Best estate for around 30K?

As nice as the Volvo and Skoda are, I can’t imagine ploughing thirty grand into one. If it’s a cash purchase then it has to be BMW or Audi as they will hold their value best, surely?
 
Possibly true - But you will get more Volvo for your money to begin with. If you're not going brand new. Look at two or three year old cars which have come off a PCP deal.
 
As nice as the Volvo and Skoda are, I can’t imagine ploughing thirty grand into one. If it’s a cash purchase then it has to be BMW or Audi as they will hold their value best, surely?
The new Volvo’s I could spend that kind of money on, don’t think I could on a Skoda.
 
the perennial debate -
He'd also suggested he will be keeping it, so less impacted by the markets subjective evalaution; a younger car, if not new, too, so warranty protecting you during that bathtub curve.
 
As nice as the Volvo and Skoda are, I can’t imagine ploughing thirty grand into one. If it’s a cash purchase then it has to be BMW or Audi as they will hold their value best, surely?
In terms of the initial depreciation curve they are all much of a muchness from what I can see online, if you spend £30k BMW/Audi might hold value marginally better simply due to being older rather than brand new, but you could fix that problem by spending less (say £25k) on the Skoda i.e. buy one of comparable age to the BMW/Audi. You'd then have parity (at worst) on depreciation but with the added benefit of less initial outlay.
 
To give you an idea I spent £32k on my Audi A4 Avant in August 2018, it was 9 months old. It's dropped to about £26-27k judging by Autotrader.
 
How can a 3 year old Audi A4 still be worth £27k? That seems exceptionally unlikely. To have lost only £5k in depreciation on a 9 month old Audi over 2 years seems very unusual.

A quick glance around Autotrader suggests even if we assume its a high spec 3 litre TDI - quite a rare car - it's low 20's at the very best? Which you'd expect given its age.
 
You'd then have parity (at worst) on depreciation but with the added benefit of less initial outlay.

This is surely an argument against the Skoda. You'd want to be quite a long way from parity on depreciation to make it worth choosing over the BMW or Audi. The Superb is an excellent car but it's not a 5 Series or an A6 and you'd be absolutely bonkers to pick one over either of those unless there were considerable financial benefits to do so. The Audi and BMW are simply better cars in virtually every way.

The Superb works really well when the ownership cost is much lower.
 
How can a 3 year old Audi A4 still be worth £27k? That seems exceptionally unlikely. To have lost only £5k in depreciation on a 9 month old Audi over 2 years seems very unusual.

A quick glance around Autotrader suggests even if we assume its a high spec 3 litre TDI - quite a rare car - it's low 20's at the very best? Which you'd expect given its age.

It was only a quick look tbh, but the only examples I can find are 2018 models with the same spec for £28-29k.

It's ex-press car so high spec with the 252ps 2.0 TFSI with 17k miles. There aren't many with this engine.
 
There aren't but not many people are going to drop 27k on a 3 year old A4.

Heck I paid about that for my 11 month old 530 with more power :p
 
There aren't but not many people are going to drop 27k on a 3 year old A4.

Heck I paid about that for my 11 month old 530 with more power :p

I should have bought the 335d touring I test drove then, except it wasn't nearly as nice as the A4 Avant in every way except a little more power ;) The current 3 series however, that is a big improvement. That looks better than the current A4.
 
I think the A4 is a nicer car than the old 3 series, I agree.

I'd go out of my way to avoid them whereas the A5 I had for a week last year was quite nice. Virtual cockpit for example is still better than anything BMW offer.

Love the new 3 though.
 
This is surely an argument against the Skoda. You'd want to be quite a long way from parity on depreciation to make it worth choosing over the BMW or Audi. The Superb is an excellent car but it's not a 5 Series or an A6 and you'd be absolutely bonkers to pick one over either of those unless there were considerable financial benefits to do so. The Audi and BMW are simply better cars in virtually every way.

The Superb works really well when the ownership cost is much lower.
I was being deliberately cautious/generous to avoid making too bold a statement specifically in response to the claim that the BMW/Audi would hold value better, the Superb should be a lot cheaper if you don't spend the money on getting a newer one. If I stop being cautious I'd say you buy a cheaper Superb which costs less money, loses less in depreciation and costs less in tax until the luxury car tax expires on the other cars (assuming April 2017 on).

Whether or not the 5 series / A6 are better cars is of course another matter but for the same money there has to be a compromise somewhere whether that be on age, condition mileage, spec or whatever - he's specifically asking for alternatives so I'm throwing it out there. Maybe if keen on spending the full budget then a superb is a less appealing proposition.
 
I never really had a great issue with the old 3 Series all the main controls were exactly the same parts as the 5 Series my main issue was the fake leather being poor along with the 1-8 button for iDrive these never lined up properly on any 3 Series I have been in. New 3 Series Touring is superb they also come well spec'd with the options being in packs now loads of second hand M340i listed have laser headlights/HUD etc I'll probably get one over a 540i.
 
I never really had a great issue with the old 3 Series all the main controls were exactly the same parts as the 5 Series my main issue was the fake leather being poor along with the 1-8 button for iDrive these never lined up properly on any 3 Series I have been in. New 3 Series Touring is superb they also come well spec'd with the options being in packs now loads of second hand M340i listed have laser headlights/HUD etc I'll probably get one over a 540i.
Exactly my thoughts. The new 3 feels like a little 5 rather than a big 1. I'll be looking for a M340 once I can get rid of the A6.
 
I never really had a great issue with the old 3 Series all the main controls were exactly the same parts as the 5 Series

The fundamental electronics were which was great but the interior itself isn't brilliant and it's like being in a bigger 1 series rather than a smaller 5 series. The interior design is far more like the 1 than the 5.

It even still has a manual handbrake taking up half the centre console.
 
New 3 Series Touring is superb they also come well spec'd with the options being in packs now loads of second hand M340i listed have laser headlights/HUD etc I'll probably get one over a 540i.

I've also found this, it's virtually impossible to find a 540i with the right level of spec but by contrast very easy to find an M340i. Size wise the new 3 series is virtually identical to the E39 5 series too. Very tempted myself.
 
I've also found this, it's virtually impossible to find a 540i with the right level of spec but by contrast very easy to find an M340i. Size wise the new 3 series is virtually identical to the E39 5 series too. Very tempted myself.

One thing I always liked with the F30/31 over a F10/11 was the smaller size it made it far more enjoyable to drive down a A/B road but could be little tight interior space wise the new 3 Series seems to offer the best of both worlds lighter and some more interior space.
 
I've only driven a 320d so far and was fairly impressed. The interior is a much nicer place to be - BMW have gone for a very uniform interior style, it felt like a smaller version of the X5 I had on holiday last year.
 
I had one of these as a hire car a while back. It was awesome. I’m not a seasoned premium car expert like Fox so I don’t have an awful lot to compare it with, but I thought it was brilliant at what it did.

Did you have the T8 as a hire car? I really like the idea of one them myself.
 
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