To buy or not to buy - up to £20k
Discussion
Hi all,
I'm in a bit of dilemma regarding car buying. Due to my nature of work, I will be commuting about 30 miles (motorway) from Summer for a year, after which I will change to a different location which is in walking distance. I have no idea what my situation will be after that. I would still be using the car on the weekends for leisure.
I currently own a 2009 Ibiza. It still mostly works and we have regularly done services on it.
However my fears for increasing maintenance costs and repairs, and more prominently its manual nature without any driver conveniences/safety are making me consider upgrading.
I want an automatic car with good reliability, with adaptive cruise control, and ideally a good sound system. All my research keeps landing me back to the Mazda 3. I have seen mentions of IS350h (lacks start/stop ACC), ES300h (issues with car theft that has jacked up insurance prices), Corolla Touring (I think a non-hybrid would be better if I dont end up using a car in the longer term for commuting).
What are people's thoughts on car choices, and more generally if I should upgrade or just stick to my current car?
Cheers
I'm in a bit of dilemma regarding car buying. Due to my nature of work, I will be commuting about 30 miles (motorway) from Summer for a year, after which I will change to a different location which is in walking distance. I have no idea what my situation will be after that. I would still be using the car on the weekends for leisure.
I currently own a 2009 Ibiza. It still mostly works and we have regularly done services on it.
However my fears for increasing maintenance costs and repairs, and more prominently its manual nature without any driver conveniences/safety are making me consider upgrading.
I want an automatic car with good reliability, with adaptive cruise control, and ideally a good sound system. All my research keeps landing me back to the Mazda 3. I have seen mentions of IS350h (lacks start/stop ACC), ES300h (issues with car theft that has jacked up insurance prices), Corolla Touring (I think a non-hybrid would be better if I dont end up using a car in the longer term for commuting).
What are people's thoughts on car choices, and more generally if I should upgrade or just stick to my current car?
Cheers
I’d stick with what you have and if you are nervous just take the Ibiza for a full service and look over before you start commuting.
If you do go a new car £20k would get you very reliable cars with a nicer driver experience than those listed. You could also spend half that on something nice.
I think it’s more a question of do you want a new car?
If you do go a new car £20k would get you very reliable cars with a nicer driver experience than those listed. You could also spend half that on something nice.
I think it’s more a question of do you want a new car?
People coped just fine before adaptive cruise control, lane assist, auto dipping high beam etc. Those features wouldn't even cross my mind as a reason to upgrade tbh. My mate has a new Audi S3 and he turns off lane assist because it plays up more often than he's comfortable with.
I'd just keep what you have and let the £20k generate interest in an ISA.
I'd just keep what you have and let the £20k generate interest in an ISA.
ResearchToDeath said:
Hi all,
I'm in a bit of dilemma regarding car buying. Due to my nature of work, I will be commuting about 30 miles (motorway) from Summer for a year, after which I will change to a different location which is in walking distance. I have no idea what my situation will be after that. I would still be using the car on the weekends for leisure.
I currently own a 2009 Ibiza. It still mostly works and we have regularly done services on it.
However my fears for increasing maintenance costs and repairs, and more prominently its manual nature without any driver conveniences/safety are making me consider upgrading.
I want an automatic car with good reliability, with adaptive cruise control, and ideally a good sound system. All my research keeps landing me back to the Mazda 3. I have seen mentions of IS350h (lacks start/stop ACC), ES300h (issues with car theft that has jacked up insurance prices), Corolla Touring (I think a non-hybrid would be better if I dont end up using a car in the longer term for commuting).
What are people's thoughts on car choices, and more generally if I should upgrade or just stick to my current car?
Cheers
Keep the Ibiza! If you're concerned about reliability get a garage to check it out in detail and service it. It's a no-brainer. A year will fly by.I'm in a bit of dilemma regarding car buying. Due to my nature of work, I will be commuting about 30 miles (motorway) from Summer for a year, after which I will change to a different location which is in walking distance. I have no idea what my situation will be after that. I would still be using the car on the weekends for leisure.
I currently own a 2009 Ibiza. It still mostly works and we have regularly done services on it.
However my fears for increasing maintenance costs and repairs, and more prominently its manual nature without any driver conveniences/safety are making me consider upgrading.
I want an automatic car with good reliability, with adaptive cruise control, and ideally a good sound system. All my research keeps landing me back to the Mazda 3. I have seen mentions of IS350h (lacks start/stop ACC), ES300h (issues with car theft that has jacked up insurance prices), Corolla Touring (I think a non-hybrid would be better if I dont end up using a car in the longer term for commuting).
What are people's thoughts on car choices, and more generally if I should upgrade or just stick to my current car?
Cheers
For one year? Why bother changing. Also, why an automatic if you're going to be doing mostly motorway driving? You'll see absolutely no benefit at all versus a manual.
Take your Seat to a half decent mechanic, tell them you want it bringing up to standard and why, and keep your money. My car is a 2009, and it's a better drive than most of this new crap. Better put together, all the things I need (cruise control, a comfortable driving position, a decent cup holder, and Bluetooth audio streaming) and none of the things I don't (lane assistant, stop/start, overspeed warning).
It's a 45 minute drive, you don't need anything special to handle that, the seat will do the job fine.
Take your Seat to a half decent mechanic, tell them you want it bringing up to standard and why, and keep your money. My car is a 2009, and it's a better drive than most of this new crap. Better put together, all the things I need (cruise control, a comfortable driving position, a decent cup holder, and Bluetooth audio streaming) and none of the things I don't (lane assistant, stop/start, overspeed warning).
It's a 45 minute drive, you don't need anything special to handle that, the seat will do the job fine.
Vsix and Vtec said:
For one year? Why bother changing. Also, why an automatic if you're going to be doing mostly motorway driving? You'll see absolutely no benefit at all versus a manual.
Take your Seat to a half decent mechanic, tell them you want it bringing up to standard and why, and keep your money. My car is a 2009, and it's a better drive than most of this new crap. Better put together, all the things I need (cruise control, a comfortable driving position, a decent cup holder, and Bluetooth audio streaming) and none of the things I don't (lane assistant, stop/start, overspeed warning).
It's a 45 minute drive, you don't need anything special to handle that, the seat will do the job fine.
As others have said, if your Ibiza is doing the job well I'd recommend keeping it. Is it 30 miles roundtrip or each way, 150 miles or 300 miles per week?Take your Seat to a half decent mechanic, tell them you want it bringing up to standard and why, and keep your money. My car is a 2009, and it's a better drive than most of this new crap. Better put together, all the things I need (cruise control, a comfortable driving position, a decent cup holder, and Bluetooth audio streaming) and none of the things I don't (lane assistant, stop/start, overspeed warning).
It's a 45 minute drive, you don't need anything special to handle that, the seat will do the job fine.
As long as the air con is fully working, I'd arrange for a full service to be done on it and if needed upgrade the headlight bulbs to something like Osram Nightbreakers, and then just save the money you would have spent on buying its replacement.
Thanks for all your input. I think I will stick to the Ibiza. It turns out there's a bus from the local town centre to my workplace starting in August so I have that as "insurance".
I'm curious - are these comprehensive checks garages offer of value? Presumably they're more in depth than MOTs, but I assume also running the risk of overplaying issues they find?
I'm curious - are these comprehensive checks garages offer of value? Presumably they're more in depth than MOTs, but I assume also running the risk of overplaying issues they find?
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