New driver - work lease scheme or second hand?

elmarko · 17 Jun 2013 at 17:37

Spunkey said:
Have you run any insurance quotes for the type of cars you're looking at? If you're new to driving that may make the choice for you.

Well, the quotes range from 700 to 1400 pending on the car, but as most of the cars are pretty reasonable most of them fall below 1000 - the one advantage of the work scheme is that insurance is included.

I'm quite keen on the RX8 also tbh (get out the curling tongs another potential Mazda person here also)

, but I dunno - plenty to learn...

elmarko · 19 Jun 2013 at 18:40

So, have been looking up on a few second hand motors,

What are you guys thoughts on... (sub 5k 5 year old car me being "sensible" this is...

)

Can pick them up pretty cheap with v.low mileage - also the insurance isn't that bad, as I'll be doing pretty short trips mostly!

[TW]Fox · 19 Jun 2013 at 18:52

There is nothing sensible about purchasing a used RX8. Do you not think there is a reason why a 230bhp RWD Sports Coupe can be had for less than £5k at just 5 years old?

elmarko · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:00

[TW]Fox;24480607 said:
There is nothing sensible about purchasing a used RX8. Do you not think there is a reason why a 230bhp RWD Sports Coupe can be had for less than £5k at just 5 years old?

I know it drinks fuel, but that's why I'm posting asking (it seems too cheap).

Hence the "What are you guys thoughts on..." part of the post.

Other ideas, MR2?, MX5? (handbag waving) - only £600 odd insurance for a new driver on the MR2.

PaulyD · 19 Jun 2013 at 21:29

See this asked over at PH a fair bit and it seems the consensus is to avoid the RX8. Terrible economy, some can go through oil and is recommended to check every 2-3 petrol stops for any top up needed. Engines can suffer from poor compression and cause quite big issues.

Don't think I would want that from a first car

MuvverRussia · 19 Jun 2013 at 21:40

Got to echo everyone else wrt avoiding the RX8.

Although you may not want to, it's not a bad idea to spend some time in something front wheel drive and a little less powerful for your first car. Plus if you're doing work mileage, 45p/mile (remember this has to take into account business insurance, fuel, wear and tear, depreciation) doesn't go as far as people think it does (especially if you're getting <20mpg).

My money would be going on a Focus or similar. Maybe stretch up to an A3. Run it for a year and chop it in for something a bit more fun.

For what it's worth, I started with a 1.6 mk1 Focus (100 bhp or so), then moved to a mk1 Octavia vRS (180 bhp, had it mapped to 210 bhp), and now have a mk2 Mazda 3 MPS (256 bhp, through the front wheels - can be interesting handling). I nearly binned the Focus a couple of times - the fact it wasn't hugely powerful was probably a good thing!

[TW]Fox · 19 Jun 2013 at 22:03

elmarko said:
I know it drinks fuel, but that's why I'm posting asking (it seems too cheap).

Hence the "What are you guys thoughts on..." part of the post.

Other ideas, MR2?, MX5? (handbag waving) - only £600 odd insurance for a new driver on the MR2.

MX5 is an excellent car. Won't cause you much trouble either plus the roof comes off.

miniyazz · 19 Jun 2013 at 22:11

PaulyD said:
See this asked over at PH a fair bit and it seems the consensus is to avoid the RX8. Terrible economy, some can go through oil and is recommended to check every 2-3 petrol stops for any top up needed. Engines can suffer from poor compression and cause quite big issues.

Don't think I would want that from a first car

Some can go through oil? They are designed to use oil, they all 'go through' it

Anyway, factor in cost of an engine rebuild if it's not had one rather recently; as a first car, definitely avoid unless you know exactly what you're after and it's an RX8!

PaulyD · 19 Jun 2013 at 22:40

miniyazz said:
Some can go through oil? They are designed to use oil, they all 'go through' it

Anyway, factor in cost of an engine rebuild if it's not had one rather recently; as a first car, definitely avoid unless you know exactly what you're after and it's an RX8!

Fair enough! I did try to make it clear I was no expert on the subject of RX8's by starting what I know and where from

rodenal · 19 Jun 2013 at 22:44

Tinders said:
Our company stipulates that when opting out and taking allowance, you have to have a car less than 5 years old and it must be a 4 door. They will only allow you to opt out if you do less than 8k miles PA.

