Buying a new car - advice wanted

[eek]

apart from not as good-looking as an Evoque which ranks only above the Mini countryman as the most hideous car ever designed doesn't the Evoque now have new better engines?

[sasguru]

apart from not as good-looking as an Evoque which ranks only above the Mini countryman as the most hideous car ever designed doesn't the Evoque now have new better engines?

Not only is the Evoque hideously ugly, it is plagued with gremlins according to a conversation I overheard at client 3 (someone who owned one).
So it's not even form over function - it just screams "idiot no-taste chav with money".

[d000hg]

In general I entirely agree with the advice about not buying cars new. However after 25 years of contracting while not spending more than necessary, I'm now in a postion where, after paying ordinary living expenses, I need to blow an additional 20K a year of investment income, just to stop my balance going up.

No you don't.

Buy a new car just because you can if you want, but don't pretend there's a good reason for it! If you're desperate to get rid of your cash, you could buy a 1-yr-old and give the difference to charity or something.

Or hire a personal chef?

[Old Greg]

I can't think of anything else, at any price, that I would prefer. I'm quite fussy, and even this choice has shortcomings. (No built-in TomTom HD, not as good-looking as an Evoque. However Evoque doesn't have adaptive cruise control, which is a must-have. Also Evoque width is off-putting - won't fit in my garage, might be difficult to get through London 6 ft 6 width restrictions, given that it's seven foot wide. And it has ancient inefficent engines compared to everyone else.)

Using the same logic as you, I did previously look up the price of Porsche Panamera, but it's a bit too large a car, and even second-hand is 60K, which is outside my comfort zone. (I think I've done well to psyche myself up to spending 30K, have never spent more than 7K on a car before.)

You're not married, are you?

[IR35 Avoider]

Buy a nicer 1 year old car.

Am currently looking on Autotrader again, at all cars between £30K and £35K. In the first six pages I've only seen three cars that are an acceptable colour. (White, silver, grey and black are not wanted. The Mercedes is going to be purple. Well "Violet" actually.)

Another issue is length: current car at 15.5 feet is definitely more hassle to manoeuvre than previous 14.5 foot car, so want to go back to that length. Most luxury cars are too long. I quite like Jaguar XF, but that is even worse for length than current car.

[IR35 Avoider]

apart from not as good-looking as an Evoque which ranks only above the Mini countryman as the most hideous car ever designed doesn't the Evoque now have new better engines?

The new engine factory opens this year, I guess the new engines will be available at the end of the year, when the 2015 revision comes out.

With regard to looks, if we restrict the field to cars with at least 4 doors, as far as I'm concerned it's an Evoque first and "nothing" comes second, third and fourth. (Well Porsche Panamera is not bad, but is ruled out on cost and size grounds.)

Edit: My neighbour has a grey Evoque. Although not a colour I'd go for (I'd go for red with black contrast roof) it has aweseome presence, I nearly crash looking at it each time I drive past. I do find Range Rovers in general hideous, it's only the 5-door Evoque that I like. (In fact in general I've always hated 4x4s/SUV, so it's quite surprising that I like this one.)

[IR35 Avoider]

You're not married, are you?

I am.

[IR35 Avoider]

Not only is the Evoque hideously ugly, it is plagued with gremlins according to a conversation I overheard at client 3 (someone who owned one).
So it's not even form over function - it just screams "idiot no-taste chav with money".

I agree that it's a very dodgy buy from a reliability/build-quality point of view. Apart from anything else, apparently rattles are quite common.

If you don't understand why it appeals so much (it is the looks) then you will assume that people who want it are idiots. They aren't, it has something they (we) want, that absolutely nothing else comes close to having. (Edit: there's a reason why they are running three shifts, churning them out 24 hours a day. Apparently there are an awful lot of chavs willing to pay over the odds for a badly-built car!)

[OwlHoot]

Wait a year and buy one 2nd hand.

WHS - You're potty spending £30K on a brand new one

[IR35 Avoider]

No you don't.

Buy a new car just because you can if you want, but don't pretend there's a good reason for it! If you're desperate to get rid of your cash, you could buy a 1-yr-old and give the difference to charity or something.

Or hire a personal chef?

I thought I was making clear that I don't have a good reason, other than I want one.