Budget creep WTF!
Discussion
Why don't we share some tales of ridiculous budget creep on cars. I'll start.
Looking for a cheap car to use for the station approx 1-2 times a month (1 mile each way), and for customer meetings where I want to keep miles off my main car & save money on fuel & have something easier to park. Fancy a convertible too. Must be cheap tax & running costs
Started looking at £1.5k at Smart Roadsters & 1.4 Lupos both of which I am fond of
Last night bidded & missed out on a Merc 350 SLK, and am now looking at Merc SL 350/500s and BMW 6 Series
WTAF!
Looking for a cheap car to use for the station approx 1-2 times a month (1 mile each way), and for customer meetings where I want to keep miles off my main car & save money on fuel & have something easier to park. Fancy a convertible too. Must be cheap tax & running costs
Started looking at £1.5k at Smart Roadsters & 1.4 Lupos both of which I am fond of
Last night bidded & missed out on a Merc 350 SLK, and am now looking at Merc SL 350/500s and BMW 6 Series
WTAF!
Shopping for a cheapish gap filler, I was at risk of loosing my job (turned out to be correct) so the PCP'd 4x4 had to go.
Told the wife I was buying something cheaper, sold the 4x4 back to BMW on the Thursday.
Then on Friday I went out and got drunk. In my drunken state I came to a decision that life was short, cash was over rated anyway, and I wanted something I liked.
So I called a dealer in London on the Saturday morning and put a deposit on a 10 year old BMW 645. Then booked a flight as I live in Aberdeen (about 600 miles North). It was the best one I could find at the time!
Wife was less than impressed. Still have the car 4 years later, she's still not impressed.
I've also been known to buy a van instead of fitting a towbar to another car.
Told the wife I was buying something cheaper, sold the 4x4 back to BMW on the Thursday.
Then on Friday I went out and got drunk. In my drunken state I came to a decision that life was short, cash was over rated anyway, and I wanted something I liked.
So I called a dealer in London on the Saturday morning and put a deposit on a 10 year old BMW 645. Then booked a flight as I live in Aberdeen (about 600 miles North). It was the best one I could find at the time!
Wife was less than impressed. Still have the car 4 years later, she's still not impressed.
I've also been known to buy a van instead of fitting a towbar to another car.
Edited by Speed addicted on Monday 6th May 10:22
valiant said:
When doing up my last house I was meant to hire a skip. Bought an estate instead.
Cost of skip? A few hundred quid.
Cost of car? £9k.
I stand by my decision although my wife was a little less pleased...
When I first read that, I took it that you'd given up on renovating your house, and went full-bore and bought some sort of grand mansion estate (thinking Wentworth or Goodwood) instead.Cost of skip? A few hundred quid.
Cost of car? £9k.
I stand by my decision although my wife was a little less pleased...
Now that would have been epic budget creep.
I started looking for a ‘nice convertible’ as per Mrs S for her use.
Test drove a Mini and she didn’t like it. Then missed out on a Merc C class thing.
After this initial disappointment, ‘V8’ started being added to the search criteria. I mean, might as well, and it helped reduce the list significantly.
Anyway we ended up with a 5.5 supercharged V8 at twice the original budget which she doesn’t drive.
Mission Completed.
Test drove a Mini and she didn’t like it. Then missed out on a Merc C class thing.
After this initial disappointment, ‘V8’ started being added to the search criteria. I mean, might as well, and it helped reduce the list significantly.
Anyway we ended up with a 5.5 supercharged V8 at twice the original budget which she doesn’t drive.
Mission Completed.
swisstoni said:
I started looking for a ‘nice convertible’ as per Mrs S for her use.
Test drove a Mini and she didn’t like it. Then missed out on a Merc C class thing.
After this initial disappointment, ‘V8’ started being added to the search criteria. I mean, might as well, and it helped reduce the list significantly.
Anyway we ended up with a 5.5 supercharged V8 at twice the original budget which she doesn’t drive.
Mission Completed.
What a great story.This could be the thread of the year for me so far!Test drove a Mini and she didn’t like it. Then missed out on a Merc C class thing.
After this initial disappointment, ‘V8’ started being added to the search criteria. I mean, might as well, and it helped reduce the list significantly.
Anyway we ended up with a 5.5 supercharged V8 at twice the original budget which she doesn’t drive.
Mission Completed.
