Leasing vs £6k used vs £1k used... - Page 1 - Car Buying

Tall_Paul

Original Poster

1,915 posts

256 months

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Saturday 20th July 2019

I currently have a Subaru Legacy Spec B, I'm thinking about a change for a few reasons:

I'm getting low 20's mpg on average, I was doing a few k a year when I bought it but now I want to be doing 10-15k a year.
On my 11 mile commute to work this morning I counted 25 potholes/sunken drain covers that I either avoid or crash over. And that's only counting half way into the commute. The roads here are in a f

king atrocious state, and low hard suspension with 18"wheels and thin tyres is a pain
It's a 2006 model so 13 years old, getting to the age where large bills could well be on the horizon, it's worth £4000-4500 so not bangernomics money but not worth enough that if a £1000 bill came along, I'd be mega annoyed.
VED is £50 a month.
I'd love something nice but it lives on the street, gets covered in tree sap, I'd rather have a workhorse that I don't need to particularly worry about.

On the plus side, it's comfy when the road is smooth, it's a proper nice place to be, doing a few hours on the motorway feels like nothing. Huge boot, and good fun to drive.

So, looking at replacements, something with 40+mpg, cheaper tax and a few comforts (estate or small suv), there's 3 main options:

Option 1. Bangernomics. Octavia tdi or similar for £1500, run it until it dies, scrap it and buy another.

Pros:
Cheap! Would have a few £k cash left over from the sale of the Legacy.
Good mpg

Cons:
Biggest risk of leaving me stranded getting to work or on a weekend run to Wales/peak district etc.
Worst place to be of the 3 options for long journeys, maybe not with a barge (but won't meet the above requirements)

Option 2. £6k (or thereabouts) used, 2011-2013 age for something decent, not a poverty spec car, and with under 70k miles.

Pros:
Nicer place to be than an old diesel skoda

Cons:
Would mean finding an extra £3-4k over the Legacy (loan or selling my motorbike which I've barely used in the last year)
Biggest risk for big bills, worth too much to scrap over a £1000 bill, but not worth enough to keep on fixing if it had regular issues.
For me, the 6-8 year old car is the no man's land, not new enough to be totally reliable, but old enough and worth enough that if it breaks down or has terminal issues, you're out of pocket by several thousand...

Option 3. Lease of a small suv/estate, £300pm lets say, with £1500 deposit.

Pros:
Brand new car, no MOT or breakdowns to worry about
Cheap running costs, high mpg, no servicing/tyres with a maintenance plan etc
Nicest place to be for long journeys
Could bank a couple of grand from the sale of the Legacy.

Cons:
Highest cost
It's a lease, I'd never actually own it - I have zero debt against my name at the moment apart from £300 on my monthly spending CC which gets paid off in full each month. Makes my teeth itch a little thinking about going into a loan/credit agreement, for the past few years everything I've bought, I've saved up to buy (5k motorbike, £5k car, £5k mountain bike).

My current costs on the Legacy are £50 VED pm and £200 fuel pm at 10k pa. Insurance is £50 pm, this would be the same for a lease car. On a £300 pm lease I'd save the £50 on VED and my fuel cost would halve, so £100 for the same miles. So £250 current pm cost vs £400 pm cost on a lease. Not including any big bills the subaru might have around the corner or ongoing maintenance.

So a brand new car on lease would only be costing me £150 a month extra on top of my current car costs, not including maintenance. Even at £350pm lease it's £200 extra.

The £6-8k car option, with say a £4k loan over 3 years, £140 a month for arguments sake (+ £30ish pm ved) , the only benefit would be that I'd have a car worth £3k at the end of it (11/12 year old car with 100k miles on it.). Add on servicing/maintenance etc.

Honestly, leasing is bloody tempting. I generally look after my cars, don't kerb wheels etc so I doubt I'd have an issue handing it back after the lease term.

Thoughts? biggrin

Captain_Morgan

1,448 posts

88 months

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Saturday 20th July 2019

Option 3 could be even cheaper...

https://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing/deals/personal...

rickygolf83

356 posts

190 months

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Saturday 20th July 2019

As you very well put it, option 2 is not a good place to be.

If option 1 (not necessarily an Octavia) has a good service history, recent billed timing belt and pump and if knocking on the miles a recent clutch and flywheel, you pretty much cannot go wrong.

But with Option 3, with your budget you could lease a brand new Mk7 Gti or other fairly exciting options. (I know you said estate or suv, just an example)

Spied a deal last week for one with 1+24 @ £286 p/m

Tall_Paul

Original Poster

1,915 posts

256 months

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Saturday 20th July 2019

Yeah there does seem to be some very good deals about, I'd need 15k miles though as I do 5k miles on the commute, plus I want to start round regular trips to wales etc for mountain biking, so 3k on just those trips, plus normal weekly mileage and its up to 10k pa already - 15k a year would cover me. That might cut out some of the best deals. I'd also want a towbar fitted to be able to have a mtb carrier on the back, either as an option or fitted afterwards.

All issues that can be gotten around though biggrin

And completely agree I really don't want to be in that no man's land of car age. Bangernomics does appeal to me, maybe if I had a 2nd reliable option to get to work.

Captain_Morgan

1,448 posts

88 months

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Saturday 20th July 2019

12k and take the balance in excess?

Gareth1974

3,477 posts

168 months

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Saturday 20th July 2019

Some decent Ford Kuga deals around at the moment on higher mileages - 15k p.a. here https://leasing.com/independent-brokers/jet-vehicl...

nobrakes

3,782 posts

227 months

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Saturday 20th July 2019

Plenty of sensible Mondeo estates for circa £6k that will do 15k miles/year without batting an eyelid.

Get an inspection done for peace of mind.

ZX10R NIN

30,525 posts

154 months

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Saturday 20th July 2019

griffter

4,143 posts

284 months

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Sunday 21st July 2019

You’re clearly a car enthusiast.

Option 1 will leave you fidgety and bored in weeks. Then you’ll be back to square one with less money!
£6/£7k playground is the best bet imho.

nobrakes

3,782 posts

227 months

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Sunday 21st July 2019

ZX10R NIN said:

^

Any of these will eat up the miles in comfort.

There are probably all within 150 or so miles of each other wrt range.

Tall_Paul

Original Poster

1,915 posts

256 months

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Sunday 21st July 2019

The £6k-£8k price range does have a lot available, and I'd be looking at something half the age of my current car.

A Toyota corolla touring sports hybrid on lease is also quite appealing, I'd be paying extra £130 pm over my current car costs when fuel/ved is taken into account, and I'd bank the other £2k from the Legacy.

That would be on a 6+47 lease, under £300pm seems doable with 15k miles for the 2.0 design model. Extremely well specced, just no android auto.

Apart from the commitment of signing up to a 4 year deal, an extra £130pm is nothing in the scope of things.

Edit: Corolla touring sports 2.0 Excel Pan Roof
15k pa, 6+47, £1630.20 initial rental + £198 fee, £271.70 pm.

Yeah, deals like that are very tempting, £100 pm more cost to me.

Edited by Tall_Paul on Sunday 21st July 12:20

anonymous-user

83 months

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Sunday 21st July 2019

Captain_Morgan said:

Option 3 could be even cheaper...

https://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing/deals/personal...

That seems insane value. What's the catch? Is it utter s

t?

Tall_Paul

Original Poster

1,915 posts

256 months

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Monday 29th July 2019

Coming back to this, something is stopping me from doing the lease thing, I've considered both 2 or 4 year ones, and I'm back to a 2010/2011 onwards big diesel, even something with £200pa VED and 45mpg wll save me £130 a month on my current 10k miles pa, and at 15k miles pa I'd be saving £170 a month. My Legacy passed the MOT today with zero advisories, so I'd have £4500 private, or about £3500 trade-in from this, plus an extra 5k.

The car that brought me back was one I was considering when looking at my Legacy, but the 5k pa miles I was doing didn't justify a disel - Saab 9-3 TTiD Aero Sportwagon:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

So, with max £8k and nothing older than 2010 for a diesel auto (maybe manual at a push) estate with all the toys and at least 150bhp, are these any good? (Mileage, is going for something mint and well looked after on 75k vs something in similar condition on 120k going to get me anything more than less money in my bank?)

Skoda Superb

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Merc C class C250

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Volvo V60 D3/D4

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Mazda 6 2.2 skyactiv

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Mazda 6 2.2 - A LOT of car for £6k!
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Anything else?