buying a new car

Irishorangutan

bit harsh on the old punto there. though it isn't great! It's done me well though, but it's starting to get problems now so it's time to move on to bigger and better things.

The Almera seems to get decent reviews, so it's a possibility. The focus's looked decent. Also thought about a mitsibushi lacetti (i think) but someone said it's not so good.

Seat cordoba desiel - apparantly really bad depreciation, saw a good deal on one but that's probably why!

Keep the ideas coming, it's not easy to decide!

jjames_3

The Lacetti is a Chevrolet, in other words a Daewoo. Not my first choice I have to say because unlike Kia and Hyundai, they ain't cheap enough for what they are.

Now Mitsubishi on the other hand; their Colt is a nice little car, but probably too small for your needs.

Are you specifically after a new car, or will a second-hand one do?

If second-hand, depreciation works in your favour. Most depreciation is in the first year, after which most cars depreciate at a similar rate as they get older. Therefore at 2 or 3 years old, a car which depreciates rapidly (Vectra?) is a sensible choice because you get a lot of car for not much cash.

gizmoleeds

Ok, I aplogize for my bad mouthing the Almera

If I'm honest, I just don't like it.

While the Top Gear survey does measure many subjective areas, it does so across a huge sample size, so it's results are very reliable. With me, customer satisfaction surveys and companies' general reputation for customer service will be important than price when spending a large amount of money.

I agree with jjames about depreciation. If you consider that a car's natural life is 100,000 miles then you can see how a 3 year old car with 33,000 miles selling for half it's original cost is clearly a good deal in comparison to new

jjames_3

Like I say though, Nissan do have a good reputation, any mechanic will tell you the same, the engines are second only to Honda really, bulletproof and chain-cam so you don't need to worry about belt changes.

The Almera is just a bit dull that's all.

The Top Gear survey is pretty good but it's flung up a fair few anomalies over the years and I don't trust it as much as the JD Power survey.

BUT if money is no object, then Nissan does give a little to the like of Honda, Mazda and Toyota (mainly because of all the Reg Vardy Nissan dealers whom I personally wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole), but they're also light-years ahead of most Euro brands in most areas.

Rjohnmatt

Agree with both of you regarding the Almera.
I bought mine which was the previous almera model ie 1995-1999 (which is even less attractive than the current almera model) 2 years back after really extensive research on the internet and asking around.So much so that I can tell you about the pluses/negatives of almost any car now even 2 years after!
I had to have a car which is a drivers delight,handles extremely well and is EXTREMELY reliable.Couldnt care much about the looks and everything else.
Im in a job with driving between different places and often finish at one place and have say 2 hours between starting at another , which may be 60-80 miles away.
Meaning that I had to reduce the chances of breakdown to minimal.

I havent regretted the decision to buy this car at all.
Apart from the petrol and servicing,this car hasnt missed a beat in the 2 years and 30000 miles I have driven it.
And not being desirable as a car has its benefits too-

Accidentally left one of the windows open on a council estate for THREE days with £600 worth of sat nav equipment in the glove box.Obviously no one even bothered to look its way!
On another occasion while parked in a hospital car park in London,a group of yobs went on a rampage and broke the windows of ?14 cars taking whatever was in them.

The only 2 cars that were untouched were my V reg Almera and a 12 year old Ford Escort!!

gizmoleeds

Rjohnmatt wrote:

Accidentally left one of the windows open on a council estate for THREE days with £600 worth of sat nav equipment in the glove box.Obviously no one even bothered to look its way!
On another occasion while parked in a hospital car park in London,a group of yobs went on a rampage and broke the windows of ?14 cars taking whatever was in them.

The only 2 cars that were untouched were my V reg Almera and a 12 year old Ford Escort!!

LOL :rotfl:

Going off topic here, but someone once stole my brother's D-reg rustbucket Escort. They got 1 mile before parking it and stealing the car in the next space. :rotfl: