To Buy or Not to Buy, that is the question

garratt83_2

Hi All

Hope you can all give me your views on changing my car.

I've not a 51 plate Audi A3. Its an ok car but no AC. It was due for a service and cambelt change last year but couldn't afford it so its going to need doing in Sept this year. Its been a good runner but its starting to show its age and I feel that something is going to go on it soon.

Now looking at Parkers they say I can get about 2,700 px, which if I think will be nearer 2k.

My question is, is it worth changing to a newer car. I have been lookin at a newer A3 56 plate which will set me back about 8/9k. But as my car needs the following this year is it worth changing

* Cambelt - £250
* Service - £200
* Tax - 215
* Brake sensor - £80

Any views would be great

Cheers

Indout96

You cant really count the tax as the new car will need that as well.

Volcano

This is a tough one......

Do you outlay £530 and end up with a perfectly good car, or do you outlay £6k-£7k and end up with a perfectly good car?

As this is MSE.com, I think you can guess what the answer is going to be!

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

For the same price you could get a nice 525D, or an E270CDi. I know which I'd rather have.

jimbo_the_jetset

Indout96 wrote: »

You cant really count the tax as the new car will need that as well.

Or service, or cam belt (sometime) or any number of other things.

I certainly wouldn't go over a year overdue on a service let along a cambelt!!!

Basically, assuming that because you are buying a newer car it will have less things that may go wrong with it and will therefore be cheaper to run is not correct. Things can go very wrong with cars at any age. Also to consider changing car because you need to pay for things like a service is the complete opposite of money saving!!

Hintza

Your finances sound close to the wire if you couldn't afford a service last year. So why do you suddenly want to spend £8-£9k on a newer model?

Get the work done and possibly a bit more and you should be ok.

Brake fluid change, transmission oil done etc (if not included)

pault123

garratt83 wrote: »

Hi All

Hope you can all give me your views on changing my car.

I've not a 51 plate Audi A3. Its an ok car but no AC. It was due for a service and cambelt change last year but couldn't afford it so its going to need doing in Sept this year. Its been a good runner but its starting to show its age and I feel that something is going to go on it soon.

Now looking at Parkers they say I can get about 2,700 px, which if I think will be nearer 2k.

My question is, is it worth changing to a newer car. I have been lookin at a newer A3 56 plate which will set me back about 8/9k. But as my car needs the following this year is it worth changing

* Cambelt - £250
* Service - £200
* Tax - 215
* Brake sensor - £80

Any views would be great

Cheers

if you do decide to go down the new car route, why pay £8/£9k for a 56 plate when you can pick up a 2004 with around 100k miles for £5/£6k? especially for a diesel 100k is low for mileage.

ArsenalFC

You obviously seem to have deposable money if you're planning to spend an extra 6-7k on a car. The question is do you really want to spend that amount of money on a car? Perhaps consider getting a fiesta/corsa/corolla/civic/astra for 4-5k. Cheaper insurance, tax, servicing and less fuel that the a3.

AdrianHi

£530 is not enough to justify financially shifting to a newer car of '56 plate age which is very soon to go out of warranty and have the potential to hit you with similar bigger bills anyway.
Cars 6+ years old (so slow depreciation) presenting under £500-£1000 a year in repairs for an average 10K miles a year are good value IMO.
When maintenance costs start to overtake depreciation costs on a newer in warranty car it's time to think about changing the way I look at it.

JonathanA

Always a tough call - shiny newer car versus old car that needs a bit spending on it. Heart is probably telling you newer car, head saying stick with the one you know. I've been there loads of times and wasted a lot of money on cars over the years.

To be honest, I'd keep the car you've got and spend a bit on that. The A3 isn't a bad car and you know where yours has been and how it's been driven. The repairs aren't huge. The new car you are thinking about will be 3 yrs old soon, so will need an MOT. It may or may not be cheaper to tax. I'd only start to think about moving the old car on when it gets very expensive to maintain - which isn't quite yet!

ArsenalFC

Just to add the OP did state his current car has no A/C and most likely to want it in the next car. You can just buy a mk6 fiesta 2003/4 for £3k with most mod con, inc air con.

Or do what I did, I got shot of my high insurance/maintenance bmw 1999 323ci coupe 2.5 for a 1998 fiesta ghia 1.25 last year for £600. Fiesta came with air con and heated from screen! I'm pleased with the fiesta and when I have more deposable money I'll probably get the mk6 fiesta for £2.5k.