Cheap/Cash vs Premium/Finance

[peld]

After some sage advice or inspiration.

We have a Volvo S90 (lease, £255 6+23) which goes back later this year. Last Xmas we also got a Nissan Leaf for our other car and given we use that for all short journeys, we have only put 6k miles p.a. on the Volvo. Given great lease deals are rare now (Arteon & V90CC aside), i'm considering buying something and keeping it for 3-4 years.

I dont really have a strict budget per se, but im thinking one end of the scale is paying cash for something practical but uninteresting like a C Class Estate/A4 Avant/Passat/Superb, all the way to up about £35k for a Macan or Cayenne using additional PCP or finance.

My heart says Macan (and they do hold their value well), but head says is it worth it for 6k miles p.a.? (I could buy a C Class for £15k, run it for 3 years and probably sell for £5k). I am happy to pay a premium for a more desirable car but cant seem to draw a line on what is suitable and sensible.

Has anyone been in the same situation? What did you do? If you went the premium route how did you "justify" it in your head?

(Saying that, after all the thinking and man maths ill probably end up in another lease!)

[The Cardinal]

Well, you did say "cheap" - but I'm not sure £15k counts to be honest.

I run a second car alongside our van, which does somewhere around 3,000 miles p/a. Recently, I decided to replace our 2013 Mini Cooper S with something a little larger and went through a similar thought process of "how much do I want to spend?". (Albeit I need a car quickly due to a family health situation that occurred just after I'd sold the Mini).

Despite having literally no upper budget in mind, I ended up in a 2007 car costing less than £4k! The more I looked at the matter, the more I couldn't justify spending money on something that I wouldn't use much.

I can't say that this approach is superior to any other - and it clearly has downsides - but there are many thousands of nice cars out there for not very much money. Some will need a bit of elbow grease and TLC to make them highly presentable and reliable, but at this sort of annual mileage it's probably worth persevering because depreciation on newer cars will still be a lot higher.

In all honesty, I'd love a brand £30-40k car... but I just can't bring myself to buy one when I drive such a low annual mileage.

[Mr Tidy]

I don't think there is a right answer to be honest!

It just depends how much you are prepared to pay for premium and newness when the car won't get many miles put on it and only you know that.

[ilikejam]

I'm in a similar situation in with my lease ending in November. Do I hold out for better lease deals which are thin on the ground and maybe gone forever, look at some 'mid range' finance and go for something around £25k, or try out shedding for a while?

At this stage I'm leaning towards a £600 mkI Focus to replace my optioned-up V90 R Design! Bloody Pistonheads...

[John Laverick]

There is no answer .... i'd suggest most PH'ers have been through this conundrum numerous times, I know I have.

Buy a shed (then think I work hard I deserve something nice) .... sell and buy something nice (then think this is a waste of money) sell and buy a shed .... repeat over and over 😂😂