Straight swap Qashqai to Citigo...is this a good deal?

GinG · 19 Sep 2019 at 09:35

Morning all,

We have decided we want to downsize the wife's car to something that doesn't cost much to keep on the road.

I've narrowed it down to a Citigo/Up/Mii.

Our car is a 62plate N-tec+.
It has 55,500 on clock
Full service history and serviced end of Aug
12 Months MOT
Matching AVON ZX7 all round, 2 brand new last month

One car I've looked at is this one

https://www.oakwoodmotorcompany.com/used-skoda-citigo-bury-greater-manchester-1865138

They have agreed in principle to do a straight swap of cars.

Our car is in good nick for its its age however brakes will need sorting soon, it was picked up there is slight oil weep coming from turbo and being 7 year old the suspension is starting to feel a little tired. In general I think the car is going to need a bit of money spending on it which since owning from 2013 it's cost nothing other than service, tyres and another set of brakes.

We have a Skoda Superb estate as the family car and as the kids are getting a little older We don't need to drag everything around.

I like the idea of paying £20 a year tax, £100 less to insure and being a petrol should be less expensive things to go wrong.

So motors am I looking at a fair deal here?

Thanks

AiiR · 19 Sep 2019 at 09:44

How much is the qashqai worth? If you can buy a better car with the money you'd get from a sale then it's not a good deal, and vice versa.

-westy- · 19 Sep 2019 at 09:55

How many miles do you do a year in it?

coupe69 · 19 Sep 2019 at 09:57

AiiR said:
How much is the qashqai worth? If you can buy a better car with the money you'd get from a sale then it's not a good deal, and vice versa.

No necessarily as there's the inconvenience of being without a car in the interim as well as the hassle of selling it in the first place. To some people a simple part exchange can work well.

To the OP, after a quick search on AT it appears to be a reasonable part ex deal. You could potentially get a little more if you decided to sell it privately, but probably not much. Only you can decide whether it's worth the bother or not though.

GinG · 19 Sep 2019 at 09:58

Qashqai is being banded at around £4-£5k part ex with WBAC offering £5560.

We can't be without a car due to work commitments so thinking for the no hassle way of getting into a newer car.

I think £6k maybe £6.5k advertising private but not sure I want the potential hassle due to the turbo issue, brake requirement etc.

The other reason is we are probably going from 10k per year to around 6-7k.

mjt · 19 Sep 2019 at 10:05

If you can live with such a small second car, it seems like a pretty fair deal.

Maundie · 19 Sep 2019 at 10:26

mjt said:
If you can live with such a small second car, it seems like a pretty fair deal.

This, only you can decide if it's such a good deal, given what you have said about the likely hood of costs being on the Quashqai soon then surely the difference in price (and absolute nightmare of trying the private market for selling) would be offset with the no hassle of just swapping.

disfunktion · 19 Sep 2019 at 14:15

The infotainment - or lack thereof in the Up/Citigi/Mii is woeful and a step back in time. The interiors really don't match the age of the car. A 2017 car with a 'built in' phone holder on the dash is really rather odd.

If you can live with that then they are great little city cars - but i'm not sure in the current climate with similar Asian cars having much betters specs that they are good value.

Howard · 19 Sep 2019 at 15:29

It's a hell of a downgrade. But then I hate these tiny city cars. Is your wife happy to accept the compromises of going from a relatively large, comfortable car to something tinny and uncomfortable? If so, then fine. If not, then how about something the next size class up? Fiesta?

jpaul · 20 Sep 2019 at 08:51

Around here the fiat 500 is very popular as a 2nd 'Mums' runaround ...no sure if the depreciation is less than the proposed citigo,
but I would be considering which small cars have least depreciation.

GinG · 20 Sep 2019 at 09:49

Thanks all so far.

Not rushing in to it as going to look at other options. We used to have a fiat 500 from new and was a great car...may consider again.

The main thing is to try and get into a newer more economical and cheaper to run car. Looking into the citicars allows us to look at cars still in manufacturers warranties.

The qashqai will be going as I do fear large bills are looming.

mjt · 20 Sep 2019 at 10:15

We used to have a Chevrolet Spark 1.2 for years (gf's car from before we had kids) and it was perfect as a 2nd car / shcity runabout. The only reason we got rid was because I was the one commuting in it and I just couldn't stand it any more.

AiiR · 20 Sep 2019 at 10:43

GinG said:
Thanks all so far.

Not rushing in to it as going to look at other options. We used to have a fiat 500 from new and was a great car...may consider again.

The main thing is to try and get into a newer more economical and cheaper to run car. Looking into the citicars allows us to look at cars still in manufacturers warranties.

The qashqai will be going as I do fear large bills are looming.

If you're looking at warranty, why not take a look at Kia? They have 7 years warranty.

GinG · 1 Oct 2019 at 14:03

Thanks for the advice all.

Went to have a look at the citigo and whilst it ticket much of the boxes we were after the lack of infotainment and basic dash was a little underwhelming.

We decided to go the PCP route, still getting cash back we went for an 18 plate, 7,500 mile Aygo.

It has climate, apple/android carplay, led running lights etc etc.

2 years at £25 per month. Toyota come with 5 year warranty so really do not have anything to worry about for the 2 years and if we do like the car we will probably buy it.