A bit of advice on mileage?

[Castiel]

My ST220 is finally got to be replaced, so I want to buy a second-hand car with a budget of between £12k-£15k, I don't want finance or anything like that and it will be essentially a second car just so I can get to and from work and the airport once a week or so, and just short local stuff generally, so mileage will be less than 10k a year, but I am conflicted about what to buy. It must have 4 seats.

The car needs to be reliable, relatively economical (on a par with the ST220 overall) and a decent interior size, specifically in the Drivers position as I am 6'2" and not too old (the car, not me..its too late for me)......I have looked at other newer Mondeo's, but I don't like any of them other than the 2.0 Ecoboost Titanium X Sport, and those are a little out of my price bracket, I also looked at the Passat CC, BMW 520D and the 320D coupé, but again out of my price bracket unless I go for significantly higher miles or older versions (I was trying to keep it below 30k). I even looked at the Fiesta Zetec S, which has a surprisingly large interior and low miles and is well within budget.

So my questions, is mileage really that important in cars such as BMW, Audi and the usual quality marques?

What should I be looking at regarding service history and dealerships?

Is there anything I should be looking at that I may have missed?

Any specific recommendations that fit my criteria would be most helpful as it has been a very long time since I bought a second hand car.

Anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

 

[Castiel]

Got to be replaced? Why?

It's getting on a bit now. I have had it since new (2003) and although it has relatively low miles (77k) it needs a new handbrake, new rear bushes, new shocks, four new tyres, front springs, lambda sensor and several other bits and pieces doing to it which collectively is going to cost more than the car is worth.

 

[Castiel]

Thanks....I think now is a good time to change the ST, like I said I'll probably have the work done anyway rather than just scrapping it but I'm going to replace it.

What sort of advice on warranties has anyone got, having never had a third party warrant or bought one I am none the wiser tbh.

I have seen this online that I was thinking of looking at:

http://www.sparshattsgroup.co.uk/used-cars/view/8043/volkswagen-passat-cc-2.0-tdi-140

and also I have been looking at Fiesta S1600's (I know they are poles apart class wise)

http://www.jenningsforddirect.co.uk/cars/view/ford/fiesta/reg/eo11pjj/

 

[Castiel]

Third party ones are ****. Manufacturer backed extended policies are generally best.

So buy a ford, get the warranty from ford, get a VW, buy the warranty from VW. Will that limit me to buying the Car from a dealership?

what sort of budget (broadly speaking) are we looking at?

 

[Castiel]

Got any photos of your ST220 Castiel? Will you be part exing it? Where do you live?

I live in Wiltshire and I will be PXing it, cant be bothered with the hassle of selling it privately. I'll see if I can dig out some photos if you want.

 

[Castiel]

My warranty knowledge is mainly BMW. With BMW you can buy the warranty even if the car was bought privately. A 5 Series is 700-900 a year depending on excess and whether you take the assistance package, a 3 series is 400-540.

Audi warranty is run by the same people that do BMW, but I do not know pricing.

So effectively I could buy something privately like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-BMW-...9988115?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item257236dd13

and get a warranty from Woods BMW in Salisbury for around £500. I assume that would take care of all the big bills, and what is an Assistance Package. (apologies for being such a noob, I have zero experience with buying cars second-hand, last time was about 20 years ago)

 

[Castiel]

The final figure for fixing the ST will come to just over £1100. Needs new subframe, the stuff I mentioned before, a whole new handbrake assembly and various other bits and bobs. MOT expires today. I don't think it is worth doing. I have a mate who will probably give me £500 or so for it as it is and do the work himself. So definitely in the market for another motor.

 

[Castiel]

I will take it for more than 500 as is

He is coming around later to look at it......he said he will give me £400 for the wheels anyway. And then we can come to some agreement on the Car as a whole (he is a Ford Mechanic), so I might get a bit more than I initially thought by breaking it up. I have no idea what the thing is worth tbh, other than by googling other examples with similar miles and age....to be fair it is not in the best shape and has a few scratches and bumps so its just not worth spending loads of cash on it.

Now to the tricky part of choosing a decent replacement for under £15k that will give me trouble free motoring for the next 5 years....

 

[Castiel]

Octavia vRS 2.0T Petrol? Seems to fit your requirements.

I'm old enough to not have ever really recovered from Skoda badge aversion disorder tbh...

I hadn't considered them, I will add them to the list.

 

[Castiel]

The ST went to my mate tonight for £800 and £200 for the Stereo so £1000 all told...so not a bad as far as I am concerned given the cost to get it through the MOT.

 

[Castiel]

I bet it didn't need the entire subframe at all, everyone used to think it did back in like 2002 but it soon became clear you could change the subframe bushes without replacing the entire subframe?

Yeah, it needed the subframe, we already considered just the bushes.....it also needed o/s fr Macpherson strut, front n/s and o/s shocks and mounts, handbrake unit, calipers, lambda sensor, and the 4 new tyres. (List off the MOT failure, with the exception of the lambda sensor, but we knew about that already)

I got a £1000 for it so I/m happy and my mate is a mechanic so can do the work cheap enough so that he can make a few quid as well so he is happy and that is all that matters....I got 9 years of trouble free and happy motoring out of the car so I think that is value for the money I paid for it.

 

[Castiel]

Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but a Macpherson strut is a type of suspension assembly rather than an actual part right?

My fault, not reading the printout right..it is excessive movement in the Macpherson strut. Hence the need for new mounts etc I suppose. I know bugger all about cars.