What second hand car bargains are there

sebastianj

Spec, not too expensive to insure,tax and low running cost, family car can be had these days? I have seen BMW, Mercedes etc but are they expensive to keep? I need something a bit higher than most Automatic, with comfort and luxury without the cost, call me a fool but there are bargains out there. Any pointers?
seb

nomoneytoday

The running costs of exec cars are higher, hence the very low 2nd hand values

My neighbour paid £9000 for a Land Rover, that would be £24000 new. £15000 buys an awful lot of petrol and road tax

ecohouse1

Depends how much you spend - I run a 16 yr old Mercedes and it is built like a tank and has been very reliable. I also run an old porsche (23 yrs old) which is also very robust and hasn't needed too much work doing. Avoid Mercs in the 1994 - 2002 era - they will be riddled with rust, some of which is underneath and hidden. Merc got their act together with later cars. Parts are muchness with other makes and the fuel is OK around 30 mpg.

I taught myself to repair and service cars when I left University to save money so will do almost all jobs myself to save cash. German cars are easier to work on as they are built with better materials.

Good luck

AdrianHi

The purchase prices of cars like a BMW 3 series are higher than say a Mondeo, but they loose similar amounts in depreciation from new, a bit more if you buy used. They are no more expensive, possibly even cheaper, when it comes to routine servicing.
Recenly someone was posting about paying around £100-£120 for the first service on their car at 1 year and nearly 10,000 miles, I think it was a Toyota Yaris or similar. That is nearly double what I paid in the first 2 years on my BMW 320d which cost me £138 in 2 years and 34,000 miles.

The problem comes if you end up having to pay out for some out of warranty failure when they do get expensive.... so I pay £350 for a BMW extended warranty with a £250 excess. This is OK until you get to around 70,000 miles when you have to go after market for a warranty where you can get cover but parts cover starts reducing.

You could buy older at 6 or so year old when depreciation slows down but you still have the potential for big repair bills, other running costs continue to be similar or only a little more than a Mondeo etc.

£5000 to £6000 buys you a Y reg. BMW 530d (E39) regarded by some as the finest saloon car ever made 32-37mpg. Or try a 530i if you don't mind 26-30mpg.
£3000 to £4000 buys you a V reg. so you are loosing about £1000 a year in depreciation. A yound Ford Mondeo looses around £2000 a year so long as you did not buy it brand new (then it's a lot more).

Photo_Stylus

Depends on your budget & how new you want the car to be.

MK2 mondeo, 1996 - 2000, parts are peanuts. Always tons of them for sale.
Dont buy one with any rust. Even basic cars have decent specs, Lots have leather & aircon & as many goodies as you could want.

Bit dearer MK3 mondeo, 2000 - 2007. Diesels can be expensive to repair.
Again well equipped, & always plenty for sale..

sebastianj

Many thanks for very knowledgeable posts, I have driven many a cars and currently I have a Citroen xzara, which I bought on impulse when I abandoned my Rover which was too costly to repair for an Mot.
BMW & Mercs sound ok but I am worried about new Road tax, insurance, carbon emission, basically all costs associated with running a car. One of the nice cars I remember was a Peugeot, which had power, comfort and enjoyable to drive. Very rarely I had to put some oil in it and that was maintenance.

I am so indecisive now that I fear going to these garages in case the salesman sells me something I dont really want, hence this research. Your help most appreciated.

rgd seb

AdrianHi

sebastianj wrote: »

BMW & Mercs sound ok but I am worried about new Road tax, insurance, carbon emission, basically all costs associated with running a car.

Road tax, even the £400+ road tax is a small proportion of the total cost of using a car.
I don't know what your budget is or whether you would consider a BMW less than 3 years old, but this is the age range when BMW started to introduce "EfficientDynamics" a combination of design features that reduce fuel consumption and CO2 by up to 20% but the very latest cars are better still.
At the start of next year the 2010 BMW 320d will be 109g/km CO2 which is £35 band B road tax, and high 60's mpg.... and it will still do 0-62mph in 8.2 seconds. The bigger current 520d is still over 50mpg, low road tax and just beats the Toyota Prius of a year or so a go on fuel consumption.

Depends on your mileage in the end. If you don't do many miles concentrate on finding something that looses it's value slowly and less on fuel consumption etc. If you do a lot of miles it's fuel and servicing are of course higher and it can sometimes pay to be in a younger more expensive to purchase car with lower running costs.

hewhoisnotintheknow

avoid modern vw/audi - their clever marketing sells your overpriced turd that will cost you a lot to keep on the road

nomoneytoday

BMW's seem to have low emissions and therefore low road tax
(in the grand scheme it doesn't make a huge difference, but it's nice to only pay £35)

DKLS

Used Porsche Cayennes are starting to go for silly money these days, I am in the market for a new set of wheels but am just biding my time to pick up a used RUF Cayenne or an AMG CLS.

mcjordi

sebastianj wrote: »

Many thanks for very knowledgeable posts, I have driven many a cars and currently I have a Citroen xsara,

yey me too :T

was cheap to buy too... and a diesel