New car wanted! Any advice?

Delvis

Delvis

Delvis

Caporegime
Joined
7 Nov 2004
Posts
30,194
Location
Buckinghamshire
Hi all,

Had my 08 focus now for a few years, wanting to upgrade a bit.

Wanting:
-Something bigger, I'm 6ft and struggle
-larger storage, we go canping
-Higher mpg, currently get 34 on average, would prefer much higher
-The seat needs to be really adjustable as I have a bad back

I've contemplated eatates, but not sure if the seat situation will help me...I find if I can sit more upright (like in a truck or van) it helps sometimes...

Money wise, I'm skint, probably be able to do £100-120 a month, if that.

Auto would be good,but not needed necessarily

Any initial thoughts? :)

Also, what's happening with tax again? Is diesel likely to get shafted?
 
Liquidfox said:
At 6ft2 I never had a problem with my 2006 Focus ST which is essentially the same thing, so I'd say it's your bad back more than your height causing an issue.

£120 a month you're not going to get anything better than what you've already got. £120 a month over 5 years is just over £6.5K on a loan. You could get a newer Focus for about that, depending on the condition of your existing car I'd be tempted to stick instead of swapping, better the devil you know and all that.
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So what would you do? Continue to drive and need to get out of the vehicle every 20 minutes? :P
 
Thanks all for the replies so far.

As for changing the seats, I see there are power seats available, would you need to be weary of air bags and the like?

Skillmister said:
A newer car isn't going to fix your back. I find the seats in my '58 Mazda 6 just as good as the seats were in my '64 Fiesta ST, but the ride quality is far better which makes it more comfortable overall.
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For sure, but anything I can do to alleviate the issues I get daily will help me, psychologically if anything.
 
acemastr said:
Fix the back
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Seen about five physios, latest referral from one to the musculoskeletal team referral discharged me and said "get on with it/life, take pain killers, try to forget about it, we can fix one problem then another will come up'.

So yeah, been trying :)

grudas said:
Forget the silly mpg figure and buy a Volvo or a Saab. Fat comfy seats.
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I'd like more mileage, petrol costs are going up for me....seems silly considering I'm contemplating buying a car, but I guess I'd try do it with minimal outlay

Armageus said:
Despite being universally praised as one of the best handling MPVes, and having the "sporty" chassis of a Mondeo? Whilst an MPV will never handle as well as a "normal" car, bouncy castle is so far from the mark.

If indeed seating position rather than ride quality is the main issue, then a Mondeo isn't necessarily going to help.
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Well, obviously seating position should help, I don't want it to feel like I'm riding over every pot hole in existence :p
 
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Cheers Grudas, trouble is there no point me being unable to do anything else if I have a car that guzzles fuel

dl8860 said:
The


Would suggest that few k goes elsewhere rather than towards new car is OP can only just budget £100/week. I only said 7k because interest rates are higher for lower loan values.
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A week? You mean a month right? :D
 
dl8860 said:
Sorry yeah did mean a month. I bought a used car for £7k cash recently and couldn't be happier to not have monthly payments to contend with.
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Aye, either way I'd be paying monthly as I don't have that kind of money spare :(

Thank you though

kaptainmarc said:
try a sports physio, helped my wifes back issues immensely

What about a Honda CRV? cheap reliable. loads of storage nice and roomy comfy. doesn't give you loads more MPG if any and the TAX is higher but its a decent car
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Aye, seen a few of those, and musculoskeletal specialists, they just give up in the end, and I can't afford private sessions 4 times a month atm
 
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Armageus said:
How many miles do you do annually? At 10k or less then the difference between 34mpg and say 40mpg is only about £200/year

The cost of changing your car, will likely outweigh any fuel savings.
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17k or so

£200 is £200, it's more money regardless?

[TW]Fox said:
Depending on your usage profile 35mpg is fairly good. If you want to save money you are almost certainly better off keeping what you have, it's unlikely any used car at your budget will be materially cheaper to own than your Focus.
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Regardless of that,the other reason is to get a more comfy ride to help with my back pain.
 
Armageus said:
So decide on what your priority is?
If the priority is your back, then find something that fits the bill for that, rather than compromising to save £200 or so.

With your budget unfortunately you are going to have to compromise - you aren't going to find something that saves a huge amount of fuel cost, whilst still keeping cheap ongoing running costs (as you currently have with a 1.6 Petrol Focus)
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Correct, but people coming in and just going 'sod it may as well stay with the focus' isn't helping.

I'm aware about compromise, at the moment it's my back, but there's no point me changing to a car if I'm then having to shed out an extra £50 on fuel a month
 
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