Am I being stupid?
Discussion
What's in the Swift's favour is fairly predictable running costs which will allow the OP to budget and enjoy the rest of his life without anywhere near the risk of unplanned maintenance bills from older, sportier cars.
That said, a Z3 with a lovely 6-pot would be a great thing to listen to, but logic dictates that you're going to be spending a lot more money on an ongoing basis to drive around in that than you would for a Swift.
That said, a Z3 with a lovely 6-pot would be a great thing to listen to, but logic dictates that you're going to be spending a lot more money on an ongoing basis to drive around in that than you would for a Swift.
To the OP........if not having to get your hand in your pocket for repairs or expensive maintenance is important to you, then I'd stick with the Swift. I'm a long time advocate of Jap stuff and the dependability of them, and have spent enough years in the trade to back it up.
To a lot of the other responders, calling the guy explaining the benefits of bricks and mortar patronising in the manner some of you have? The irony's pretty priceless. It's not bad advice, just perhaps a bit misplaced on this particular forum, and his post was pretty clearly well intentioned.
To a lot of the other responders, calling the guy explaining the benefits of bricks and mortar patronising in the manner some of you have? The irony's pretty priceless. It's not bad advice, just perhaps a bit misplaced on this particular forum, and his post was pretty clearly well intentioned.
jamieduff1981 said:
That said, a Z3 with a lovely 6-pot would be a great thing to listen to, but logic dictates that you're going to be spending a lot more money on an ongoing basis to drive around in that than you would for a Swift.
Agree to a point, fuel consumption will not be so good, but depreciation will be higher with the Swift for example. A good Z3 will only go one way from now on, they have reached the bottom of the depreciation curve.OP if you are looking at the Suzuki Swift then also go look at a Renault Twingo RS 1.6. Little more raw to drive but superb little things, think Autocar or similar did a group test with Swift and Twingo where they said the Twingo was better to drive but the Swift was easier to live with. Who wants something easy to live with at 20?
Monkeylegend said:
jamieduff1981 said:
That said, a Z3 with a lovely 6-pot would be a great thing to listen to, but logic dictates that you're going to be spending a lot more money on an ongoing basis to drive around in that than you would for a Swift.
Agree to a point, fuel consumption will not be so good, but depreciation will be higher with the Swift for example. A good Z3 will only go one way from now on, they have reached the bottom of the depreciation curve.Such a shame the mortgage bridage always come to spoil these threads, this is PH not the money advice service. Spending 5k on a Swift at the age of 20 is hardly financial suicice..
If I was the OP I'd consider a ep3 Civic Type R, you could get a nice facelift model for well under budget - much faster than the Swift.
If I was the OP I'd consider a ep3 Civic Type R, you could get a nice facelift model for well under budget - much faster than the Swift.
Surprised nobody has mentioned one yet! Especially as I'm not a huge advocate on many other threads. But if practicality isn't a huge concern, there's a lot to be said for a mk2 MX5. 3-4k should buy a really nice 1.8 example. Will be quicker than the swift, if not the tt, but will be great fun on any back.road. Learn the ropes with rwd! And the best bit is, after a couple of years, depreciation is likely to be a tiny % of what you pay.
I had some cars around that price, and some much cheaper at around 20 years old.
I'd suggest you give everything a test drive if you can before you set your heart on something, as some cars maybe more boring than you think. I really wanted a Nissan 200sx once but found them to be too heavy to be fun for me as soon as I drove one for example, although lots of owners rave about them.
I had just as much fun in my £700 1.6 205 GTi then I did in my £4k Starlet turbo in terms of driving, partially I think because I couldn't afford to stack £4k like I could £700 if things went wrong. As it turns out, I sold the Starlet at the same price I bought it for, and the 205 I got £250 because someone drove into the back of it writing it off. So money isn't everything, especially if you buy right to avoid losing in depreciation.
I'd suggest you give everything a test drive if you can before you set your heart on something, as some cars maybe more boring than you think. I really wanted a Nissan 200sx once but found them to be too heavy to be fun for me as soon as I drove one for example, although lots of owners rave about them.
