it's competent
13:28it can get around the corners at a good speed and it's giving me a little bit back and this is what
13:35gets me onto this point now which is that i would rather come out here and drive this than the m2
13:42because i feel like i'm closer to the limit in this car in the m2 the limits are so high
13:49it can go around some of these corners that you know 100 120 miles an hour and there's a number
13:54of reasons why i don't want to go around these corners at 100 and 120 miles an hour one because
13:58i might you know die and two because i'll lose my license and all this stuff but in this car
14:04it feels like 60 is the is pretty much the limit of how fast it can go around some of these corners
14:11i am now driving basically as fast as the car can go so it feels fun you feel like you're really
14:16driving and that's on you know country lanes and trying to have fun and drive a little bit faster
14:21and all of this stuff that i talk about in my in my videos all the time my wife went through a big
14:26pothole the other day and she exploded one of the rear tires so we went to a tire garage just
14:32limped the car along on its flat tire the other rear tire was kind of cracked so we replaced both
14:37the guy asked me what tires do you want i said whatever's cheapest
14:42i put two new rear tires on the back wheels of this car for like 80 quid couldn't tell you what
14:48brand they are honestly don't care what brand they are because it makes no difference it's the
14:52combination of the fact that it's actually a good car like it drives well look at this i'm just i'm
14:59going to where i need to go to and that's combined with the fact that it's cheap when you have
15:05when you have something good and something cheap it feels like a cheat code it feels like you're
15:11not giving anything up where you should be it feels like you've discovered something
15:16that nobody else knows about because everyone else has got their you know 300 to 500 pound
15:22car payment and you're here driving around for free i love this thing honestly i've genuinely
15:27fallen for this car it's so good if i had to summarize this car here's what i'd say
15:33normal cars are normal if you want a car right you don't want a sports car you don't want a fast
15:42car you don't want an expensive car you don't want a special car if you just want a car a vehicle
15:48to get from a to b and maybe sometimes have a bit of fun just buy something like this any normal car
15:55right this is the same nice and quiet it's nice and comfortable it will get you where you're going
16:02but that is a ridiculous statement because it cost a thousand pounds so why is anybody
16:09paying for newer cars so you really have no reason not
16:19to have one of these like even if you have a nice car you should just buy one of these
16:23to keep the mileage off of your nice car my name's mick i drive cars peace