Golf R or 320d touring shadow

[Chestrockwell]

So my brothers been driving sub shed cars for about 2 years as he’s been trying to get on the property ladder, he bought his house before Christmas, done it up and now it’s time for him to finally get a new car.

Budget is up to 370 a month.

So far, his options are,

320d shadow edition touring - 350 pm
Golf R DSG - 360 pm
Golf GTI Performance 245 - 319 pm
Mercedes C200 AMG Line estate - 370 pm
E200 AMG Line - 360 pm

All are 3+23, all 10k per annum

MPG is a concern to some extent, he mostly has his 2 kids in the car so isn’t going to be speeding everywhere.

The cars in question are the complete opposites however they’re all in budget, all are nice cars, even the slowest are brisk at 7.5 0-60 (E200).

The natural answer as a petrol head would be the Golf as this PistonHeads but is it? The 320d may be better to live with for 2 years.

I have a Civic Type R and I let him borrow it from time to time so the 320d might make sense as it will be a lot better on fuel and he has the option of driving a fun car if he wants.

The Mercs are glamorous and they have better interiors than all the cars in the list. They’re also probably the comfiest and look the nicest.

What do you think he should go for?

[Chestrockwell]

Thanks for the input gents, he found a very good deal on an A6 45 TFSI S Line , 366 3+23 10k per annum. Same engine as the Golf GTI so plenty of grunt. The new Audi’s come with a lot of kit standard too!

[Chestrockwell]

ianreeves said:

So I have a Golf R....

On one hand I should feel lucky, it's a performance car. Fast, good build quality, has lots of equipment.

Yet after a bit, I've just fallen out of love with it. Driving wise it's very bland. Doesn't ask you to do much just point and feed it pertol, it just lacks soul.

On the motorway you either doing ****mph with ease or getting annoyed at the constant 6-7 shifting, ending just locking it in gear.

In town the DSH just isn't great at starting either it's snappy and rips your head off or in the different modes feels very laggy.

Maybe it's just me and I just don't love it anymore

I thought that, thats probably the reason why the 3 series and the E class was in the list, sure they’re not as fast or as fun as the Golf but will he still love it after 2 years? The A6 is the best option I think, comfortable cruiser with enough power if you want it!

[Chestrockwell]

Wooda80 said:

iphonedyou said:

doog442 said:

Sensible idea, no idea why that dullard was laughing at you.

Re-using teabags is sensible, and about as relevant to OP's thread.

You're both wrong. He should stay in his current shed, pay the extra £360 pm into his pension and hope he lives long enough to draw it down .

I suppose it is sensible and the pension thing is a good idea but as I said, been driving sub shed cars for the past 2 years, before that were 3-4K cars, there’s always been something needed, he’s tired of breaking down. It’s time to drive something new with zero headache, Bluetooth, music streaming without an aux, sounds silly when you have the ‘put it towards the pension’ mentality’ but we all deserve some self indulgence now n then

[Chestrockwell]

MR94 said:

I'd avoid the 320d Touring Shadow Edition, they released the new 3 series Touring last week making the one you'd order the old model, which isn't fantastic when spending what is still a fair bit of money.

The F30/F31 3 series interior aged rather quickly too, although they're fantastic to drive they're not that great a place to sit and spend time imo. Sit in one and then sit in a well specced VW/Audi/Merc and you'll wonder how BMW sold as many as they did.

Do you have a link to that A6 deal? Weirdly I'm in the exact same position with the exact same budget, i'm about to FTK on an A250 Prem Plus, but that A6 deal sounds definitely interesting. What kit does it include? From what I've read about the new Audi range, it's only really the tech pack that you need to tick, every other option is unnecessary.

The petrols have all gone unfortunately but the company has a few 40 TDI’s, S Line black editions for 369, I don’t have the link for it but it’s from fleetprices.com!

[Chestrockwell]

Well then, here she is.

A6 40 TDI 204 bhp S-Line Black edition.

3+23 361pm 10k a year.

I’ve always bought my cars, I’ve had 2 nearly new cars and it always took a lot of haggling, big deposits and borrowing money from the bank to pay it off eventually.

I can’t get over this, have I been getting ripped off? This is a 45k car, delivered to my brothers doorstep within a week of saying he wants it, all he had to pay was £1083 and the keys were given to him. Sure he pays the 361 monthly but that’s next to F all in the grand scheme of things, just above a tenner a day, some people spend double that on wine and cigarettes.

