Reply to: New car time - new/used/PCP/loan?

[eek]

I'd always go to a German specialist to service a BMW. I found a good one in Bolton (NW BMW) and one here in Skipton (Aire Valley Workshop). They know what they are doing and charge half the price if that.

My mini went in for the 50,000 service last year as part of the extended TLC pack. without that the service would have been northwards of £1000....

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

3 years servicing for £350 sounds good to me.
The missus BMW's first service was £550.
These Germans see us coming

I'd always go to a German specialist to service a BMW. I found a good one in Bolton (NW BMW) and one here in Skipton (Aire Valley Workshop). They know what they are doing and charge half the price if that.

[sasguru]

I promise never to mention the Focus ever again.

I popped into the Hyundai dealership on the way home and they offered to do a basic inspection on the car when I get it for free, or a more detailed one for half hour labour (£47) which seems reasonable.

I'm no longer eligible for the Hyundai 3 year £349 service plan as the first one has to be done at 10k miles/1 year but he reckons they will be doing their own 3 year minor/major/minor service plan for a similar price later this month. Seems like a good deal? He also quoted about £150 for interim service and £240 for major service. No idea if that's good or bad.

3 years servicing for £350 sounds good to me.
The missus BMW's first service was £550.
These Germans see us coming

[AtW]

Cash and make sure you have a £50 note to smoke a cigar before driving off.

HTH

DimPrawn

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Phew that's a relief! I thought you'd be banging on about Focuses forever.
It's a good car and the great thing is no bills, apart from servicing, for 4 years.
Pater has a Hyundai ix35 4x4 which is based on i30 parts and its been solid as a rock for the year he's had it - good service from the Hyundai dealers.

I promise never to mention the Focus ever again.

I popped into the Hyundai dealership on the way home and they offered to do a basic inspection on the car when I get it for free, or a more detailed one for half hour labour (£47) which seems reasonable.

I'm no longer eligible for the Hyundai 3 year £349 service plan as the first one has to be done at 10k miles/1 year but he reckons they will be doing their own 3 year minor/major/minor service plan for a similar price later this month. Seems like a good deal? He also quoted about £150 for interim service and £240 for major service. No idea if that's good or bad.

[Platypus]

Audi A1? Great little cars, and good resale etc.
We bought one on PCP, weighing up the options at the time, and still stand by the maths from our point of view.

Mrs Kevpuk has a shiny new one - well, a year old now

Yeah, I looked at those for TCP but too expensive at £15k for a 1 year old from Mororpoint

[sasguru]

We put down the £300 deposit and we should pick it up next Tuesday (it has to be brought down from the Birmingham showroom).

Phew that's a relief! I thought you'd be banging on about Focuses forever.
It's a good car and the great thing is no bills, apart from servicing, for 4 years.
Pater has a Hyundai ix35 4x4 which is based on i30 parts and its been solid as a rock for the year he's had it - good service from the Hyundai dealers.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

TBH I don't understand people talking about handling at this level of cars, that is the vast majority. Super cars (of which I've driven zero) I could understand. What does "the steering seemed dead in the corners" actually mean to me? Nothing, I want something that gets me to work, doesn't break down, and is blue or at a push silver.

I don't know...I'm currently using my Mum's Citroen C3 and it's horrible to drive...the steering snaps back and causes the car to veer off if you give it even a hint of gas out of a corner.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Damn right it ain't! But then some of us are on rates > £1000/day (not me of course with my cheapo Golf) and not in permie jobs

My rate is good, but it's not that good!

When I start earning those rates, I'll come back here in 3 years time with my massive oversized war chest and you can all tell me what car I should buy then, OK?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

you have kept us entertained for a while!

but posting about cars in General is always a mine field as we have a number of petrol heads in here who have pretty firm views about what is/is not acceptable!

go for the I30 and screw it till it falls apart

Well, got back and I really liked the car. It was nice and comfortable to drive; yes it's not going to give me driving thrills, but hey that's what track days are for.

Safe, reliable (hopefully), probably the best price you'll get for a car of it's size and age and a decent warranty. We put down the £300 deposit and we should pick it up next Tuesday (it has to be brought down from the Birmingham showroom).

I'm glad I kept you all entertained, you bastards. I'm going off now to actually look forward to getting my shiny new car...

Oh...one last thing in case anybody does try and buy a car from MotorPoint...it goes without saying they'll try and flog you everything under the sun (oh your model doesn't have rear parking sensors? Buy ours for £249 fully fitted...have you seen our GardX body protection? £249. GAP insurance? Why not take our outrageously priced plan for £249 for 3 years. Can we convince you not to take a personal loan at a frankly excellent 4.5% APR and take our HP deal? We can do you a cheaper monthly payment! etc.)...but watch out for the £89 "pre-delivery" fee they try to charge you.

It says on the website it's optional, and the guy did the whole "I'll have to ask my manager if I can remove it", but they basically try to charge you for an inspection before you take the car (they thoroughly inspect all their cars anyway), the HPI certificate (even though have already done the HPI and have a legal obligation to do so) and valeting. Cheeky bastards!

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

If you've got the money, mortgage paid off etc it's nice to have a crisp, new smell, pristine car. Why not?
Having said which my latest purchase for the missus was a 1 year old BMW-approved 3-series tourer which was mint and about £10k under new price.

Exactly my point - you can get maximum value by buying close to new and then selling a few years later. Buying new makes no financial sense unless money really is no object i.e you are sasguru.

[sasguru]

Fair dos. In a sense it is popular because of the value you get for buying new compared to other cars. I still don't get why you would want to buy new considering how much they depreciate. Must be the marketing, salesmen and maybe the quality of the drive......

If you've got the money, mortgage paid off etc it's nice to have a crisp, new smell, pristine car. Why not?
Having said which my latest purchase for the missus was a 1 year old BMW-approved 3-series tourer which was mint and about £10k under new price.

[Antman]

TBH I don't understand people talking about handling at this level of cars, that is the vast majority. Super cars (of which I've driven zero) I could understand. What does "the steering seemed dead in the corners" actually mean to me? Nothing, I want something that gets me to work, doesn't break down, and is blue or at a push silver.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Um, there can only be as many 2nd hand cars entering the market as there were new ones being sold in the first place. There is a massive 2nd-hand market in Ford cars because there is a massive market for new ones.

The fact you see so many 10-15 year old ones driving around quite happily suggests they are great value because if you can buy a 3-year old car and run it for 10 years without major problems, you are way ahead of the game.

Fair dos. In a sense it is popular because of the value you get for buying new compared to other cars. I still don't get why you would want to buy new considering how much they depreciate. Must be the marketing, salesmen and maybe the quality of the drive......

[d000hg]

One of the reasons they are popular is that they are cheap to buy (after all that depreciation....). I seriously considered getting one instead of a Golf because it was so much cheaper than the equivalent Golf. Then I looked at resale value and realised I would be better off going German. A lot of the time people just look at the price rather than thinking further down the line.....

Um, there can only be as many 2nd hand cars entering the market as there were new ones being sold in the first place. There is a massive 2nd-hand market in Ford cars because there is a massive market for new ones.

The fact you see so many 10-15 year old ones driving around quite happily suggests they are great value because if you can buy a 3-year old car and run it for 10 years without major problems, you are way ahead of the game.