Company cars are just not the perk they once were. When did Audi start putting in a 1.2 engine in the A3, that must be a lovely car..........

Opting out...I.e you are receiving a payment in lieu of Co car, they are giving you money for a car so have a say of some sort in what it is. If no payment it's none of their business what you drive and they could never, ever enforce any such policy - they'd be taken to the cleaners

elmarko · 20 Jun 2013 at 07:09

Cheers for the info on the RX8 guys, was dubious as to why it was so cheap myself! - most of the reviews were banged around as "yeah the fuel economy is terrible ... BUT" & with a low annual mileage fuel economy wasn't my key point of consideration.

[TW]Fox;24481775 said:
MX5 is an excellent car. Won't cause you much trouble either plus the roof comes off.

Good to know, is it similar in reliability to the MR2? (from what I've been reading up - both are pretty reliable, reasonable fuel economy & both cheap to insure).

rodenal · 20 Jun 2013 at 07:27

Don't know that either will be particularly cheap to insure for a new driver but yeah the mx5 and Mr2 (post 2003) are both reliable cars

elmarko · 20 Jun 2013 at 08:35

rodenal said:
Don't know that either will be particularly cheap to insure for a new driver but yeah the mx5 and Mr2 (post 2003) are both reliable cars

Good to know, I'll have a good look around - insurance is about £650 on both (which isn't bad compared to the rest of the quotes for other cars I've been checking).

elmarko · 20 Jun 2013 at 14:27

So found a few MR2's like the one below,

Seem to be able to get one with pretty good miles & around the 5k mark - any problems with the below obvious to the more experienced?.

(seems to fit my criteria, small, quick, not that costly, reliable, reasonable fuel economy, & nicer looking than the average first car), quite a number of the same quality as the below from what I can see.

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rodenal · 20 Jun 2013 at 16:27

Couple of (fairly) small points on that one as it's quite a lot to spend on an MR2. I'd expect you to get a very nice one for about a grand less that isn't much if any older but to be fair there would be nothing particularly wrong with paying £5k for an exceptional car.

1> The alloys - not only are they horrible but they probably aren't staggered. Whilst the car isn't particularly powerful it will be a bit unbalanced without this, particularly in the wet.

2> the soft top appears to have the "ears" (you can just see the edges of it sitting up) which indicates the strap inside at the shaping bar has either torn or stretched. Not a big deal tbh and 90% of them have this.

3> cloth - I'd want the leather, facelift seats are quite nice

4> May have missed this but I don't see anything about history even though it's only 20k - in fact I'd be looking to make sure it hadn't been owned by somebody who has serviced it twice because of the low miles.

If you end up going to see one listen carefully to the engine and make sure it doesn't sound like a rattling paint can. All the facelifts should be devoid of engine issues but check anyway. Also have a look at the right hand side of the engine, about 3/4 of the way up you'll see a small diamond shape with a plug(edit there is no plug its just a plate with two bolts) have a look for oil coming out of here. This is a complete non issue and easy to fix but could be a bargaining point

elmarko · 20 Jun 2013 at 17:13

rodenal said:
Couple of (fairly) small points on that one as it's quite a lot to spend on an MR2. I'd expect you to get a very nice one for about a grand less that isn't much if any older but to be fair there would be nothing particularly wrong with paying £5k for an exceptional car.

1> The alloys - not only are they horrible but they probably aren't staggered. Whilst the car isn't particularly powerful it will be a bit unbalanced without this, particularly in the wet.

2> the soft top appears to have the "ears" (you can just see the edges of it sitting up) which indicates the strap inside at the shaping bar has either torn or stretched. Not a big deal tbh and 90% of them have this.

3> cloth - I'd want the leather, facelift seats are quite nice

4> May have missed this but I don't see anything about history even though it's only 20k - in fact I'd be looking to make sure it hadn't been owned by somebody who has serviced it twice because of the low miles.

If you end up going to see one listen carefully to the engine and make sure it doesn't sound like a rattling paint can. All the facelifts should be devoid of engine issues but check anyway. Also have a look at the right hand side of the engine, about 3/4 of the way up you'll see a small diamond shape with a plug - have a look for oil coming out of here. This is a complete non issue and easy to fix but could be a bargaining point

Some great tips there

thanks, I'll keep an eye out for all those things & shop around for around for others at around that cost.

To be honest, I'm surprised they are so cheap.