My struggle was trying to keep the other half in budget. Budget £2500
She fell in-love with a car that was out of budget, she kept mentioning it and even named it. A heated discussion later and a second viewing. Paid full price but also got a Major service (Inc Cambelt kit) 2x Tyre's.
Spent : £4005
Result : 2012 Volkswagen MoveUP! in Pool Blau. FSH
She fell in-love with a car that was out of budget, she kept mentioning it and even named it. A heated discussion later and a second viewing. Paid full price but also got a Major service (Inc Cambelt kit) 2x Tyre's.
Spent : £4005
Result : 2012 Volkswagen MoveUP! in Pool Blau. FSH
Had this a few years ago when looking to replace an A3 I'd gotten bored of trying to fix. Started looking at 2.0TFSI A3 c.3/4k, went into the world of 350z, but discounted due to mpg being crap - moved onto other things around the 4k mark, then got lost and ended up buying a 3.0TDI A5 coupe, 10k later 
I didn't mind, but the mrs questioned my sanity until she got a few rides in it!
I didn't mind, but the mrs questioned my sanity until she got a few rides in it!One evening after a few beers I returned home a little drunk and somehow found my way onto eBay.
I remember discussing Senna (the film) and the Fast and Furious anthology with my buddy over several beers. I came home thinking that I should pick some cheap DVDs up on eBay, as they couldn't have been more than £5 for each film.
I was quite surprised to see a "Congratulations, you won!" at around 3pm the next day when I woke up.
My scope creep went from a £5 DVD to this:
I remember discussing Senna (the film) and the Fast and Furious anthology with my buddy over several beers. I came home thinking that I should pick some cheap DVDs up on eBay, as they couldn't have been more than £5 for each film.
I was quite surprised to see a "Congratulations, you won!" at around 3pm the next day when I woke up.
My scope creep went from a £5 DVD to this:
I previously had a CT 200h followed by an IS 300h which I sold to free up some cash so have since been running a CLK 220 CDI.
Driving to work in Central London, I missed a hybrid so last weekend I bought an old Prius.
And this weekend I bought a RC 300h.
Driving to work in Central London, I missed a hybrid so last weekend I bought an old Prius.
And this weekend I bought a RC 300h.
Edited by Swoxy on Saturday 11th May 09:18
Hohum, fun topic 
!
My daily is curently a Mk 7.5 GTI that I bought for not much due to last years German diesel trade-in scheme. Put 25k kms on it, still roughly worth around what I paid for.
The potential of shifting the Golf has lead to all kinds of silly ideas:
- swap it for a MX5 ND2 with the lovely 184 PS motor and keep that until petrol goes out of fashion.
- use it as deposit for a € 55k Tesla m3 AWD and pay off the rest on finance.
- s
t, but f I spend € 55k on a car, that opens _a lot_ of avenues. New M2, new Alpine A110, best late flat 6 Boxster one can buy...
- sell it, go back to buying train passes for commuting and get an Elise, Evora, Exige or a Seven.
The latter, due to running costs of the train st and glacial depreciation of the Lotus kit might actually be the most sensible option.
Point of this post? Not sure there is one. Sucks to have many options to blow the limited funds
.
! My daily is curently a Mk 7.5 GTI that I bought for not much due to last years German diesel trade-in scheme. Put 25k kms on it, still roughly worth around what I paid for.
The potential of shifting the Golf has lead to all kinds of silly ideas:
- swap it for a MX5 ND2 with the lovely 184 PS motor and keep that until petrol goes out of fashion.
- use it as deposit for a € 55k Tesla m3 AWD and pay off the rest on finance.
- s
t, but f I spend € 55k on a car, that opens _a lot_ of avenues. New M2, new Alpine A110, best late flat 6 Boxster one can buy...- sell it, go back to buying train passes for commuting and get an Elise, Evora, Exige or a Seven.
The latter, due to running costs of the train s
t and glacial depreciation of the Lotus kit might actually be the most sensible option. Point of this post? Not sure there is one. Sucks to have many options to blow the limited funds
.There is a twelve-step process for truly epic budget creep.
Step one: I need / want a different car
Step two: I don’t want to spend very much
Step three: I can’t find anything in budget that I like – but I did find something that I like which is well above budget
Step four: Start looking at cars in new higher budget
Step five: Engage spec creep mode. I like the higher end models but not the lower end ones
Step six: Re think new car strategy and decide that the new car can be the main car, not just a run about
Step seven: Up budget again now that this will be the main car
Step eight: Find a great car that you really like which is eye wateringly expensive
Step nine (critical step this): Decide to see if you can get an older but much more up market and faster car that still falls within the revised budget from step seven.
