Please help with car conundrum.

[Spinball]

Hello,
we have a manual, diesel '09 Audi A4 Avant S-Line. It's job is to do the school run, shopping, occasional 100 mile round trips to see the parents and the rare longer journeys.
We chose an estate because we like to have the space to carry a lot of stuff from time to time. The Avant has a decent amount of ooomph, and I enjoy the performance.

Recently we moved to Birmingham and I now do two 16 mile round trips a day along the Bristol road to Edgbaston. None of it is above 40mph and there are lots of speed cameras. Much of the time I'm queuing in traffic. I'm finding the Audi a bit big for nipping in and out of traffic and parking up in Birmingham.
We're going through a vast amount of diesel at £80 a tank full.
All that gear changing and, probably a mismatch between myself and the seat means I'm getting quite bad back ache in the car after half an hour and my hips are also hurting, possibly from the narrowness of the seat and the firm sides.

We're thinking about getting a new or newish 1.8 Prius. The first thread I read on here about a Prius was full of abuse for owners, which was a surprise. From here getting one seems like a reasonable idea because of the amount we'll save in fuel. I also think the Prius looks pretty good. Kind of space age.
Can't complain about the equipment, either.
The only bit which irked me on the test drive was the lacklustre performance compared to the Audi, but then it's a completely different type of car with a different ethos which I would have to get used to.
I want to get rid of the Audi because the wife won't drive a manual and in all that traffic, I'm sure it's knackering my back.

So firstly is Parkers the best place to get a good valuation of the Audi? The Toyota salesman mentioned £14k, which would hurt since we paid £23k 13 months ago. Second if we decide to sell it privately, is it worth putting in Autotrader in addition to Petrolheads?
Lastly is there any good reason not to buy a Prius at this point?

Thanks

Edited by Spinball on Wednesday 30th November 13:33

Edited by Spinball on Wednesday 30th November 14:44

[DanielJames]

I don't think you'll save much money by doing what you plan to do.

[Spinball]

DanielJames said:

I don't think you'll save much money by doing what you plan to do.

Why not? Do you not think that (given we want to change the car anyway) the nature of the school runs will mean we save a considerable amount of fuel each week?

[Bitzer]

I'm sure Andrew at Volkswizard would be interested in your A4 for a hassle free sale, or at least give you an idea of what it's worth (to him). You'll probably get more in a private sale, but least you wont have any timewasters

He's based in Hollywood, South Birmingham. Nice bloke. www.volkswizard.co.uk.

[LuS1fer]

It's down to how much it will cost you to change. I'm sure the Prius (bland to ugly rather than space-age)has its place but I would never buy one at the prices they go for.

If the issue is only your back, you'd probably be far better off buying a less "fashionable" and therefore discountable car with a better px which has comfortable seats. Often you can buy petrol cars for vastly less than a diesel too and smaller hatches do decent mpg at 6p a litre less so you need to do your sums.

The question is if you're stuck in traffic, why do you need an expensive car at all? Why not buy a cheap car and save your money that way. Only badge snobs and those seeking often unwarrranted social approval really give a rat's ass what other people think. I've had well over 2 solid years out of my £750 Golf GTI Mk III which I use for a 10 mile commute either way. Seats aren't bad either.

[bqf]

Spinball said:

Lastly is there any good reason not to buy a Prius at this point?

Oh, my word, yes there are many, many reasons. They include:

1. Everyone will assume you read the Guardian, and only own one pair of shoes
2. It's no more economical than a diesel
3. Using all that Lithium can't be good - where will it go when the life of the battery is over? Into rivers, and all fish will expire
4. They look like a cheese wedge
5. They are painfully slow
6. They are fundamentally a pointless, over-priced ineffective sop to 'the environment'

There are others, but thats enough for now.

[SWoll]

Spinball said:

[Just realised I misspelt conundrum, if a mod could edit, thank you]
So firstly is Parkers the best place to get a good valuation of the Audi? The Toyota salesman mentioned £14k, which would hurt since we paid £23k 13 months ago. Second if we decide to sell it privately, is it worth putting in Autotrader in addition to Petrolheads?
Lastly is there any good reason not to buy a Prius at this point?

Thanks

Edited by Spinball on Wednesday 30th November 13:33

1) Not in my experience no. Have a look on autotrader at what similar cars are up for and see how long they hang around before they sell.

2) Check on www.wewillbuyyourcar.com for a valuation, might come out better than the stealer and give you more room to negotiate on price with cash. have done this myself in the past when needing to shift a car quickly and TBH they were a breeze to deal with and none of the aggravation of selling privately. Most car prices have gone through the floor though...

3) Definitely put it on autotrader also. As it is not a top-end model I would suggest PH as a backup.

All IMO of course, and did you notice I haven't mentioned the h*****l Prius once?

Oh bks...

