Brand new shite - wud u?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I'm sure we've all considered buying OMG BRAN NU at some stage but been put off by the frankly mental prices of new cars - £26'000 for a very humdrum BMW 316i or even 20 grand for a bastarding Kia.

 

But I discovered that 14 and a half grand buys a new 1.8 Insignia. Petrol of course and base model but still with a/c and all the bits you actually need. And I will put my hand up and say fuck it, I like Insiginias. I've driven a few and they just do the bloody job with no prestige bullshit. And for 14.5k brand new with zero miles, I would as well. It's half the price of a 1.8 C Class Mediocredes Benz spaff chariot and it actually looks halfway sensible. Check out resale and after 3 years it's still worth 6 grand or so.

 

 

Would You?

 

https://broadspeed.com/CarView/Vauxhall/Insignia/36720/_1.8_140PS_Petrol_Design_Manual_5_doors

[strangeangel]

Nope.

[cort16]

No I'd keep getting confused and trying drive my kettle home.

[sierraman]

I like the look of them. However it turns to disappointment as soon as you get inside the gloomy interior. My father has the diesel one, its about as reliable as a third world dictatorship. That said I'd possibly settle for the petrol one with a normal handbrake. But not new that's financial suicide. It might be £14k but you know full well it will be worth about 34p in about 5 years.

[lincolndanny]

Yeah why not, all the cars on the road had to be bought new at some point....

 

We bought a new fiesta 2 years back and its great when my other shite doesnt want to work....

[Cavcraft]

Predictably, yes. Yes, I would.

[doobietoo]

Nope £3000 a year just to drive around that's nuts i normally break even on what i drive and the thought of chucking £10 a day away makes me shiver

[HH-R]

I hate Vauxhalls in general and these are no exception so I definitely wouldn't, but it's a pretty good deal for a brand new car of that size. Does the petrol have enough power to bully other road users out of the way, like these are usually used? I know they're dull as dishwater but I'd rather have something like a new C'eed.

[sierraman]

I like the thought of people buying a new car, spending a fortune having main dealer services, being a slave to a finance agreement then subsequently losing huge amounts at 10 years old when the dealer offers a derisory amount upon part exchange. It's about this point I'd like to step in and thrust £500 into their hands for their lovingly cared for motor.

[D Spares & Tyres]

nope

 

probably wouldn`t want one even when they are £300

 

Would buy a brand new Dodge Challenger though if I had that kind of cash to splash about. no HP though.

[richardmorris]

No. Look at one about 12 months old and look at the savings.

 

My colleague has just bought a 64 reg focus with 11,000 miles at about 1/3 off new price.

 

 

My newest purchase was my Citroen c5. Three years old, 33,000 miles and £4000. That's £15000 off list price in three years. Depreciation is the killer. I like cars that appreciate, or at the very least don't loose thousands a year. But then I'm mean and like playing with cars.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Nope don't get it. Go get a Fiesta ST or something else smaller but higher trim. If you ever decide to seel it you'll get more and they're just better all round

[sierraman]

At 1 year old you are still going to lose bucket loads as far as I can see. Anyway they are replacing it soon so I'd wait on seeing what happens then.

 

I can see what you are saying if you must have a 'new' car by buying at a year old.

[wuvvum]

Not sure I'd spaff 14.5K on an Insignia, but I would give serious consideration to spending half that on a new Sandero.

[anonymous user]

I'm afraid I already do for my main car, but go for the really low, rock bottom end of new cars - sod the % residual I want to know how much I can lose in pounds.

 

Last three have been previously two base model Pandas and the current Suzuki Alto, when they only cost £6k that is the most I can lose, I do about 20,000 miles a year it is mostly shortish trips with only me in the car, not going for diesel as these do 50+mpg anyway. Somewhere on the forum is my total cost per mile for a Panda over three years, including tyres, servicing, insurance, fuel and what I lost on it.  The pence per mile was much less than I expected, even allowing for losing just over half the value of the car.

 

Just a comparison on fuel alone, previously I ran my Volvo which did 25mpg and swapped to a Panda that did 50mpg, in three years I could afford to buy a Panda and throw it away at the end just on the fuel cost saving, so whilst the Volvo was not depreciating that wasn't my biggest cost. My mistake was not keeping the Volvo as well, as since then I've bought another three.

 

Technically I'm better off, but I don't really notice any saving as I end up wasting the money on other things.

 

I know it wouldn't suit everyone, but it suits me at the moment, once my mileage is down to sensible levels I won't be bothered as much about pence per mile.

 

 

The figures for my recently departed Fiat Panda over the three years and 58000 miles I owned it.

£3800 depreciation - £6000 purchase cost (the base model) less £2200 trade in value at just under three years old.

£90 three years VED

£520 three years service costs

£420 three years replacement tyre costs

£720 three years insurance cost incl. business use and a couple of named drivers

£6750 petrol @ 50mpg average (It never seemed to go under 50 but did do a little more on longer runs)

 

So that's £12,300 over three years or about 21 pence per mile; however I do get paid for work mileage and over the three years got £3495 back from work so in real terms it cost about 15 pence per mile.

 

 

Found it, the Alto is better on fuel with zero VED, but has a 9k service interval, it's now on 39k and will be two at the end of August, it will be interesting to compare the two when I get shot of this one.

Edited June 27, 2015 by anonymous user

[sierraman]

Other factors come into it. I've no doubt the Volvo was a pleasant place to sit in the comfy leather seats, I'd feel a bit peeved to go from that to the chairs you get in a Panda.

