Another what car....

[tim0409]

Hi,

Looking for opinions on the following as I am still undecided on the best way forward. I sold my 2010 118d to a BMW garage back in September and up until recently I have been using the OH's Mini (I managed to rip the sump/fuel line of it last week which cost £600 to repair so she really isn't that happy about my continued use....). I currently have three options and a budget of circa £11k. I do around 17k a year, with 5k of those work related for which I receive a 45ppm allowance.

Option 1

The BMW garage still has my car for sale (118d Coupe) and has indicated he would sell it back to me for the same price.

Positives - 5 year service deal and cheap car to run (notwithstanding depreciation) (£30 tax, 48mpg), recently put new discs/pads on it and clutch was replaced under warranty

Negatives - top end of budget, low spec car and will depreciate as I continue to pile on the miles, not terribly exciting,

Option 2

Lease a VW UP

Positives - fixed cost motoring

Negatives - will cost £4k over two years, roughly the same as the BMW 118d


Option 3

Buy a 3.2s Porsche Boxster circa 2001/2 for £6k

Positives - great fun, shouldn't depreciate too much further

Negatives - low MPG, maintenance costs although I can do quite a bit of spannering myself. Perceived image problem in that I am an elected councillor and people think it will be worth much more than it actually is.

I know this is quite an eclectic mix but any thoughts would be gratefully received.

Tim

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

tim0409 said:

Hi,

Looking for opinions on the following as I am still undecided on the best way forward. I sold my 2010 118d to a BMW garage back in September and up until recently I have been using the OH's Mini (I managed to rip the sump/fuel line of it last week which cost £600 to repair so she really isn't that happy about my continued use....). I currently have three options and a budget of circa £11k. I do around 17k a year, with 5k of those work related for which I receive a 45ppm allowance.

Option 1

The BMW garage still has my car for sale (118d Coupe) and has indicated he would sell it back to me for the same price.

Positives - 5 year service deal and cheap car to run (notwithstanding depreciation) (£30 tax, 48mpg), recently put new discs/pads on it and clutch was replaced under warranty

Negatives - top end of budget, low spec car and will depreciate as I continue to pile on the miles, not terribly exciting,

Option 2

Lease a VW UP

Positives - fixed cost motoring

Negatives - will cost £4k over two years, roughly the same as the BMW 118d


Option 3

Buy a 3.2s Porsche Boxster circa 2001/2 for £6k

Positives - great fun, shouldn't depreciate too much further

Negatives - low MPG, maintenance costs although I can do quite a bit of spannering myself. Perceived image problem in that I am an elected councillor and people think it will be worth much more than it actually is.

I know this is quite an eclectic mix but any thoughts would be gratefully received.

Tim

Can I go for - none of the above??!!

Your old BMW - why buy an old car back, unless it is something rare / special / you REALLY miss it..? I've only ever done that once, and it was for a hugely modified Jeep Wrangler, that I sold and immediately regretted selling. Luckily I sold it to a mate, and when he wanted to get rid 4 years later, I had her back.

VW Up - whilst being cheap to run and all that, will be an annoying underpowered, noisy little buzz box on commutes - not terribly comfortable, boring, a vanilla-spec shopping car for the dreary and the dead.

Boxster - initially sounds like fun, right? Take it from an ex-996 owner of a similar vintage (which basically shares most of it's drivetrain and architecture with the Boxster) you are possibly buying into a somewhat flawed design, engine wise - with a myriad of expensive stuff that can / will go wrong at some point, and cost you dear. Ok, there will probably be a million Boxster owners showing up and saying all it's cost them is fuel and tyres - but I remember what 4 years of ownership was like with mine, and never, ever again. They can be a complete liability if the stuff that can go wrong, does go wrong.



If you want reliable and fun - for that budget I would be considering Honda S2000, Nissan Z cars, that kind of thing, no?