New (ish) car dilema

bigjl

Strider590 wrote: »

Oh where did that "rolls-eyes" smiley go?

Let me just reiterate a point I have to make a lot these days......

You CANNOT save money buy buying a new (or nearly new) car.

As already said, you can indeed save money by buying a new car, not everybody will, but some will.

For example, buying a Brand New Clio DCi with the new eco2 engine and the 95gco2/km engine that has free road tax and better tax advantages for a business or self employed user.

You can then save Tax, RoadTax and fuel costs.

Plus you still have the original perfectly good car.

If you take a short term view in everything then you will always assume that any money spent is money wasted.

But in much the same way you save money in the long term when you convert your car to LPG you can save money in the medium to long term when you buy a car with more economic benefits than just fuel economy.

Kilty_2

bigjl wrote: »

As already said, you can indeed save money by buying a new car, not everybody will, but some will.

Exactly

I see what Strider is getting at - there's people that post saying "OMG my superduperecodiesel only gets 99.425678 MPG and the MK2 version gets 99.426 MPG - should I change car?????"

bigjl

jase1 wrote: »

OK, OK, in most cases you won't save any money.

If you own a gas-guzzler, or something that is terminally unreliable, then yes you might save money.

But downsizing from a 1.8 Vectra to a 1.2 Corsa? Nah. Very unlikely that you'd save any appreciable amount of cash for some years, unless you were prepared to go around in something older as well.

And 100 or so miles a week is my definition of a job that needs nothing more than a respectable older car for £1500 to get you about. Anything more is extravagance IMO. Hence the Lacetti suggestion :beer:

I think you might have missed a trick there jase.

For a start the Corsa will have much cheaper Insurance, probably cheaper RoadTax, cheaper tyres, cheaper servicing costs, will have better residual values and that is before you consider the simple fact that it will do a awful lot more miles per gallon.


My dad had a Mondeo 1.8 Verona, bought new in 97/98, done less than 50k.

No issues, never broken down, giving an easy 35/40mpg.

Now the car was obviously paid for, so no payments to worry about, just Insurance, petrol, servicing and roadtax to worry about.

Enter the Scrappage Scheme, he got offered £2700(I think) on trade-in.

He bought a Pug 207, wth the little petrol engine, 1.4 I think.

RoadTax is at least half, servicing is negligable due to long intervals and the fact that he does low miles, it is brand new and so needs no MOT's, he paid cash so is only losing the interest on those savings, which is almost nothing at the moment anyway.

Since buying the car has cost him Insurance and 1 service!

His fuel consumption is 50/55mpg.

So he is on a win/win, he can't lose.

His old Mondeo was worth about £400, every time it needed a tyre it cost £120, due to the size fitted to Mondeo Veronas and the fact that in rural Scotland tyres are pricey, they also don't sell budget tyres as nobody would buy them, though reasonably priced Vredesteins are popular.

Every year the Mondeo needed a £50 MOT, £180 RoadTax(from memory as I haven't taxed a mk2 Mondeo for some time), plus any other repairs it would need.

Some people aren't happy with bangernomics, one of these people being my dad, new tyres, known brand or OE spec only, regular service every year, AC regassed when needed, if anything breaks or ceases to function then it gets fixed etc.

Yes this is an extreme situation.

But does illustrate how you can run a car on next to nothing, but only if you don't keep it all up and running properly, if you do an older car becomes a liability very quickly.

Kilty_2

Sounds a bit like the car I've just parted with - even though it was only 4 years old there was always something needing doing and the potential for a really amazing bill if something bad went wrong (it needed a passenger side front wheel when I parted with it - £300 inc vat from the parts desk!)

Strangely, all of the electrics still worked, just :rotfl:

Would have another Laguna though - if someone else was picking up the tab.

bigjl

I think you where spot on getting rid of your Laguna when you did.

Larger Renaults make nice used buys, but only because you get a lot for the money.

Small Renaults make good buys new, mainly as they hold their value well and are in demand.

Though the wifes Clio shows that bought for the right price they are good used buys also.

I am glad I talked her out of the Megane, nice safe modern looking motor, but too many electrical gubbins on them, and they lose too much money.

Renault do seem to shoot themselves in the !!!! with all this new tech they like to fit.

Though it does seem that they are getting their act together recently.

Though sometimes when you buy a car for a good price you don't want to spend any money on it.

My Mondeo is a 05/2005, but I dread any expensive repairs, pity I have no money to upgrade to a newer car at the moment, as the Mondeo is at the breakeven point now, I paid £2450 for it in Nov 2008, and it is now worth about the same, so if I sell now it has been free.

But if I keep it too long and it needs say a new clutch, along with the essential DMF, then I will be out six or seven hundred quid.

