Anyone driving a cheap car while saving for something good?
Discussion
The problem with driving "cheap" cars is You soon realise they're not really that much worse than the "expensive" ones. Also, the fact that the car doesn't owe You much and still does what it should makes You bond with it.
18 months ago I bought a really inexpensive, low mileage but cosmetically damaged 2006 Honda Jazz as a mean of transport while looking for something new. The car worked flawlessly since, did 20K miles without anything more than a burnt bulb. Reliable? Check. Does (slightly noisy) 80mph on a motorway? Check. Fuel efficient? Check. Boot space? Check.
After a while it's rather difficult to convince Yourself that paying ten times as much for a new Golf or Ceed is sensible.
Michal
18 months ago I bought a really inexpensive, low mileage but cosmetically damaged 2006 Honda Jazz as a mean of transport while looking for something new. The car worked flawlessly since, did 20K miles without anything more than a burnt bulb. Reliable? Check. Does (slightly noisy) 80mph on a motorway? Check. Fuel efficient? Check. Boot space? Check.
After a while it's rather difficult to convince Yourself that paying ten times as much for a new Golf or Ceed is sensible.
Michal
MichalPH said:
The problem with driving "cheap" cars is You soon realise they're not really that much worse than the "expensive" ones. Also, the fact that the car doesn't owe You much and still does what it should makes You bond with it.
Very much this, especially in the UK where used car prices are so low. I'll only be spending a decent wedge of cash on a Mustang because A) I just really like them - I'm not kidding myself that it will do anything I 'need' it to any better than my current shed, and there's nothing else out there that I'd spend anything like the same amount on, and B) all being well by that time my house renovation will be done, my mortgage payments won't amount to much, and my pension is currently ticking along nicely. I know it's not very PH but I always though spending a significant proportion of your income on cars before you've sorted these out is a bit daft.I went the opposite way when I bought my Lotus Carlton. I sold my 3.0 Senator & bought a Rover 214 (not the round shape one but the square/pointy style one before it) as my daily driver which I bought for under £500 & ran for nearly 3 years. Hardly anything worked on it (no radio, interior light, rear wash/wipe didn't work, dented wings) but it got me from A-B just fine, anything other we used the LC or my wifes brand new Corsa. Did alright out of it in the end. Got hit by a bus (dented the already dented wing & broke the side indicator) which they paid out £500 to not go through the insurance & then I sold it soon after for £450.
My wife still hates that car even though I sold about 10 years ago.
My wife still hates that car even though I sold about 10 years ago.
Not exactly shedding it, but on a similar principle...
As I fancy buying something daft, I went for a cheap company car this time around, rather than the usual expensive German turbodiesel saloons that just about all my colleagues have.
By picking a Toyota Auris hybrid I actually get a few quid a month back from my lease allowance, rather than shelling out £150-£250 in contributions and then another £150 or so in BiK tax (which is about £90 on the Toyota).
Compared to the Passat that preceded it, and factoring in the money saved on fuel (same reimbursement rate but uses cheaper fuel, and less of it) I'm close to £250 a month better off.
That's getting on for £3k a year that can go toward buying and running an A8, or a 650, or maybe even a Quattroporte if I feel particularly brave. Just a matter of finding the right car now!
As I fancy buying something daft, I went for a cheap company car this time around, rather than the usual expensive German turbodiesel saloons that just about all my colleagues have.
By picking a Toyota Auris hybrid I actually get a few quid a month back from my lease allowance, rather than shelling out £150-£250 in contributions and then another £150 or so in BiK tax (which is about £90 on the Toyota).
Compared to the Passat that preceded it, and factoring in the money saved on fuel (same reimbursement rate but uses cheaper fuel, and less of it) I'm close to £250 a month better off.
That's getting on for £3k a year that can go toward buying and running an A8, or a 650, or maybe even a Quattroporte if I feel particularly brave. Just a matter of finding the right car now!
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