Best place for a used car ?

venomx

Considering a Mazda 3 ( Gen 3, sport trim ) or a Focus ST Line, under 40,000 miles and reg between 2016 and 2019.
Must be 5 door, petrol and manual
Android auto would be nice, or at least the option to get it fitted by the manufacturer. Home delivery or collection from a local dealership would be ideal.

If anybody has either of these cars then please let me know how they drive and reliability issues etc..

Are sites like cinch/arnold clarke any good or is it best to go used approved ? Most likely be paying up front and not finance/lease.  One thing I have noticed is that the cars on Cinch seem to have a fair few owners, I would assume they are ex-lease ?

Warranty is important for about 1 year. Obviously when you go used approved from the dealer, this isn't a problem. 

I see Cinch have " Cinch Care " where for £35 per month upto 12,000 miles you get a decent warranty which covers everything except wear and tear. Meaning it works out cheaper from Cinch as opposed to used approved as the price of the car is cheaper, even with the £35 per month warranty.

Arnold Clark have a similar service whereby you pay up front for 1 or 2 years warranty. Out of the two, Arnold Clark look best.

If work does need to be done under warranty with Cinch etc, how does it work and  do you guys have any experience with these newish companies. As they seem the easiest and most convenient way to buy a used car..

For the Mazda 3, used approved look best as they seem to have much more available and for a good price too. There are also plenty on Cinch.

For the Focus ST Line, Cinch/Arnold Clark look best as there are barely any available on used approved.

Thanks 

macman

A dealer or insurance based warranty on a 3-6 year old car is near worthless, since, as you have noted, it excludes wear and tear. It's simply a tool used by dealers for marketing purposes, and, if a subscription type,  to add considerable extra profit.

venomx

macman said:

A dealer or insurance based warranty on a 3-6 year old car is near worthless, since, as you have noted, it excludes wear and tear. It's simply a tool used by dealers for marketing purposes, and, if a subscription type,  to add considerable extra profit.

Could you explain please ?  Surely a warranty for the first year is better than nothing as it covers anything going wrong with the car ?

facade

Cinch is owned by BCA, who also own WBAC. Anything young and average miles gets retailed through cinch. Super high milers and ancient relics go through auction.

I leave it to you to surmise the sort of cars that are "got rid" through WBAC

venomx

Any idea why the Mazda 3 has such a big engine ( 2L ) compared to the Focus ST Line ( 1L ) when the performance and fuel consumption is fairly similar ?
Any draw-backs of having a larger engine ?

Mazda is 2L at 120bhp and faster 0-60
Focus is 1L at 140bhp but slower 0-60

deejaybee

We've got a Mazda CX3 ( based on the Mazda 3 ) also has the 2L engine.

I think Mazda's modus operandi is to use a larger ( non turbo) engine rather than a smaller ( turbo) engine.

Ectophile

venomx said:

macman said:

A dealer or insurance based warranty on a 3-6 year old car is near worthless, since, as you have noted, it excludes wear and tear. It's simply a tool used by dealers for marketing purposes, and, if a subscription type,  to add considerable extra profit.

Could you explain please ?  Surely a warranty for the first year is better than nothing as it covers anything going wrong with the car ?

Third party warranties aren't intended to cover anything that is likely to go wrong with a car.  They come with a long list of exclusions that can be interpreted to apply to any fault.

Their purpose is to distract you from your consumer rights against the retailer.

macman

If I was buying a low mileage car with a reg between 216 and 2019 then I would expect it to come with an inclusive 6m to 12m warranty. Not pay an extra £420 for it. They're amost worthless, so only worth having if not charged for.
As above, Mazda are quirky with their engineering: they don't do turbo-petrols, so to get an acceptable power output, the engines are relatively larger for the size of the car. So it's a lower-revving but higher torque output than the ST.

venomx

Thanks for the useful information everyone.

Looks like it will be a Mazda 3 sport as there's loads to choose from on Mazda used approved compared to Ford for the ST line.

Any views on the Mazda 3 would be appreciated, also regarding getting them to deliver the car to a local garage is that at the discretion of the dealerships ?

venomx

best place for the Mazda 3 would be used approved right ?
does anyone have experience using Arnold Clark, some of the Mazda 3's on there are actually at Mazda dealerships. Arnold Clark seems way more convenient than used approved as they can drop it off locally to me, rather than potentially travelling the distance of the country to get it.

Cinch is out the question as you buy the car before you've even seen it in person.

With A. Clark I think you need to go to the branch selling the car to view it before buying. One cannot get it dropped off locally then go and view it ( before buying )
Would much rather pay the money in person and not over the internet.

Herzlos

I'm pretty sure Arnold Clark will let you buy online without seeing it, but I'd definitely recommend going to see it first, having a good look and a test drive. They'll also let you buy it, deliver it to a local branch and then let you look at it on the assumption you're actually buying it.

No-one will deliver it to you just to look at. Any online-only purchase will allow you a chance to test drive and reject it, but you need to actually buy it first.

The Mazda dealerships should have the slightly better stock. Arnold Clark can be a bit hit and miss, but just go in and look at it carefully and you should be fine.