New Car Time

swain90

swain90

swain90

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Joined
7 Aug 2012
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949
Hi All,

After my pulley snapped the other day. It got me thinking about possibly getting rid of the 320d.

It's 11 years old and I think the age and the 152k are slowly starting to take it's toll. The MOT is coming up in Sept and I have feeling it may need a fair bit of work doing to it so I'm trying to think ahead.

I'll be doing roughly 15-20k a year and wouldn't mind upgrading to an estate due to the dog.

I've always owed my own car, but after buying a house the capital funds are a little low so I think some sort of finance will probably be the way to go. I'm not sure in which direction to turn so could do with some help with this.

In my head I have the following in my head

* VW Passat
* VW Golf
* Skoda Octavia
* Volvo V50
* Ford Mondeo
* Ford Focus
* MB C/E Class
* Audi A4
* Mazda 6

My requirements are Cruise Control, 150+bhp/0-60 ~8secs, 40+mpg, climate control and possibly nav.

On a side note, are there any warranties which are worth having?

Cheers

Swain90
 
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swain90 said:
I would hope to get about £1500 for mine as p/x, plus there's about another £1k of funds to play with
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I would guess from previous experience that you'll get nowhere near £1500 for an 11 year old 320d at that mileage trading it in. Your best bet would be selling it privately.
 
There's bound to be some Octavia Estate or Superb Estate offer from Simpsons that will suit you nicely.
 
Well to be honest, it depends entirely on what position you want to be in come the end of the finance term.

If you want to own outright at this point (without a balloon payment) then you'll either be looking at particularly cheap, or something that's no spring chicken.

If you want to trade in and move on after 3-4 years then PCP might be right for you, you should have some residual value left in the vehicle at this point.

If you really don't care about ownership, and would like to change cars more frequently (1-2 years), then maybe look at leasing.

Alternatively, if you have decent credit facilities available, perhaps look at getting a bank loan over finance if you are looking at used vehicles.
 
From your list I'd go for a Golf but I am bias & don't really know enough about all the cars mentioned to give an informed opinion other members will do a far better job. I said Golf though as I rate them & have an old Mk4 & have had loads over the years & for me they are just about the perfect all round cheap car. Cost/size/dependability & they are classless so you can use one for anything & park it anywhere & the 3 Dr Mk5/6 are gorgeous looking. :cool:

I am mainly hear to read what others recommend if I'm honest though. :)
 
paradigm said:
Well to be honest, it depends entirely on what position you want to be in come the end of the finance term.

If you want to own outright at this point (without a balloon payment) then you'll either be looking at particularly cheap, or something that's no spring chicken.

If you want to trade in and move on after 3-4 years then PCP might be right for you, you should have some residual value left in the vehicle at this point.

If you really don't care about ownership, and would like to change cars more frequently (1-2 years), then maybe look at leasing.

Alternatively, if you have decent credit facilities available, perhaps look at getting a bank loan over finance if you are looking at used vehicles.
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This is where I'm a little stuck.

The PCP i'm a little unsure of because I was under the impression for the sort of size I'm after (estate), the toys plus the mileage, PCP would work out rather expensive.
 
Not necessarily. Even a bog standard 1.4TFSI A4 Avant meets your spec and performance requirement without needing any options (if you wanted to upgrade to navigation it would add £550 to the OTR price).

Before any negotiation or utilisation of brokers you are talking £283.57/month with £2700 up front deposit (over 4 years), or £313 with the same deposit over 3 years.

You'll get it lower than that, and you'd likely come in around the above costs with a few extras specced if you went through a decent broker.
 
swain90 said:
This is where I'm a little stuck.

The PCP i'm a little unsure of because I was under the impression for the sort of size I'm after (estate), the toys plus the mileage, PCP would work out rather expensive.
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The mileage is a factor on both PCH (Lease) and PCP - but with the latter you only get charged the excess mileage if you hand it back. Clearly it will have an effect on the value of the car as the GFV is set based on it - so if the GFV is £10k based on 10k miles per annum the car might actually be worth 12k, giving you 2k in equity. If you go over the mileage allowance, the car will be higher mileage than forecast so might only be worth the 10k, giving you no equity. If that makes sense?

On a PCH, options are never worth it as you end up paying for them in full. On a PCP, they do take them into account a bit but not much - you're better off selecting a trim level that has all the toys you need.

I'd go with a bank loan personally - if you do a 5 year loan then the repayments on a nearly new car should pretty much track the same as a PCP, so gradually building an equity in the car. £280 a month gets you £15k so you could get something nearly new quite happily for that. You'll always be in positive equity so if you ever need to sell it and clear the loan then you should be fine. A 5 year loan and 3 year PCP are very similar in the first 3 years - the former just spreads out the baloon payment over a further 2 years.
 
Thanks for the replies.

If I was to take PCP on a 4 year car for example, do the manufacturer take ownership of any faults/repairs with the car t their cost?

The reason I ask is because my partners current car on PCP was brand new when she got it. VW cover the servicing/repairs, but I'm not sure if that's due to it being brand new, or due to it being through PCP/the deal she got.
 
There's nothing about the finance agrement that gives them any liability over servicing or repairs. If its out of warranty, you pay for repairs. You'll pay for all servicing too, likely your partner had a service package bought new with it
 
Exactly, though most manufacturers will offer extended warranties. With Audi you can buy an extension to 4 or 5 years when you buy the car.
 
Completely price dependent, but if you genuinely intend on keeping the car 5 years it's worth considering as you will have pretty much hassle free, main dealer repairs for anything that isn't the likes of discs /pads or clutches
 
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