vw UP or skoda citigo

Experian_company_representative

Not just covered in the D Mail and not rubbish. We use !information from police, insurance firms and banks, and the findings are based on more than 100,000 cars bought in the past year. Used car data checks are available from several providers.

James Jones

IHateDida

Going back to the OP's question - I test drove the Mii and Citigo yesterday - exactly the same car apart from the specs, along with the VW (I didn't bother testing the UP - whats the point in paying more for exactly the same car and also the lead time is supposed to be alot longer?!).

The difference between the Mii and the Citigo for me was dealer support and also I wanted the 2nd model up from the base with Aircon - nothing flash however. The Skoda has a better 2nd model package if you look at the specs (which I did for quite a while!). Get the 2 brochures (or compare online) and you will see what I mean - £ for £.

I am opting for the Citigo - I also tried a Citroen C1 (too plasticky), Kia Picanto (very bumpy ride along with sharp brakes) and Suzuki Splash (their £7777 deal no longer comes with aircon and next model up is £9000+).

Citigo was lovely to ride in - very smooth even over bumps, the 5 star ncap is a bonus and it just felt like a really solid car. Plus I reckon Skoda will give much better support than SEAT - it definitely seemed like this on first impressions anyway.

worried_jim

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Not just covered in the D Mail and not rubbish. We use !information from police, insurance firms and banks, and the findings are based on more than 100,000 cars bought in the past year. Used car data checks are available from several providers.

James Jones

But you are selling a product and the data is in your favour (and the data is only on 100,000 used cars bought-a drop in the ocean)so like most on here I would treat it as bollox. As someone has already said that 40% depreciation in the first year of ownership on a £8k car is £3.2k which would cover a lot of repair bills (and a nice holiday) so as a money saving site most will give buying new a wide curve.

photome

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Not just covered in the D Mail and not rubbish. We use !information from police, insurance firms and banks, and the findings are based on more than 100,000 cars bought in the past year. Used car data checks are available from several providers.

James Jones

Statistics can be manipulated to read however you want them to

I stand by my comment

mikey72

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Not just covered in the D Mail and not rubbish. We use !information from police, insurance firms and banks, and the findings are based on more than 100,000 cars bought in the past year. Used car data checks are available from several providers.

James Jones

88,000 would have had history only a hpi check would reveal? Only 12,000 had no information on them?

Johnmcl7

worried_jim wrote: »

But you are selling a product and the data is in your favour (and the data is only on 100,000 used cars bought-a drop in the ocean)so like most on here I would treat it as bollox. As someone has already said that 40% depreciation in the first year of ownership on a £8k car is £3.2k which would cover a lot of repair bills (and a nice holiday) so as a money saving site most will give buying new a wide curve.

My thoughts exactly, the figures from the Office of Fair Trading put used car sales at over 3.6 million in 2009 so that would mean a sample set of just 100,000 vehicles would be less than 3% of the total number of vehicles sold so extrapolating that to all cars to come up with the ludicrous figure of 88% of all second hand cars are dodgy is clearly scaremongering to sell a service which coincidentally they do offer. According to the same OFT report above, they received 65,000 complaints in that time frame which is essentially against the entire number of cars which is less than 2%, just a bit less than 88%. I would also wonder if the report that came up with the 88% figure included DVLA errors, one car I looked at last year failed an HPI check due to a DVLA error which was cleared a few days after and I think it's fair to say the DVLA are far from flawless.

As with the other users I can't fathom the logic of buying a new car to save money, even if the current car is having a lot of problems I'd still go for another second hand car rather than brand new. It reminds of an energy saving quiz I did recently in which you put in your current car details and it would tell you how much you could save per year buying a newer, more efficient car - apparently I could save an impressive £60 per year if I spent £22,000 on a new efficient car.

Back to the thread, having owned both Seat and Skoda vehicles recently I wouldn't take customer service for either to be a given as I've found the level of service varies tremendously. My local Seat garage is considerably better than the Skoda one but then again I still ended buying a Skoda with that in mind (from a Ford garage admittedly, much more helpful than the Skoda garages I'd been to).

john

frankie1star

I am pleased to read so many helpful and well researched comments. I am not that keen on buying a new car, because of the premium price, having thought through my options. More than likely, I will downgrade to a Polo, which I hope will give me a few years low cost motoring. This is currently my thinking. Will probably look after the next plate release, unless something comes along beforehand or helpful advice dictates otherwise. I am not that experienced in these matters, in case you cant tell and this is the reason I turn to MSE for helpful comments and advice, and not judgements! Perhaps, in my original post I didnt make myself very clear (but I also didnt expect to be so maligned), and for that I apologise. Cutting costs, e.g. lower tax, more fuel efficiency, lower insurance, etc. are all my driving forces, also the fact that I do less mileage.

Johnmcl7

What engine do you have in your Golf? Make sure when you're working out your costs that you go by actual figures rather than the manufacturer provided ones which can be optimistic leading to a much smaller saving in practice.

Also keep a cynical head on when checking second hand cars, it certainly is well worth checking them out thoroughly and walking away from cars you have doubt about.

John

frankie1star

now that's the advice I call good. thank you

I have a 1.9 tdi on an 07 plate, I love it, but as you can see its getting a little old, and whilst its got some value, I hope to get a newer one than this. Incidentally, it has 63k on the clock, and in 12 months I have only done 7k miles approx

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

What engine do you have in your Golf? Make sure when you're working out your costs that you go by actual figures rather than the manufacturer provided ones which can be optimistic leading to a much smaller saving in practice.

Also keep a cynical head on when checking second hand cars, it certainly is well worth checking them out thoroughly and walking away from cars you have doubt about.

John

daveyjp

Can someone who owns an Up or similar advise as to the cambelt change interval please.