Buying / leasing / financing a family SUV

[Crispy Pigeon]

Hi everyone - first post, so please be gentle...

I'm currently the outright owner of a 2013 Audi A3 1.4 litre TFSI petrol car with manual transmission. There are around 36,000 miles on the clock and I do about 5,000 miles a year (combination of motorway and city driving). I've had it for around 3 years and enjoyed it, but I'm thinking of upgrading to a new vehicle for three main reasons:

• We have a toddler and are hoping to have a second baby soon, so would like something a bit bigger. Might even want a third at some point, but not sure about that. But even with one toddler, the boot space is not big enough for a couple of small suitcases plus a pram (even one that folds up small), which can be a pain when driving to see family or go on holiday or even day trips, etc. It would also be nice to have more space in the back if we have another one - especially so an adult could sit between two child seats in reasonable comfort. I guess we could look at things like roof racks and stuff, but I'm currently inclined towards getting a bigger car.

• I believe the car still has a reasonable resale value now at 6/7 years old. I've had no trouble with it and had it serviced regularly at an Audi dealer every year (I don't know if that makes me a mug, but I thought it would preserve the resale value). I had previously done some research that indicated a vehicle starts to lose a lot of value and incur increasing maintenance charges soon - e.g., I've been quoted £500 for a new cam belt. I'm also concerned that electric vehicles are going to make petrol/diesel cars undesirable and reduce their value in the next few years (not sure if this is a controversial view here, but I was at a tech conference last year at a presentation given by the CEO of one of the Japanese car makers on electric cars and their roadmap and it concerned me). Some cursory research on websites with automatic valuations suggest it's worth about £7k (paid £12k for it in cash 3 years ago), but no idea how accurate this amount is (any ideas?).

• I would quite like a new car - I'm not an enthusiast, but I enjoy driving and it's fun to have a new car. I'd also like to take the opportunity to switch to automatic transition and have something with mod cons like sat nav and parking sensors built in, etc. I really hate sitting in traffic with a manual gearbox, which is fairly frequent occurrence when you live in London...

It seems like SUVs and SUV crossovers are more popular than people carriers and hatchbacks now and apparently aren't necessarily the gas guzzlers they had a reputation for being the last time I bought a car. My wife is quite keen on an SUV and I have driven them abroad as hire cars a few times and enjoyed it. I have a driveway so parking at home is not an issue with the increased size of vehicle.

If anyone is able to help, I would be very grateful for any advice on the following:

1. Which SUV or SUV crossover to go for? Some of the models I looked at and quite liked were the Audi Q5, BMW X3, Peugeot 3008/5008 and similar. I'm not that bothered about the badge or how it looks except insofar as it affects resale value if I buy it, but I am keen on practicality, interior comfort and nice tech. If it's fun to drive with good suspension that would be a bonus. Not sure what a reasonable amount to spend is, but the above models give an idea of what I've been looking at. I wouldn't mind some views on what is a reasonable amount to spend on a car actually (I guess how long is a piece of string?). The car is really only used at weekends and sometimes weekday evenings with no commuting. Household monthly take-home pay after pension/tax is around £7,000 - after the major outgoings of mortgage and childcare costs we have about £3,500 left over for everything else. Incomes are stable with annual pay rises of around 5-10%.
2. How best to finance the purchase I have looked into the options of leasing it, buying it outright with a personal loan and proceeds of existing car sale (can get a loan for about 3% APR) and PCP and I'm not really sure what the best option is. I haven't leased a car before, I am leaning towards selling the current car and finance the new one on a lease using the funds from the sale (probably for around 3 years). I quite like the idea of changing cars every couple of years, I don't have a lot of mileage, I don't want to modify the car and I keep the car in good condition, which I think are all factors that point towards a lease. As mentioned above, I am also concerned about buying a petrol/diesel car now and then having its value seriously lowered in a few years' time because of electric cars (I don't think I can afford a decent electric car right now and I am also expecting the costs of those to come down a fair bit in a few years as the tech matures), so a lease passes this risk to the lease company. But I haven't done it before and I am concerned about getting ripped off with a lease (payments for a Q5 or an X3 seem to be around £350 per month) and if it would be materially cheaper to just buy the car on a loan with low interest and then sell it in a few years' time... I'm not very experienced with cars and would appreciate any tips on how to calculate the probable depreciation of these vehicles and compare running costs more generally. If the received wisdom is that a lease generally works out the same or thereabouts compared with buying though, I would probably lean towards that.

I am hoping the collective wisdom here will be able to shed some light on the above. Any advice at all would be gratefully received and very happy to answer questions if I've missed any key info.

[Unclegerry]

Hi

I would suggest leasing something like this
https://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing/deals/personal...

Just be aware of messy toddlers etc, but a good clean every so often should cover it. I would think with your mileage over 2 years, running costs would be no more than than 1 service. Then when the the 2 years are up, move on to the next one. If you chase the deal and not the car this method can work well if you like changing your car frequently.
If however you buy a car and are the type to keep it 10 years plus then an outright purchase might be better financially.
Happy hunting.

[Crispy Pigeon]

Thanks very much - that Citreon looks like a decent shout. The chasing the deal rather than the car advice also works well for me I think - I've been taking a look at the lease deals thread and it seems like just waiting for a good deal to come up on something that fits the bill may be a good option, given I'm not that picky about a specific model...

[ZX10R NIN]

Take a look at the 5008

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