Can anyone give me advice re changing car?

consnmattsmom

To change or not to change that is the question??

We have a 2002 Vauxhall Zafira 2.0 GSI turbo. Its costing us a fortune in petrol and is going up in 2010 to £430 road tax. We have just had a repair bill of £2000 as the turbo and a few other things went wrong. Before we had the probs we were offered £5000 part ex from a garage against a car of any value so technically we could get something smaller such as an astra or megane for perhaps £6000 and have a newer car.

We are putting in approx £40-£50 per week petrol giving us around 130-150 miles. Its costing us £400 per year insurance plus tax and MOT's etc.

If we changed to something such as an astra or megane in a diesel perhaps a 1.5 or 1.6 will it save us much money?

aimee21j

Hi, this is my partners account but felt i had to comment.
I would trade your car in asap...even if the hikes in car tax dont come in then the inevitable fuel / insurance increases make it a very expensive car to own. Also large engined cars are becoming less desirable and harder to sell making the part ex rates very low. I wouldnt repair yours if you are trading it in. I have never been asked if there is anything wrong with a car i have traded in. If you want to be honest then the difference between top book value and bottom book value is a lot less then the repair. I presume that repair quote is from Vauxhall. Try an independant specialist who could rebuild your turbo.
I would stay well clear of Renault Meganes. Do a search on the Internet for the problems that people have had. I nearly brought one but soon decided against it. It appears that you are extremely lucky if you can find a good one. Have a look at the Focus TDCI. There are some bargains to be had at the moment. If you can go smaller...Citroen C3 and Fiesta Diesels are only 35 a year tax.

good luck

consnmattsmom

Thank you for your reply. We have already paid the repair bill thats why we are undecided on what to do. We had no choice but to pay it really as it broke down on the motorway and had to be towed back to a garage. It was a friend that did it and hardly charged us any labour. We couldnt have got it to a garage in the condition that it was in.

jimbo_the_jetset

Getting ~50-55mpg for a 1.8 Focus TDCi - long runs admittedly

Tax £115/year

Was (a year ago) ~ £5500 for an 03 Reg

saveallmymoney

You've got to ditch that car ASAP.

Good point by Jimbo - consider the Focus, major Moneysaving.

hewhoisnotintheknow

its a sporty little car, but you must drive it really hard with those figures, i guess the turbo melted!

Hintza

I'm not as convinced as some that you should get rid of it.

If you you do drive your car fairly hard a small engine might not be for you. To make it work you will probably have to change your driving style. A small engine thrashed will not be economical and will be tiring to drive.

My next point is when were you offered £5,000? If it was a month or so ago I think you might be unpleasantly surprised at what they offer you now!

I think you need to sit down with a spreadsheet and work out how much this car will cost you say over the next 2-3 years (possibly longer).

Adrian might come along later and offer fuller advice.

AdrianHi

Hintza wrote: »

Adrian might come along later and offer fuller advice.

Like a moth to a flame

If you had posted saying I think there is a risk my thirsty out of warranty car might hit me with 1200+ in repairs this year I would known off the top of my head that you should drop it like a hot potato ASAP for a, say 1 year old under warranty more fuel efficient Vectra or Astra. Vauxhall's are so cheap to lease it's so tempting to have an easy life paying a lease for ever on an always under warranty car with more predictable costs, but buying 6 to 12 months old and keeping until just before warranty expiry is cheaper in the long run especially when the car you have chucks a £2K repair bill at you.

If you would like a more accurate answer please tell me the following and I'll stick some numbers in my spreadsheet.
Exactly what car do you have?
What is the registration year and plate? (e.g. 02 / 52 )
How many miles a year are you doing?
Do you know how much you spend in a year on servicing and maintenance other than that big £2K repair bill? (if not I can make an estimate)
How many miles has you car done?

As for a replacement car, is an Astra 1.6 big enough for you?
What else might you consider?

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

consnmattsmom wrote: »

We are putting in approx £40-£50 per week petrol giving us around 130-150 miles. Its costing us £400 per year insurance plus tax and MOT's etc.

If we changed to something such as an astra or megane in a diesel perhaps a 1.5 or 1.6 will it save us much money?

Either something is wrong with the car or you need to change your driving style. I got better fuel economy with a 4.0 V8 TVR, and that was driven hard every day.

AdrianHi

Yes it is a rather vague statement of fuel consumption which could mean anywhere betweem 14mpg and 20mpg.
For this car 20mpg might be about right if all your driving is in stop start traffic around town. I know other cars with official combined 30mpg would do around 20mpg in similar conditions. If it's 14mpg we might have to ask if there is something wrong with the car.

consnmattsmom

AdrianHi wrote: »

Like a moth to a flame



If you would like a more accurate answer please tell me the following and I'll stick some numbers in my spreadsheet.
Exactly what car do you have?
What is the registration year and plate? (e.g. 02 / 52 )
How many miles a year are you doing?
Do you know how much you spend in a year on servicing and maintenance other than that big £2K repair bill? (if not I can make an estimate)
How many miles has you car done?

As for a replacement car, is an Astra 1.6 big enough for you?
What else might you consider?

Hi thanks

It is a vauxhall zafira 2.0 gsi turbo on a 52 plate. We do around 6000 miles a year and only use it around town. Servicing and maintainance has been around £500 a year for a new tyre here and there. Its done 63000 miles.

There are 4 of us so an astra should be fine but have also been considering a focus as people on here really recommend them. We want a family car without going into too much debt that is going to be cheaper to run than we have now.

Thanks