Let the other guy pay the depreciation

sevlow

In the spirit of this board I wondered what used cars represented the best buys You know those all all leather, climate controlled executive saloons that new cost £20k, will soak up 100K+ but are available for the price of a Focus. Which cars offer that lovely blend of presige, luxury and low running costs?

loafer_2

That new Skoda estate looks good. Hit's the shops at the end of the month IIRC. If I was going for a larger car it would get a serious look if my local dealer wasn't a bunch of a$$. But the other half drives the family bus

PhiL_P_3

I had a 68k mile 2001-X BMW 520i (2.2) which was absolutely gorgeous, lovely to drive and travel in, built like a rock and had reasonable running costs, and cost me about the same as a base-model Focus when I bought it a year back.

Sadly though it had to go so that I could get a second car for my wife to drive (she won't touch anything bigger than a supermini). So after selling the BMW to a friend I then went for as cheap as possible (whilst keeping the gadget level up) by taking a gamble and buying a 2001-"51" Citroen C5 2.0 Exclusive with 104k miles under its wheels (and they ain't got a great rep for reliability!) for the bargain price of £3.5k, meaning it had shed £14k in under 3 years. All was going wonderfully well (it's in an excellent condition for the mileage, drives quite nicely, and has toys galore) until one of the xenon headlamps failed a couple of weeks back. Citroen dealer has diagnosed a failed igniter unit (similar to that of a flurescent light) but they can't be replaced separately so the car requires an entire new headlight at a cost of over £500 inc fitting! :eek:

So be warned - there may be a price to pay for getting all those toys at a knockdown rate!

Skint_Catt

Buy a Parkers Car Price guide and for every model spec in there it gives you a code for the fastest/slowest deprecitation.

Failing that Which? did a report about a month or two ago in a table which was fantastic as you chose the size of car you wanted and looked at the four or five models on the bottom of the list and you had the best buy cars regarding depreciation.

[Deleted User]

sevlow wrote:

Which cars offer that lovely blend of presige, luxury and low running costs?

Honda Accord.

FJSRiDER

sevlow wrote:

In the spirit of this board I wondered what used cars represented the best buys You know those all all leather, climate controlled executive saloons that new cost £20k, will soak up 100K+ but are available for the price of a Focus. Which cars offer that lovely blend of presige, luxury and low running costs?

Mercedes.

Just bought Ms FJSRiDER a Mercedes 190E. OK, it is 1991 but has done just 84,000 miles, has a full service history and has absolutely nothing wrong with it at all (got the local Merc independent to check it over)

Paid £775.

I honestly expect it will last for years - all it needs is a good service from time to time. Insurance is cheaper than her old Volkswagen! :j

boatman

Totally agree, 190E, good cars. The engineering is top notch. My first one had 137,000 on the clock, in 18 months the only thing that broke was the drivers window switch, £25. My second, nothing went wrong, just the normal pads and tyres.

Dave_G_5

I bought an alfa 156 jtd last year for 4k which was a good price for a 2001 car. I ran it for 10k miles then sold it for 4k before anything too expensive broke on it!!

I've now bought a Honda CRX del sol (little known about 2 seater hardtop convertable) as a jap import for £2950. It's 13 years old, but has only done 60k miles and I know form previous experience that the engines go on forever. Not really going to depreciate any more now I don't think, and the prices go up in the summer.

avantra

Got my Nissan Almera P reg for £450 with 83k on the clock , one year on she go and go did 40k on it just needed new set of tyres, seem to be undestructible.

We_Laugh_Indoors

Skint_Catt wrote:

Buy a Parkers Car Price guide and for every model spec in there it gives you a code for the fastest/slowest deprecitation.

or visit their website and save the three quid it costs.

they also have reviews on there and other useful things