New car - finance

freeman3030

Hi all, apologies if i've posted this in the wrong area, but I'm after some advise on getting a new car.
I currently drive a 1997 VW Golf 1.6 which I use for my daily work commute (400 miles per week). I get roughly 38mpg, but I really do need a newer car as I honestly don't think mine will pass its MOT which is due in June. I'm particularly interested in a brand new Vauxhall Astra because of the 0% finance and I went to the showroom yesterday and had a look at one and chat with a sales man. Currently the Vauxhall Astra Excite with the new 1.6CDTi engine is £20,340.
When I spoke to the sales man we we're talking about savings off of the new car and my breakdown was this

£20,340 - Astra
-£2,000 - Vauxhall deposit contribution
-£1,800 (I think) because my dad worked at the post office
-£1,400 of my own money
=
60 monthly payments of £252.34

Since getting home, my partners dad has GM card points which can be used and a voucher I got online which makes the saving even greater
-£1,250 (GM Card points)
-£250 voucher from the Vauxhall website

(Using Vauxhalls online calculator it comes to £227.34)

I would be interested in adding the Navigation unit and parking sensors. Which then makes it £273.17 per month.


A similarly specified Ford Focus thats 1 year old is around £13,500 and using my savings would mean I would need about a £12k loan which equates to 60 monthly payments of £226.09.
I'm just not sure which way to go with it all! Any advise, New car or save £50 a month and get a second hand one?

[Deleted User]

Second hand.

Or even better, save 2-3k and buy one outright.

19lottie82

hi OP, that's a lot of cash for an astra!

what do you plan on doing with the car after the 60 months? sell it or keep it until it dies?

have you tried looking at cars about 3 years old, with a low mileage? they usually work out a better deal.

CKhalvashi

I'd either try to haggle it down to £17935 before discounts or not go for it at all.

See here for the reason why I've come up with that figure.

CK

poppasmurf_bewdley

More than twenty grand for an Astra 1.6?????????

That is so overpriced as to be unbelieveable. Shop around and you will find an equivalent model for much less. How do you think they can afford the interest free credit and all the other goodies they claim to throw in?

Do yourself a financial favour and go for the one that is 12 months old, and save yourself about nine or ten thousand pounds. In 12 month's time, that Astra will be worth ten grand max on the used car market. Maybe even less as I hear there's a new one just around the corner.

BillJones

freeman3030 wrote: »

Currently the Vauxhall Astra Excite with the new 1.6CDTi engine is £20,340.

Wow. That's a lot of money for not much car.

For comparison, I ran an SLK55 AMG for a year recently, that cost me £18k, and I looked at a mint low-mileage RS4 not long ago that was up at only a thousand more.

If money is an issue, then would you not be willing to consider a three year old car with a five year warranty? You need to remember, these "discounts" that you are being offered are not real. It's the SCS or Eisenegger sales model, whack a ridiculous "starting price" on something and then wave big discounts at the buyer hoping that they don't look too closely at what they are getting.

Two year old Astras are readily available on Autotrader from around £7,000, from which you can probably negotiate a bit of a discount.

Clive_Woody

On the extras I would go with the parking sensors but having built in sat nav is usually very expensive and if you only use it occasionally a decent Tom Tom or Garmin will be a lot less.

How long is the warranty on the car if you are going to be paying for it over 5 years?

Will you part ex the Golf, if so are they offering you a decent price on it?

I got my Skoda Ocatvia vRS on 0% finance but paid it off over 2 years, I wouldn't have been happy paying it off over such a long period.

Smi1er

£20K for an Astra? lol


A similar spec 1 year old focus (a better car) is not £13.5K. It's £12K (check motorpoint).


400 miles a week. 47 weeks a year. 5 years = 94,000 miles. That's before your private mileage. Let's say 6K a year. After 5 years that's 124,000. A 5 year old Astra with 124K miles isn't worth much.


Personally I would buy a £4-5k car and either run it into the ground or change every year. If changing every year you will have to avoid buying from a dealer.

bigadaj

I looked at a year old 1.6 astra a couple of months ago, 15000 miles at less than £9k. Car was ok but showed a little wear, and they tried the old purchase fee and no haggle which annoyed me so I walked away, but that wouldn't be a bad deal with nearly two years warranty left.

19lottie82

Just to put it into perspective, my Dad sold his 2008 Mazda6, 2.0L, 19k on the clock, with a full years MOT, 4 months tax, full service history, totally immaculate inside and out (no kids, smoking or pets), 2 keys, spare wheel the lot, for £5300

I know it's 5.5 years old, but it was immaculate.

I would rather buy that than an Astra for 4 times the price!

mustang121

I agree with everyone else. That it is a lot of money for Astra and Vauxhalls are a pretty cheap, poor quality car that struggle to hold their price.


My advice is to buy a 2nd hand car out right or look towards better quality cars such as Ford, VW or Honda as they tend to hold their price better.




£252 a month is a lot of money for 60 months, and that new car smell will quickly wear off leaving you with a lot of finance.