Step ten: Start searching for Porches, top end Mercedes, BMW M cars, Range Rovers etc
Step eleven: Find a belter of a car that will be awesome – but it is old and does not have all the modern nice to haves that the car in step eight had.
Step twelve: Decide that you now ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE all the good things you found in step eight AND in step eleven so start looking for new model versions of the cars you found in step eleven.
This process can now be repeated from step three onwards.
TD
Step one: I need / want a different car
Step two: I don’t want to spend very much
Step three: I can’t find anything in budget that I like – but I did find something that I like which is well above budget
Step four: Start looking at cars in new higher budget
Step five: Engage spec creep mode. I like the higher end models but not the lower end ones
Step six: Re think new car strategy and decide that the new car can be the main car, not just a run about
Step seven: Up budget again now that this will be the main car
Step eight: Find a great car that you really like which is eye wateringly expensive
Step nine (critical step this): Decide to see if you can get an older but much more up market and faster car that still falls within the revised budget from step seven.
Step ten: Start searching for Porches, top end Mercedes, BMW M cars, Range Rovers etc
Step eleven: Find a belter of a car that will be awesome – but it is old and does not have all the modern nice to haves that the car in step eight had.
Step twelve: Decide that you now ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE all the good things you found in step eight AND in step eleven so start looking for new model versions of the cars you found in step eleven.
This process can now be repeated from step three onwards.
TD
Did the same on both of the last cars I bought.
Wanted to spend £15/16k on an M5 or M6, ended up buying a CLS63 for £21k albeit very love mileage.
My daily car being an old E Class, started off as a Saab 9-3 but found it so useful and covering more mileage than planned I sold up and spent £4k on the Merc. Admittedly, it's probably the best money I have ever spent on a car.
Wanted to spend £15/16k on an M5 or M6, ended up buying a CLS63 for £21k albeit very love mileage.
My daily car being an old E Class, started off as a Saab 9-3 but found it so useful and covering more mileage than planned I sold up and spent £4k on the Merc. Admittedly, it's probably the best money I have ever spent on a car.
Second Best said:
One evening after a few beers I returned home a little drunk and somehow found my way onto eBay.
I remember discussing Senna (the film) and the Fast and Furious anthology with my buddy over several beers. I came home thinking that I should pick some cheap DVDs up on eBay, as they couldn't have been more than £5 for each film.
I was quite surprised to see a "Congratulations, you won!" at around 3pm the next day when I woke up.
My scope creep went from a £5 DVD to this:
Good work sir, blatantly the best colour for a Focus I remember discussing Senna (the film) and the Fast and Furious anthology with my buddy over several beers. I came home thinking that I should pick some cheap DVDs up on eBay, as they couldn't have been more than £5 for each film.
I was quite surprised to see a "Congratulations, you won!" at around 3pm the next day when I woke up.
My scope creep went from a £5 DVD to this:
I had 'Inverse Budget Creep'.
I needed a car to commute in. 15 miles each way. Boring a roads, no overtaking.
I initially had a budget of £10-£15K but, the more cars I viewed, the more I realised I was nervous about sinking that type of cash into a depreciating boring eurobox diesel.
So, to cut a long story short, I ended up buying a terrible old Nissan for less than £1000, and spent the left over £14k on overpaying my mortgage
The terrible old Nissan has never gone wrong and is covered in dents, but I don't care!
I needed a car to commute in. 15 miles each way. Boring a roads, no overtaking.
I initially had a budget of £10-£15K but, the more cars I viewed, the more I realised I was nervous about sinking that type of cash into a depreciating boring eurobox diesel.
So, to cut a long story short, I ended up buying a terrible old Nissan for less than £1000, and spent the left over £14k on overpaying my mortgage
The terrible old Nissan has never gone wrong and is covered in dents, but I don't care!
Had the same, wanted to replace the Audi, didn't want to spend more than £10k and had to be an auto, with cruise, comfortable and economical.
So I bought an Abarth 595 Comp with the Performance Pack so no Auto, No Cruise, not uncomfortable but far from the last word in comfort also not particularly economical and I spunked £25k while I was at it.
Job, jobbed!
So I bought an Abarth 595 Comp with the Performance Pack so no Auto, No Cruise, not uncomfortable but far from the last word in comfort also not particularly economical and I spunked £25k while I was at it.
Job, jobbed!
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff