New Vs Old...?

hougtimo

Bit of a debate I've been having with come colleagues here...

I'm now on my 4th car, which is fairly new (comparatively to what I had before) and IMO it has worked out financially better for me to buy a newer car and save on fuel, repairs & tax than run my old bangers I used to have.

My mates disagree and think mid-90s fiestas are the way forward. I mean they do have kinda a point - one lad picked his car up for £350, went straight through an MOT and has had minimal repairs to do. However it has still cost him near £800 to run this year (exc. fuel), whereas I don't reckon mine has cost that much at all...

It pretty much goes without saying buying brand new is pretty pointless now, seen a 08 reg vectra sri (list price £22,995) now under £8k on a Vauxhall Dealership forecourt.

So, does running a banger make sense, or something a bit newer?

hewhoisnotintheknow

most car owning seems to how well you look after it/the sort of miles you do/ luck

we have an old 406 which has done over 1000 a week for years and never gone wrong, and then we got a new golf which has been total crap!

Hoever i think ive just been lucky AND unlucky!

goldspanners

theres always depreciation to factor.
the fiesta at £350 will still be worth £350 next year. but your £8000 vectra will be worth £6500 next year or even less.

Conor_3

goldspanners wrote: »

theres always depreciation to factor.
the fiesta at £350 will still be worth £350 next year. but your £8000 vectra will be worth £6500 next year or even less.

In addition to that, you've got to factor in the interest on the finance or the lost interest on what that £8000 would have earned had you left it in the bank. The interest lost on £8000 in a savings account would be more per year than the £350 Fiesta cost.

Also newer cars are dearer to maintain and there's no guarantee it's going to have fewer faults than a well maintained banger.

hougtimo

Conor wrote: »

In addition to that, you've got to factor in the interest on the finance or the lost interest on what that £8000 would have earned had you left it in the bank. The interest lost on £8000 in a savings account would be more per year than the £350 Fiesta cost.

Also newer cars are dearer to maintain and there's no guarantee it's going to have fewer faults than a well maintained banger.

hmm..i have to disagree. If I bought a newer car and a 20yr old fiesta was more reliable I would NOT be happy!

I currently drive a 2001 Astra 2.0 DTi - 60mpg, £120 a year road fund, £450 a year insurance (i'm 20)... Bought for £1800. It's done 19 months trouble free motoring for me now (3k a month), I really don't see how an older car can match this - I haven't met any that do!

Also, the fiesta is costing him much more in repairs, as I say over the last 10 months it's cost him over £800 just to keep on the road.

For the record, the vec isn't mine - i just used it as an example of the amount of depreciation people are suffering atm.

goldspanners

hougtimo wrote: »

hmm..i have to disagree. If I bought a newer car and a 20yr old fiesta was more reliable I would NOT be happy!

I currently drive a 2001 Astra 2.0 DTi - 60mpg, £120 a year road fund, £450 a year insurance (i'm 20)... Bought for £1800. It's done 19 months trouble free motoring for me now (3k a month), I really don't see how an older car can match this - I haven't met any that do!

Also, the fiesta is costing him much more in repairs, as I say over the last 10 months it's cost him over £800 just to keep on the road.

For the record, the vec isn't mine - i just used it as an example of the amount of depreciation people are suffering atm.

this wasnt the arguement,the arguement was new versus old, not old versus older. your astra is soon to hit banger status im afraid.

hougtimo

goldspanners wrote: »

this wasnt the arguement,the arguement was new versus old, not old versus older. your astra is soon to hit banger status im afraid.

Pardon!? It's only 7 yrs old :S

goldspanners

hougtimo wrote: »

Pardon!? It's only 7 yrs old :S

how much is it worth at the moment? genrally speaking a car under 1k is classed as a banger,personally i dont class it as a banger but most others will.
so if you bought it for £1800 it will probably be worth around 1k when you sell it.and with 3k miles a month over 19 months thats almost 60 k miles on top of what ever the car had when you bought it,so its a high mileage banger.:rotfl:

hougtimo

It's high mileage yeah, (180k) - that by no means makes it a banger!

IMO a banger is noisy, unrefined & uncomfortable.

goldspanners

hougtimo wrote: »

It's high mileage yeah, (180k) - that by no means makes it a banger!

IMO a banger is noisy, unrefined & uncomfortable.

thats in your opinion.
but unfortunatly the rest of the motor buying public would choose an astra with less miles and pay a little bit more.

plenty of new cars are noisey unrefined and uncomfortable.

i think the main meaning of the term "banger" is expected relaibility.

sillygoose

I would call any car that isn't 'current shape' a banger :whistle: but hey, shoot me.

Anyway, one very important issue that gets missed in this debate is time, mine is very precious and yes years ago I ran bangers on the cheap, I also remember the time it took, I did a lot of basic maintenance like brake pads myself. Taking it to some cheap bloke to weld the sills so it would pass an MOT, trips to kwik-fit for blowing exhausts, digging in breakers yards for starter motors. Cheap yes, good use of time? no. I am now lucky enough to have brand new cars provided every 2/3 years with my job. The last 5 such have very rarely been to a garage for anything other than routine service, one less thing in life to worry about.