Car dilemma - £12k available to spend

Firestar_3x said:
The comical thing is, he will spend 12k on a fiesta which will be worth around 6k in 3 years time, 6k in depreciation buys quite a lot of fuel.
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He'll probably save close to that over the 42k miles he suggests he'll do. The fiesta's tyres, servicing etc will be significantly cheaper.

Pros and Cons and all that.
 
Ok, so let's break down the running costs.

First, the assumptions made (people in the know please do correct me):

Cost of clutch on BMW: £500
Cost of Tax on Fiesta: £60 p/a
You cover 14k a year, or 1166 miles a month on average, and that the Fiesta does 60mpg, the BMW 30mpg.

Not taking into account other running costs such as servicing & MOT, monthly costs:

Fiesta Loan/Finance: £330
Fiesta Fuel: £119.10
Fiesta Tax: £5
Fiesta Insurance: £100
Total: £554.10 a month

£6648 a year

Now the BMW:

Fuel: £229
Insurance: £117
Tax: £20
Total: £366 a month

£4392 a year

So you're £2256 better off after just one year by keeping the BMW. Even after replacing the clutch you're still massively better off.

Personally, I'd quite like to drive one of BMW's finest cars made and save a wad of cash vs a new Fiesta.
 
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I can't echo enough how bad an idea it is to finance a 12k fiesta.

I wasn't anywhere near as bad, but I took a £9k personal loan out to pay for a £12k Focus ST. Whilst the loan was paid off in 2 years with very minimal interest, I still really did not enjoy having to pay a large lump sum every month.

Find the lowest price car you will accept to drive, this may be £5k. Wait a few more months to build enough savings to reduce the amount you need to borrow. You could end up only needing to borrow £3k, which could in turn work out to be <£100 a month repayments.

A £5k Focus is going to be no worse than a £12k fiesta IMHO. You quite clearly are struggling with finances if you NEED a car to do 70MPG. So therefore the purchase cost should be the most important thing.

I suggest you give the loan money back, and hopefully you are still within your "14 day cooling off period".
 
rossk26 said:
I can't echo enough how bad an idea it is to finance a 12k fiesta.

I wasn't anywhere near as bad, but I took a £9k personal loan out to pay for a £12k Focus ST. Whilst the loan was paid off in 2 years with very minimal interest, I still really did not enjoy having to pay a large lump sum every month.

Find the lowest price car you will accept to drive, this may be £5k. Wait a few more months to build enough savings to reduce the amount you need to borrow. You could end up only needing to borrow £3k, which could in turn work out to be <£100 a month repayments.

A £5k Focus is going to be no worse than a £12k fiesta IMHO. You quite clearly are struggling with finances if you NEED a car to do 70MPG. So therefore the purchase cost should be the most important thing.

I suggest you give the loan money back, and hopefully you are still within your "14 day cooling off period".
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I agree with you, and it hurts.
 
-westy- said:
Ok, so let's break down the running costs.

First, the assumptions made (people in the know please do correct me):

Cost of clutch on BMW: £500
Cost of Tax on Fiesta: £60 p/a
You cover 14k a year, or 1166 miles a month on average, and that the Fiesta does 60mpg, the BMW 30mpg.

Not taking into account other running costs such as servicing & MOT, monthly costs:

Fiesta Loan/Finance: £330
Fiesta Fuel: £119.10
Fiesta Tax: £5
Fiesta Insurance: £100
Total: £554.10 a month

£6648 a year

Now the BMW:

Fuel: £229
Insurance: £117
Tax: £20
Total: £366 a month

£4392 a year

So you're £2256 better off after just one year by keeping the BMW. Even after replacing the clutch you're still massively better off.

Personally, I'd quite like to drive one of BMW's finest cars made and save a wad of cash vs a new Fiesta.
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The BMW will munch through consumables a lot quicker too. You need to add on a few hundred quid a year for tyres, pads and maybe discs. After the loan the fiesta will be and continue to be cheaper.

Sounds like the op can't afford it, so I would return the loan and get cracking on some excel spreadsheets to see what is comfortably affordable.
 
I did something similar to you, I have a 1999 SAAB 9-5 and it was getting a bit long in the tooth and the turbo was failing. I decided I wanted a new car so went out and got a 07 Hyundai Coupe 1.6 on finance. Granted mines only for 2 years then a £2300 final payment and I only pay £90 a month for the car, so with fuel and tax I'm in a similar financial state.

However, I look at the SAAB sat on the drive and regret it, although not a brilliant car it is worlds ahead even at 13 years old and 174K miles.
 
AndrewNR said:
The BMW will munch through consumables a lot quicker too. You need to add on a few hundred quid a year for tyres, pads and maybe discs. After the loan the fiesta will be and continue to be cheaper.

Sounds like the op can't afford it, so I would return the loan and get cracking on some excel spreadsheets to see what is comfortably affordable.
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Oh, of course, hence the assumptions that I made at the top of the post. However, I can't see an E39 which is known to the family to have massive failures. But yes, consumables will have a higher cost - it won't necessarily get through them any quicker though, how do you come to that conclusion?
 
Given that the BMW is a valueless 15 year old 523i I'd imagine the servicing costs will be lower than the Fiesta - as he'd be changing the oil once a year and change the plugs when they need doing. This means routine servicing will likely cost less than 50 quid a year if he's doing itself, to be honest even if he paid BMW to do an Oil Service once a year or something it's £139 a year. Front pads are 50 quid a pair and rears 30 quid a pair from Eurocarparts, for example. Ok, there is fitting on top, but it takes no longer than the Fiesta and nobody is fitting pads for free to the Fiesta eihter.

The standard wheels on a 523i are 15 or 16 inch, premium tyres are circa £70-£100 each which is pretty much exactly the same price as those for a new Fiesta.

So really the only credible cost increases are fuel consumption and the big one - unexpected repair bills. It's old, it's going to break, and if you can't fix it yourself this is where it starts getting annoying, expensive and faffy.
 
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