Girlfriend wants a new (to her) car - £8k-12k
Discussion
Afternoon all. The better half is searching for a new car. I've tried to advise as best I could, but her wants and needs could not be more different to mine ... so thought I'd throw this out to the PH collective to see what I might have missed.
In terms of a need, the car needs to be automatic. She cannot drive a manual, so if it's got a 3rd pedal then it's a non-starter. Her budget is somewhere around £8k-£12k but does seem to be a little flexible for the right car.
All the rest of these are various levels of 'want'. I'm trying to list them more or less in order of priority ...
- She likes a saloon. She strongly dislikes an estate. Hatchbacks are 'OK'. SUVs are a mixed bag - some are deemed acceptable, some are damned as being "too estate'y".
- She likes luxury, but has quite an old fashioned definition of luxury - lots of chrome, a light coloured interior, lots of natural light in the cabin, space, good materials. She dislikes the trend for 'sporty' luxury cars with blacked out trim, carbon everywhere and black leather interior. If your grandfather would approve, chances are she will.
- The light interior mentioned above is a VERY strong want. It'd need to be an amazing car to sway her from that.
- She isn't much of a brand snob (side point, she's not from the UK and hasn't heard of a lot of European brands that are popular here ... Peugeot, Alfa, etc. so has no preconceived ideas, either positive or negative, about a lot of brands). That said, brands which are very expensive where she grew up (SE Asia) she considers to be prestigious - regardless of their rep here.
- White is a colour for kitchen appliances and not for cars.
- She cares very little for how a car drives. Provided it's comfortable and reliable, that'll do for her.
- Her usage is occasional (2-4 times a week) 80-100 mile round trips - 40-50 miles there & same back home. Probably 70-80% dual carriageways/m'ways and 20-30% through town. She does very little 'running around' in the car outside of those. For this reason I'm inclined to steer her towards diesel rather than petrol ... but that's not a hard & fast rule.
- Her office is inside a 'Clean Air Zone', so if diesel then Euro 6 is a minimum.
- She likes to have all the gadgets. So her default option would be the top of the range trim of whatever she's looking at.
- I've managed to educate her than cars don't fall apart like a clown car once they hit 100k miles. That said, she's still mileage sensitive. 90k seems to be a hard limit (she intends to put 30k-40k on the car, so started at her max comfort level before selling and worked backwards). Whilst lower is better, she doesn't see the premium charged for ultra low to be worth it. Her sweet spot seems to be around 60-75k.
- The lower the running costs are, the better. But if higher costs get her a better car (newer, lower mileage, more toys, etc.) at a lower purchase price, then she's not against that ... but it'd have to feel 'worth it' to her. A very subjective calculation that I haven't worked out yet - so I just show her stuff and explain the compromises and she gives it either a yes or a no.
- A panoramic roof is a big tick, but usually the first thing to be dropped when we move from the realm of theoretical cars to what's actually available at the moment.
We went through this once with her first car (but with no 'Clean Air Zone' requirement as she wasn't working for that company at the time) at a much lower budget and she is currently very happy with a 2010 Jaguar XF 3.0d that she picked up for just under £3.5k. However, this is now pushing towards 130k miles and is costing her an £8 charge every time she goes into the office, so she's wanting an upgrade. (this may well be cover for "I want something newer and shinier" )
At the moment the leading contender seems to be more of the same ... a newer, smaller engined, cheaper to run, XF with more toys. Specifically, a 2016-17ish Jaguar XF 2.0d Portfolio with light interior, the digital dash upgrade and a panoramic roof. She loves the brand, the size is perfect for her, the 2.0d is Euro 6 and appears to sip diesel very frugally and cost only £35 a year to tax, while being in a lower insurance group than her current car, and the Portfolio with the upgraded dash has (to her eyes) a perfect blend of luxury and tech. However, such a specific set of requirements means there's rarely more than 2-3 cars in the country available that tick every box. Hence opening up to other thoughts ...
