130i... can I justify it?

[anon12]

Lets set the scene... I'm 22 and will be finishing my degree in a couple of months. I'm an absolutely enormous petrol head (like everyone on here I'm sure), however never actually owned my own car. The sensible part of me has always got in the way of actually buying anything, although I have been insured on various other peoples vehicles and probably driven more cars than your average Joe does in their whole life, from a 911 and Gallardo, to an Aygo and Suzuki swift driving the coast of Croatia. Thinking back I'm not sure how I've managed it, I must just be a bit crafty.

Anyway back to the point, in a couple of months I will be in the position when I will be buying my very first car, as you can probably imagine this is a pretty big deal for me. I've whittled it down to a few options and although I've got lots of experience in choosing a car I will enjoy, actually knowing whether I can afford those options is very difficult as this is something I have no experience of what so ever.

I've created this account as I want to write some pretty personal information which I would prefer to be kept anonymous for obvious reasons.

The options are:

130i (Around £7k-£8K) - Ultimately I want to own this car at some point, not so much a yes or not but a when is what I'm looking for. The reason being I don't think any other car has the practicality (just me and the ball and chain most of the time) plus the pure driving experience of RWD, N/A 3.0 straight 6 and BMW handling.

Seat Ibiza Cupra TDI with remap (Around £3.5K-£4.5K) - The idea behind this being I need something cheap to run for a year to then afford the 130i. I know I will get dissatisfied with a bog standard cheap runner and grow to hate it which I really don't want to happen. I'm going to be doing around 10K-12K miles a year so cheapest motoring will need a diesel, and if I'm going to be going with a diesel I may as well get one that's going to be relatively quick.

I'll have around £4k saved up to make a purchase and will probably be able to scrape a little more together if needed for the Ibiza without having to get finance.

Insurance (I know it's cheap for my age, I won't go into it this is due to several personal circumstances)
BMW - £750ish
Ibiza - £650ish

Money Calcs
Ultimately my monthly take home will around £1400ish after tax, NI and student loan.

Bills including rent, council tax, water, electricity, gas, phone etc etc etc will be around £500/month which leaves me with £900.

Options: - Pay £4000 and take out £4000 on finance to pay for the 130i over 2 years and approx £185/month including interest.
- Buy the Ibiza, run for a year and buy the 130i once saved up.

I suppose what I'm asking is for some sound eyes to look over the above and tell me if I'm being stupid with getting the 130i partly on finance, or possibly even the Ibiza is stupid and I should be getting a Ka?

If you've read this far, first of all wow, but also thanks, and your opinion would be very much appreciated.

[anon12]

Thanks for the replies everyone, some very differing views but very valuable all the same.

It is a tricky one as I've never made a big purchase before and I'm a finance student which naturally makes me as tight as a camels arse in a sandstorm. On the one shoulder I've got the devil saying "just do it, life's for living" and on the other I've got the angel saying "are you sure this is a good idea or will you end up in a sticky situation", hmm..... decisions decisions.

I know the 130i isn't everyones cup of tea but I'm all about driving experience tbh, not really about the way it looks and I don't really see anything else that gives the all round experience that the 130i does for the money.

I should really talk to the old man but I know he will just tell me to stop being a plonker; he drives an R reg V70 R AWD, which is a cool car in itself and pretty rare, but he only got the R because I told him he had to when I was 14. Now he never takes it over 2500 rpm, and does this weird sitting forward thing when he over takes a tractor like its going to take him a while to recover from the lunacy he's just delivered. Whereas secretly I was hoping you guys would convince me in the other direction haha.

Edited by anon12 on Sunday 1st March 12:46

[anon12]

Welshbeef said:

What about budget for:-

Summer and winter holidays overseas
Gifts
Days out
Rolling repairs to the property
Clothing
Meals out
Ladies -

You're right, I haven't included all the other indulgences but the way I see it the money left over is what I'll be using for all those bits. I probably need to have some time playing with spreadsheets to work all this out really accurately (if you ever can do this stuff accurately).

