Paying to downgrade your car, why?

[va1o]

This made me laugh, a neighbour has traded in her 06 E91 BMW 320d for a new Audi A3 Sportback TDI.

Now I know everyone has different motoring requirements, but I'm really struggling to see the point of this one. The A3 is smaller, FWD, its been on sale for longer, its no faster, wont be any more economical and is unlikely to be much cheaper to run. The funny bit is that A3 would have cost at least £10k on top of the BMW at trade in.

Are people really this desperate to drive around in something with a newer plate and warranty? As far as I can tell its hardly used and just sits on the drive most the time...

[farrendahl]

Everybody has different priorities when it comes to cars, it could be something as simple she wants a change and prefers the look of the A3 to the 3 series. Who are we to judge on peoples choices on how they spend their money?

Not having a go, just pointing out that their may be reasons behind t that you are unaware that may make more sense to her than they would to us.

[ZOLLAR]

Perhaps the 320 is too big for her (size wise), saying that there would be no need to buy new if she wanted a smaller car.
Her money I suppose, its people like that who keep the stream flowing so we can buy decent secondhand car.

[HellDiver]

Bet she went for the cement mixer engine, the 1.6TDi. Horrid.

[kambites]

You have a different definition of "downgrade" to her. Not really that hard to understand?

[Engineer1]

06 so 4-5 years old, and changed for a brand new car, I can't think of any reason not to if you have got the money to and fancy a change, it makes more sense changing make and model than just buying a 60 plate version of what she had before.

[matc]

People just get into the habit of changing their cars every 3 years regardless of its use. I guess she thinks that because the BMW is now out of warranty that she is going to be faced with enormous bills that make it (in her mind) expensive to run; no doubt she'll have a mental block when it comes to depreciation!

[waterwonder]

I think you answered your own question.

4/5 years old isn't an unusual time to change.

I would guess they change their car at this interval and have merely opted for something that is a change but fufills largely the same criteria.

Whether it's a wise choice is another question but why not if they've got the money?

[Petrolhead_Rich]

She's a woman and therefore is more likely to see the age of a car and how easy it is to park as the most important factors!

If she has the cash/credit history, and she wants to buy lots of new cars to look good and swallow up the depreciation for the rest of us why should it bother you??

Leave her to it

Women, please note I said more likely, this is based on the FACT that women GENERALLY are less interested in cars before you all start jumping up and down on me for being sexist and advising me how women can be just as much of a petrol head as a man!

[aka_kerrly]

va1o said:

The A3 is smaller, FWD, its been on sale for longer, its no faster, wont be any more economical and is unlikely to be much cheaper to run....

You are considering the purchase from a petrol heads view point. You must consider that as a non petrol head her decision making process for buying a car could be like your process for picking washing up liquid.

Id wager that the neighbour is not aware the bmw was RWD, doesn't calculate her mpg to the nearest mile, probably pays peanuts to insure her cars anyway and have you considered it could be a company car scheme which restricts the age of the car you can have even if you opt out?

dave

[Mustardo]

I would hazard a guess and say your neighbour didn't know her BMW was RWD - or care about handling - wanted a smaller car and she didn't like the look of the 1-Series (who could blame her!) and bought a fairly decent - although to us, bland - nice shiny new Audi A3.

Can you really tell me what's wrong with that? Unless she is a massive petrolhead and has just fked up i don't see the problem...

[phib]

Probably because she tried to drive it in the snow !!! Sorry flippant answer but two of our friends have now sold BM's as they were so bad in the snow.

Phib

[oldcynic]

Maybe she got a good price? Maybe she liked the colour? Maybe she wanted a hatchback/estate?

5 years is not an unreasonable length of time to run a car. And there's no point earning money if you don't spend it somewhere. If the new Audi makes her happy, then why not?

[Gaygle]

Mustardo said:

I would hazard a guess and say your neighbour didn't know her BMW was RWD - or care about handling - wanted a smaller car and she didn't like the look of the 1-Series (who could blame her!) and bought a fairly decent - although to us, bland - nice shiny new Audi A3.

Word for word, what i was going to say.

It's not like she went from a 120d to a A3 diesel or an E91 320d to an A4 Estate Diesel. She went from a big, older car, to a smaller, newer one and still wanted the economy of a diesel. And let's face it, if she didn't like the look of the 1 series, she's normal.

[EDLT]

So she bought a car with a 3-year warranty Vs a no-warranty, it will work in the snow, its easier to park, and most importantly: Because she wanted to and could.

I notice he OP hasn't listed his cars, scared someone will judge you like you judge others?

[jamesson]

OP - not going so well for you.

[LuS1fer]

Leased?

[va1o]

Agree with most the above, but I still think its a downgrade.

jamesson said:

OP - not going so well for you.

I'm still here

EDLT said:

I notice he OP hasn't listed his cars, scared someone will judge you like you judge others?

I was waiting for someone to bring that up! Its because I got fed up with people stalking me around the internet and the tt-ish comments like "You drive X so therefore I don't care what you think" etc... but I feel like a bit of a hypocrite now

[farrendahl]

va1o said:

I was waiting for someone to bring that up! Its because I got fed up with people stalking me around the internet and the tt-ish comments like "You drive X so therefore I don't care what you think" etc... but I feel like a bit of a hypocrite now

I think the phrase that you are looking for is D'oh! But seriously, fully appreciate where you are coming from on the whole "downgrade thought process" but like they say "one mans slut is another mans wife"

That phrase may not hold any relevance to the situation, I just wanted an excuse to use it

[deadmau5]

Do people really change their car based on one week of bad weather a year?