Advice please, new car on the horizon.

BennyC

BennyC

BennyC

Soldato
Joined
25 Sep 2006
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Hi guys,

Apologies in advance for the length!

Not normally a regular in the section but I browse every now and then.

The storey goes, turned 20 in May, just finished my second year of Uni and have been driving a 1.4 L Reg(93) Corsa scince I first passed my test. It was my brothers before and my grans before his. It's just passed 50k miles and is in fairly good nick. The body work has a bit of rust on the bottom back right door, lots of stone chips on the bonnet, but it runs perfectly and is a good run around. Valued by 'webuyanycar.com' @£70 it isn't exactly worth a lot!

As we all know the government scrappage scheme is currently running, and almost about 1/3rd of the money has been used already. I'm fairly sure my car is eligible for this.

I had originally planned to save for the rest of this summer and next and buy a clio 182 in August 2010 as this is when my insurance renews. This is still an option if the following falls through. I would really like to take advantage of the scrappage scheme if I can. I've had my eye on the new clio 197 and also the clio 200. The clio 200 cup retails for just over £15k new and around £17k with a few extra's including Recaro's.

I'm also aware the price of a new car is negotiable with the dealer and there is a little bit of flex and haggling to be had. If I could get £2k off through the scrapage scheme and use about £5k of savings it'd leave me with about £10k on finance however it is highly likely that i'm able to borrow this amount of money off my mother and have my own finance deal with her as this would eliminate any pressure if I was unfortunate enough to fall short of a finance payment and also allow me to end up spending less.

I'm also aware in several months time there may be some used low milage 200's for sale or ex-demo cars I'd be happy with so the total cost may be less.

The repayment of my student debts (incase anyone was wondering) does not bother me as I am quite happy to long it out over the 25 years as its unlikely I'll have repayed it all by then despite earning over £15k hopefully.

I will be inheriting some property with my brother in the near future so isn't such a concern before people suggest.

However I was just after some advice and peoples two cents on the matter. Things like how much realistically could I save through some decent haggling? Would there be a different car in your sights if you were looking for a new(or almost) hot hatch?

Thanks for reading

Benny C
 
Im sure someone on here picked one of these up for about 13k last week. I would get the full fat over the cup too.
 
Defcon5 said:
Im sure someone on here picked one of these up for about 13k last week. I would get the full fat over the cup too.
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Blimey. Was that new?

I'm not enitrely sure on the differences between the cup and the full fat. I know the cup versions are meant to be geared more towards being a track day car with better chassis, suspension and weighing less. These lack air-con and a few other things. After making do with the corsa for almost 3 years the more exciting my new car the better!

If somebody could be so kind as to clarify the differences or provide a link/chart for me that'd be great!
 
MadMossy said:
only real difference between the 200 and full fat is about 36kg's of weight, go for the full fat model, 36kgs less isnt worth the added premium.
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You can buy cup packs for the full fat right? which give it the cup chassis and suspension which is the only difference bar 36KG's?
 
afaik the difference between standard and cup suspension is the cup is stiffer so better for cornering at speed etc.

If your planning on going to race days then go for the cup, if its your everyday run about car get the standard. Have to remember than in order to save those 36kg's the interior is pretty sparse.
 
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MadMossy said:
afaik the difference between standard and cup suspension is the cup is stiffer so better for cornering at speed etc.

If your planning on going to race days then go for the cup, if its your everyday run about car get the standard. Have to remember than in order to save those 36kg's the interior is pretty sparse.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I remember reading about sparse interiors. I'll have to ask about cup suspension upgrades.
 
Surely it is more sensible to sell the Corsa for 250-500 notes dependant on condition and get a 182 for 5.5k thus not financing. No offense but at 20 years old you're going from a dog slow Corsa to a proper rapid hot hatch and the likelyhood of an accident is going to increase. You will drive it fast - if you didn't want to fly around the b roads and twisty bits, you'd buy a boggo Clio instead. It is easy to run out of talent, hell I've been driving 12 years and went off the track in my mx5 6 weeks back for the first time!

I get the whole brand new car thing but as a 20yo uni student, a brand new car smacks of stupidity and that mumsy and papa have too much cash sloshing around. No one will give you finance other than your 'rents unless you earn serious coin and even then, you're talking 10k over 3 years is going to be 300 a month. Insurance will be another 100+ at your age unless you are fronting, petrol costs will double, the cost of tax will double, repairs will be higher because you can't put remoulded linglongs on those wheels etc.

The scrappage scheme sounds lovely, I just think you'll get as much out of a 182 but save yourself a huge amount of cash in the process.
 
I agree with the guy above, a Clio 182 for 5-6k is going to be a very quick and capable car and will do everything the 200 can do for a lot less money. 20 isn't a good age to be getting into 10k of debt just so you can have a new car.
 
You guys are right. I rang my local dealer today and asked all relevant questions that I had.

Insurance being the biggest set back, with them unable to put any special deals on the table after turning to the normal companies at my current age of 20 would cost in excess of £2500. However in 1 years time when I'm 21 it'll be less than £900. Not only this but i'll be able to pick up a used one with fairly low milage thats been run in for a fair bit cheaper! It'l also be good to have everything I've saved in the bank earning (what little interest) it can.

Shame I won't be able to use my car for scrapage scheme, unless it's still running by around May if they decide to extend it. However buying used may make it cheaper than buying new with a scrapage discount.

Anybody able to give a rough idea of what you could expect to pay for a used one in about a years time? What did the 197 retail for new out of interest?
 
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The scrappage scheme isnt as good a deal as it sounds.

For a start, you need to buy a new car which will loose a fair chunk of it's value as soon as you drive it away. The half that the dealer is expected to contribute is just the discount you'd normally be able to negotiate anyway
 
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