Buying a New Car…

[SteveS Cup]

Hi All,

I’m taking the GF out tomorrow to trawl around the stealers looking at cars. She has a few options (Leasing a new car, Finance on a 12 month old car or very possibly borrowing the money from “daddy” which is obviously the best option if she can) but I just wanted your opinions on things to find out / comparison.

She likes the DS3, Suzuki Swift Sport, New Fiesta, old Fiesta ST… the list goes on!

I want to be really methodical about this search; I normally jump into things, buy the first thing which catches my eye and sometimes make mistakes / incur costs I hadn’t anticipated.

As she likes so many different cars and hasn’t decided on how she wants to pay for the bloody thing or even what her budget is I’ve compiled a spreadsheet and list of questions to get answers for so I can put everything in front of her so she gets the best car for her!

So here is what I have…

Questions…

If Leasing

- OTR Price of car?
- Predicted value of car after Lease period?
- Monthly repayments?
- What is included in the lease?
- Servicing?
- Damage?
- Wear and Tear?
- Extra mileage?
- What happens when the lease is up? Give it back? Buy it? Deposit for new car?
- Insurance? As we don’t own it is that included in the price?
- Time it will take to get it?

If buying with Finance

- Price?
- Monthly repayments?
- Warranty?
- Part Exchange price for 206?

My Spreadsheet has the following fields…

- Make
- Model
- Engine Size
- Petrol / Diesel
- Lease / Finance
- Agreement Length
- OTR Price of Car
- Deposit
- Monthly Repayments
- MPG
- Insurance
- Tax
- Servicing
- Maintenance
- Cost per Year
- Total Cost of Car

Can anybody think of anything else I need to know in order to compare all the different options properly?

I’m really sorry for such a boring post… I just want to get this right for her!

Thanks for any help in advance!

Steve.

[trickywoo]

You are over thinking it.

Buy the best MX 5 you can find for £3,000.

Job done.

[BarnatosGhost]

Spreadsheets always come down to a coin-toss at the end. In the split second when the coin is in the air, your gut will tell you which one to get. Catch the coin, don't look at it, and go with your gut.

So skip the spreadsheet, and go straight to the coin toss.

[SteveS Cup]

I go for the coin toss every time. But I'm trying to be sensible!

[SteveS Cup]

trickywoo said:

You are over thinking it.

Buy the best MX 5 you can find for £3,000.

Job done.

LOL! An MX5 is something she likes, but the newer one, but then she doesn't like the thought of a cloth roof... I only found out a few weeks back that they do a folding hardtop one!

[Deerfoot]

SteveS Cup said:

I go for the coin toss every time. But I'm trying to be sensible!

You can forget sensible, this`ll be decided on colour.....

Good luck!

[Daaaveee]

SteveS Cup said:

LOL! An MX5 is something she likes, but the newer one, but then she doesn't like the thought of a cloth roof... I only found out a few weeks back that they do a folding hardtop one!

You can probably find a hardtop aswell with your £3000, job done.

[SteveS Cup]

Deerfoot said:

You can forget sensible, this`ll be decided on colour.....

Good luck!

Exactly right! One minute she wants something fast and fun (Like my 172 but newer, Fiesta ST / Civic Type R) then she wants a 90bhp Oil burning DS3!? Hence why I need a spreadsheet just to keep track of all the ste that comes out of her cake hole.

[SteveS Cup]

Daaaveee said:

You can probably find a hardtop aswell with your £3000, job done.

She's looking at £10k probably that she can borrow from bank of daddy, or it's leasing a new car.

[SteveS Cup]

Hi all,

So, went out on Saturday and did the rounds of the Car Showrooms.

Summary...

Suzuki Swift Sport - Cheap n Cheerful and felt very cheap inside New model of the Sport not out till December time so it's been crossed off the list.

Seat Ibiza Bocanegra - GF wouldn't drive it as it's Auto / DSG, so I had a play. Really wasn't impressed at all. The gearbox is awesome, I was just expecting a lot more performance out of it. My Clio 172 felt a lot quicker. Made a nice noise though, felt solid and they're doing some good deals on them atm... After driving an hour out of our way to see the Ibiza the mrs says "nah, it's ugly".

Citreon DS3 - WOW! After having some nice cars and driving the new Ibiza I was expecting this DS3 to be more comparable to my Clio's Interior... The interior in the DS3 is absolutely fantastic, it made the Ibiza look cheap. 90bhp oil burner, so not very fast but loads of power low down, cheap as chips to run etc. Witht eh 17" wheels it just looks and feels amazing.