Hope my ill health pension gets sorted out soon, so I can get rid, if I have to put in that kind of money then I need to keep it for another 6-12 months really.

property.advert

Kilty wrote: »

Seems cheap - clocked/categorised?

I'd have thought you'd pay about that for high mile ex-fleet ones.

When I went looking for a newish car late last year I was surprised at the amount of cars coming to market at the 3 year old stage. I got a Network Q Astra with 19k on the clock straight from Motability. Chuck on 2 years Network Q guarantee and you're as near bulletproof as you can get with a second hand car.

Kilty_2

Is it a 1.8 auto?

Loads of them about ex-motability for daft money.

bigjl wrote: »

I think you where spot on getting rid of your Laguna when you did.

Larger Renaults make nice used buys, but only because you get a lot for the money.

Wouldn't like to have been the first owner, some horrific depreciation right there.

property.advert

bigjl wrote: »

I think you might have missed a trick there jase.

For a start the Corsa will have much cheaper Insurance, probably cheaper RoadTax, cheaper tyres, cheaper servicing costs, will have better residual values and that is before you consider the simple fact that it will do a awful lot more miles per gallon.


My dad had a Mondeo 1.8 Verona, bought new in 97/98, done less than 50k.

No issues, never broken down, giving an easy 35/40mpg.

Now the car was obviously paid for, so no payments to worry about, just Insurance, petrol, servicing and roadtax to worry about.

Enter the Scrappage Scheme, he got offered £2700(I think) on trade-in.

He bought a Pug 207, wth the little petrol engine, 1.4 I think.

RoadTax is at least half, servicing is negligable due to long intervals and the fact that he does low miles, it is brand new and so needs no MOT's, he paid cash so is only losing the interest on those savings, which is almost nothing at the moment anyway.

Since buying the car has cost him Insurance and 1 service!

His fuel consumption is 50/55mpg.

So he is on a win/win, he can't lose.

His old Mondeo was worth about £400, every time it needed a tyre it cost £120, due to the size fitted to Mondeo Veronas and the fact that in rural Scotland tyres are pricey, they also don't sell budget tyres as nobody would buy them, though reasonably priced Vredesteins are popular.

Every year the Mondeo needed a £50 MOT, £180 RoadTax(from memory as I haven't taxed a mk2 Mondeo for some time), plus any other repairs it would need.

Some people aren't happy with bangernomics, one of these people being my dad, new tyres, known brand or OE spec only, regular service every year, AC regassed when needed, if anything breaks or ceases to function then it gets fixed etc.

Yes this is an extreme situation.

But does illustrate how you can run a car on next to nothing, but only if you don't keep it all up and running properly, if you do an older car becomes a liability very quickly.

Exactly the theory I subscribe to. With older cars, people are always shelling out money on repairs, MOTs, tyres even and often doing way less mpg than the modern equivalent. They are also not driving the latest, safest motor design.

Fair play, some people can't afford new cars but you've got to get past the headline figure. I'm seriously looking at a Kia new partly because it was a 7 year warranty. Hyundai too. A new Vauxhall could (need to study warranty) give a lifetime's trouble free motoring.

Then again, some people choose to go to the pub a lot, buy lots of takeaways, max out their cards buying the latest useless tat etc. and then either complain that they cannot afford a decent motor or big up the benefits of bangernomics.

When I turn the key, I want it to start and when I press the brake I want it to stop. I'll warrant that you get both of those more often with newer and lower mileage cars.

bigjl

Wait for the new Rio and Picanto before considering buying.

You can find some reviews of the new Rio by doing a Google search.

They Rio is nearly as funky as the new Sportage, with similar styling.

From what some owners have said the Vauxhall warranty is not really a lifetime warranty, though I have no direct experience with it.

There are indeed big savings to be made from bangernomics, but you need the ability to be able to spot a decent car at auction and do most of your own servicing to make it work properly.

The example that I have are my Mondeo Nov 2008 to now with just routine servicing and some brakes/handbrake cables, tyre etc. Still worth what i paid for it.

My wifes old Accent automatic, bought for £450 at the auction, drove for three years with just a couple of small repairs, antiroll bar droplinks and a replacement exhaust manifold when purchased, cost £10 from a scrapyard, fitted it myself, but that car gave 18k miles per year with hardly any costs.

Gave it away and 18 months later it is still being used by the person we gave it to, though they did have to spend some money on it £250 to be exact.

But if I had spent some money getting it up to scratch it would have been worth at least £400/500.


The real truth about bangernomics is that you need to be able to buy the right car for the right price, otherwise the savings aren't actually that great.

Kilty_2

Definitely need to be handy with a spanner for bangernomics to work - I considered it at one stage but remembered I'm allergic to spanners