Yet another "spec me a car" thread

Sadgeek · 21 Nov 2006 at 07:47

I've been offered a new job elsewhere so my thoughts of buying a new BMW 335 Coupe as part of the company scheme is now a no-no.

Wife doesn't want to spend more than £18k on a car, which will be used to get me to work (40 miles each way) and occasionally out to clients around the UK. I've got a young family so the next car needs to be fairly sensible with room for a buggy/pram in the boot.

Current thoughts are either:

a. Buy a new car around £18k, possibly a VW Passat 2.0 tdi or Touran (her choice

)
b. Buy a second hand BMW 5 diesel

I would rather have the second option, but the wife (an accountant) is concerned over escalating repair costs. Most 520/525/530s in this price range already have 50k on the clock for the smaller engines and up to 100k on the larger (530d). Given that I would be adding at least 25k per year, the wife understandably is worried that this could be a lot of money down the drain and expensive repairs almost inevitable. As you can guess, she see's a car as something to get you from A to B, nothing more.

She has kindly offered to let me have her 1.2 Polo (4 years old, 13k) "cos it's a nice drive". Yeah, right! :mad:

Thoughts anyone? Should I go for a new car with the benefit of a warranty, or battle it out on a 2-3 year old bimmer?

Sadgeek · 21 Nov 2006 at 08:19

Cheers Chris. Cheapest approved BMW (520d) is 22k.

Wife doesn't like the 3 series at all, and (probably wrongly) I view the 3 series as a rep mobile. It would have to be a 5.

4 years old is not an issue, but the mileage is likely to be high, so I would expect corresponding repair bills just around the corner.

Is an auto less likely to have been thrashed within an inch of its life?

Sadgeek · 21 Nov 2006 at 08:26

Pretty much, with the mileage I'll be covering.

I've been running an Accord for the last 3 years after running diesels, and just find it too peaky.

Probably just a symptom of the Honda engines, but I like being a lazy driver

Sadgeek · 21 Nov 2006 at 12:48

Exactly Olly, that's the worry. Oh, and gearboxes...

Maybe I'm just being a bit of a worrier, but having had several years of essentially cheap and trouble free motoring (company car scheme & fuel card), the actual expense of driving is hitting home pretty hard

Would anyone have an idea of how much a warranty would cost on a 2002 530d?

Sadgeek · 21 Nov 2006 at 17:45

Cheers Mr Jack, it was a consideration, but the depreciation would be a real killer. I'd much rather someone else took the first hit.

Thanks for the suggestion though.