She likes the Merc E-Class (2017ish onwards) but not many with a light coloured interior. Ditto the 5 series of a similar vintage. A Volvo S60/S90 got a nod, but one she looked at had an centre console she described as "looking like a telephone" so that generation (no idea which) would be out! Oddly, the Maserati Ghibli diesel got a big tick from her ... but not sure that'd be the right car for her.
I'm sure I've probably missed a few bits, but as people make suggestions, I should be able to fill in any extra requirements she has, to pull together a decent set of options.
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.
In terms of a need, the car needs to be automatic. She cannot drive a manual, so if it's got a 3rd pedal then it's a non-starter. Her budget is somewhere around £8k-£12k but does seem to be a little flexible for the right car.
All the rest of these are various levels of 'want'. I'm trying to list them more or less in order of priority ...
- She likes a saloon. She strongly dislikes an estate. Hatchbacks are 'OK'. SUVs are a mixed bag - some are deemed acceptable, some are damned as being "too estate'y".
- She likes luxury, but has quite an old fashioned definition of luxury - lots of chrome, a light coloured interior, lots of natural light in the cabin, space, good materials. She dislikes the trend for 'sporty' luxury cars with blacked out trim, carbon everywhere and black leather interior. If your grandfather would approve, chances are she will.
- The light interior mentioned above is a VERY strong want. It'd need to be an amazing car to sway her from that.
- She isn't much of a brand snob (side point, she's not from the UK and hasn't heard of a lot of European brands that are popular here ... Peugeot, Alfa, etc. so has no preconceived ideas, either positive or negative, about a lot of brands). That said, brands which are very expensive where she grew up (SE Asia) she considers to be prestigious - regardless of their rep here.
- White is a colour for kitchen appliances and not for cars.
- She cares very little for how a car drives. Provided it's comfortable and reliable, that'll do for her.
- Her usage is occasional (2-4 times a week) 80-100 mile round trips - 40-50 miles there & same back home. Probably 70-80% dual carriageways/m'ways and 20-30% through town. She does very little 'running around' in the car outside of those. For this reason I'm inclined to steer her towards diesel rather than petrol ... but that's not a hard & fast rule.
- Her office is inside a 'Clean Air Zone', so if diesel then Euro 6 is a minimum.
- She likes to have all the gadgets. So her default option would be the top of the range trim of whatever she's looking at.
- I've managed to educate her than cars don't fall apart like a clown car once they hit 100k miles. That said, she's still mileage sensitive. 90k seems to be a hard limit (she intends to put 30k-40k on the car, so started at her max comfort level before selling and worked backwards). Whilst lower is better, she doesn't see the premium charged for ultra low to be worth it. Her sweet spot seems to be around 60-75k.
- The lower the running costs are, the better. But if higher costs get her a better car (newer, lower mileage, more toys, etc.) at a lower purchase price, then she's not against that ... but it'd have to feel 'worth it' to her. A very subjective calculation that I haven't worked out yet - so I just show her stuff and explain the compromises and she gives it either a yes or a no.
- A panoramic roof is a big tick, but usually the first thing to be dropped when we move from the realm of theoretical cars to what's actually available at the moment.
We went through this once with her first car (but with no 'Clean Air Zone' requirement as she wasn't working for that company at the time) at a much lower budget and she is currently very happy with a 2010 Jaguar XF 3.0d that she picked up for just under £3.5k. However, this is now pushing towards 130k miles and is costing her an £8 charge every time she goes into the office, so she's wanting an upgrade. (this may well be cover for "I want something newer and shinier"
)At the moment the leading contender seems to be more of the same ... a newer, smaller engined, cheaper to run, XF with more toys. Specifically, a 2016-17ish Jaguar XF 2.0d Portfolio with light interior, the digital dash upgrade and a panoramic roof. She loves the brand, the size is perfect for her, the 2.0d is Euro 6 and appears to sip diesel very frugally and cost only £35 a year to tax, while being in a lower insurance group than her current car, and the Portfolio with the upgraded dash has (to her eyes) a perfect blend of luxury and tech. However, such a specific set of requirements means there's rarely more than 2-3 cars in the country available that tick every box. Hence opening up to other thoughts ...
