Second hand or new (+ Are new car warranties worth it?)...

bigjl

hanvyj wrote: »

I have also been reading about DPFs and come to the conclusion that the type of driving I do would make there no point in getting a Diesel - not because I worry that I wouldn't make up the difference in price (tax alone would do that over a few years) but I think the engine wouldn't get hot enough on our typical trips. So I'll probably go for a petrol, which makes these calculations a little out of date.

The little Renault 1.2 engine is a great little engine.

I think that was the engine in the Sandero James May drove on TopGear last Sunday

Ultrasonic

Do you have a particular petrol Fabia in mind? The smaller engined ones would be cheaper to tax and more economical than your spreadsheet assumes. See here for some real world mpg data:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/skoda/fabia-2000

On the other hand, the sort of Fabias you can buy for £2k are all fairly high mileage - would they necessarily be able to cope with a further 50,000 miles?

It's interesting to see your comparison data btw.

bigadaj

bigjl wrote: »

The only car warranty worth anything is a new car warranty.

Buy it is likely the later years are a dealer warranty rather than a manufacturers warranty.

A dealer warranty is invalidated by servicing outside the dealer network and doesn't come under block exemption.

I and lots of family and friends must be really lucky.

Have owned many Renaults over the years and they have been trouble free.

All cars can break down and have problems, VW seem very bad in recent years, but people still consider them better than Renault because it has a soft touch dashboard.

The Dacia Duster(badged Renault in Ghana) is on the short list of cars my wife and i are considering for use in Ghana.

There is nothing wrong with Renault engines, though the 1.9dci could be a bit of a bu@@er.

Wifes Clio has been a good reliable vehicle over the last 4 1/2 years. Due to lots of town and stop start use it could do with a new clutch as it occasionally judders a bit when cold.

It still returns around 60mpg

And apart from a full set of brakes and a cambelt/water pump 2 years ago has cost us next to nothing.

Aircon still works fine.

It has an intermittent airbag light. Which is a common issue. But is is Ncap 5star.

The Dacias have less electrical bits and bobs. A more European no frills specification. So i suspect they will be reliable if slightly boring transport.

I think I'd want more metal around me in Ghana, always travelled in the crew cab Toyotas or similar and felt a bit more comfortable when you start getting three or four vehicles across with desperate weaving during overtaking to avoid potholes and oncoming buses and lorries.

oliverr

It's whether you are willing to pay a little extra to have the piece of mind of the warranty, the reliability etc. and if something did go wrong, you would be covered and wouldn't have to fork out for it.

I nearly did go for a new car but instead opted for a nearly-new (2 yrs old at time of purchase) but in the future I would definetly consider new and in the last 2 years the new car deals such as 0% finance, low deposits, free servicing, Just add Fuel etc. have made it more appealing.

If the car is right and you are happy with it, then go for it. The Logan sounds like it will fit the bill well with what you need it for. It's low frills, low cost motoring.

hanvyj

bigjl wrote: »

£350 to service a little city car.

You need to some more research.

I would do brakes myself at a local garage and buy the parts fom EuroCarParts.

Main dealers tend to advise changing them far too early. Around half worn sometimes.

How much do you make servicing to come to? I don't expect it to be much far from £120, for three years that's about £350.

More? Less? Why?

The point is you can't do anything yourself if you want to use the warranty. It has to be done by a garage, using official parts. More expensive.

Whereas I can do a second hand car myself as there is no warranty. Thus, while it may brake down more it costs less to service etc.

hanvyj

bigjl wrote: »

The little Renault 1.2 engine is a great little engine.

I think that was the engine in the Sandero James May drove on TopGear last Sunday

I did watch that, he went for the 0.9 litre tubo petrol though! I remember Clarkson saying the UP! was the only car without a turbo.

hanvyj

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Do you have a particular petrol Fabia in mind? The smaller engined ones would be cheaper to tax and more economical than your spreadsheet assumes. See here for some real world mpg data:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/skoda/fabia-2000

On the other hand, the sort of Fabias you can buy for £2k are all fairly high mileage - would they necessarily be able to cope with a further 50,000 miles?

It's interesting to see your comparison data btw.

I just picked out a 1.4 estate off autotrader and used the stats it reported. Thanks for that link, those mpg figures look really good actually. I didn't see any 1.2's for sale, I'll have to see how much they go for.

High mileage: That's my worry. If I'm going to be paying around 2k, I'll be looking at a 100k mileage car. I could pay more... but then I think what's the point in getting an expensive second hand? I've known cars to go to 160k easy, but the risks of a costly problem just keeps increasing.

Laloo

I have a very similar query- I'm looking to buy a car and am weighing up the options of new vs 2nd hand.

I have no NCB and where I live insurance is minimum £100 a month. Because of this, I've been tempted by the current Renault Cleo/ Peugeot 206 finance deals which include insurance for the first year or 2 for an estimated £150-190 a month.

So my options are a new car, with finance deal as mentioned OR get a loan and buy a small second hand car for maybe £5000.

It might be worth mentioning that I am in no way a car enthusiast. I just want something reliable and cheap to run with no hassle.

roswell

can i put a slight twist on all this ?

for the Mrs, its a new car (gives reliability wrrenty etc etc) like you I assume 10 years life.

However when it comes to me I work it on a second hand car, so i want to pay approx £1000 a year + serviceing and maintence etc.

So this way i work on buying a second hand car what ever it may be for 10 years - its current age. so assuming 3 ywears old i want to pay £7000 for that car on a flat depreciation of £1000 a year till its 10.

Then what i do is once the car reaches 10 years old u work it another way of how much is it likely to cost me to keep thsi car another year ..

if the cost minus fuel and servicing (you have those costs on any car) is likely to be less than £1000 then i keep the car and repeat the next year.

dont get me wrong id love a brand new range rover evogue but it doesnt fit into my calculations ha ha

if tyour looking to spend £1800 a year on a loan then really your looking at a 18 000 car for 10 years.

Idiophreak

hanvyj wrote: »

How much do you make servicing to come to? I don't expect it to be much far from £120, for three years that's about £350.

So you're not planning to get your second hand car serviced at all?