Has your car being sat on the drive made you rethink what you’d buy next?

AdrianC

nirajn123 said:

AdrianC said:

nirajn123 said:

AdrianC said:

If you're doing that few miles and ULEZ is a factor, do you live inside the circulars? If so, why on earth do you need a car at all? Public transport is utterly superb round you...

Just outside, yes - don't strictly need it, although I must say public transport isn't ideal for all sorts of local trips I use the car for. Something like Zip car would be an ideal compromise but it isn't available - nearest one is about 2 mile walk.

Gawd bless Londoners.

My nearest bus stop is five miles.

Well couple of mile walk either way is four miles, that for an hourly rental car makes no sense. There are all sorts of other things I use car for - playing cricket or badminton with my friends in the weekends or evenings, not ideal if you were to walk 2 miles after dropping the car post a long game, same goes for nice evening meal which isn't in your neighbourhood. 

London transport is great if you want to get into/out of town/zone 1, it isn't that good if you want to go to a club, shops or larger markets of your choice bit out of the way in Zone 4 and 5s.

Anyway, I said I do not 'need' a car - have lived without it for last 3 months now and finding excuses to not buy one, it does limit what you can and cannot do though.

Trust me, I understand inner-M25-land public transport realities... I lived there for many years. It's superb. Yes, sometimes you need to think... but given the issues and costs of parking...

Still, if you are convinced that being carless is not for you, remember that the ULEZ allows petrol cars to be Euro4, so 2004-ish onwards. You can easily buy a cheap shed that's ULEZ-compliant. You may find a better choice if you travel a bit, but that's the nice thing about cars... they're designed to be easily portable.

scrappy_returns

I've never been busier and did some serious milage over lockdown. I'm considering a powerful diesel as a next car.

nirajn123

AdrianC said:
Trust me, I understand inner-M25-land public transport realities... I lived there for many years. It's superb. Yes, sometimes you need to think... but given the issues and costs of parking...

Well, as I said they are good in most cases but no good if the places you regularly need to go to aren't on the bus route or need you to go all the way in the city and then back - which is the case with me most of the time. 

Good point about older petrol car - all I am after is four wheels now, so really need to be stop being picky.

nirajn123

DrEskimo said:

I was in a similar situation a few years back. I didn't have parking, was running a stupidly expensive Audi S5 on finance and was barely driving it as I worked in London. I sold it and then went without a car at all for about 18months. I had access to my partners car and could use public transport, but it wasn't ideal (still involved getting picked up other side).

I was looking for a cheap run around where I knew cost would be higher, but main aim was to minimise as much as possible. Originally looked at small hybrids and that, but then looked at EVs.

In the end I went for a Zoe (battery owned 41kWh). Had it over 2yrs now and it costs me so little. Over all I think it's been around £2500-£3000 for all costs so far. That includes depreciation, insurance, electricity, servicing, MOT and maintenance. When you consider that petrol and VED would be around 1/3rd that cost alone, before you factor in what I think would be higher depreciation costs you realise how cheap they are.

Also for a small car they are great to drive. No gears, good power delivery, good equipment levels, etc.

Perhaps something you can consider? Charging is obviously a consideration, but even without home charging, with low mileage it can be easy to manage with a weekly charge.

I was looking at electric given length of my journey's but at current prices for used electric, it makes even less sense.

Zoe wasn't on my list, I wish there was slightly more choice in this electric segment and price point but I now think it is ideal for my current situation - will just buy it.

DrEskimo

nirajn123 said:

DrEskimo said:

I was in a similar situation a few years back. I didn't have parking, was running a stupidly expensive Audi S5 on finance and was barely driving it as I worked in London. I sold it and then went without a car at all for about 18months. I had access to my partners car and could use public transport, but it wasn't ideal (still involved getting picked up other side).

I was looking for a cheap run around where I knew cost would be higher, but main aim was to minimise as much as possible. Originally looked at small hybrids and that, but then looked at EVs.

In the end I went for a Zoe (battery owned 41kWh). Had it over 2yrs now and it costs me so little. Over all I think it's been around £2500-£3000 for all costs so far. That includes depreciation, insurance, electricity, servicing, MOT and maintenance. When you consider that petrol and VED would be around 1/3rd that cost alone, before you factor in what I think would be higher depreciation costs you realise how cheap they are.

Also for a small car they are great to drive. No gears, good power delivery, good equipment levels, etc.

Perhaps something you can consider? Charging is obviously a consideration, but even without home charging, with low mileage it can be easy to manage with a weekly charge.

I was looking at electric given length of my journey's but at current prices for used electric, it makes even less sense.

Zoe wasn't on my list, I wish there was slightly more choice in this electric segment and price point but I now think it is ideal for my current situation - will just buy it.

Whilst it certainly makes it harder to buy them, it's possible to find ones that are not too different from equivalent petrol/diesel models.

Case in point, the Zoe I bought was only around £2-3k more than an equivalent spec/trim Clio. Depreciation wise, the Zoe has done a bit better than the Clio, so that on top of running costs has meant it has been cheaper to run despite being more expensive.

Appreciate that much of that cost inst recouped until I actually sell the Zoe though (whenever that may be...probably keep it another year or so...).

Couldn't agree more RE choice. Hoping that will improve greatly in next 5yrs or so in the used market.

movilogo

My hatchback is too small for sleeping inside. I now prefer an MPV so that I can do camping inside. Unfortunately MPV price have gone up because lot of people are thinking in same way. More so, many manufacturers stopped making MPVs in favour of SUVs. I think after pandemic SUV fashion may go down and MPVs become cool cars to own again. 

AdrianC

The choice of ~8yo cars in the used market is, strangely, limited to what was available new 8yrs ago...