What would you do? Run until it dies or maybe a PCP agreement for a new one?

darknite

darknite

darknite

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Ok I can't decide which way to go. Friends and family seem split, so throwing it out for abuse from a wider audience!

Basically currently got an Insignia with 100k mile warranty. Bought it for £17k its now wroth £8k trade sadly I got it on finance and still have £5700 to go. Now i've secured a new job starting in November, the kids now drive so no need for a big car, something Focus size would do. New job has doubled my millage (still only 60 miles per day though 15k-20k a year).

So do I run the current car into the ground? Warranty for another 50k miles covers most issues. Or look at trading it in while it is worth something, maybe a PCP agreement, cheaper to run? Could add an extra £2k or so to the deposit.

Current car is doing about 44mpg (CDTi BiTurbo 195PS) Tyres are 20" (not my wisest choice!) at £166 each get about 18k a pair of fronts. Could change to something that does nearly 60mpg and only need 1 pair of front tyres over 3 years before getting a new car.

What would you guys do? Stick with it til it dies or look at a PCP and have a nice new car every 3 years?
 
Well my retired father agrees with you. But I am thinking in 3 - 4 years I will hit the 100k miles and need to replace the whole thing out right!
 
Depends on how you view car ownership.

I change cars frequently, usually, so I would likely move it on, but then that's me. If you're happy to keep the current car, it will make the most sense financially.

44 mpg isn't a bad figure. And you will struggle to get anything actually decent that gets a true 60 mpg anyway. You could change the wheels for 18's or something if you're that worried about the tyres. Or buy better tyres that last longer (my Goodyear Excellence have around 4.5mm left on the front and have done over 30k on them).

100k isn't a point where you need to replace a car anyway. Sure, it will fall out of warranty, but it will hardly be falling apart. And by that time, it will be fully paid off, so the only expense will be keeping it on the road.
 
I used to change car very often. Then I got married and bought a house so that ended that. My current car is the longest I have owned a car. On the mpg front I tend to go by the honestjohn website so something like the new focus 1.5 TDci official site says 74mpg combined honestjohn say 60mpg. Tyres have been using pirelli but can go Mich's which do better but cost more.

And yes, my father points out I might still be driving my current car at 150k! So it might be just be the NEW bug getting to me as well. New job has a nice wage boost attached to it. . . . so yes I could just be hunting for new toys! Or a combination of something new and something cheaper? :-)
 
darknite said:
Well my retired father agrees with you. But I am thinking in 3 - 4 years I will hit the 100k miles and need to replace the whole thing out right!
Click to expand...

What happens at 100k? The warranty ends and...? Is there some reason why you can't have a car with over 100k miles on the clock?

By all means replace it at that point or before if you want to but I don't think Vauxhall have put a self-destruct sequence in so that when it hits 100k it dies. So far most of my cars have been over 100k when I've got them and provided they were well maintained would keep going well beyond that figure.
 
Well no clearly I don't think the car will go bang at 100k. It might well last much longer. But I like warranty to cover repairs. Had a few electrical issues on it, been in the shop 6 times in 3 years for repairs of different sorts. Mainly for updates to electrical items, recalls. Personal choice to have warranty.
 
The more miles, the less shes worth as we all know. Id just run her until shes out of the warranty, then go for a new pcp/buy.
 
Yeah, that is correct. However, the rears were on the same miles when they were changed a couple weeks ago, and they had 4mm across them too. Only inside wear caused them to need changed due to a lack of alignment, otherwise they would have done thousands more miles too.
 
You're not going to save money by selling the insignia for £8k then replacing it with a new car.

So tyre cost and the small differance in mpg isn't going to justify the change, unless of course you keep the car for a very long time, I bet the differance is much less than a £1k a year.

If you want a new car then go and buy one, I'm guessing your monthly outgoing will not change by doing this, it just means you'll be adding a few years of financing.

Personally I'd keep the insignia, pay it off and run it until the warrenty period is over at the very least.
 
Got in a 10 plate Insignia taxi the other night, a mere 325k on the clock.
To be fair, it was quiet, smooth and I must admit I was very impressed with how it had stood up to its undoubtably hard life!

Why people think OMG! 100k - it's going to implode! - I'll never know.
 
Keep it and change the wheels for some other standard wheels - 17" I think is the smallest standard fitment, Energy/Elite use 18", and VXR/VX-Line use 19".
 
I dont understand the "keep it until it dies" philosophy - there's not much that can kill a car outright other than lack of maintenance or an accident.

Keep it until it no longer suits your needs. A few more MPGZ and slightly cheaper tyres wont offset a new PCP
 
Sounds like the perfect tool for the job tbh.

I imagine you'd miss the extra power of the bi-turbo if you switched to something like a focus.
 
My Audi A6 currently has 155k miles on it, i've owned it for just over 2 years and almost 50k miles, i've taken it to Europe and i've not had a single problem with it. It is starting to show it's age now though, although still runs perfect, even with a full service history. My point is, it's not just going to stop working once it hits 100k miles, as long as it's well maintained, it'll probably double that!
 
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