Son wants car advice 9000 to spend on fun! He wants 10 year old car. HELP :)

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Hi all
He leases an Audi A3 via NHS lease scheme. He intends to leave the NHS in the next year or so and wants a different car now. The penalty to hand the Audi back is small. he wants a fun car so on his budget is limited to what would look good and be fun to drive in his opinion.

This time he has seen a VW Sirocco:
https://www.north-sands.co.uk/used/cars/volkswagen-scirocco-20-tsi-gt-dsg-3dr-10139/

My concern is mileage and age given he wants to keep the car for 5 years and save money! His lease costs £400 a month. It appears to me that this car could drain money. Not only if things go wrong on a 10 year old car but Tax is high and tyres and insurance are not cheap. His insurance on this is quoted at 900 a year.

Im after a balanced view not me as a parent thinking im been overprotective. I will be lending him the money. His car history is Mini One, Fiesta Zetec s and the A3.

I suppose im concerned that a car like this could be a money pit, 72000 mile sand ten years old is not good for longevity and running costs high. Given that he wants to reduce his outgoings!
 
I wouldn't classify that as fun.

Civic typer
Focus st
Fiesta st
Suzuki swift sport

Would be actually fun to drive.
 
Fiesta ST out of that list. I think Type-Rs will be expensive to insure. The current and previous gen Fiesta STs are the best hot hatches around tbh :D

The Suzuki for something which is still fun but doesn't have hot hatch performance.
 
Fiesta ST or Megane RS, perhaps even one of the Peugeot gti offerings. If he wants VW then the Golf GTI of some trim would be the one, not Scirocco.
 
Civic Type-R
Primera GT
Mondeo ST220 Ghia Titanium X RS 2000
BMW 530i

All better than a Scirrooocococo.

Fiesta ST would be a good shout also.
 
Take him for a few test drives so that he can get a better understanding.
I drove the new style Scirocco when it first came out, expecting to really like it, and found it frankly, a bit underwhelming.
 
I suppose im concerned that a car like this could be a money pit, 72000 mile sand ten years old is not good for longevity and running costs high. Given that he wants to reduce his outgoings!

High mileage and even age alone isn't necessarily much of an issue these days - a lot will depend on how it was cared for both in terms of servicing and driving. You'd want to check for common big ticket items that tend to need replacing around a certain mileage specific to make/model though - around 70K miles is often the point things like turbos and chains/belts start to need some attention or replacement.
 
His lease costs £400 a month. It appears to me that this car could drain money.

£4,800 a year sounds like it is already draining money more than most 10 year old cars would if I'm honest... On most 10 year old cars the majority of depreciation will already be done so the only costs is servicing and the odd repair etc, you'd have to be seriously unlucky to be burning through almost £5k a year in running costs on a £10k car.

Edit: Should probably clarify, the 'newest' car I've owned was my 2009 Audi S3, drove that for about 5k miles, put 4 new tyres on it and sold it for what I paid for it.
 
£4,800 a year sounds like it is already draining money more than most 10 year old cars would if I'm honest... On most 10 year old cars the majority of depreciation will already be done so the only costs is servicing and the odd repair etc, you'd have to be seriously unlucky to be burning through almost £5k a year in running costs on a £10k car.

Edit: Should probably clarify, the 'newest' car I've owned was my 2009 Audi S3, drove that for about 5k miles, put 4 new tyres on it and sold it for what I paid for it.

Even running older vehicles it has generally cost me under £400 a year for sorting issues due to the age/mileage - unless you get unlucky and something costly goes.
 
It shouldn't cost a lot if you get something simple. If you go and buy some old Merc full of electrical gimmicks expect problems (expensive ones).
 
I'd rather have a £1500 Corolla T-Sport than that £9000 Scirocco. Dreary dreary.

Slower in fact. And probably less dependable. Definitely uglier. :p
 
I'd rather have a £1500 Corolla T-Sport than that £9000 Scirocco. Dreary dreary.

Slower in fact. And probably less dependable. Definitely uglier. :p

Scirocco 2.0 tsi 0-60 6.3 secs.

Corolla T-Sport 0-60 6.7 secs.


Parkers.co.uk
 
I'd rather have a £1500 Corolla T-Sport than that £9000 Scirocco. Dreary dreary.

Slower in fact. And probably less dependable. Definitely uglier. :p

I actually really like the front of the new Scirocco but the back doesn't work for me. That model costs about the same to tax and more expensive to insure than my truck though while not much faster 0-60 without the torque and RWD which makes my truck fun to drive. I also found they feel kind of firm and a bit too composed/flat for want of a better way to describe it which kills a lot of the enjoyment factor.

Scirocco 2.0 tsi 0-60 6.3 secs.

Haven't double checked to see if it is correct but the one in the link says 7.6.
 
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