[anon12]

Welshbeef said:

Saving up a deposit to buy a house --- isn't the average deposit now £78k. Given the remainder it could be 12 years assume zero other spend .... Hmm

I'm not really even thinking about deposits on houses yet in all honesty. I think if I thought like that I would never spend anything at all. The majority of house deposits are sourced through inheritance anyway these days I think (not meaning to sound too morbid), rather than saving up.

[anon12]

glazbagun said:

I'd also budget for something going wrong. I bought my Golf GTI as my first car in seven years after going to uni and moving to London. Did the maths and on paper it was all perfect. Paid insurance (£1500 because of no ncb and area!), put aside a bit for next years insurance each month, etc...

Then the car failed it's MOT on lower suspension bushes just as my tennancy came to an end- I had to find a deposit and I'd just dropped a couple of hundred on tyres. Didn't quite kill me but was definitely squeaky bum time for a bit. I guess I'm saying don't leave yourself financially exposed.

Re:finance. I got a 0% purchases c/card, racked up all my normal shopping on that and kept my cash in the bank. I've just transferred the remainder to a new 0% balance transfer card (which I cut up when it arrived) for a couple of years for a £90 fee. If you must go into debt, credit cards are looking much cheaper than loans right now!

When I look at changing cars (which is almost the fun bit) now I work out the cost of 10'000 miles petrol, depreciation, servicing, brake pads/discs, tax, finance, 3 tyres, insurance and everything else I can think of over 12 months which gives me a depressingly large number I can then deal with.

If you have a shed and change the brakes/oil/whatever yourself people will view it as a bonus. If you do the same to your 130i with its now empty logbook because you couldn't stretch to dealer servicing it'll look quite different.

Edited by glazbagun on Sunday 1st March 12:14

This is a very good point which is my biggest fear, really wouldn't want to end up in the situation where everything starts costing a lot more than expected. It seems very difficult to budget for things going wrong...

[anon12]

MC Bodge said:

My opinion:

Buy a *fun* car that doesn't cost too much.

Spend a few quid servicing it and fitting good tyres etc. Drive it, with mucho gusto, and take it to places where it might get dirty. Don't worry if you scrape it or dent it.

Image is irrelevant. Most people are not impressed by cars, unless they are new and full of gizmos.

Just out of curiosity, what "fun" cars would you suggest?

Swanny71 said:

My opinion:

Go for the 130i if you possibly can, brilliant little cars and in my opinion you can't do much better for a budget of approx £7k. The only thing that would/could replace mine is an M135i but that's £15k on top....

Funnily enough this is my plan exactly, unless I'd want to just go for something else completely different to switch it up.

SuperHangOn said:

My opinion:

Find nice old 328i for circa £1500

I did actually look at something similar, an e46 330i for around £2kish, and even though they are a lot cheaper to purchase they are actually more expensive to run year on year due to them being worse on fuel that the 130i, I think the insurance was more too IIRC.

[anon12]

lewisf182 said:

OP you are in the exact position i was when i was 23 and finished uni. I also did a finance degree and am always calculating and using spreadsheets to try quantify the costs. The 130i ticked most boxes as they are pretty dam reliable, fun, rare, one of the last big engined n/a hot hatches and imo looks pretty nice when cleaned up.
I calculated and calculated and checked out loads of other cars, but in the end i just wanted a fun, great sounding and fast car so went for the 130i. Financed it over 3 years so that i could manage the cost every month without it attecting other parts of my life.

In other words, just get it bought, it will be everything you think it will be! Oh, and they hold their value incredibly well which massively appealed to me, i bought for £7k in dec 2013 and reckon its worth about 6.5 now even after 10k miles on top.

BUT saying all that, i wish i'd just gone for the z4 roadster i always wanted while i had the chance, no kids etc. if your wanting ti be sensible just get a £4k z4 3.0... Best of both worlds.

Hmmm... see I'm not sure that it wouldn't affect different parts of my life just to own the car. I'm not sure I would suit a little convertible, just not me somehow. But saying that I can imagine it would be very enjoyable to own. Any idea about reliability problems with them off the top of your head? That's one of the main things about the 130i, because I know they're relatively low maintenance, bullet proof engine and hold their value well so actual running cost are surprisingly low.

