Advice needed: Changing the car

egyptiancotton

Looking for some advice. At the moment I drive an 11-year-old 1.25 petrol Fiesta which has just ticked over 106k miles; I've owned it for 8 years. My commute is about 100 miles per day, 4 days a week, and the Fiesta can be really uncomfortable and a chore to drive on the motorway all the time. I'm thinking of changing the car but I'm not sure which option would be best out of buying a second hand car outright or going down the leasing route.


Unfortunately the Fiesta seems to have sprung a coolant leak which will be looked at next week, and may or may not be a cheap fix. Given the age of the car, I'm thinking it may be time to change but my mileage (about 22k miles a year) may be an issue; leasing may be expensive and a second hand car would depreciate quickly.

walwyn1978

How much cash have you currently got to buy a used car with?

egyptiancotton

I'm still toying with the budget but I'd probably keep my next car for a long time as well. At the moment I'm thinking up to £12k. Haven't quite decided on an exact figure yet; I'd be willing to spend more on something that I know I'd keep for a long time, but then I don't want to spend too much but I don't want to spend too little.

A friend mentioned I could perhaps go a couple of ways; switch to a newer Yaris, maybe one with nil or £30 tax and it'll be more frugal and a little bit more comfy/plush. Or go something larger but still fuel efficient. Audi with a pre-DPF or PD TDI, or 2004/5 S60 or V70 D5? So more comfort...


I think any type of lease or PCP will be expensive due to the mileage knocking the future value and increasing the monthly payments. Perhaps a good idea would be to buy something outright, bigger than a Fiesta and diesel then run it into the ground.

Tricky situation.

DrEskimo

Do you have the ability to install an EV charger at home?

If so I would advise you to look into an EV. A petrol doing 22k miles a year able to do 50MPG at £1.25/lt would cost about £2,500 in fuel. Electricity would range from around £900 at £0.15/kWh, or £300 at £0.05/kWh if you get a off peak tariff and charge over night.

You can pick up a used Renault Zoe with no battery lease for about £15/16k, and it will do 130 in depths of winter and 180 miles in summer, more than enough for your daily commute assuming you can charge it each night.

Couple that with low maintenance and servicing costs, and that residual values on used EVs are strong, and you could save a lot. For the battery owned Zoe, the warranty on the battery is 8yrs and 4yrs on the car, and the car warranty can be extended for £289 per year. A 2yr old one could be under full warranty for 6yrs at just £1,156.

AdrianC

lloydyyy wrote: »

...and a second hand car would depreciate quickly.

Nowhere near as quickly as a new one. That's what your lease/PCP is paying for - depreciation plus interest on the entire amount borrowed plus the financier's profit.

alan_d

lloydyyy wrote: »

A friend mentioned I could perhaps go a couple of ways; switch to a newer Yaris, maybe one with nil or £30 tax and it'll be more frugal and a little bit more comfy/plush. Or go something larger but still fuel efficient. Audi with a pre-DPF or PD TDI, or 2004/5 S60 or V70 D5? So more comfort...

My experience of the Yaris is limited, but i'd not rate it as better than a Fiesta for comfort of finish. Maybe the newer ones are better?
What year did Audi fit DPFs from? In Volvo-land (which I know quite well) there were about 2006 onwards, so that is already 13 years old.
You mention V70 D5 - yes a great motorway cruiser, the older Euro3 (163bhp) engine (no DPF) will do mid 50's MPG on motorway runs, the later Euro4's (185BHP) high 40's - but these have DPF and swirl flaps which can give problems.
Personally in your position i'd probably look for a 3-5 year old 'medium' size quality diesel - so Audi, BMW, VW, Volvo, Ford.

foxy-stoat

Get yourself a 8th or 9th Gen Civic diesel with as much cash you can lay your hands on or borrow. Leasing any car with a 22,000 annual mileage will not be very cost effective.

Goudy

I would consider a Yaris Hybrid.
12k would see you in a fairly new car and as they come with a 5 years warranty from new, you should see a late used one with 3 or 4 years still left.

If you book a battery check with every service, Toyota will warranty the battery another year and you can do this up to 15 years, so no worries there.

The engine is never stressed as it doesn't power the wheels 100% of the time and runs a mock Atkinson cycle rather than the normal Otto cycle so is very clean and efficient.

They are very reliable, the same power plant in fitted to the second generation Prius and cab drivers have been clocking 400 and 500 thousand miles in those with little problem.

No charging or range issues and will return diesel type mpg with little effort.
Put some effort in and they can return 80+mpg, a couple of colleagues regularly hit the 80 mark in theirs.

The downsides?
They are pretty dull to sit in and drive.

iwb100

I'm not convinced that you won't get a good lease deal - PCH or PCP.

The high mileage is not necessarily a barrier if you look carefully. I'm on PCP at 20K a year mileage.

What you need to do is decide what you want to do in 3 years - 22K a year for a job is a lot of miles and whilst you can buy second hand - I'm unconvinced it will work out cheaper necessarily unless you are lucky. Once things start to go wrong/need replacing the costs mount and in my experience that happens quickly doing the miles you do.

I had a second hand Yaris with relatively low mileage a few years back but once I started doing my high mileage commute problems appeared - then more, then more. Switched to a second hand focus - but again the problems were there time and time again after a while - then a second hand golf - was better but eventually it had fuel injector failure....

If I'd been on PCP/H with a car under warranty I suspect I'd have been no worse off in pocket but possibly a bit better off for time and with a fixed monthly cost that I knew to budget for....rather than suddenly needing to replace a fuel injector system or not go to work....

System

DrEskimo wrote: »

You can pick up a used Renault Zoe with no battery lease for about £15/16k, and it will do 130 in depths of winter and 180 miles in summer, more than enough for your daily commute assuming you can charge it each night.

A Renault Zoe is a city car and the reason they're wanting to change is because they have a city car and it is uncomfortable to drive on a long commute on a daily basis. Whilst it might be fine to do the odd 100 mile trip in a Zoe doing it day in day out 5 days a week will be just as tiring and uncomfortable as their current car.

OP, buy a used car, 2-3 years old and keep for 5 or more years if you want the best value or get one on PCP if the maths adds up for you. Look at the very least at things like Ford Focus, Civic, Astra sized. Personally I like my Mondeo sized cars, you can get out at the end of an 800 mile 2-3 stop journey feeling just as good as when you set off.

DrEskimo

Tarambor wrote: »

A Renault Zoe is a city car and the reason they're wanting to change is because they have a city car and it is uncomfortable to drive on a long commute on a daily basis. Whilst it might be fine to do the odd 100 mile trip in a Zoe doing it day in day out 5 days a week will be just as tiring and uncomfortable as their current car.

OP, buy a used car. Look at the very least at things like Ford Focus, Civic, Astra sized at the least. Personally I like my Mondeo sized cars, you can get out at the end of an 800 mile 2-3 stop journey feeling just as good as when you set off.

I only mentioned it as they were considering a Yaris....

With the greatest respect, but have you driven one...?

I drove 160miles round trip in it the other week and it wasn't that bad at all. Climate control, cruise control, Android Auto, no engine noise, no gear changes and basically one pedal driving....much worse ways to travel...!

Personally I agree and wouldn't do it every day, but then I wouldn't do that everyday in any car....