I need to get a new car

Keith

tony8 wrote: »

I've just checked my local rag and, for example, found an '07 pre-registered Fiat Panda for £99 deposit, £26.36 aweek over 60 months 0% apr, OTR. Not a very big car granted but 3 years warranty plus eight years anti-perferation can't be all bad, if it goes wrong, take it back!!!.

5 years of 0% credit is paying £6425.40. A four year old model is currently worth £2890, so lets say your five year old car is worth £2500.

This car will not have bump strips so will be prone to parking dings, has no air con, no sun roof, no remote central locking. In 5 years, you've also paid to service the car to manufacturers recommendations, lets allow for a service a year over 5 years

So without any of the problems associated with Fiat's and owning the car for 5 years it's cost over £5000.

What's Bad
Only 3 stars in for occupant safety in NCAP crash test, 1 star for pedestrian impact safety and 2 stars for child protection. 250,000 a year might not be enough to meet pan-European demand. Looks astonishingly like a slightly scaled-down Hyundai Matrix. Standard rear seatbacks don't double-fold, so to make a lot of space in the back rear seats need to be unbolted (a folding rear seat is a £200 extra). Multijet diesel might be very noisy. Quality problems such as old Punto fault of brake master cylinder washer reversing itself, causing pedal to stick to floor and have to be hooked up again. Reports of poor fuel economy and heavy engine oil consumption of Multijet contradicted by other reports of excellent economy. One report of engine mounting collapse, on a 2004 1.1 Active.