[sierraman]

I've just read the first post again, £20,000 for a Kia!? What!!!! I thought they were only about £10k!? Who is buying them at that price?

[anonymous user]

Other factors come into it. I've no doubt the Volvo was a pleasant place to sit in the comfy leather seats, I'd feel a bit peeved to go from that to the chairs you get in a Panda.

No it's ok, I have sheepskin seat-covers. Seriously, yes I'd prefer a Volvo 240, however  the running costs were not insignificant, although not as bad`as when I did 17,000 miles in six months in a Jeep Cherokee 4.0 litre.

 

 

 

I am trying to convince myself that I'm doing the right thing, I know I'm not going to convince anyone else

Edited June 27, 2015 by anonymous user

[Timewaster]

Having been quite excited at the prospect of a new car (company car) I can honestly say that it was a disappointment.

It was delivered without ceremony, although the dolt who delivered it set the fire alarm off trying to get out of the building.

After a week or so the novelty had well and truly worn off.

[UltraWomble]

Given that this is £900 Im giving really serious thought to buying one

http://tomosuk.com/models/flexer-45

But a brand spanker car? Nah.

[Tamworthbay]

To sensibly get the best bang for your buck you want to buy a two to three year non fashionable jap car and run it until it dies. My wife has a Mazda 3 that cost 5k at three years old and has needed nothing but tyres in the last four years. We will run it until it dies and repeat. Buy a three year old insignia and at least some of the issues MAY have been sorted (guy at work had a brand new Mokka and they had it more than him for 18months until he finally gave up).

[capsuleboy]

Just one word...Cactus.

Finally a new car I like and would buy. My last new car was a Pug 205 in 1989...

[garethj]

It's the depreciation that keeps me from buying something new, and any kind of loan on a depreciating asset is financial insanity.

 

I know that new cars have lots of handy features like Bluetooth to your phone, built in satnav and decent fuel economy but you can get much the same with a 12 year old Skoda Octavia and a £300 stereo.  That's £1000 all in, it won't lose money and it'll be more reliable if you do loads of miles.  My Pug 205 and Skoda didn't miss a beat doing 18000 miles a year and both sipped the fuel too.  The Skoda was dull to drive, but new cars are the same IMHO.

[alf892]

Probably not an Insignia but I'm not against the idea of a new car........but I'd be even worse and go pcp or lease as the idea of fixed cost travel can appeal......it's just another outgoing.

 

I was thinking about this driving down the road today in Mrs Alf ageing daily and it is quite hard to get way from the fact that I'm doing the same trip and pretty close to the same 'experience' as new car owners for much less.

 

But if I had the spare cash I would Trouble is I am a lot more harsh on what constitutes spare cash and if it's needed for going out, holidays or playing with old cars then it ain't spare

[richardmorris]

Just one word...Cactus.

Finally a new car I like and would buy. My last new car was a Pug 205 in 1989...

Saw loads of these in France the other week. I'm not convinced on their looks to be honest.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Guilty as charged your honour.

 

After 10 years of over paying my mortgage and finally getting rid of it, one year later I spazzed £24,000 on the Skoda at 0% interest over 4 years.

I did this for several reasons which are not good enough on their own, but combined did for me.

 

1. I can afford it and not consider the cost

2. I do over 16,000 miles a year in it

3. I had always bought steady and sensible on the family car before and wanted something that I loved to drive

4. It is really and I mean really good, if this was the only car I could have for the rest of my life, I would have no problem with that

5. It drinks less petrol than the previous car (I can get 42mpg on the 30 mile commute in summer for a 2.0 turbo petrol)

6. I will keep it for at least 10 years/150,000 miles and aim to keep it for over 200,000 miles

 

I probably won't buy new again, but am glad that I have had the chance.

[catsinthewelder]

I'm usually dead against the idea of owning another modern but all my old cars are broken so I'm currently tempted (not an Inspid though).  I'll just have to scrounge something from work to tide me over.

[captain_70s]

I bought a 1 year old Corsa 1.4T, the first owner had lost the first £4k, basically a quid for every mile he drove it. By the time I ditched it after about a year and a half  I'd lost £3.5k although I'd put about 25,000 miles on the clock...

 

Never again, even aside from the fact I ended up hating the car and it started falling apart (my supervisor at work is now having similar "Vauxhalls are shit" problems with his Astra) I couldn't afford to get rid of it. Within a year and a half I'd have to have had £3.5k saved up just to able to cover the difference between it's value and what I had left to pay on it, ended up borrowing the sum from my parents under the understanding that unless I could ditch the finance payment I'd never be able to afford move out of their house regardless of being full time employed and working a 6 day week.

To desperately cling on to what little value it had I sent it away to Vauxhall for servicing at hilarious cost as well but honestly I'm just glad I didn't have it long enough for it to properly go wrong because repair costs for modern cars are insane. A while ago I was talking to the bloke who runs my local garage, he had some huge 2 year old Citroen people carrier in with an wiring loom problem, the entire interior had been pulled out and it had already racked up a grand worth of labour costs and they hadn't even worked out where the problem was...

 

Of course you could not be on a finance plan and buy a brand new motor outright, but why would you do that? £5k or so would get you a tidy, low mileage motor that's a few years old and passed most of it's period of depreciation and you could spend the other £10k on something else, cocaine and hookers for example.

[Negative Creep]

I've never owned anything less than 10 years old or bought it any other way than cash. If I did need a dependable family car I'd go for a 4-5 year old Mondeo or something like that to avoid the bulk of the depriciation

[Craig the Princess]

I quite fancy a new MG3.

 

That says it all for my state of mind! Fortunately I am about £8500 short of it's £8339 price.