PaulGT3 said:

Buy a manual 325ti for £2-3k, marmite looks and a n/a straight 6 in a small hatchback so very similar to a 130i in that respect. Not as good, but better than the diesel seat option!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bmw-325-Ti-Sport-/151597...

Something like that one looks reasonable.

See I have thought about these a lot, I would always have that niggling feeling that it wasn't exactly what I wanted though. I don't plan on running lots of similar cars so after that it's unlikely I would go with the 130i and then would have just missed out on owning one.

MC Bodge said:

Fuel and insurance probably won't push the total costs higher though.

Buy a car that you won't mind jumpimg a humpback bridge in or sliding about on a dirty track.

This is why I've said about the Ibiza, nothing I can think of comes close to it in a performance sense for that sort of money but also the reliability and running costs. At the end of the day running costs are your biggest enemy as it's money you'll never see again. Whereas if you get a car that's going to hold it's value and be cheap to run (i.e. the Ibiza) then you're on to a winner really if saving money is your main goal.

Vaud said:

Buy a cheaper car, still fun (e.g. the 328), spend your increased spare money each month on holidays, road trips, maybe some driver coaching, track days, etc.

You're right, this is something I need to consider. I was planning a few road trips this year.

SoupAnxiety said:

Just to chime in... take the plunge! BMW big sixes are always special and no turbos make for something that feels "proper". I went for an E92 330i and the engine is a cracker. It's the N53 but I've been out in an N52 330i and the 130i would be worth it for the sound alone! Life is too short and you'll kick yourself if you wait and struggle to find the right one / get bitten by depreciation. Although your 130i might have problems *anything* you buy might. Better to put your money into something you love.

You're definitely the devil on my shoulder!!!!

Mr Tidy said:

Well I looked at your car history and sorry, but a 130i is a bit more special than any Toyota in the last decade (GT86 excepted, but it is short of power).

I would rather tell my grand kids I owned a RWD hatch with a N/A 3 litre straight6 than have to admit to having bought Japanese white goods.

We only get one go, there is no action replay!

So OP if it is what you want JUST GO FOR IT!

I have the N52 engine in my Z4Coupe and it is terrific. Service intervals seem to be 2 years or 16,000 miles and no cam-belt so the servicing is not too major other than consumables like brakes and tyres.

As someone said earlier if you want to spend less then a 325ti Compact is the natural predecessor of the 130i - still RWD with a N/A straight 6, but "only" 192 bhp.

I bought my Z4 last June and had a cheap 1996 Mazda 323 as a daily driver - after 6 months I got a 325ti to replace it because I always seemed to reach for the Z4 key when I had the Mazda (bit too Japanese white goods) whereas the 325ti is still a nice place to be and has the right soundtrack and some performance!

Now I am the wrong side of 50 it is good to look back on buying a Rover V8 when I was 20 even if the upper suspension mount at the rear did pull out of the inner wing, the inner sills were rotten, etc.

You tend to regret things you didn't do not what you did.

I am one of those people who worries about looking back and regretting things I didn't do, I'm 22 and I'm doing that already!

Colonial said:

Don't do it.

Ignore everything in life that gives you pleasure, save money for a first home.

Buy a house, promise yourself you will buy something nice when you get it. Then start saving money to get a bigger and better house.

Await with glee a diesel Astra as a company car and talk about how quick it really is. Continue to save a bigger house.

Have some money set aside, promise yourself a nice car you'll enjoy. Send your kids to private school instead.

Kids leave home. Promise yourself you'll buy a nice you'll enjoy. Retire. Buy a beige Honda Jazz. Look back at your beige life, your beige wife and your beige lounge suite and slowly cry yourself to sleep over just boring and tedious you became.

Oh how Trainspotting comes to mind....

22Rgt said:

First car with no experience means the 130i will going backwards through a hedge/wall somewhere.A stty Ka or \Corsa being dented/smashed by a learner driver isnt so bad and will save a fortune in getting from A-B..

Comments like this make me chuckle... you know very little about me to be making those sorts of judgements

yonex said:

Jabosoc said:

Buy a DC2 Integra with your cash. Make sure it's a solid one and you'll never lose any money on it, plus they're a darn sight more exciting than a 1 Series.

I've had both, they both have their strengths

They're just not for me I don't think, I'm really after something rwd