Opinions on next car

Abyss

Abyss

Abyss

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,548
Location
Nottingham
I have had my current A6 for 2.5 years now and fancy a change. This also coincides with the warranty expiring shortly and it being too costly to extend the warranty as the car is >100k miles

Current car - 2011 A6 C7 2.0 Diesel S-line Saloon with Tech Pack

Budget is approximately £20k, but more importantly keeping depreciation to under £10k over 2 years and no greater running costs than my current car. Moving across to a BMW interests me on the basis that the extended warranty represents excellent value considering my annual mileage (25k) and nothing in the Audi range is going to be any better than what I have now based on my budget.

The Audi I have now has been fantastic, and just continuing to run it is an option. If I am to change I would want a more practical boot, and as higher spec of car as possible.


Cars that interest me so far:
- 3 series GT - Like the idea of a more practical boot without it being an estate. Unfortunately only the 320 would be in budget as the 325/330 came out later. As they are so new I would also need to buy one that's low mileage in order to be sub 60k miles at 3 years old for the warranty. I wouldn't be happy with the standard spec so minimum options would need to be M-Sport, Pro navigation, heated seats, front parking sensors, xenons and memory seats.

- 4 series GC - On the upper end of the budget and not sure it offers a lot more than the 3 series does other than looking slightly sportier. I would again be stuck with a 4 pot engine.

- 5 series GT - Seemed the perfect option on paper until I realised just how ugly it is in person, and not sure about going for a car based on the old 7 series therefore actually an older design than I have now. I would however be able to get a 330 GT in budget with plenty of optional extras

- F10 5 series tourer - A serious contender, and has the nicer interior, but the extended warranty is significantly more expensive. I'm not a huge fan of how the estate looks, preferring the saloon.

- New A4 - Above my intended budget but <10k depreciation over 2 years should be possible. Unfortunately the spec is pretty poor as standard so I would need to add a lot of options to get the car I'd want. List price goes past £40k for a decent spec V6 diesel which is bonkers and would depreciate like a brick.

- A6 Avant with 3.0 engine - A possibility, i.e. just get a higher spec / quicker version of my current car in Avant form. My worry though is I would quickly get bored of the slight improvements, and ultimately it means spending £10k to pretty much drive round in what I already have


Any thoughts?
 
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3 series GT has a naff interior quality from what I've seen, I'd discount that

4 GC is interesting, but may as well get a higher spec 3

5 Touring is a good option but for £20k you might not be getting much in terms of spec and you'd be looking at high mileage examples. Someone like Fox will be able to give you more info on this however

Have you thought of the 3 series touring or is that possibly too small?
 
Shivy011 said:
That looks like a very nice spec - has the Pro Nav and the adaptive suspension
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It does look a particularly good spec. The down side is that by the time I've had it a year and can take out the extended warranty the mileage will be over 60k.
 
Shivy011 said:
3 series GT has a naff interior quality from what I've seen, I'd discount that

4 GC is interesting, but may as well get a higher spec 3

5 Touring is a good option but for £20k you might not be getting much in terms of spec and you'd be looking at high mileage examples. Someone like Fox will be able to give you more info on this however

Have you thought of the 3 series touring or is that possibly too small?
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Don't the 1/2/3/4 all have the same interior?
 
the 3 is more practical than the 4. ease of entry as to the boot, the 4 i beleive has a hatchback boot whereas the 3 has a saloon boot.
 
tiffanys said:
the 3 is more practical than the 4. ease of entry as to the boot, the 4 i beleive has a hatchback boot whereas the 3 has a saloon boot.
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3 is a saloon with a boot
3 touring is estate
3 GT is a hatch
4 is a coupe with a boot
4 GC is a weird thing that looks like a saloon but has a hatchback
 
I don't know if something like this could work for you.

https://www.gateway2lease.com/cars/...rol-330e-2.0-phev-m-sport-auto.php?id=1441870

so total cost of the car will be £7368

You will go over the milage limit by around 34 000 miles, I don't know what the excess charge is but if you think around 12p (but it could be more) so you are looking at around £4k, total cost over 2 years will be around £11 or £12k.

Advantage is that you get into a brand new car, your costs are guaranteed, you don't have dish out 20k in one go and there is no warranty to have to pay for.


Edit looks cheaper here
http://www.freedomcontracts.com/BMW-3-Series-4Dr-330e-Sport-Auto-Plug-In-Hybrid-Business-Lease/2395.
 
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The current 3-series interior is a bit crappy. Certainly a downgrade from an A6.
The 5 GT is a lovely car. On fat alloys and sports suspension I don't think it's ugly at all. but maybe I'm just weird. Would you really lose less than £10k depreciation on one though? I don't think so.

Not sure what to recommend really. I'd probably keep the A6 for a little longer as I don't think you can get something worth getting for £20k. 530d Tourings are more for good ones.
 
Minor update. I test drove a 320GT over the weekend and it's not the car for me.

Whilst it handled nicely on B roads it was too engaging on the motorway, the 2.0 engine felt inferior to the 2.0 in the A6 and the overall package felt like a downgrade (I appreciate that it is!). It felt like I would be spending £10k-£12k to end up a worse position than I am already. A lot of this was driven by the interior finishes which likely discounts the 3 and 4 series for me.

it's a shame as the concept of the car was perfect on paper, but it looks like the choices are either keep what I have got or change to a 5 series.

I still have a test drive planned for a 330D touring just to see if the bigger engine and slightly better handling can tempt me but it's looking unlikely.

Dr House said:
I don't know if something like this could work for you.

https://www.gateway2lease.com/cars/...rol-330e-2.0-phev-m-sport-auto.php?id=1441870

so total cost of the car will be £7368

You will go over the milage limit by around 34 000 miles, I don't know what the excess charge is but if you think around 12p (but it could be more) so you are looking at around £4k, total cost over 2 years will be around £11 or £12k.

Advantage is that you get into a brand new car, your costs are guaranteed, you don't have dish out 20k in one go and there is no warranty to have to pay for.


Edit looks cheaper here
http://www.freedomcontracts.com/BMW-3-Series-4Dr-330e-Sport-Auto-Plug-In-Hybrid-Business-Lease/2395.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly against contract hire as it ties me into a car for a set period, and given I get bored of cars pretty quickly and having a nice car is dependent on my car allowance I prefer to own the car then just have a personal loan that is reducing faster than the rate the car depreciates.

The second deal is only available to businesses (gives no numbers for a personal deal) and the first deal looks expensive at somewhere between £10.5k and £11.5k for a low spec 3 series, I would need to add on Pro navigation, heated seats, front parking sensors, xenons and memory seats. A PHEV car is also unlikely to be the right car for me given the high mileage I do and is as far as I understand it more useful for lots of shorter lower speed journeys.
 
On a separate note whilst I was at the BMW dealership someone had just part exchanged a 2011 740d, single owner 85k mileage with a tonne of optional extras and immaculately maintained (hadn't even been through prep and looked ready to put on the forecourt). Were it not for the eye-watering maintenance cost / >£2.5k per year warranty cost I'd have loved to swap to it!
 
Abyss said:
On a separate note whilst I was at the BMW dealership someone had just part exchanged a 2011 740d, single owner 85k mileage with a tonne of optional extras and immaculately maintained (hadn't even been through prep and looked ready to put on the forecourt). Were it not for the eye-watering maintenance cost / >£2.5k per year warranty cost I'd have loved to swap to it!
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Would you have £5k worth of warranty costs in two years though? Could be worth a punt without the warranty, especially as you get one year with BMW AUC anyway. Perhaps you could haggle 2 years and then sell it after the warranty expires?
 
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