Help, I think I want a Volvo...
Discussion
Hello, hoping some more financially savvy people than myself may be able to offer some thoughts on my following situation.
I took out a 3 year PCP on a used Abarth 595 from a main dealer just over a year ago which costs me £175 per month.
My commute has changed since and I now drive once a week to the office which is a 250 mile round trip purely on motorways. For anyone who's driven an Abarth on the motorway with its 5 gears, 'limited' adjustability seating position, no cruise control, tiny wheelbase and rock solid suspension, you can understand that this isn't the perfect car for the job. It's pretty efficient as it's so light (45+mpg every trip) but it just gets blown about like nobody business and twitches with the slightest of inputs.
So! Here's where the Volvo comes in... I cycle a lot, and have generally got pretty bored of the car packing game with my Abarth so some extra room would be appreciated. A diesel Volvo V60 or similar is currently my preferred option, though I'm not tied to one - any other recommendations for a nice, comfy estate which does decent MPG (certainly over the 45 I currently get) would be welcomed!
The financial side of this is stressing me out/confusing me quite a bit...We've just bought our first house and am paying a mortgage (yuck) so I'd like to keep my monthly outgoings sensible. Ideally I'd like to spend no more than £200 per month for my next car - finance seems my only option as any savings have been wiped out with house deposit, solicitors, sofas and other fun adult expenditures...
I've requested and been provided with a settlement figure on my current car from Fiat of £8,500. So as far as I can tell my options are something like this:
1. Try and take out a personal loan for £8.5k - pay the settlement figure for my car and sell it privately. This should sell for around £8k. I then use that money to buy a second hand Volvo. Potential issues I can foresee with this are A) getting approved for a loan at a decent APR (around 3-4%) B) the faff of selling my car privately.
2. Part-ex the car with a dealership, get them to settle the outstanding finance (of which I'd no doubt need to 'top up' from their part-ex valuation) and take out a PCP with them on another car. The downsides to this are that I'd need a few £000 of readily available cash to put towards the settlement and deposit on the next car, and even then a PCP on a reasonable Volvo seems to be around £300 p/m
3. Suck it up and drive my little Abarth until the end of my term on the finance before handing it back. Another 2 years of this doesn't seem do-able from my position though...
Any thoughts/advice massively appreciated! I've hit a wall in my thinking and feel a bit stuck!
I took out a 3 year PCP on a used Abarth 595 from a main dealer just over a year ago which costs me £175 per month.
My commute has changed since and I now drive once a week to the office which is a 250 mile round trip purely on motorways. For anyone who's driven an Abarth on the motorway with its 5 gears, 'limited' adjustability seating position, no cruise control, tiny wheelbase and rock solid suspension, you can understand that this isn't the perfect car for the job. It's pretty efficient as it's so light (45+mpg every trip) but it just gets blown about like nobody business and twitches with the slightest of inputs.
So! Here's where the Volvo comes in... I cycle a lot, and have generally got pretty bored of the car packing game with my Abarth so some extra room would be appreciated. A diesel Volvo V60 or similar is currently my preferred option, though I'm not tied to one - any other recommendations for a nice, comfy estate which does decent MPG (certainly over the 45 I currently get) would be welcomed!
The financial side of this is stressing me out/confusing me quite a bit...We've just bought our first house and am paying a mortgage (yuck) so I'd like to keep my monthly outgoings sensible. Ideally I'd like to spend no more than £200 per month for my next car - finance seems my only option as any savings have been wiped out with house deposit, solicitors, sofas and other fun adult expenditures...
I've requested and been provided with a settlement figure on my current car from Fiat of £8,500. So as far as I can tell my options are something like this:
1. Try and take out a personal loan for £8.5k - pay the settlement figure for my car and sell it privately. This should sell for around £8k. I then use that money to buy a second hand Volvo. Potential issues I can foresee with this are A) getting approved for a loan at a decent APR (around 3-4%) B) the faff of selling my car privately.
2. Part-ex the car with a dealership, get them to settle the outstanding finance (of which I'd no doubt need to 'top up' from their part-ex valuation) and take out a PCP with them on another car. The downsides to this are that I'd need a few £000 of readily available cash to put towards the settlement and deposit on the next car, and even then a PCP on a reasonable Volvo seems to be around £300 p/m
3. Suck it up and drive my little Abarth until the end of my term on the finance before handing it back. Another 2 years of this doesn't seem do-able from my position though...
Any thoughts/advice massively appreciated! I've hit a wall in my thinking and feel a bit stuck!
Option A- if you got approved for a mortgage I'm sure you'll get approved for a small loan. Sell the Abarth and use the money to buy a Volvo. £8k will get you into something decent that should fit the bill and be reliable. Or better still, buy a Volvo for £5k, keep £1k aside for any repairs and you've got some money in your pocket. I would just ensure that if you get a diesel it's ULEZ compliant so it doesn't depreciate like a stone next year.
I'd suggest go for an Insignia or Mondeo instead, and I say that as a Volvo V60 owner which is on a 61 plate and cost me about 8k to buy just over a year ago.
