buying a new car

Irishorangutan

Hi all,

need some advice!

I'm looking to upgrade my car. Currently i'm driving a 2001 Fiat Punto (56000 miles).

My budget is between 7 and 9 grand, (including current car).

Do I Lease/Hire (i'm self employed), as there is no guarantee i'm going to get my loan.

Do I buy something a year or two old with low mileage?

The new car must be bigger, reliable (as I drive music gear around), and if possible, a nice car!!

any ideas?

rdwarr

I suggest you buy a Mondeo or a Focus depending on size requirements. They are good, reliable cars and, if you buy 2-3 year old will be fairly cheap to run. Have a look at https://www.cargiant.co.uk to see what's available at a particular price.

indiegirl_2

May I suggest a Nissan Almera? You could probably pick one up new, or pre-reg with delivery miles on it for your budget. They all have air-con and ABS as standard, as well as a CD player.

I say that because that's exactly what I did a year ago when my OH sold the Punto (bag of nails - I hope yours has been more reliable) and had about that money to spend on a car!

I priced mine up online from the bigger car brokers (including UKCarDisount), got a full quote, walked into my local Nissan dealer and refused to leave until they matched it. They did :T

The only thing it doesn't fit is the "nice car" tag that you specify, but from the inside, it's not bad... it's just the outside that's not going to turn any heads (but then again, it won't turn any would-be-thieves' heads either)

Irishorangutan

Hi guys,

these are 3 cars i've thought of. I'm not really after a head turner as such, but a nice interior is quite important to me. I used to have an 87 Nissan Sunny, so a newish Almera would be pretty good.

I've heard good things about the focus as well! There is just much to consider with buying a new car, and I say, i'm still to hear back about whether i'm eligible for the loan.

Any ideas on the business leasing option? Obviously i'm losing money but it's perhaps a safe option? You don't often make big money on cars anyway

vansboy

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk clik in CarByCarBreakdown - all thats good AND bad about EVERY car you can think of!!

VB

gizmoleeds

Almeras are crap, so you could pick one up for next to nothing. :clap: :think:

Why not have a look at the Top Gear customer satisfaction survey:

http://www.topgear.com/ (it is not loading at the moment but I know it is on there)

Leasing is often a good idea - the leasing comanies get good discounts on their cars, and they can pass this on to the customer. In comparison to getting a loan they will usually work out about the same monthly cost, so:

Pro: The car is not yours, so if anyhting goes wrong it is their problem.
Con: If you decide you want rid you are tied in - you can't just sell it and pay off the loan.

It is the special offers where the real good deals come in - you can get some real bargains if you look out for these.

And if you buy new don't pay more than the 'what car target price': http://www.whatcar.co.uk/target_price.asp (again, not loading at the moment , but google assures me that is the right address!)

gizmoleeds

vansboy wrote:

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk clik in CarByCarBreakdown - all thats good AND bad about EVERY car you can think of!!

VB

Forgot about him! Top man, very good advice. Thanks vansboy :T

jjames_3

And why are Almeras crap? They are genuinely one of the most reliable cars money can buy. What they lack in design flair they more than make up for in good, honest engineering. People pay through the nose for a Golf in the belief they are getting a solid car, yet the Nissans are far better in this respect and much cheaper.

I've seen brand-new pre-reg Almeras recently for £6000. If that isn't a bargain I don't know what is.

If you're after a Mondeo class car, have a look at the deals on the Primera. These are if anything even more stunning deals than the Almera; a little over £8000 for one of the best-handling and distinctive cars in its class. Just avoid the diesel, it's a Renault-derived unit and of inferior quality to the excellent petrol units.

gizmoleeds

Nissan Almera: 97/151 in the Top Gear Survey - hardly that reliable (and the Golf is at 67 so it is more reliable). Plus, Whar Car say:

http://www.whatcar.com/RoadTest_quicksearchresult.asp?cboQSMake=29&cboQSModel=23763&hidSearchType=quicksearch&hidQSNewUsed=1&hidBodies=5

FOR
The Almera is a competent (! :think: ) car and offers generous equipment levels and competitive prices across the range.

AGAINST
Cabin lacks the space and quality of the class leaders, while the ride is choppy and the engines are coarse when stretched.

VERDICT: 2/5 stars.

If you could get a Mazda 6 that would be a great buy (as they are beautiful cars, and at 19 on Customer Satisfaction).

Or, consider a Skoda. Excellent deals and the Octavia is 5th out of 151 cars in the TG survey - ever wondered why taxi drivers love them?

http://www.whatcar.com/RoadTest_quicksearchresult.asp?cboQSMake=39&cboQSModel=25355&hidSearchType=quicksearch&hidQSNewUsed=1&hidBodies=5

jjames_3

Right, the Top Gear survey is *not* a reliability survey, it is a customer satisfaction survey. The reliability is only one small part of things, and it is subjective.

(And in fact when you look at the details of the two cars, the Almera gets 4/4 for mechanical and electrical reliability, the VW 4/3, so, hardly proves your point).

The other areas, performance, handling etc etc are completely subjective. In fact I'd go so far as to say they are irrelevant, because different people have different tastes.

For a factual view, let's look at *real* warranty claims, from Warranty Direct (as featured in What Car): https://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk

The figures on this index need to be as low as possible, 100 is the average.

Nissan Almera rates 3.18. This is a sensationally low number of claims, and the average fix cost is only £50.

VW Golf rates 82.17, a deeply underwhelming score in the class.

Or look here: http://www.whatcar.com/News_SpecialReport.asp?NA_ID=217350#

Nissan 4th, VW 15th.

The problem for Nissan being that unfortunately, replacement models for things like the Almera and Primera will use increasing numbers of Renault parts, which is not good.

I am wondering how long Skoda will remain as good as they are. VWs and Seats are getting steadily worse over the years, while Skoda remains excellent. It surely only has to be a matter of time before quality slips at Skoda as well.

indiegirl_2

Cheers jjames for backing me up on the Almera front

Anyway, given that the gent's moving up from a Punto, I don't think you can get much more crap than that......

I don't particularly *love* my Almera, but it's reliable, bigger than a Punto, economical, cheap to insure and has good NCAP ratings, and will do me for the next few years whilst I save up for it's replacement (far nicer and probably a Mazda...) - all those reasons were why I suggested it as a car for the Irish one.

IIRC Honest John gave the Almera a good review on the car-by-car breakdown, hence why I looked at it in the first place.

(then again, he recommends the Punto on there too, and we had a torrid time with my OH's)