Finally secured my work car allowance so I'm just about to start to trawl around to find out the best option for me. I have very little budget for deposit now thanks to my builder who is doing some reno's to my cairn and is currently on day 14 of 5 :-( (****ing tradies man.....liberties)!!!! I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips for me or any pitfalls that I need to be aware of? I'm undecided on PCP or full blown leasing (for a new or nearly new motor), or whether I just go with a slightly older car....maybe 4-5 years and purchase this outright and use my car allowance to fund it, or best part of it at least. The idea of a new car does appeal to me but I'm not particular about it, I just want to get the best value for the budget I've got. Any ideas on decent companies to use if any of you have any that would be great....and also those to steer clear of perhaps although I suspect that might be against forum rules so please PM me rather than slating said company on here.
Purchase outright unless it is not an option. By a German car 4-5 years, they're bulletproof. I've had Audis for while now. My current A6 one I've had for 7 years. I keep going to change it and then decide I love it too much. Got 90,000 miles on and I have zero issues. Honestly buying a used car is not the mine field it used to be.
Oh it will be german my friend !! My last 2 cars have been. I had a VW Bora for a couple of years and then changed that for an A3 2.0tdi which was about 4-5 years old....absolutely loved it. I'm not a real fan of the centre console layout of the new A3's/A4's so might see what I can pick up around the 4-5 year old mark which should do the job I reckon. Still undecided on BMW/Audi or Merc though....haven't looked at VW's recently tho which I might do.
If it appreciates buy it; if it depreciates lease it. Said someone mega rich once. I have done PCH for last few years and gone through gateway2lease. Look at 'stocked vehicles' for best deals. The cheapest way to own a car though must be to buy a 3 year old one just out of warranty and run it until it's ****ed. Good thing about getting new cars, though, is basically zero maintenance costs. 1 or 2 services during the 2 or 3 years lease period then hand it back and get another one. Plus I get bored and want something different every so often.
A 2-3 year old Hybrid will give you higher miles per gallon and probably retain value better too. I'm on a company car program and it's just about better for me to stick with the program given the miles I do. I'm in the process of ordering a Merc Hybrid and they are fast as fook 0-60 (5 secs).
I wouldn't buy a beamer personally - unless someone else has paid for a ****load of extras and the used price isn't reflecting that. You just seem to get **** all for your money. I like the mod cons. It really depends what you are spending and what size car you are looking at. A mate of mind bought a 4 yr old scirocco recently and he loves it. I looked at the boot and thought I wouldn't be happy. I'm a bit of an Audi fiend now, if you can buy a quattro I end up thinking what is the point of looking at other cars
Needs to be big enough to fit me golf clubs in and possibly a Labrador if it's a hatchback Something with a **** load of extras will probably swing it for me tho!
My current ride, an ancient Polo, has just done 300,000 miles and is still going strong. The choke and the lack of the fifth gear, not to mention servo-braking, is a little odd though. I've had BMWs in the past; the first was a three and a half litre which I used to belt up and down the autobahn going between Stuttgart and Antwerp every week or so. Great for that but a money pit. Then traded it in for another money pit and since then I have vowed never to touch BMW again; their quality since the 1990s has fallen. Go for Audis but then again, my chum has hers in perpetual repair in Worcester so perhaps even they are not immune to crapness.
Well I've got a 530 BMW and its been fantastic - needed nothing but tyres, And I have mates and colleagues who have been spending a fortune and getting bad service from Merc and Audi so I think it cuts both ways.. The car I had before this one though was a Volvo and I honestly thought for build quality it was right up there with the Germans. Fast economical engines and superb interiors with plenty of tech. Cheaper than German too. I had the S60 and loved it - worth a look as they are good looking cars now, not like the old boxes !
Used car every time. Leasing is basically just paying out money with nothing to show for it at the end. Sure, you get to drive a brand new car for a couple of years, but you end up handing the thing back at the end of the term. Car Finance - Why pay money out on a brand new car which depreciates as soon as you sign the dotted line. The trouble being, you are making the same payments on something that has just lost at least 1/10th of its value. You are effectively wasting money which to me seems like utter madness. Used car that is 4/5 years is always a good bet. German cars tend to be one of the best, but they definitely aren't as bulletproof as they were. Audi, BMW and Volkwagen have some serious issues with reliability despite what car magazines tell you. They frequently come top of the charts in terms of unreliability and costs. Audi engines are well known for blowing up/ failing. Not all of them are bad. Audi A3, A4 and A5 are good cars. Stay away from the A1. BMW 1 series are awful cars. Absolutely horrible. Stick with the 3 series. Volkswagen - Golf petrols are terrific. The GTI and R are stunners. The Passat is horrible and is one of the most unreliable cars out there. Polo's are decent. Mercedes - I love the new A and C class cars. They ooze class and are well put together. All depreciate very little because of the names. Avoid - Anything French, Ford's [rust buckets that are constantly breaking down] and Hyundai's. I currently drive a Focus, largely because I'm too cheap. Of the new cars out there/ coming out the standout is the new Alfa Romeo Giulia. Alfa's are now one of the most reliable makes on the market. Rarer than German cars too...and generally faster.
