VW Beetle

westie17

westie17

westie17

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So... I was involved in a car accident the other day, my car is a write off and I am currently cruising in a hire car (Chevrolet Spark) but the hire car cover won't last much longer; was looking at moving to a Vauxhall Astra 1.6 SXi, I don't do many miles (maybe 3K per year) so it seemed a good option, kinda nippy, cheap to insure, run & tax etc. But I am having trouble locating one I am happy with, anyway...

Whilst out car hunting today I was lured in by a slick car salesman, who points me to a VW Beetle he had just received via trade in, being a Toyota garage, he has no use for it, so offered it to me for £3795. It is White, 51 plate, quite tidy all round, has only 36000 miles on the clock, FSH and he would chuck in 1 years MOT, 3 month warranty & a Health Check.

Is this a good buy? I test drove the car and it seemed nice, very solid + has some nice gizmos. I am thinking of holding onto it for a year maybe sell for around £3500 as VW hold their value, do this while I look for a car I really want.

I am 21 years old, male (is it a girls car?), insurance is about £600/year fully comp. What do you reckon?
 
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westie17 said:
I am 21 years old, male (is it a girls car?)
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Can't you tell by looking? :eek: They really don't come any girlier than the modern Beetle, but as long as you are comfortable with MX5 owners sniggering at you it'll be fine :D

The Beetle is really just a Golf with a girly body on it, all the running gear is Golf so they are reasonably well made and reliable.
 
Disco Boy said:
Did he see you coming?

"I've got no use for it, so I'll let you have it for £x, I'm sorry to see it go so cheap, but it has to go, you'll be doing me favour" sort of thing?
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It's not an independant garage, but an official Toyota dealer, they mainly only sell brand new Toyotas and some used ones, if the car is not a Toyota, they keep it for a week or two, then send it to the auctions. The car was out for £3995, managed to knock £200 off plus get him to throw in the MOT etc.

Seemed like I could get a years free motoring kinda, buy it with MOT use it for a year sell it for similar price I bought it for.

Just found a garage near me has a 1.6 Focus Zetec, 51 plate again, only 25000 miles and FSH, 1 owner, £3295. Any Better?

Funnily enough they also have a Beetle for sale: 02 Reg, same spec as the other but with 78000 miles, they want £4695
 
westie17 said:
It's not an independant garage, but an official Toyota dealer, they mainly only sell brand new Toyotas and some used ones, if the car is not a Toyota, they keep it for a week or two, then send it to the auctions. The car was out for £3995, managed to knock £200 off plus get him to throw in the MOT etc.

Seemed like I could get a years free motoring kinda, buy it with MOT use it for a year sell it for similar price I bought it for.
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It's a 2001 mark iv golf in a girl's dress, £4k is overpriced, if you sold it now you wouldn't be able to sell it for that much. He saw you coming and worked his magic on you; he wouldn't get £3k for it at auction.
 
westie17 said:
Just found a garage near me has a 1.6 Focus Zetec, 51 plate again, only 25000 miles and FSH, 1 owner, £3295. Any Better?
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It's a pretty decent car, but that is so overpriced it's not even funny. The Focus is a very popular car, there is a massive choice of them so don't pay over the odds. Don't be lured in by low mileages either, cars don't stop working at some magic number on the odometer. A quick look at Autotrader shows a good selection of 2005/2006 cars around that price.
 
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maybe i'm blind but whats the spec on the beetle?

could actually be a not too bad buy depending on engine and spec
 
It's a 1.6, similar in spec to this:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...code/ip60qy/quicksearch/true/page/1?logcode=p

Only the one I looked at was a manual.

Going to visit the Focus tomorrow, if it's still there, car hunting is so frustrating. Thing is, I don't really have time to look for the perfect car, the hire car will most likely disappear next week, I don't have the cash available to go private, as I need my mum to pay for the car on credit card. My ideal budget is about £3000 - I don't want to spend a fortune due to covering so few miles in a year.
 
Remember that the front of the car has the clear lights on, and you'll be fine. :p

The Beetle is an inescapably girly car. IMO more so than a MINI Cooper convertible, but slightly less so than a Micra convertible in pink with a pink fluffy steering wheel cover, pink fluffy dice, and a 'Powered by fairy dust' sticker in the back window.

You could get a much better car for the same money TBH. DOn't hem yourself into buying a niche car, you'll end up having to make do. Stick with a Focus, and go to see a few locally. There's loads to choose from, so it won't take long to find something decent.
 
Bought a mint 1.6 Focus Ghia today for £3300 from a local dealer, FSH, 52k on the clock, 53 plate, comes with 6 months tax and 1 years MOT + Warranty. I'm happy with it, but I'm sure OCUK is about to tell me I got ripped off but anyway...
 
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It's a rubbish deal for a mediocre car that most definitely is about as girly as a car can be.

I actually like looking for a new car, I love the chase ...one of the reasons I keep doing it I think :p ...I love that period where you are deciding what to buy and you have all these options and possibilities ...but when you make a decision and go for something all that is gone for a while.
 
Moeks said:
It's a rubbish deal for a mediocre car that most definitely is about as girly as a car can be.

I actually like looking for a new car, I love the chase ...one of the reasons I keep doing it I think :p ...I love that period where you are deciding what to buy and you have all these options and possibilities ...but when you make a decision and go for something all that is gone for a while.
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Assuming you mean the beetle, notnthe focus he ended up buying?

Definitely dodged a bullet with the beetle tbh
 
I did mean the Beetle yes, not the Focus, I did not know he had actually bought a Focus, I saw that he mentioned one as an option. Dodged an oestrogen loaded bullet indeed, consequently the Focus is a good car, one you don't need ovaries to drive too! :p
 
A guy at work has one. The only bad thing I've heard him say about it is it's difficult to park because you can't see the corners. They look like good enough cars. Pretty much all Golf running gear isn't it?
 
westie17 said:
Bought a mint 1.6 Focus Ghia today for £3300 from a local dealer, FSH, 52k on the clock, 53 plate, comes with 6 months tax and 1 years MOT + Warranty. I'm happy with it, but I'm sure OCUK is about to tell me I got ripped off but anyway...
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You could have had a Mk2 Focus for similar or very little extra money. At least you avoided the Beetle though!
 
Dogbreath said:
You could have had a Mk2 Focus for similar or very little extra money. At least you avoided the Beetle though!
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Yeah I did see some around 4-4.5k not really local to me though, also lower spec and higher mileage, my budget was really around the 3k mark
 
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