I had just as much fun in my £700 1.6 205 GTi then I did in my £4k Starlet turbo in terms of driving, partially I think because I couldn't afford to stack £4k like I could £700 if things went wrong. As it turns out, I sold the Starlet at the same price I bought it for, and the 205 I got £250 because someone drove into the back of it writing it off. So money isn't everything, especially if you buy right to avoid losing in depreciation.
Christ on a bike.
I got my first mortgage at 22 and was quite fortunate as the house was cheap and my fiancee and I were on reasonable money. That said, I'd owned a 16v Mk5 Escort RS2000 engined Sierra sapphire, sierra xr4x4 2.9 and owned a Sapphire Cossie and a diesel snotter when I got the house. I still owned the cossie when I was 25.
Op, have your fun now. I was lucky, but the house did hinder my fun a bit. Get a fun car, worry about mortgages when the time is right for you, not when you're told it is.
I got my first mortgage at 22 and was quite fortunate as the house was cheap and my fiancee and I were on reasonable money. That said, I'd owned a 16v Mk5 Escort RS2000 engined Sierra sapphire, sierra xr4x4 2.9 and owned a Sapphire Cossie and a diesel snotter when I got the house. I still owned the cossie when I was 25.
Op, have your fun now. I was lucky, but the house did hinder my fun a bit. Get a fun car, worry about mortgages when the time is right for you, not when you're told it is.
sebhaque said:
This is why you don't drink-post on PH... Dohhhh.
Apologies for my posts last night.
Personally, I'd retract that apology, for the reasons I stated in my first post...........your comments didn't come across as argumentative to me, as I said, maybe a bit misplaced, but seemingly well meant. The people who responded in the manner they did to you should be apologising for over-reacting.Apologies for my posts last night.
To the op, my memories of buying the stuff I wanted when I was in my early twenties are a bit of a contradiction........I was over the moon that I'd bought what I wanted, only to become depressed when I started getting unexpected bills due to unreliability........it really does take the pleasure out of a purchase if you end up worrying about the costs on a day to day basis. That's partly why I was advocating the Swift, it should be both fun and relatively worry free. If you were only spending a few hundred, it's not so painful, but 5k on something more exciting, but comparatively elderly, and potentially more fragile is different, especially if you have little or no contingency fund.
Good luck with it, some of this may not be what you want to hear, but you're better off with all the opinions you can get, it'll help you make a better decision in the end.
Well.... what an intresting thread....
When I was about 22 I was still living with my folks, no mortgage or wife, I opted to change from a pug 106, which was only a 1.2 look 2, but a fun little drive to an alfa spider that was the same age as the pug, It was I think about 7k then, and thats nearly 10 years ago.
I still don't know I feel about that.
I enjoyed the drive, I was happy to have something a little different and I was at home and could walk to work so it was the right time to have it.
But..
I now have a mortgage and wife and son, and I have to drive a derv because of the cost, I could have put money away and kept the 106 and my outgoings would be lower now because i'd have had 7k (maybe more it was a loan) to put down as a diposit on a house.
But really id always wonder, what was it like living with an italian sports car? Technically thats what it was, no ferrari i'll grant you not even RWD but still i'd have to wonder now and I might still be stuck in a Derv.... because that 7K would probabaly gone on a kitchen or a lounge!
So make of that what you will.
When I was about 22 I was still living with my folks, no mortgage or wife, I opted to change from a pug 106, which was only a 1.2 look 2, but a fun little drive to an alfa spider that was the same age as the pug, It was I think about 7k then, and thats nearly 10 years ago.
I still don't know I feel about that.
I enjoyed the drive, I was happy to have something a little different and I was at home and could walk to work so it was the right time to have it.
But..
I now have a mortgage and wife and son, and I have to drive a derv because of the cost, I could have put money away and kept the 106 and my outgoings would be lower now because i'd have had 7k (maybe more it was a loan) to put down as a diposit on a house.
But really id always wonder, what was it like living with an italian sports car? Technically thats what it was, no ferrari i'll grant you not even RWD but still i'd have to wonder now and I might still be stuck in a Derv.... because that 7K would probabaly gone on a kitchen or a lounge!
So make of that what you will.
t) photos of it 
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