Ah Alfa's, the drivers car. Its true though a lot of the reliability issues have been resolved. Just watch out for the "Multi Air" engines. I have two mates who had Giulietta's with the Multi Air Engines and they were never away from the dealership with issues. Its been lauded in some parts but even the dealership admitted they had had a few issues. I'm not sure if it was a particular engine or the mutli air's in general (I wasn't particularly keen on the front end personally - looked a bit cartoonish to me - looked stunning from back and side)
Absolute pleasure to drive those things. The older ones were a nightmare for rust and engine blow outs but when they worked they were special. Buy any Alfa from before 2005 and you are effectively buying a money pit. A bit like TVR's in that regard. The Multi-Air engines are terrific and you get excellent fuel economy unless you're putting your foot down to beat yet another Beemer [yawn.] The Alfa diesels are superb and offer the best of both worlds. Like anything though there will be good and bad ones. The only Beemer that I would ever really want to drive is is the M3 as it's designed by BMW's sports division who take the technology from Formula 1 and the exhaust sound is orgasmic. They're also rare so you are buying something that you won't see often on the roads.
If you're gonna look at a decent but cost-effective German hatch, look at the Seat Leon. It's essentially a Golf but for a lot cheaper, especially if you're buying used 2-3 years old. Look at your local auction house, BCA, sign up, look through the catalogues and find a 3 year old car, Seat or otherwise, get the mechanical and service data, HPI check it, and you'll probably save at least £3,000 on buying one from the forecourt, then get a private warranty. Leasing a car is a joke, try giving it back with a few stone chips on the bonnet, they look at you like you've just broken into their house on Christmas day and pissed on the Turkey.
Its true - they all have good ones and bad ones. To be honest reliability is not really a massive issue with many cars now. Even mileage wise. It used to be "if it gets near 60k get rid" but it just doesn't reflect the advances now. 60k is more like 150k mileage wise. I love Audis because mine have all been bulletproof and have been not very costly to run. I'm sure others will have had issues. Probably the same with multi air engines, but it was slightly more of a concern that both mates had issues and with the guy at the dealer admitting they had had issues Put me right off. That said I can't get away with those lights anyway! That Giulia looks much smarter from the front. I don't bother with Audi dealers as they are just money hungry. If you can find yourself a specialist in VW or Audi's backstreet wise they do have all the same diagnostics etc and are usually ex audi/VW mechanics anyway. I have just never been a massive Beemer fan. Fair enough the M series are smart but they are just not for me. To be honest I've driven a few and I just think Audis drive a whole lot better. The worst Audi I've driven was an old A4. The first ones. It was a bit flighty to say the least! Since then whether A3, A4 or A6 they are like being on rails, just rock solid and centred on the road. The Le Mans one I had was a bit harder but that was the sports suspension and obviously meant to be like that. I'm just a massive fan of the quattro system when you are living in this country. Rain, snow etc, its virtually unbeatable. Bar maybe a land rover.
Audi's are called Saudi's round here, every arab owns an Audi, usually white, with after market rims. They're tat in this city. Some of them are stunning to look at mind, I love the A7/RS7 and the RS3 is a tidy little hatch back, but it's not worth anywhere near the fully loaded price. For top ends in both ranges, there's about £20k difference between the Focus RS and the Audi RS3... that's ridiculous considering the Focus RS pounds the **** out of the Audi. All German cars are ridiculously overpriced, especially stuff like the Golf and Polo, two of the most boring cars on our roads. I do drive one though, cos I'm a complete mug.
As this is a thread about leasing tips and virtually everyone has told you to buy an old German car, I'll get back on topic. I would suggest looking closely at the mileage included in the deal and whether it would be enough for your needs. Tied in with that, ask what the cost is per mile if you go over that allowance. I've come across companies who charge 7ppm and companies who charge 17.5ppm. That soon adds up if you go over what mileage is in the contract so work out how many miles you do and then round it up a bit. It's not a rip off - is all to do with the cost of depreciation which is affected by mileage. Usually the road tax throughout the lease is included in the deal price too - bear that in mind in weighing up costs. As for damages and getting stung, I'm not sure. The company I used has a clear policy on that and the only damage I had at the end of the first car I leased was the front two alloys being curbed, but I knew that and so I took it to a repair shop first to have sorted (about £120) and I had no charges from the company when I handed it back. I also had the car valeted before it went back. Look after it and you'll be fine basically.
I always lease. If it flys, ****s or floats; rent not buy... I also put cars in this catagory. Oh and if you want something fastish but reliable get an Infiniti. On the other hand if you are set on a German car go VW. A good friend who was a loyal Audi driver changed her Q5 for a toureg and has never looked back.
