something cheap become expensive

[dilermando]

I would like to know an idiom in English for this one in Portuguese:

Cheap becomes expensive: We usually say this sentence when we buy something cheap, but it causes a lot of trouble because it stop work sooner than expected, and you have to pay in order to repair it.

[David L.]

We usually call a purchase, like an electric appliance or a car, that breaks down or causes a lot of trouble, a 'lemon'.
This doesn't include the meaning of 'getting a bargain' though.

[nibbler]

"You get what you pay for" is the closest English saying.
Cubans also use the saying "the cheap becomes the expensive" but in America that is really not used. It is still true, however!

[Searching for language]

There is an expression which says something like "the great feeling of a bargain is quickly replaced by the reality of quality" or something like that. Maybe I'll think of the real sentence later.

[Raymott]

"You get what you pay for" is the closest English saying.
Cubans also use the saying "the cheap becomes the expensive" but in America that is really not used. It is still true, however!

It's true when it is. During a recession, and when talking about shares on the stock market, or the price of housing, it ain't necessarily so.