Early-retirement wannabe

aldershot

atush wrote: »

This is EXACTLY the place we find ourselves with an 11 and 5 yr old car between us.

We have the cash, but are dithering between new nearly new and used, and which model, and where to buy (on island here is expensive, buy across and it costs 500+ to bring it over with ferry, new MOT and re-registering etc).

It keeps us dithering lol

Dithering buddy here. Mrs pfd has a Clio which is 9 too. I was looking at a big xover type thing but maybe a Golf estate would do the trick? Having not bought a car for so long, it all seems very difficult :eek:

gfplux

We still bought new and replaced after 3 or 4 years (retired 20 years) finally saw how foolish that was. I have an X5 bought new but now 6 years old which has 80000k (50000 miles) and my Wife has a Fiat 500 also from new now six years old with 32000k.
We both love the cars and think at least another 3 years if not more before we change. They suit our life style perfectly.
The Fiat 500 is absolutely wonderful as a Town car. It will fit any parking spot available. We are presently in the South of France with the BMW and the number of times I wished I was parking the Fiat!

gallygirl

We bought new as second hand car prices in Spain are ridiculous. If you're not label crazy can I recommend Dacia - Renault engine inside. We have the Sandero Stepway and it's great, cheap to buy and run and has high ground clearance which is great for some roads/tracks we go on. With hindsight, a Duster would have been better for golf clubs etc, but I love my little blue car . We intend keeping it forever - or at least till we don't feel it's reliable any more.

robin61

After 30 years of having company cars buying and tuning my own will be a bit of a shock. All that depreciation is frightening.

gadgetmind

robin61 wrote: »

After 30 years of having company cars buying and tuning my own will be a bit of a shock. All that depreciation is frightening.

Most of the depreciation is over the first three years. I go for "flash" cars, but even so our 3yo Audi A8 was just over £17k versus £55k new. Assuming we keep it for 10 years (7 years down) we know depreciation is well sub £2k pa even if worth zero at the end.

Meanwhile, relative who keeps going on about my "flash cars", spends £18k on a new bog mobile, trades it in three years later because "he's been offered a great deal", and enjoys £3k pa depreciation despite being retired.

Thrugelmir

robin61 wrote: »

After 30 years of having company cars buying and tuning my own will be a bit of a shock.

Times are very different now. A Haynes manual will no longer suffice. Unless you choose to buy a classic.

Triumph13

mgdavid wrote: »

Yep BTDT.
I started from a basic premise that I would never buy a brand new car, and would never enter any sort of lease / contract hire / loan agreement. I needed a decent car that could tow a trailer & racecar and also carry tools, fuel and all the paraphernalia of motor racing.. I also detest 4x4s and MPVs and all the latest crossover nonsense. Remember that the motor industry is 99% marketing hype - I have the advantage that I've worked for a couple of major manufacturers.
Ended up spending sub-£10k on a Volvo estate, best long-distance load-lugging cruiser I've ever driven (think Scotland and back south on the same day) and has cost nothing other than tyres, annual service and MOT. It's now 9 years old and with a dateless plate is hard to tell from a new one. Planning to keep it another 3 to 4 years minimum.

+1 on the Volvo estate. I spent less than £4k on a ten year old V70 and it has been wonderful - load it up with canoes, bikes, kids and luggage, set the cruise control and off you go. And at that price it's less of a disaster when you drop a canoe on it!

gadgetmind

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Times are very different now. A Haynes manual will no longer suffice. Unless you choose to buy a classic.

Maybe, but if you buy a diagnostic lead, you can still do a whole load yourself and save £1000s.

jimi_man

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Times are very different now. A Haynes manual will no longer suffice. Unless you choose to buy a classic.

A Haynes manual is still very useful. Things like brakes, steering, clutches, oil and filter changes etc, have changed little over the years and are still straightforward to do.

Things like the engine management system have got more complicated quite often you need special diagnostic equipment to work out what's wrong, though not always. I had a VW Passat diesel that had a fault and a garage had it for three days and failed to find the fault, despite swapping out a Lambda unit (whatever that is) and a few other tests. I brought it home and after reading something on the internet, I discovered that it was as simple as a split in a rubber hose from the turbo unit. Sometimes the diagnostic tools are useless and they need to go back to basics.

Aside from that, in general I find cars so much more reliable than even 15 years ago so you don't really need to touch stuff like that.

frugal90

Bought fiat panda, 700 miles on the clock and 9/months old, £5995 traded in for another fiat panda that had done 65k miles and cost me 5.2k 4 years ago. They gave me 1.5k as trade in. That'll do me thank you.