Advice needed on buying a new car, please.

blueruby_2

Am looking at getting a new car. It has to be family friendly, boot with enough space to hold a buggy & shopping. A higher seating position would be ideal as I am about 5'. It would be the second car in the house & is mainly for school runs,shopping etc. so would max do 5000 at a stretch. Budget is below 15k & will have to be on a loan. Kindly recommend which ones to go for, please.

Have had a look at Hyundai & liked the ix20 and i30 models. Dealer gave a quote of £13400 for the i30 & £14400 for the ix20. Both are the SE models & price includes metallic paint (£565), protection pack, reg fee, fuel (£20), 3 year/30000miles service plan (£349).
Is this a good deal? Which of the two models is a better one? Is taking out a service plan at the dealers a good thing?
Is buying a diesel version of i30 for 1.5k more than petrol version a good choice? OH does more miles about 150 in a week on the motorway on his diesel Octavia. Will it be worthwhile to get the diesel i30 & use both the cars alternatively to avoid DPF issues?
Please pour in your thoughts. Thanks.

Cornucopia

If you are only doing c. 5000 miles per year, then a diesel is probably not going to work.

There are all sorts of higher driving position vehicles these days. You should be able to get a £2000-ish discount from those prices. Getting a dealer service plan is a good idea, though ideally you would be paying half that price for it.

Have you thought about:-

- Buying second hand
- Leasing

thescouselander

I'd steer clear of Hyundai - they work out very expensive due to their rapid rate of depreciation. For the same monthly payment you could get a much better car.

First of all a few questions. Do you intend to keep the car long term or swap after a few years.

Also what sort of finance are you looking at - bank loan, PCP, HP, Lease etc....?

blueruby_2

All our previous 3 cars have been second hand, wished to get a new one this time. We would most probably keep it for the next 10 years at least as long as it keeps running fine.
Currently looking at the PCP offered by the dealer at 6.9% paying £264 for 48 months with a £4k payment at the end. We are hoping a few months down we might save some money & take a lower interest loan & pay this off. Not sure about the finance company's terms on pre term closures. Have to verify that.
OH is not keen on lease as he feels its expensive as it will be for a short term of 2 or 3 years & on top we will have to hunt for a car again when the lease is over.

Cornucopia

There is no magic formula. The Lease price reflects the genuine costs of owning a car over a given period. It doesn't make much sense favouring PCP over Lease, as they are very similar. Having said that, there are potentially suitable cars available on Leases from about £130pm, so potentially worth looking into.

There shouldn't be any issue paying off a PCP mid-term, but it's worth checking.

If you are planning on keeping the car at the end of the term, I would look at standard credit rather than PCP, as it will probably be cheaper in terms of the amount of interest paid.

prowla

I recently looked at replacing my car and ended up getting a new one on a PCP scheme; it made the most sense to me.

blueruby_2

Will the dealer offer standard credit or should I source it from somewhere else?
Dealers always say the price they offer is based on us taking out the loan with them. Is that true that if we don't go with the loan then the discount will be much less or is that just a sales talk? Can the dealer give us reduced rate of interest or is it a fixed one by the loan company they use?

Shall keep searching for more options.

Can someone please suggest mid size cars that have high driving positions please that you have driven & can recommend?

Was also attracted to automatic as I didn't have to get as close to the steering wheel to reach the pedals. Is there any other advantage with an automatic car apart from the gear changes? Are there any disadvantages as to maintenance, fuel economy etc.?

Kindly advice. Thanks.

prowla

If you have a loan from elsewhere then you are a cash buyer; if a dealer wants to turn you away then best of luck to them!

parking_question_chap

I dont understand why you are considering getting a loan of up to £15k for a second car thats only going to do 5k a year.

Why not just get a Honda Accord for about £7k. Might not be high up, but the seat will adjust for you. Have you considered pedal extensions?

martinthebandit

http://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing/car-leasing/deals/citroen/c4-cactus/hatchback-1.2-puretech-82-feel-5dr/business/760325/

Cornucopia

martinthebandit wrote: »

http://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing/car-leasing/deals/citroen/c4-cactus/hatchback-1.2-puretech-82-feel-5dr/business/760325/

That's a good offer. I've also seen that car on a retail PCP at £179 down and £179 per month over 3 years.

blueruby wrote: »

Can someone please suggest mid size cars that have high driving positions please that you have driven & can recommend?

There are a number of cars that might suit you. (I am helping a friend source a Motability vehicle with a similar set of requirements to yours at the moment, so I'm fairly well aware of what's available, although we haven't driven any yet).

Here's what he's looking at: Renault Captur, Citroen C4 Cactus, Ford EcoSport, Ford B-Max, Skoda Yeti & Fabia, Peugeot 2008, Vauxhall Meriva, Zafira & Mokka, Kia Venga.

I have a Renault Captur, which is a good value car, although the ride quality could be better.

blueruby wrote: »

Will the dealer offer standard credit or should I source it from somewhere else?

Yes. The Dealer will have access to "straight" finance or you can source it elsewhere.

Dealers always say the price they offer is based on us taking out the loan with them. Is that true that if we don't go with the loan then the discount will be much less or is that just a sales talk? Can the dealer give us reduced rate of interest or is it a fixed one by the loan company they use?

Ultimately you will get to the point where they say they have offered you the best deal they can. It's up to you whether you believe them or not. There are all sorts of personal and dealership incentives involved and you won't usually be told what they are.

Being prepared means that you go in with an idea of the discount available (which for the ix20 is c. £2000) and of finance rates available elsewhere (which easily match/beat the dealer's 6.9%). You need to get the maximum discount available, because otherwise you will lose that money immediately in depreciation.

The dealer may have access to more than one source of finance, though their options are inevitably limited.