She likes the Merc E-Class (2017ish onwards) but not many with a light coloured interior. Ditto the 5 series of a similar vintage. A Volvo S60/S90 got a nod, but one she looked at had an centre console she described as "looking like a telephone" so that generation (no idea which) would be out! Oddly, the Maserati Ghibli diesel got a big tick from her ... but not sure that'd be the right car for her.
I'm sure I've probably missed a few bits, but as people make suggestions, I should be able to fill in any extra requirements she has, to pull together a decent set of options.
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.
NugentS said:
Given the mileage requirements - any thoughts on electric?
She has no strong feelings either way about electric. However, she currently lives in a flat with no off road parking ... so electric is unlikely to be the right choice. Electric cars appear to hold a significant premium over a similar petrol/diesel car, almost as if the cost savings in the running costs are baked in to the asking prices.TimmyMallett said:
Has she considered using a site like Autotrader?
It has this facility where you can select budget, body style, colour, options, gearbox, interior, mileage, and narrows down your choice so you can browse for ideas.
Hi Timmy. We both use Autotrader, but neither of us were aware of a filter for the interior colour. Is this something that isn't available on their mobile site, or is there maybe an Autotrader app that has extra features? Or maybe we've just missed that filter ... It has this facility where you can select budget, body style, colour, options, gearbox, interior, mileage, and narrows down your choice so you can browse for ideas.
As it stands, browsing for ideas is stymied by the want for a light coloured interior. Using Autotrader's filters serves up page after page of cars with dark interiors that we aren't certain whether they might be available in a lighter colour, or if a dark interior was the only option.
Our best approach so far has been to focus on makes and models we are fairly sure do have the option of a lighter interior, but this means we're potentially missing options that aren't front of mind for us.
If you could give some more details about the interior filter on Autotrader, that would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
scot_aln said:
Has anyone suggested or have you looked at Volvo. I thought they tended to have a bit of different colour palette to some others.
I think Superb was mentioned above but didn't the Octavia come in a Laurent Clement (or something like that) spec that was light inside.
With children though I do get why most of the cars end up with dull dark interiors. If only you could jet wash them too
We looked at Volvo. The S90 got a big thumbs up, but unfortunately just a bit of a push on budget for something with the right miles and spec for her.I think Superb was mentioned above but didn't the Octavia come in a Laurent Clement (or something like that) spec that was light inside.
With children though I do get why most of the cars end up with dull dark interiors. If only you could jet wash them too
Edited by scot_aln on Thursday 25th April 17:16
Skoda was deemed acceptable ... but just weren't able to find the right combo of colour, spec & mileage when we were looking.
Vsix and Vtec said:
If she is familiar with the XF, why not a V6 Petrol version? My partner also drives a 3.0 TDV6 XF and adores hers, but often wonders about swapping it for a Petrol 3.0 V6 or V6 Supercharged.
My other half has no interest in speed, performance, smoothness or sound. To her, an engine is just a big box of noise to make the car move forwards (and backwards! 
). For her, the attraction of a car is how it makes her feel being sat in it.As such, the extra purchase price, tax, insurance and fuel for a V6 over the 4 pot is something she sees as unnecessary.
Having read up on the 2L diesel engine, it does sound like there are the potential for issues. However, it sounds like a lot of them can be mitigated by proper usage case (not using a diesel for lots of short journeys) and being on top - or ahead - of the maintenance schedule. It also sounds like the XF has one of the better installations of the engine, minimising the risk over say an Evoque. However, we haven't really discussed risk appetite (I ran an M5 to 160k miles, and owned both a cheap RX8 and a cheap 986S Boxster with no record of either IMS or RMS being looked at - so my personal approach to risk is fairly relaxed) so what seems like "something to bear in mind" to me might well be a "don't touch with a 10 foot barge pole" to her.
Summit_Detailing said:
I'd avoid the 2.0d in any Jaguar/Land Rover product.... 2.0t petrol is ok however.
My first thoughts were -
Lexus IS300h
Mazda 6
Volvo S60 - rare with light interior but they are out there.
