What should I do - new car related

DazQ87

DazQ87

DazQ87

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6 May 2011
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Milton Keynes
OK I am looking at changing my car and I thought I would see what the guys in motors would do in my position.

Basically at the minute I drive an 06 Polo GTI 1.8T, the reason I want a new car is I've had it for 2 years, which is what I typically keep my cars for, and then I fancy a change to something different or more powerful. My last car was a 3Door Astra 1.9 CDTI 150 (annual mileage was much higher at this point) and before that I had a celica VVTI 140, both of which I had for 2 years each.

Basically this time my annual mileage is much lower now I live much closer to work (7-8k miles/year so fuel isn't my biggest expense), and my salary is significantly higher than it was this time 2 years ago (more than double, although I do now have a mortgage as well). What I have been doing the past 4 years is paying £250 a month into a dedicated bank account for car stuff, this covers maintenance and consumables, and any money left over goes towards a new car after 2 years.

Now, this time around I fancy a bigger more powerful hatchback, (bigger so I can fit the dog in the boot more comfortably that he is in the polo).

Now if I sell the polo to a family member who is interested and use the remaining money in my car account I can afford a car of up to £7500, this would net me a nice pre-facelift focus ST (which is pretty much what I have decided I want after test driving this and the FN2 civic type R).

My other trail of thought would be to get a brand new Focus ST on the 2 year ford options type finance which would have monthly payments of ~£200 allowing me to change the car in 2 years if my personal circumstances change and I need a more family orientated car for example.

Part of me loved the 5pot turbo of the old ST, but the other half of me would love to have a brand new car...

I can comfortably afford to run both vehicles, but putting down £6k as a deposit would leave me with more money in my bank account than spending £7-7.5K to buy an older one outright.

What would you guys do in my position?
 
Well a 6k deposit and £200 a month for 2 years = £10,800.

I don't know how much they cost but I believe a new Focus ST will be more than that, so can't see him owning the car at the end of it.
 
Yeah there is a final payment, I presume you can finance the final payment over several years or choose to swap to a different car which may have higher or lower monthly payments.

I should probably research my mad ideas more to be honest.

I suspect the more sensible option would be to get an older fully kitted out ST-3 for £7K and just keep my money; just becase I can afford to spend £200 a month financing a car dosen't mean I should when I can own an older but equally enjoyable car outright.

Having done a ton of research it seems that whilst the older ST is thirsty it seems solid and reliable which is fine by me given my milage is so low. I also fell in love with the one I testdrove, comfortable with so much torque, and that engine noise...
 
Even with the final payment, the Focus is going to de-value massively in comparisson to what you bought it for over 2 years.

If you buy a second hand one now for 7K, and then sell in 2 years in the same condition I can't see it loosing anywhere near as much. Plus you will own the car. Is it a private sale or from a trader? I'd look at more than one and take someone else with you so you don't buy it because it makes you go weak at the knees ;)
 
I suspect you are right, an older one is probably the best option, although at least I have made my mind up exactly what car I want.

The one I test drove was at a dealer, I only had a go because it was local and they also had an FN2 civic at the same place I could compare directly. I'm not going to buy the exact one I test drove due to the curbage on the alloys and the leather on the passengers seat not being in great condition and I feel they were asking too much for it. As tempting as it was I knew it wasn't the right car to buy at the time.

I'm in no great rush to buy something ASAP but I will be keeping an eye out over the next 1-2 months and will make an effort to travel a fair few miles to look at some of the better advertised ones.
 
As above, go for the older one :)
By the way, no-one buys a car on a finance deal in case their circumstances change, over buying one second-hand! A second-hand car you can sell whenever you wish, a financed car is much harder as you will be in negative equity! (Possibly not with a £6k deposit, but I wouldn't rule it out and you will in any case find it harder to sell a car on finance since it may well not be yours to sell)
 
Ive looked into this and remember the older focus, is less efficient, costs more to tax, costs more to insure for some reason and wont have a warranty.

Id imagine the older one will still be cheaper to run per month but by how much? Is it enough to warrant the extra expense for something newer?
 
Mk2 Focus ST looks much better.

Way I look at the new one is that I could get a mk2 Focus RS for the same price.
 
matthab said:
Ive looked into this and remember the older focus, is less efficient, costs more to tax, costs more to insure for some reason and wont have a warranty.

Id imagine the older one will still be cheaper to run per month but by how much? Is it enough to warrant the extra expense for something newer?
Click to expand...

People only seem to be averaging just around 30mpg from the new ones so not a huge difference really from the 25ish the old one gives.
 
Plus the new one will drop about £3k as soon as you drive it away and at a guess a similar figure next year. a £7.5k ST might not even lose 3k over 2 years

There is no doubt it will cost more to own the new model (especially buying brand new) over a few years. The real question for the OP was whether he was happy to spend more to be in a newer car and if that worked for him - sounds like it doesn't
 
Thanks for all your input guys, I think you are confirming what I had thought, I could buy a new one, but it just wouldn't be worth the extra cost over an older one. Especially when my weekly milage is pretty low.

I'll have to spend the next few weeks hunting out a good example :)
 
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