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[sticka_v8_init]

The most reliable cars in my opinion are the basic ones. Bought my mum a 1.2 Micra back in '96 and it literally has not let her down once.

I opted out of company car schemes many years ago and have had a Citroen BX TXD '93 - thrashed the arse off it till i decided to upgrade it at 183,00 miles (only needed a new hydraulic octopus and spheres). 2 x Rover 820Si lpg, 2 x Rover 825D, - no issues apart from re-soldering fuse box. '96 Accord 2.0 LS Auto, again totally thrashed from 118k till 164k with no issues. Only basic maintenance/consumables carried out on the cars. To me, if you steer well clear of sh*t loads of gizmos it'll go for years trouble free.
Go back to MK1,2 Escorts, Cortinas, Cavaliers (MK1), Volvo 240s etc and think about the issues you had - generally break all apart from making upgrades.

Sold my old work car, '04 1.8 Mondeo petrol (from new to 82k trouble free)to buy a bike and my current work car is an Almera 1.5, 121k and still going sweet  .....dull as hell but for £470 i can't go wrong.

Still wouldn't change my Omega though, goes well and is the comfiest ever.

[mantahatch]

Back in 2007 we bought my wife an 2004 Astra 1.8 Design auto. it cost around £6.5k at the time from a Vauxhall dealer (Picador in Chandlers Ford Hampshire). it was and still is very liow mileage. It has been 100% reliable to date, nothing has fallen off, nothing has broken.
It still goes to dealer we bought it from once a year for a service and I do an oil change in between times. It is an utter joy to not to have the bonnet open every other weekend.
Picked up on MOTs and servicing, have been drop links, I changed with genuine parts took about an hour on the drive, brake pads low again I changed.
So in 5 years of ownership it has cost us a service each year, drop links once and brake pads once.
Depreciation is another thing, MK5 Astra are still holding there price quite well, especially well appointed ones like the wifes. I would expect to sell privatly for no less than £2,5k today. So it has cost about £1k per year in depreciation,

Oh should add we have MOTs for life from the dealer so that is a saving, I did expect them to fail it every year to get there money back. But the car has never failed an MOT.

I have not mentioned Tax and Insurance as that varies from car to car and person to person.

On the whole very satisfied with the car, happy with all it has cost. It will be kept at least until the MK7 Astra is released because I don't like the look of the MK6 

[TheBoy]

The most reliable cars in my opinion are the basic ones. Bought my mum a 1.2 Micra back in '96 and it literally has not let her down once.

The most basic car I've owned is the 1.2L Nova (yes, that one), and it developed lots of niggles in the 2 months I ran it, mostly silly things like fuel gauge, but did have to buy a new caliper in the end, as it kept seizing.

I'd had to say, without doubt, the 2 most reliable were the 25 and the MV6, although te MV6 needs more preventative maintence...

[omega3000]

The worst thing about these little basic cars is the road noise and back breaking seats , went down that road and sold my last omega for a fiesta , you can actually hear all the mechanicals thrashing round with tin pot exhaust sounds droning the cabin . Then theres the rubbing shoulders if you have a passenger and asking them to move their elbows so you can change gear  the engine was reliable though and parts are cheap enough new , not having to worry about filling up every day is also a bonus  ::)Reliability and fuel costs could see me back in a noddy car albeit temporary and i can see it will cost me at least £500 for a half decent runabout ...loads of people after those nissan micra noddy cars now and its all to do with fuel costs 

[GastronomicKleptomaniac]

As TB would say, I'm just the stupid kid from the local comprehensive, but ... Etc etc.

TB wouldn't be that polite.

[Martian]

How much is a reliable problem free car..?

Steve hit the nail on the head with his answer IMHO

I suppose this comes down to age and build quality, but what's your opinion on the age and cost of a car you'd expect (not can afford) to be problem free...?

I'd ordinarily be looking around the £1500+ price tag.

Anyway, how much would say a reliable problem free car costs? Roughly.

All depends on what turns up really Chris.

Our second to last purchase was a 1998 E36 318iS Beemer with full M-Sport pack from factory, 1 owner from new, 46K on the clock, full BMW service history, dealer retail at the time was £1500......we paid £600.
In the last year it cost me 4 tyres (£360), 4 coil springs (£140), 2 control arm bushes (£18), and 2 window regulators (£86 for the pair).

That car has cost me £600 in the last year, but it still dealer retails at £1200 today so in effect it hasn't cost me a penny in the last year to have a car that is (to all intents & purposes) brand new due to it's previous use.