Mondeo in Vignale trim
BMW 4 series gran coupe - looks like a saloon but is a hatch...more likely to get a light interior in Luxury trim.
Cheers,
Chris
Both the Mondeo and the 4 series GC had slipped under my radar, but got a thumbs up for her. Thanks for the suggestions.My first thoughts were -
Lexus IS300h
Mazda 6
Volvo S60 - rare with light interior but they are out there.
Mondeo in Vignale trim
BMW 4 series gran coupe - looks like a saloon but is a hatch...more likely to get a light interior in Luxury trim.
Cheers,
Chris
robemcdonald said:
I never understand these threads. if she doesn’t accept your ideas why would she listen to randoms off the internet.
Let her choose her own car.
I'm not so big headed as to think my knowledge is encyclopedic ... especially when her tastes are so different from my own. So I listed her preferences to see if the PH collective could think of options that I had not.Let her choose her own car.
They did.
She will choose her own car, but her knowledge is far from complete, so she is more than happy to listen to suggestions that she can look into and choose from.
macron said:
When you say "light interior" do you mean "seats", or does that mean a general feeling of light, eg a big sunroof and pale headlining would suffice?
There are, of course, lots of combinations of these, and things like the 4GC when it has pale leather is.... as little of the interior as BM could get away with changing, so it's not far off the seat facings.
Ideally, seats. However, if the rest of the cabin feels light and airy then darker seats would be a consideration.There are, of course, lots of combinations of these, and things like the 4GC when it has pale leather is.... as little of the interior as BM could get away with changing, so it's not far off the seat facings.
DodgyGeezer said:
You've mentioned a merc e-class as a possibility - I'd have thought that a c-class would be better bet sizewise? Or, a derivative thereof, a GLC in either 'estate' or 'coupe' format. Big plus - panoramic roof is common. Big negative - German cars tend to be tomb-dark.
Other than that...
Genesis do a, rare, exec model which might work?
Kia Stinger?
She definitely prefers the size (and quality) of the E over the C ... but that's not to say a C class wouldn't be considered if the right combination of spec and price came up. However, as you point out, the majority of them do not cater to her style preferences.Other than that...
Genesis do a, rare, exec model which might work?
Kia Stinger?
Neither the Stinger nor a Genesis are in budget (at least, not that I've been able to find).
Just to close this off ...
She bought a 2016 Jaguar XF 2.0L diesel Portfolio in a spec she liked (compromised on having a sunroof, but ticked all other boxes) on 6x,xxx miles for a shade over £10.5k. Chunky receipt in the history file for a new turbo from Jag not too long ago.
After about 3 weeks of ownership, it did throw a warning message up for "incorrect diesel exhaust fluid quality detected" ... but a quick google and 10 minutes under the car cleaning up the adblue injector in the exhaust made that go away.
It's a very nice place to spend time in, definitely not as much fun as her old shape V6 one was (that's entirely my bias on the 2 cars talking) but the other half is very happy with her choice, and that is all that matters to me.
Thanks to all that contributed with some interesting suggestions that I hadn't considered. They were all put to her, but in the end she still preferred the Jag.
Should the engine fall apart like a comedy clown car, then I'll update to allow everyone to have a chuckle along with an "i told you so" moment.
She bought a 2016 Jaguar XF 2.0L diesel Portfolio in a spec she liked (compromised on having a sunroof, but ticked all other boxes) on 6x,xxx miles for a shade over £10.5k. Chunky receipt in the history file for a new turbo from Jag not too long ago.
After about 3 weeks of ownership, it did throw a warning message up for "incorrect diesel exhaust fluid quality detected" ... but a quick google and 10 minutes under the car cleaning up the adblue injector in the exhaust made that go away.
It's a very nice place to spend time in, definitely not as much fun as her old shape V6 one was (that's entirely my bias on the 2 cars talking) but the other half is very happy with her choice, and that is all that matters to me.
Thanks to all that contributed with some interesting suggestions that I hadn't considered. They were all put to her, but in the end she still preferred the Jag.
Should the engine fall apart like a comedy clown car, then I'll update to allow everyone to have a chuckle along with an "i told you so" moment.
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