Help Choose 2nd Car?

I presume the "2nd car" in the title means that it will be your second car you've owned, and selling/doing whatever with the focus which was your first car?

How old are you if you don't mind me asking
 
SquirrelMadness said:
How is that douche spec? Just a sporty look. Douche spec would be Fiesta MK3 with a body kit or a VW Golf with a loud exhaust.

4dr like 2dr aka overall length of car...

Astra VXR insurance company limitation. and the 3L is 55MPG average, 10MPG less than the 2L, 25MPG more than the VXR.

The gadget requirements are based off what I don't have but need in my current car:

  • No climate control so have to tweak dials every few minutes.
  • No GPS so have to use phone... but phone is for music too.
  • No parking sensors so end up too far away from obstacles when parking cos think I'm gonna hit them.
  • No heated seats so rely on engine heat.
  • Bad quality gear shifters (reverse doesn't always click in properly - have to try 3 times)
etc...
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yeah , you won't get 55mpg average unless you drive 200 miles trips at 50/60mph down the motorway. you'll be looking at low-mid 40's at best. diesel cost more to maintain if they go wrong. injector, fuel pumps can be expensive.
 
I think the clue is in OP's user name :p

If I was you OP I would just run that focus you have into the ground first, then move into something better. I think you will find the majority on this forum to despite coupes with small engines.

As you are still new to driving, you will regret driving a new car when you end up curbing your wheels, side swiping etc. If you choose to ignore all the above then I would go with the Audi
 
The 3l vag TDI is quite a nice unit actually - I could personally see the appeal of a 5 door A5 with that engine (sportback or whatever it's called)...it just won't live up to anything like the apparent economy expectations and I'd also question why you wouldn't just want a petrol A5. Quite an old car now to be spending what I'd consider fairly decent money on, but if that's the market that's the market
 
SquirrelMadness said:
How is that douche spec? Just a sporty look. Douche spec would be Fiesta MK3 with a body kit or a VW Golf with a loud exhaust.

4dr like 2dr aka overall length of car...

Astra VXR insurance company limitation. and the 3L is 55MPG average, 10MPG less than the 2L, 25MPG more than the VXR.

The gadget requirements are based off what I don't have but need in my current car:

  • No climate control so have to tweak dials every few minutes.
  • No GPS so have to use phone... but phone is for music too.
  • No parking sensors so end up too far away from obstacles when parking cos think I'm gonna hit them.
  • No heated seats so rely on engine heat.
  • Bad quality gear shifters (reverse doesn't always click in properly - have to try 3 times)
etc...
Click to expand...

white body and black wheels doesn't = sporty.

4door like 2door...that still doesn't make sense. An a5 or 320 is a completely different kettle of fish to a scirocco or astra!
No chance are you gonna see 55mpg from a 3l last generation diesel as has already been said.

Doing such low mileage in one is likely to cause problems plus maintenance likely to cost more.

Parking sensors as an excuse for you being crap at parking. Shows your inexperience as a driver. You probably therefore will struggle to handle the power of a 3l or turbo 2l.

Bad quality gear shifters? What?! Lol. A five or six year old car with potentially a lot of miles could have similar issues. I also wouldn't call a gearbox a gadget!
 
[TW]Fox;27991889 said:
bizarre comment re: parking sensors. I wouldn't buy a car without them either.
Click to expand...

I'd like to think you can park without them though. OP from his own words seemingly can't!
 
All he's saying is he finds himself being very pessimistic with the available space behind and so wants sensors to make this easier - which I can kind of understand (though the likes of a focus is pretty much a case of where it looks like the boot ends....it does).

Most anybody can get by without parking sensors, they are really quite useful though
 
rodenal said:
All he's saying is he finds himself being very pessimistic with the available space behind and so wants sensors to make this easier - which I can kind of understand (though the likes of a focus is pretty much a case of where it looks like the boot ends....it does).

Most anybody can get by without parking sensors, they are really quite useful though
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Exactly, which is a sign of inexperience! Precisely what I said. With experience comes a better knowledge of the dimensions of your car and depth perception in mirrors.
 
