New vs Second Hand

motorguy

straighttalker wrote: »

Perhaps consider a nearly new car or demonstrator where you'll be the second owner. You'll make a significant saving over new but will also get the balance of the manufacturer's warranty.

+1

When i was doing those sort of miles, i went for a nearly new Golf 1.6TDI 5 door. I was able to get a 9 month old one, with the balance of the manufacturers warranty, just 13k miles and from a main VW dealer for £12,400, compared to £20,000 list price for a new one. On top of that, it averaged 65mpg!

I would ultimately have kept that car, serviced and maintained it to a high standard, until it hit maybe 150,000 to 200,000 miles, then rinsed and repeated.

I would probably look at the Kia Ceed diesel if i were you. Easily bought for that sort of money at a few months old and will come with the balance of a 7 year warranty.

I'd put down a smallish deposit, and finance say £10K over 5 years, which works out at from £182 a month

http://www.comparethemarket.com/loans/

You should get around 60mpg from a KIA Ceed diesel, you'll have full warranty for the entire time you're paying for the car, and beyond, and with that 60mpg you'll save £100 a month over an older diesel doing 40mpg so thats half your finance paid each month!

jaydeeuk1

I'd get a new / nearly new car. Drive it until warranty up, by that point car will be around 75000. Once you get to 100k there is a psychophysical barrier for a lot of people when buying a newish car, so selling before that point is easier. Plus a lot of 3 year warranties are 60k, although some like toyota are 100k

motorguy

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

I'd get a new / nearly new car. Drive it until warranty up, by that point car will be around 75000. Once you get to 100k there is a psychophysical barrier for a lot of people when buying a newish car, so selling before that point is easier. Plus a lot of 3 year warranties are 60k, although some like toyota are 100k

KIA have a 7 year warranty and Hyundai a five.

If you're just after a white goods a to b sort of car, i'd be getting one of those - gets around the "must change because its out of warranty" urges.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

utopia_11 wrote: »

What about renting? Surely that's the most economical? Single rooms can be had in Ruislip for £450 a month including bills. The OP can walk to work and would make considerable savings as well as saving commuter time.


Spending that long in a car can become tiresome and uncomfortable

Suppose it would depend how much the OP likes seeing their wife/husband/kids during the week.....

parking_question_chap

Second hand all day long.

mrscobden

Dear all

Wow! Thank you so much for the advice. I was fascinated by the term 'repmobile' - had genuinely never heard that one before :-)

I am definitely going diesel - it is much more economical for that type of mileage. I will certainly look into all of your brand suggestions.

Regarding comments on the M40, it isn't that bad. Much better than the M1 or M25. It gets congested around High Wycombe but I will be on flexi-time, so I plan to get past that and on to the A40 before it becomes the seventh circle of hell. From my experience, it gets very congested past the Polish War Memorial, which is handy because that is where I will be coming off. Providing that I plan it well, the commute should only take between 1 hr and 1 hr 30 minutes, and roughly the same coming back if I manage to get out before the evening rush.

Regarding a single room in Ruislip, I did think about that but I would like to see my husband :-) I can see where you are coming from - it is by no means a bad suggestion. We are going to try it out for a year or so and if it doesn't suit us, we will look into moving a bit closer to London. We would rather get some savings together for a mortgage instead of paying astronomical rents in the London area.

Again, thank you so much for your suggestions and advice. You have given me a lot to think about.

Best wishes

Mrs C

phill99

As my mates Dad always said "I'm too poor to afford a second hand car".