[Spinball]

Thanks for the replies. Wow, there is some fair anti-prius feeling. There's a similar reaction when someone asks whether Bose speakers are any good at my forum.
@Bitzer thanks for the tip.
@LuS1fer it's actually not at all to do with how expensive the car is, but primarily how safe it is (considering it's the primary transport for the kids), how comfortable it is (with mod cons etc.) and how much I can keep sane while driving in the traffic (which a good sound system helps).
@bqf I don't actually read *any* newspapers and I don't give a rats ass what other drivers think about me. I just want to get the driving over and done with and the hell out of there. I do only have one pair of shoes, though, but only because I hate shoe shopping
I don't see how a diesel can be as economical as a prius given that I'm stationary or crawling for half the time and doing 40mph the rest. I don't care about the lithium as the amount of lithium being disposed of in normal lithium-ion battery disposal must be vast in comparison.
I actually like the look of them. I like cheese, too. There is no accounting for taste. I own an Elise which I think is utterly beautiful.

When you say they are painfully slow, have you tried the 1.8?
Overpriced? Maybe.
Thanks again.

Edited by Spinball on Wednesday 30th November 14:45

[SWoll]

Spinball said:

Thanks for the replies. Wow, there is some fair anti-prius feeling.

Edited by Spinball on Wednesday 30th November 14:45

Can I ask why you expected that you would get anything else? Pretty much like coming onto 'your' forum and saying

"I'm getting rid of my KEF speakers and NAD amp and buying a Bose Sounddock, as its much more practical, uses less power and does as good a job"

[V88Dicky]

OP, reading into your first post, when you mentioned doing a couple of 16 mile journeys (in stop start traffic) per day, plus school runs and the odd 100 mile run out, it sounds like you need a comfortable car, with a reasonably economical petrol engine and an auto box.

[defblade]

How much will it cost you to swap cars to the Pious? How long will it take to recover that saving at the pumps? How long will it take you to start to lose money if you buy something cheaper but less fuel efficient to lug the kids around in?

As for safety: hard work to find any run-of-the-mill car that isn't reasonably crashable these days, and you said you won't be over 40mph anyway.

Budget = £3000, maybe £4000 tops. You can throw them away each year (or if they break) and still lose less than the depriciation on the Audi or Pious. For that you'll get a 2000-ish Audi or BM estate with abs/side-impact/airbags etc

[v8will]

Back pain? I would suggest looking at something with a Volvo badge. S60 D5 auto of some sort?

[SWoll]

Where's 300 when you need him. This thread could do with someone putting the case across for the OP needing something RWD with a 5.0L+ V8 engine.

[rovermorris999]

Apart from the purchase price I think it's a pretty good choice for the sort of driving the OP will be doing. Crawling in traffic he'll be using no fuel at all for most of the time. A modern diesel with a DPF in this sort of use will not be good. Add in low road tax and it's a pretty good package. I think they're bringing out a plug-in version soon which would be good if you have a garage. A pretty good city car I reckon and I quite like the technology employed. Will it save the planet? Of course not but who cares? I suppose a small petrol with stop/start technology would be an option as well.

[Spinball]

SWoll said:

Where's 300 when you need him. This thread could do with someone putting the case across for the OP needing something RWD with a 5.0L+ V8 engine.

LOL the wife was drawn to one of them in the showroom.
I appreciate that Pistonheads sounds by its name to have a remit of performance, so on the face of it, I wouldn't be surprised that there is anti-Prius feeling. On the other hand, I would have expected this forum, being one of the biggest and best, to have an area for, or at least an acceptance that, there are horses for courses. So I kind of am surprised at the negativeness.
Re the costs of selling and buying, it sounds like I should just get a disposable car. Add a fourth one to the household and be done with it.
(Why did you put the quotes around 'your'?)

[Edit - actually we would probably lose £4k on the sale of the Audi, so spending that on a little runner might be a better option. I'm still not convinced that any car would be as economical as the Prius).

Edited by Spinball on Wednesday 30th November 16:08

[morgrp]

I'd go small diesel - say a new fiesta tdci? Or a golf 1.6 tdi . If you're scared of the DPF issues which a half hour thrashing once in a while usually prevents I'd go small petrol say a 1.2 TSI VW -
For the record I've driven a Prius whilst visiting my brother in Japan and novelty aside it was a thoroughly bland if unoffensive experience and struggled to better 40mpg no matter how or where I drove it.

[LuS1fer]

It wouldn't be as economical as the Prius but at £22k for a basic Prius, you have to ask how much petrol that would buy. The point is the overall cost, not the efficiency. the "negativity" is aimed at people who fork out vast amounts of money they won't see ever again to "save money".

It's like me selling my £750 Golf GTI that does about 30mpg and buying a £10000 diesel so I can do 45mpg and "save money". It makes no sense.

[Deerfoot]

Spinball said:

I'm still not convinced that any car would be as economical as the Prius.

CAR magazine ran a Prius for a year, I think over that year it averaged 45mpg. The same guy then ran a 320d and that averaged 44mpg despite being driven in a more enthusiastic manner.

There are loads of cars out there that will better a Prius for economy.

Edited by Deerfoot on Wednesday 30th November 18:22

[Spinball]

Ok if the Prius doesn't live up to the hype, then given that we're disposing of the needlessly large and painfully manual Audi, I assume we're talking about a small but very economical TDCI all-rounder?
Something with good performance, top notch safety, all the mod cons and cool st. Budget of maybe £15k

[rovermorris999]

Sitting in traffic and pootling at 40mph, the Prius should do pretty well. I'd run away from a modern diesel for that sort of use. If not the Prius then a small petrol would be the way to go.