SquirrelMadness said:
The VXRs are around 30MPG with high insurance costs due to theft rate. The non-VXR astras are so common everywhere I didn't even bother looking at them. Saw a nice VXR replica SRI once though but still would rather get a Scirocco as it would hold its value better.
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OP, you appear to be labouring under the impression that the running costs extend to insurance and fuel only.

When your £12k premium German diesel saloon/coupe goes wrong (and it will) you'll find that the "running costs" (which includes maintenance) are substantially higher than you expect.

Why not look at something like a Golf GTI? I'm not sure what models/years are in your budget, but they're decent cars, readily available, fairly simple engines and therefore robust, and won't cost a small fortune to fix if they break.
 
Dis86 said:
Exactly, which is a sign of inexperience! Precisely what I said. With experience comes a better knowledge of the dimensions of your car and depth perception in mirrors.
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I've been driving for 20 years and I won't buy a daily car without parking sensors. Does that show my inexperience? (I lived in a terraced street for 6 years and if you couldn't parallel park in a space 2 feet longer than your car, you didn't park in the street...I didn't have a car with parking sensors then).

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the OP wanting parking sensors. It simplifies parking in all situations massively.
 
Audi & the BMW look the same.
I never realised.

Swap the front grilles over and you would be hard pressed to tell them apart.
 
Havana_UK said:
I've been driving for 20 years and I won't buy a daily car without parking sensors. Does that show my inexperience? (I lived in a terraced street for 6 years and if you couldn't parallel park in a space 2 feet longer than your car, you didn't park in the street...I didn't have a car with parking sensors then).

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the OP wanting parking sensors. It simplifies parking in all situations massively.
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The difference is you have experience and he's made it clear he doesn't. Read his post, he states he has difficulty judging parking. It's not as if I'm making it up!
 
I get where your coming from, but I personally just don't think it's important. If he leaves too much space, has to get out and check, reverses more etc then so be it, sensors would definitely help.

It certainly doesn't translate into some innevitable hedge meeting if he buys a reasonably powerful car (for me).
 
Havana_UK said:
Why not look at something like a Golf GTI? I'm not sure what models/years are in your budget, but they're decent cars, readily available, fairly simple engines and therefore robust, and won't cost a small fortune to fix if they break.
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MK5 and MK6 GTI engines are the 2.0TSI (or TFSI) - which according to everyone on here aren't particularly robust, and I wouldn't say particularly simple. (* Full disclosure - I own an A3 2.0TFSI - which has been relatively faultless - but is serviced by a main dealer and has had appropriate revised parts and accompanying software updates where available)

Agree that a Hot (or Warm) Hatch is more along the lines of where the OP should be heading though - he does seem clueless of the running costs of any "premium" marque.
 
Havana_UK said:
OP, you appear to be labouring under the impression that the running costs extend to insurance and fuel only.

Why not look at something like a Golf GTI? I'm not sure what models/years are in your budget, but they're decent cars, readily available, fairly simple engines and therefore robust, and won't cost a small fortune to fix if they break.
Click to expand...

Why the Golf GTI over a Scirocco with similar spec? The figures seem almost the same judging by autotrader and the Scirocco is less popular and better looking (Golf seems like either a chav or granny car to me).

One of my friends has a 2005 Golf which costs him £600 every MOT because the parts fail so often. Maybe it's just the older versions.

Have driving a 2014 Golf convertible and didn't like it much... steering wheel felt very cheap plastic (light too), sound system was horrible, bluetooth wouldn't connect to my Samsung (apparantly iPhone only:confused:), and plain looks... car was worth about 18k.

Will say the pedals and shifters were pretty amazing though, hydraulic powered? Almost no effort to press - found myself braking accidently a lot when resting foot down - only mavity and my feet are light.
 
Dis86 said:
I'd like to think you can park without them though. OP from his own words seemingly can't!
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I can park pretty good but on some occasions will have to open the door to look behind especially if the object is below the rear windshield (small wall or a bollard right in the center of a parking bay).

When I park at home I can barely even see the wall I reverse against in my wing mirrors... mostly because half the bricks have fallen off.

I will usually be a whole meter away from objects but from inside the car it seems like a foot.

It's not the worst problem but I'd like to maneuver crazy close distances, especially in parking lots with lots of cars and narrow lanes, without fearing hitting anything and beinig >1m away every time.
 
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