Brand new shite - wud u?

[Cavcraft]

I've mentioned this elsewhere but there are times/situations where brand new motoring is attractive.

 

While we like playing with our collective chod (stop sniggering), it's only fun when it's a hobby. I always hated having to fix the wifes car on a weekend, knowing that she needed it for Monday morning. That kind of a hard deadline meant that no matter how well prepared for the task in hand, something would snap/shear/get lost and leave the job unfinished and he not able to get to work. Plus it wasn't fun

 

The brand spankers Fiat 500 on finance came with zero tax, no MoTs, cheap insurance and a warranty. No more working on her car at the weekend and, added bonus, the baby Fiat has a pretty good RV as well, so it wasn't loosing to much money.

 

Of course, we have since split and she can only just afford it now I'm not there to chip in. Ironic that I have just spent all my spare money on another Fiat, eh?

I see your point, but not all old cars constantly need fixing or break down. I don't level this at you personally, but a hell of a lot of people swallow the pill and assume any car over two or three years is knackered. That probably accounts for those who do that three year thing then hand the car back, avoid the balloon payment and start all over again. Horses for courses and Im sure that's fine for them, it's just not for me,

[Mr Lobster]

^ I know a few people guilty of falling for the myth that anything older than about 3 years is an old, unreliable, worn out banger. I'm doing a 1000 miles per month in an 11 year old car and its as reliable as anything newer. It gets properly maintained and anything that needs doing is done* as despite it getting on a bit it still has to work and I'm not very tolerant of stuff that doesn't work. The day it starts regularly leaving me stranded will be the day I go Dacia shopping....

 

 

 

 

*(apart from the aircon that is. Thats not working which is a bit frustrating but hey-ho)

[Craig the Princess]

Ditto, in 60,000 miles in a Rover R8 Coupe (T-series) I have had one failure to make it home (loose wheelnut :-S, user error) and one niggly electrical fault (eventually changed the reasonably new battery and haven't had a problem in the past 3 years).

 

That said I'm killing the car so want a new car, to me this is one 10-15 years old (much like the Vectra C I got for my dad) rather than brand new but I can see the appeal of a new car.

[strangeangel]

However, I would expect ,my reccomendations to be dismissed out of hand due to badge snobbery. More fool them.

 

Not by me, I am encouraged I like the Dacia range, their cars say 'hard-working and unpretentious' to me.

[Taff]

I see your point, but not all old cars constantly need fixing or break down. I don't level this at you personally, but a hell of a lot of people swallow the pill and assume any car over two or three years is knackered. That probably accounts for those who do that three year thing then hand the car back, avoid the balloon payment and start all over again. Horses for courses and Im sure that's fine for them, it's just not for me,

 

Totally agree with you mate. In that particular case it made sense, the car was an ageing (M plate I think) Clio of no real value or interest which was around the 70 thou mark and starting to get "niggly", if that's even a word. It had needed a bit of welding for it's ticket, I think I changed the flexi's as well and snapped a bleed nipple doing it, that kind of scenario. None of them big jobs, granted, but it was all time I would rather have spent doing something else (like fixing my own car). So faced with another year of not working on my stuff because her's needed the kind of work I didn't want to do (whereas snapping bleed nipples on a late 50's yank-tank is completely acceptable...), the scrappage scheme coinciding with a fairly good monthly deal on the 500 (a new car that I really like & rate, actually) made it hard to want to keep the Clio on as her runabout

 

She's on her third now, it works for her. Whereas we (you and I) can cope with a car that has the odd mechanical issue, she couldn't. Still, no longer my problem.

[sierraman]

It's the fear factor people have with cars over 5 years old say. A colleague recoiled in horror when I told her our 'new' car had done 114k. There must be something wrong with it!

 

The problem these days is a lot of people who don't necessarily want a new car get drawn into a race with their neighbours/friends etc to have the latest Audi or Nissan Joke.

 

Funnily enough however people aren't frightened about losing thousands hand over fist every 3 years.

[oldcars]

I just did, a 04 plate. But then i think anything with numbers ie 51 plate is new 

[dugong]

That would be me for my wife. After bringing up my 2 kids she deserves what she want. I personally was trying to push her towards a DB7.

After driving a DB7, I'd have gone for the 1 Series as well.

 

I am very pleased with it. It has character (hard to find in a car these days) and simplistic charm. Would I reccomed it? Yes. However, I would expect ,my recommendations to be dismissed out of hand due to badge snobbery. More fool them.

At least you admit the Chinese MGs are hopeless. Fair play to you.

[forddeliveryboy]

We Brits seem unable to accept that a high mileage car can be in brilliant order. 150k for me is when I start taking an interest when it comes to general purpose machines - if a car can't take that mileage and still be in decent order, then it's either full of crap design, crap materials or hasn't been serviced and repaired correctly.

 

Go onto Leboncoin and there are loads of 406s with 300k-400k km racked up, with some well beyond that. Same in Germany, but with Mercs and Audis. We seem to be obsessed with new in the UK. In Denmark, a new (esp large) car is seen as the height of bad manners.

 

I wonder if the 'high value economy' where the cost of everything is artificially high means that people grow frightened of repair costs, so constantly seek something with a guarantee or warranty, buying it on credit? Then play it as if they're so cash-rich they can afford to splurge ridiculous sums on depreciation every year, hiding the fact that the reality is they're inept on a practical level and can't afford the odd high repair bill on their maxxed-out cards.