New car more options?

Grouchy · 16 August 2014 at 9:30AM

Been going aroudn the houses on this for a while but need to make a decision. I've got 11k in my budget to spend, don't want to stray from that. Can pay cash. So looking for 11k OTR. I do about 6-7k miles a year, mixed driving, mostly A road/urban with a few motorway runs per month. Need a fair sized boot and 5 door and a bit of welly for overtaking.
Had settled on a Skoda Fabia as a good start which offers most of what I want, done a couple of test drives but I'm not quite sure it is the car for me? So am looking to test drive similar to compare before decision time. Bells and whistles not too important for me but like clear and easy controls and no fussy twiddly knobs (hate the steering wheel based controls). Don't want anything too tiny so i10 is out I think. Don't think I can afford a Yaris.
I'm thinking as possibles:
Hyundai i20
Honda Jazz
Kia Rio (don't know anything about this car)
Mazda 2 (ditto)

Recommendations welcome.

TIA

bigjl · 16 August 2014 at 11:24AM

Skoda Rapid. Can get them for closer to £9.5k from DrivetheDeal.

Advantage with the Rapid is it is a lot larger than other cars of that price which are usually smallish hatchbacks.

Tbere is also a new Seat Toledo based kn the same platform, not sure but that may be a saloon.

They both come with the 1.2tsi engine i believe which is nippy and economical.

You could also get a well specced Dacia for that budget.

Grouchy · 16 August 2014 at 3:25PM

Don't think I'd be comfortable with an internet buy like drivethedeal. Maybe sounds daft but prefer doing business directly with the dealer.

Not that I want either of the Rapid or the Toledo (more saloons I think) I'm after an economical hatch, should have said.

But I'm curious, are the drivethedeal quotes real? I mean the OTR on the Rapid is circa 14K I think and with a discount and a bit of bargaining maybe around 12k I'm guessing. And you're saying 9.5k from drivethedeal for a 1.2 TSI Rapid. And the TSIs are always a premium. Seems a massive discount. Or am I misssing something ...? Be interested to hear the scoop.

neilmcl · 16 August 2014 at 3:49PM

Grouchy wrote: »

Don't think I'd be comfortable with an internet buy like drivethedeal. Maybe sounds daft but prefer doing business directly with the dealer.

Not that I want either of the Rapid or the Toledo (more saloons I think) I'm after an economical hatch, should have said.

But I'm curious, are the drivethedeal quotes real? I mean the OTR on the Rapid is circa 14K I think and with a discount and a bit of bargaining maybe around 12k I'm guessing. And you're saying 9.5k from drivethedeal for a 1.2 TSI Rapid. And the TSIs are always a premium. Seems a massive discount. Or am I misssing something ...? Be interested to hear the scoop.

With DTD you will be dealing direct with the dealer, and yes the quotes are real. Once you have decided to buy they put you in touch with the dealership that is offering the price quoted, you then deal directly with them I believe.

macman · 16 August 2014 at 3:50PM

Both the Fabia and the i20 are being replaced early in 2015 with new models, so there will soon be deals going on the outgoing models.
Drivethedeal-but you are dealing with the dealer. They simply take a commission from the dealer, to whom you pay your deposit. Your contract is with the dealer, not DTD.
The only difference is that it could be a dealer anywhere in the UK, rather than your local one.

Grouchy · 16 August 2014 at 4:04PM

Thanks for that input.

Perhaps I'm a bit to safety conscious (old fashioned maybe) but I have never looked into DTD, I shall do that now, thank you for pointing that out.
I'm wondering, if you 'register' with DTD can you do as many searches on different cars? Or is it where you would register once you'd made your mind up definitely about make and model?

I knew about the Fabia new model/shape coming out early next year but not the i20 thanks for that info also.

Thanks

vansboy · 16 August 2014 at 11:08PM

If you're concerned about DTD, search the vehicles you want prices for, make sure you have all options you desire included, then talk to your local dealer to see if they can do a better/similar price.

Did this with a friend and his Kia ended up at about £100 more buying locally. He would have spent more thanthat in inconvenience, buying from another dealer elsewhere in UK

The aforementioned Chevrolet may well appear good value, but as the brand will no longer be marketed in Europe from next year, this may not help residuals or servicing. Although Vauxhall dealers will no doubt cover most issues, if you do buy one.

VB

Grouchy · 20 August 2014 at 3:00PM

halka6 wrote: »

Going with your requirements of a 5 door with a fair sized boot, only two choices come to mind:
Volvo V50
Chevrolet Cruze

Both a fairly good to drive, but the Volvo is a bit more expensive to buy and run. The diesel's economical but a bit expensive and not many on the used market yet. Getting a discount on one is fairly hard too.
However, the Chevrolet Cruze is cheaper to run, and is economical too, the 1.6 petrol or 1.7 diesel are best so I've read. Most Vauxhall dealers can service this too, since they tend to sell Vauxhall and Chevrolet together. You should be able to get a discount on one easily.

The Cruze can be had for well under your 11k budget, and shouldn't be too hard to find. Many tend to be found cheaply on autotrader or motors.co.uk, so do take a look.

Hope this helped.

I'm looking for a brand new car so don't think the Volvo is way out of my price bracket.
You'd have to pay me to drive off with a Chevy, heard so many terrible things about the ones available in this country plus expensive maintenance and spares. Got a friend who has the compact car, a Matiz? Absolute nightmare!
Onwards ...

Grouchy · 20 August 2014 at 3:02PM

vansboy wrote: »

If you're concerned about DTD, search the vehicles you want prices for, make sure you have all options you desire included, then talk to your local dealer to see if they can do a better/similar price.

Did this with a friend and his Kia ended up at about £100 more buying locally. He would have spent more thanthat in inconvenience, buying from another dealer elsewhere in UK

The aforementioned Chevrolet may well appear good value, but as the brand will no longer be marketed in Europe from next year, this may not help residuals or servicing. Although Vauxhall dealers will no doubt cover most issues, if you do buy one.

VB

Thanks
Did the DTD search thing. Very useful tool. Tried a few models I'm looking for. Price initially looked like a substantial saving but once the addons (extended warranty and breakdown sort of things) added on were not too far from the price i'd got two localish dealers down to. Good tool though and there were the odd car that did give a reasonable saving on.

I'll be using it as a comparison in the future BUT it is worth reading the small print as some of the prices are conditional on taking out some form of loan with sometimes a fairly high APR!

New car more options?

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