New car or wait and see if my current one passes MOT

Tewdric

I live in a rural area with no public transport. I have to drive 19 miles to get to work - too far to walk or cycle. I am also a loan female for traveling which may or may not be relevant depending on your views.

I currenlty have a second hand Suzuki Swift that has now done 136,500 miles on the clock. It's been very reliable and hasn't cost a lot to maintain. It's due an MOT at the end of February - but I know there are several issues that will be thrown up - a (now very corroded) suspension brush/bush and two sections of the exhaust will need replacing. There's also a worrying high pitched squeek on occasion when I turn left - possible wheel bearing????

would that be worth repairing?

I have found a second hand 2017 VW Up that has 15,000 on the clock at a price I can afford witha bit of a stretch. It has a full service history for the VW garage that is selling the car.

Do I go for a test drive and if I get on with the car trade in my lovely Suzuki - or do I hold out for a few more weeks and see what the MOT brings????

AdrianC

Entirely your call.

A couple of fairly routine wear-and-tear replacements... or quite a few grand to change the car.

If you're going to PX it, I don't think it'll make a big difference whether it has much ticket on or not - they'll give you a fairly derisory figure unless they're offsetting it into the price of the Up.

Remember you can take it in for the test up to a month before the due date, and if it passes keep the same expiry - so you can take it in from the end of Jan, and if you decide to change, you can still drive it around to do so.

Goudy

It's understandable that you now might consider your current car might be too long in the tooth to be a viable option anymore.
Although Suzuki's in general are quite reliable, time catches up with all cars and it's more than possible you'll need to keep spending out on it to keep it as reliable as you obviously need it to be.

Although replacing what you have might never be the cheapest option, it might be the option with the least reliability worry if you think smart.

As your thoughts turn to a replacement it might be worth considering what works best rather than anything you might spot on a local forecourt that fits your budget and is a bit newer.

I would gather the VW wouldn't be cheap even used at nearly 3 years old, they never are, so you will still need to consider an MOT soon, the obvious wear and tear items like brakes and tyres (low mileage city cars can tend to eat both quickly) plus it's manufacturers warranty will be soon ending. (me thinks they came with 2 year manufacturer and 1 year dealer anyway) add on the breakdown cover you probably already pay for and it all starts to seem familiar to what you already run.

It could be worthwhile seeing if the same budget can get you something newer with a longer warranty and still comes with a few extras like breakdown cover and a service plan thrown in.

Toyota and Hyundai both offer 5 years warranties, so something like a late used Aygo or i10 should be in the same ball park as the Up.
Kia offers 7 years, so a late used Picanto should offer some peace of mind motoring for a few years to come.

Push any dealer for the extras and a better price, the worse they can say is no.
You'll more than often get the breakdown cover as long as it's still in warranty and serviced properly, but ask ask ask for a free service. next MOT and check out the car well, if a tyre or two looks a little worn or old (cracking), ask them to replace them before you buy,

With a couple of different cars/dealers to consider you can play them off against one another until you're inevitably left with the best deal that suits.

If you start this now, you still have a good few weeks to weight up if it's all worth while as in a few weeks you can put your current car in for an early MOT and see what's what with it, if it's the worst case it'll still have a months MOT which most dealers will want to see when it's traded in.

The_Rainmaker

OP take your car for an MOT 30 days before your MOT is due and then decide.

You don't mention how old your current car is but I imagine 10+ years. So it might be fine for another year or so but certainly worth starting to plan ahead.

facade

:DYour choice, but I wouldn't be replacing a swift with an up!


Most of the cost is going on the badge on the front rather than the quality of the car. The up! is significantly narrower than the swift, and speedhumps that the swift will ride over will have the up! bouncing in the air.


Suzuki have good offers on new petrol swifts to shift them, as they are supposed to be moving to the hybrid version, I had a new swift attitude as a loan car and I thought it was brilliant- no turbo to go wrong, fantastic mpg, and the VIN started with JS meaning made in Japan. As mentioned, it went over those lumpy speedhumps like they weren't there.


As above, put your swift in for MOT as soon as you can- it says the earliest date on the certificate (you can do it anytime, but you might as well get 13 months MOT) and see what it costs to fix, then either fix it and spend 9 months or so looking for a replacent, or you have 4 weeks of old MOT- providing there is nothing major wrong.


I'd look for a much newer or even brand new swift.


(The VIN on the older swifts starts TS- made in Hungary, all UP!s in the UK will start U5- or U6- meaning made in Slovakia, if you must buy a "quality German car" the VIN has to start with a W- )

AdrianC

facade wrote: »

...or you have 4 weeks of old MOT- providing there is nothing major wrong.

You'd have four weeks of MOT left, no matter what.

If the test reveals it's unroadworthy, then it's just as illegal to drive away from the test as it was to drive to it - the only difference is that you know.

Tewdric

Thanks for all the comments so far.

My Swift is an 08 plate. I had it second hand in March 2012 with 27,000 on the clock.

I don't want to end up in a situation like I did with my last car ( very old Nissan Micra) that failed an MOT due to the amount of rust on it's body - when I had 10 days to find and buy replacement transport whilst driving around in a vehicle that was held together by luck and mud.

Tewdric

Not massively fussed on what badge is on the front, what the car looks like or what colour it is.

What is has to be is reliable and economic to run.

I do have certain makes I won't buy again - Fiat, Clio, anything French.

I have been advised by the guys in the garage that services and MOTs my car that when buying I should get something German or Japanese as they tend to be better quality/more reliable.

foxy-stoat

If they offer you a reasonable part exchange of the Up then I would trade it in for minimal fuss.

Well done for keeping your current car on the road for over 100,000 miles and 7+ years. As you dont change your car very often then get yourself a newer one, I wouldnt buy an Up though bit too small and under powered but up to you. Test drive it and try and get onto a fast road and see how [STRIKE]quickly[/STRIKE] slowly it accelerates.

If it were me I would pay a couple of hundred if needed for a new MOT and sell it privately and buy another car with more cash.

You don't need to spend thousands on a replacement though, I drive 45 miles a day and its a 8 year old 1.3 Corsa diesel - not very fun but when your getting your daily commute down to 10p per mile for fuel it doesnt matter what your driving and its being pretty cheap to service as well. Get a Corsa E and you will be winning.

parking_question_chap

Its 11 years old. It should have loads of life remaining if its been looked after.

sheslookinhot

Get the Swift MoT’d and see what repairs are required and what the cost will be.