The insignia and Mondeo will be bigger inside and equally as comfortable I would say.
My Volvo has thrown a couple of thousand pounds worth of repair bills in the last 12 months, mainly electrical gremlins, every door lock has failed on me now in the last 12 months all have been replaced at roughly £300 per door supplied and fitted by a local Volvo independent specialist. The micro switch on the boot hatch failed which isn't available separately so a whole rear switch panel (where the Volvo logo is) was required, that cost around £400 I think. Faulty door locks on Volvo's is very common I have since found out.
Two new rear top mounts both snapped at one point or another, one was replaced by the garage so cost £120, when the second one went I decided to replace myself so genuine Volvo part was circa £40 plus my time.
The BLIS system can error for no reason, I have just ignored this because the cost of new parts is not worth it in my opinion.
The quality of the leather on the seats (if it is leather) is poor and splits easily, another common issue.
The engine so far has been fine although I can smell burning oil faintly at times so probably has a minor leak somewhere, again I ignore that too as it is too minor to worry about.
Honestly I wouldn't buy another Volvo, I'd go for a nice Mondeo instead.
The insignia and Mondeo will be bigger inside and equally as comfortable I would say.
My Volvo has thrown a couple of thousand pounds worth of repair bills in the last 12 months, mainly electrical gremlins, every door lock has failed on me now in the last 12 months all have been replaced at roughly £300 per door supplied and fitted by a local Volvo independent specialist. The micro switch on the boot hatch failed which isn't available separately so a whole rear switch panel (where the Volvo logo is) was required, that cost around £400 I think. Faulty door locks on Volvo's is very common I have since found out.
Two new rear top mounts both snapped at one point or another, one was replaced by the garage so cost £120, when the second one went I decided to replace myself so genuine Volvo part was circa £40 plus my time.
The BLIS system can error for no reason, I have just ignored this because the cost of new parts is not worth it in my opinion.
The quality of the leather on the seats (if it is leather) is poor and splits easily, another common issue.
The engine so far has been fine although I can smell burning oil faintly at times so probably has a minor leak somewhere, again I ignore that too as it is too minor to worry about.
Honestly I wouldn't buy another Volvo, I'd go for a nice Mondeo instead.
Jamescrs said:
I'd suggest go for an Insignia or Mondeo instead, and I say that as a Volvo V60 owner which is on a 61 plate and cost me about 8k to buy just over a year ago.
The insignia and Mondeo will be bigger inside and equally as comfortable I would say.
My Volvo has thrown a couple of thousand pounds worth of repair bills in the last 12 months, mainly electrical gremlins, every door lock has failed on me now in the last 12 months all have been replaced at roughly £300 per door supplied and fitted by a local Volvo independent specialist. The micro switch on the boot hatch failed which isn't available separately so a whole rear switch panel (where the Volvo logo is) was required, that cost around £400 I think. Faulty door locks on Volvo's is very common I have since found out.
Two new rear top mounts both snapped at one point or another, one was replaced by the garage so cost £120, when the second one went I decided to replace myself so genuine Volvo part was circa £40 plus my time.
The BLIS system can error for no reason, I have just ignored this because the cost of new parts is not worth it in my opinion.
The quality of the leather on the seats (if it is leather) is poor and splits easily, another common issue.
The engine so far has been fine although I can smell burning oil faintly at times so probably has a minor leak somewhere, again I ignore that too as it is too minor to worry about.
Honestly I wouldn't buy another Volvo, I'd go for a nice Mondeo instead.
Think you might have been unlucky with yours. I've got a 60 plate S60 T4 and haven't had any problems with mine (aside from the BLIS, that has acted up a couple of times). Granted I bought mine 6 months ago with 35k miles on it but I've done 5k miles since owning it. Only complaint I have is that it's a bit thirsty!The insignia and Mondeo will be bigger inside and equally as comfortable I would say.
My Volvo has thrown a couple of thousand pounds worth of repair bills in the last 12 months, mainly electrical gremlins, every door lock has failed on me now in the last 12 months all have been replaced at roughly £300 per door supplied and fitted by a local Volvo independent specialist. The micro switch on the boot hatch failed which isn't available separately so a whole rear switch panel (where the Volvo logo is) was required, that cost around £400 I think. Faulty door locks on Volvo's is very common I have since found out.
Two new rear top mounts both snapped at one point or another, one was replaced by the garage so cost £120, when the second one went I decided to replace myself so genuine Volvo part was circa £40 plus my time.
The BLIS system can error for no reason, I have just ignored this because the cost of new parts is not worth it in my opinion.
The quality of the leather on the seats (if it is leather) is poor and splits easily, another common issue.
The engine so far has been fine although I can smell burning oil faintly at times so probably has a minor leak somewhere, again I ignore that too as it is too minor to worry about.
Honestly I wouldn't buy another Volvo, I'd go for a nice Mondeo instead.
You can put your Abarth up for sale with the finance not cleared, what will happen is that the prospective buyer will settle the finance & then pay you the difference, I know FCA allow this as I've done so on a number of occasions as others have said get yourself a Nicekly spec'd Mondeo etc.
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