car main dealers or others??

MeGuinness

hello guys ,
i need to buy a car for work ,im looking at used late new shape 2009 prius for a price of around £11k with 65k on the clock.
this are everage toyota dealer prices in the Berkshire .

i get to see that same models(sometime newer) ,age and less k on the clock seems to be cheaper once looking at toyota dealers in the north of uk. Any reason in particular ?

then there are the non toyota dealers and the private listing on auto trader.

is it really better to buy from toyota main dealer when the prices are about £3000 more then non toyota dealers or private ?
whats your take??
thanx

mkirkby

I'd get the cheapest good one regardless of where it came from. Probably backed up by an independent examination by a mechanic.

Extra £3000 from main dealer is pointless. Extra from a dealer over private does have the advantage that if anything goes bang immediately, you should be protected as it wasn't fit for purpose.

I'd run a mile from a Prius anyway. Only a real cost advantage when doing a lot of stop-start driving.

fivetide

I'd suspect the price north v south has something to do with the congestion charges and the popularity of the car for that reason.

Paperbird

There should be no problem buying from a Toyota dealer in the north. My daughter bought a 3 year old Vauxhall from a Toyota dealer, it came with a Toyota 12 month warranty, the salesman told her the warranty was provided by Toyota ( not a third party one ) and if she had any problem with the car it could be taken to any Toyota dealer for repair.

forgotmyname

Except the main dealer wont vanish the instant you make a complaint about the car.

Why would anyone buy a prius? Its not cheap to buy. Its not cheap to run. Its a potential nightmare.

MeGuinness

forgotmyname wrote: »

Except the main dealer wont vanish the instant you make a complaint about the car.

Why would anyone buy a prius? Its not cheap to buy. Its not cheap to run. Its a potential nightmare.

not cheap to run ??lol seriously?
£10 of unleaded gives about 95miles!!

Horizon81

forgotmyname wrote: »

Except the main dealer wont vanish the instant you make a complaint about the car.

Why would anyone buy a prius? Its not cheap to buy. Its not cheap to run. Its a potential nightmare.

Totally agree. They're not particularly economical, all things considered. What are your priorities? How many miles do you do?

MeGuinness

i do about 30k per year ,mostly city drive!!
may i ask why u guys think is not economical?

mkirkby

MeGuinness wrote: »

i do about 30k per year ,mostly city drive!!
may i ask why u guys think is not economical?

Because compared to modern (or even old) diesels it isn't. My friends have one and they managed 48mpg over a 120 miles journey, I followed them in my 1998 Xantia running on veg oil and managed 54mpg.

A modern diesel would absolutely trounce it:-

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmPUugMAQiOkdEV6WUVjRDhaUF8tclEydHpyblFTVFE&hl=en_GB#gid=0


Once a Prius has run out of battery power (almost immediately on a long journey), all you have left is a petrol engine lugging it around.

There's a reason most Taxis are modern diesels (& Octavias of Leeds is anything to go by..)

MeGuinness

well i can say the same thing about the prius regarding been used has Taxis,london /heathrow airport is full of them,btw i dont think the veg oil run really matters in the discussion.
btw im a taxi driver ,some of my colleague for example just got the new hundayi30 bluedrive diesel ,cannot get more then 50mpg combine ,wile my other mate with a 2007 prius 1.5 get 65mpg.
i agree with u on the motorway drive,but on the city traffic no diesel can win against the prius ,if your not moving or moving slowly because your stuck in the traffic your using 0 fuel.
let take a consideration that there is a learning curve when it comes to drive a prius ,so all depend on the driver to!

forgotmyname

at 70mph will it do 60+mpg?

No. Thought not.

A diesel focus with stop/start would cost less to buy/service and be free to run for a good few miles, If you used that money for fuel.

It will give better fuel consumption overall.