Sure you don’t own the car and lose that money but that’s a st load less than the depreciation, so what’s the problem with leasing? Drive a dream car for not a lot of money, no MOT’s or servicing to worry about, tyres will last, average 50 mpg....don’t see what the big deal is!

[Chestrockwell]

nuttywobbler said:

Nice looking car! Does it have the tech pack?

So it’s costing him approx £390 per month amortised.

Not sure anyone said there’s an issue with leasing - it serves a purpose, find a good deal and it offers value for money versus other options of buying new.

Spending nearly £400 per month on a car is a lot more than most people will / are able to pay - it’s a large amount of money to most people - but I agree, it’s probably less than the depreciation so a good deal on that basis

Edited by nuttywobbler on Thursday 27th June 17:12

It doesn’t have the tech pack but not a problem as he came from a 2004 1.6 Civic and a E39 523i before that

I took it for a drive and it’s a lovely car, feels like driving a cloud compared to my Civic!

[Chestrockwell]

Jag_NE said:

My point is that the poster with the Audi thinks he is beating the market via leasing due to thinking the list price is a credible reference point. It’s only a breakeven deal vs buying one and selling it at the two year point. Keep the purchased car past year 2 and you will be lower cost than repeat leases as the depreciation curve flattens substantially. At the end of the day it’s where individuals see the value that matters, I’m just making the point that the perceived value of the lease scenario isn’t as high as people think, when they bring list price into the equation.

Well, whatever the list price is, it’s a brand new A6, a car that’s brought to your doorstep within a week of signing the proposal form for an initial payment of 1083 followed by 361. I don’t remember how leading/financing worked years ago but when I was 5-10, I used to look at cars like the A6 and E class etc as if they were only for the super rich, nowadays, anybody can get one, and that’s no bad thing.

Imagine going and buying an A6 for 9 grand (cost of overall lease). It’ll be over 10 years old as you don’t want a dodgy one, it’ll be out of warranty with old tech, a euro 5 or less Diesel engine and all sorts of things that could go wrong, you’ll have to service and MOT it every year, insurance will cost more as will tax and it will cost half of what you paid for it in 2-3 years time, sure you’ll still be 5 grand better off but I’d rather have a brand new one and I’ll pay that 5 grand with my eyes closed. You don’t even see the money, it’s a DD, I pay 70£ a month for my phone bill and 80£ for my gym membership. I don’t even think about it, not because I’m rich, but because it’s one of those things that come with life, they’re called ‘bills’.

Edit - Let’s say you went for a petrol A6 for 9 grand, that wouldn’t return anything above 30mpg and the tax will more than likely cost more than the diesel

[Chestrockwell]

DoubleD said:

£80 a month to use a gym? Crikey.

David Lloyd’s friends and family discount, usually 120 :O

[Chestrockwell]

zj2016 said:

ZX10R NIN said:

Jag_NE said:

Probably not, but the only point I’m making is that it isn’t 9k paid on lease fees versus 24k on depreciation if you bought it. If you are the type of person who normally buys a new car and trades it every two year for a new one (everything else being equal) it’s a decent deal, for sure.

But you wouldn't be paying 45k for one in the first place there's normally 10k+ discounts on these new, actually there's with 15k off to be had as long as you buy stock & that's before the 1.5-2.5k contribution that you can get with the finance packages available this quarter:

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

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

With the Tech Pack:

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

So that's your depreciation taken care of vs a lease (I'm not saying one way is better than another) it's a case of seeing what works for the individual

The problem with the above though is that the monthly payments are going to be higher than leasing a brand new one. Therefore if you have no interest in keeping the car long term there is no financial advantage and you are also having to tax yourself as well as having no option of tyres/maintenance that you have with a lease.

So can I walk into Audi tomorrow and pay a grand to get the keys then just pay 360 a month and not pay for the VED for the following 2 years? If yes, then I’m mistaken about leasing.

[Chestrockwell]

zj2016 said:

The problem with the above though is that the monthly payments are going to be higher than leasing a brand new one. Therefore if you have no interest in keeping the car long term there is no financial advantage and you are also having to tax yourself as well as having no option of tyres/maintenance that you have with a lease.

Tyres and maintenance is pointless on a car like this anyway, 2.0 diesel with FWD, you’re not going to be setting the world alight. You’d service it once as well, 250 for an oil change after about 15k miles.