I'm planning to buy a car within the next couple of months or so. Although I could describe myself as being reasonably well-paid, holidays and travel has always been the main source of my spending - more than even my house.
Therefore, with a car being third in my spending priorities, I think it would be really unwise to get a brand new car, especially with the deprecation. I'm looking for a nice second-hand German car in good condition - but with money in mind, I want a model that is relatively new and won't be replaced within the next three years or so, as well as a reasonable spec list including leather (therefore keeping the demand and value generally high).
I don't realy fancy VW and Audi, so I'm looking at a mid-sized BMW or Merc, ideally the 5er or E-Class (or maybe the CLK), as I think the 3er and C-Class are too widespread and will lose value more than less-widespread models.
However, this may be a bit of a bad time to buy a Merc, as there's a lot of new models going out around now (new C-Class in mid-2007...I don't know about the E-Class or the CLK, but I'm sure they're around the corner). The new 5er was released relatively recently so they won't be releasing a new one any time soon, except for a facelift.
But, of course, I could be wrong about any of the above - so I'd appreciate any opinions or comments you have...5er, E-Class, CLK (or any other cars you think would be good)....if I had to name a budget, I'd say around 23 to 25k, possibly one or two grand over that - but I have to remember the running costs, fuel and insurance and so on, as well as the resell value and deprecation - so, the lower, the better.
Therefore, with a car being third in my spending priorities, I think it would be really unwise to get a brand new car, especially with the deprecation. I'm looking for a nice second-hand German car in good condition - but with money in mind, I want a model that is relatively new and won't be replaced within the next three years or so, as well as a reasonable spec list including leather (therefore keeping the demand and value generally high).
I don't realy fancy VW and Audi, so I'm looking at a mid-sized BMW or Merc, ideally the 5er or E-Class (or maybe the CLK), as I think the 3er and C-Class are too widespread and will lose value more than less-widespread models.
However, this may be a bit of a bad time to buy a Merc, as there's a lot of new models going out around now (new C-Class in mid-2007...I don't know about the E-Class or the CLK, but I'm sure they're around the corner). The new 5er was released relatively recently so they won't be releasing a new one any time soon, except for a facelift.
But, of course, I could be wrong about any of the above - so I'd appreciate any opinions or comments you have...5er, E-Class, CLK (or any other cars you think would be good)....if I had to name a budget, I'd say around 23 to 25k, possibly one or two grand over that - but I have to remember the running costs, fuel and insurance and so on, as well as the resell value and deprecation - so, the lower, the better.
). Auto slushboxes are almost universal on Mercs, and the manual ones are supposed to be a bit iffy - but I was in a manual Merc taxi once, and it seemed ok. Anyone have an experience of a manual Merc? Probably 1 in every 3,000 Merc drivers use manual but it's worth a try