Numbers...

We're looking at the DStyle 90bhp one, (the D Sport works out silly expensive £20k when you put the options we want on it!).

With the options we want I think it was £16k. We're looking at this on an Elect 3 deal (basically finance with a baloon payment) which means we'll have equity in the car after the 3 years.

So £16k, £2k interest over 3 years, final baloon payment of £6500, £280 per month with a £1000 deposit and they contribute £500 to the deposit.

Because we know the sales guy, they're throwing in a set of mats, spare wheel and 3 years servicing and Road side assistance.

Does this sound like a good deal? Cheapest I can find a DS3 on a lease / contract hire (so no equity in the car) is on ling's website at £233 per month but that is without the options we want (17" wheels, Upgraded sound system with USB / iPhone adapter, parking sensors, Silver with Black roof, Arm Rest, digital climate, Spare wheel, mats).

Anyone who likes the look of the DS3, go and have a drive / sit in one! The interior made the car for me!!!!

[idge]

SteveS Cup said:

With the options we want I think it was £16k. We're looking at this on an Elect 3 deal (basically finance with a baloon payment) which means we'll have equity in the car after the 3 years.

So £16k, £2k interest over 3 years, final baloon payment of £6500, £280 per month with a £1000 deposit and they contribute £500 to the deposit.

Will you actually have any equity in the car at any stage of that agreement? Call me pessimistic but i can't see it being worth more than the final payment of £6500 after 3 years.

£280 per month is a lot for econo-box, even if it is nice.

[va1o]

£280 is too much IMO, I've seen Sciroccos and Audi A1s for under £200 before. Have you looked on http://www.contracthireandleasing.com/ ?

[waterwonder]

fking hell is that how much it is for one of these? Essentially a diesel puddle jumper in a smart suit.

Last year I 'bought' a Focus ST3 on better terms than that.

In terms of the search I'd narrow it down to two maybes and then crunch the numbers using the interweb and telephone.

N.b I'd guess mini cooper d would be cheaper on a pcp after a bit if haggling.

[750turbo]

va1o said:

£280 is too much IMO, I've seen Sciroccos and Audi A1s for under £200 before. Have you looked on http://www.contracthireandleasing.com/ ?

Is it just me that finds that site unreadable with all the flashing ads?

And as an aside why are Focus ST's so expensive, all £500++ per month. Residuals that bad perhaps?

[VeeFour]

SteveS Cup said:

Because we know the sales guy, they're throwing in a set of mats, spare wheel and 3 years servicing and Road side assistance.

SteveS Cup, shopping for cars, last weekend:

[hornetrider]

16k for a 90bhp derv DS3? Are you insane?

[SteveS Cup]

LOL, thanks guys!

I at first thought it was bloody steep... but looking on Ling cars the cheapest DS3 Dsign is £230 per month and that is on a Contract Hire with no servicing and no optional extra's and not even metalic paint.

This option is better than Contract hire as in 3 years you hand it back to them, they value it at £8000 (for example) and you get £1500 towards your next purchase.

I personally would never do this... but it's not me buying the car or paying for it!

It's not the car I'd want but in terms of other small eco box's the DS3 kicks the granny out of them. It's much nicer inside than a Mini Cooper D and looks better imo.

The "extra's" thrown in also includes the £500 towards the deposit.

Meh, I don't know, maybe it is too much for an eco box. It does make more sense buying a 2nd hand car but I guess if she wants a brand new car then that's what she'll have to pay!

Say the car is woth £8000 in 3 years... if we bought it from day one we'd of lost £8000 on it. The way we're looking at doing it we'd have lost £8500 so it's not exactly that bad a deal imo!

[SteveS Cup]

hornetrider said:

16k for a 90bhp derv DS3? Are you insane?

I know... she is.

Her priorities are very different to mine and most ph'ers.

She wants...

- A new car
- Something that looks nice
- Sometghing that looks funky and a bit rare
- Something cheap to run

The DS3 ticks all these box's.

[VeeFour]

There's no way that car will be worth £8k in 3 years.

That's just the salesman trying to flog you a st deal.

It's highly likely to be worth less than the balloon payment, meaning you won't have any equity to put towards your next car.

[jamoor]

LOL @ spending £11k on a car and not even owning it.
More lol @ spending £11k on a 3/5 door french hatchback