£50k to spend on a family car. Go!

[themainline]

Anyone know anything about cars? We live in central(ish) London and have never needed one until now with the arrival of our second child.

Car needs to be big enough for 2 car seats to fit comfortably at the back plus a big boot for the double buggy and Ddog. Will probably only use it to do the weekly shop plus day trips out of London from time to time.

We are paying cash (as opposed to getting it on finance) does that give us any bargaining power when buying a car?

50K cash. Is your OH a bank robber?

Skoda octavia estate. For a double buggy and dog you'll need an estate

We have a Hyundai Tucson - it's a great mum bus, room for 2 x car seats and the boot is one of the biggest we could find! We paid £13k for a 2.5 year old car

Heh, we also have an XC60. Apart from being a nice drive, it has the unique advantage that, even though it's bloody expensive, you can just tell people you drive a Volvo and avoid reactions like on this thread!

I live in central London OP. I had the same requirements as you (but not quite as big a budget!) But we didn't spend our full budget in the end. Insurance was so expensive on nicer cars and we wanted something that could get a bit dinged up and that we wouldn't worry about. Plus I'm just not fussed about fancy cars so didn't care for prestige. What I did care about was fuel efficiency and environmental impact as well as the ULEZ & congestion charges. So many of the cars mentioned above are diesel which you should avoid like the plague. If you can go electric I'd do that - and certainly hybrid. The push to reduce air pollution in London is not going to go away and it will result in more taxes on less fuel efficient cars IMO.

Range Rover velar if looking for a 4x4, Porsche Panamera if looking for a more saloon type.

That'd be my two picks if I had 50k cash for a car anyway

XC60 all day over a Range Rover.

The Jag F Pace is a great car I think they also have a smaller electric version an I Pace maybe. Not sure how easy access charging points are in London though.

Just remember you can be anyone you want to be in mumsnet lol. People can make up a lot of sh*t hahaha

Electric cars are great but they do have their drawbacks. DH has a Tesla and you do have to plan your trips a bit more as it’s not a case of just filling up and carrying on your journey. If we’re going on a road trip in it, we have lunch etc around charging times. If we’re in a hurry, we take my car.

Just remember you can be anyone you want to be in mumsnet

So nobody ever buys a car for £50k+?

2nd hand Volvo XC90 if want to blow budget (check space in garage though). 2nd HSBC Ford smax if want change.
Don't buy brand new, get a 6 month old one!
Check for the diesel zone thing though, although think a modern car is generally ok.

2nd Hand not hsbc!!

Kia Sportage 2. You can get something six months old for about £18k, it comes with great base level features (including a parking camera which is a godsend for London), high seating position so you get a great view of the road. Kia comes with seven year warranty. And you could save £32k to spend on other things...

@Shopkinsdoll - there are people that exist in the world with 50k cash to spend on a car lol

In London you really should have an electric or hybrid. With your budget, how about a hybrid Volvo XC60?

It is a bit bulkier than you need if you are only using it for weekly food shops but as your children grow older you might go camping / chuck bikes and scooters in or need to cart around vast quantities of sports kit regularly. It would probably fit a third car seat in top of you end up having another child.

(Disclaimer - I don't have a Volvo, but that is what I would like if I were upgrading my car)

I love my car but £50k will get you taxis with car seats til the end of time!

Don't waste your money...even if you happen to be a millionaire!

We lived in Central London for decades with a car. We were £50 per day to park it (it was a second mortgage!) and it was constantly broken in to, despite being an average car parked amongst things like Bentley's and Aston Martins. And that was in so-called "secure" parking.

Also, be prepared to sit for hours in traffic to go just a mile. We were once two hours from Clerkenwell to Westminster. I could have walked it quicker.

So nobody ever buys a car for £50k

Well obviously they do, but people don't generally decide to spend such a significant sum when they don't appear to have any interest or enthusiasm for cars, as appears to be the case for the OP.

As she's near areas where there are or will be charges for polluting vehicles and she has a decent budget then electric or some sort of hybrid sounds most appropriate. Also not something too big as will be difficult to park in small spaces. An auto park facility sounds good and a small to medium estate car sounds most practical.

I'd expect something like that to cost £30-40k new so also fits in the brief of happy to spend less than £50k. OP it might be worth looking at carwow or leasing as you can get good discounts especially if you aren't looking at a particular model.

Unless you are independently wealthy and mortgage free it's always worth questioning whether you need to spend so much as you never know what the future brings money or health wise.

You absolutely do not need to spend anything like £50k. In your circumstances that would be an absurd waste of money. How about a Toyota Prius hybrid or an electric Nissan Leaf?

£50k cash? Are you money laundering?

I am surprised at the amount of bitchy comments on this thread simply because someone wants to buy a car with 50k cash.

There are plenty of cars over 50k - obviously someone is buying them.

OP can spend what she likes on her car, she could be a millionaire for all anyone else knows.

The thread was not titled 'AIBU to buy a car worth 50k' it was to ask for suggestions.

@FudgeBrownie2019 I assume you are taking it back? You know, now random people on the internet have told you that you could have spent less and don't actually need the car you have and you are clearly wrong for wanting it?

I bet you're glad that people who have never met you are here to tell you where you are going wrong!

Hah obviously I'm going to trade it in for a tricycle and hope that pulls the horse box!

In all seriousness I agree you probably don't need to spend the whole 50k on a car. I wouldn't. But the whole "I wouldn't buy a BMW/Audi/whatever" on this thread is just snobbery at it's finest. OP asked what cars people drove, people gave answers. The fact I drive a 'nice' car (to me) doesn't make me a particular kind of person; it was in my price range, I liked the look of it and the wipe-clean seats meant the kids could shout "can we take so and so home from rugby" and I wouldn't weep about the state of the upholstery.

Life is far too short to bitch about how others spend their money, and for those questioning how OP has money to spend, it's really not the point. I know people who'd have 50k to chuck at a car, I know people who drive £500 cars. Life goes on.

hybrid xc90. Loads of room and should meet the emission targets. You should be able to get a second hand one in your budget.

If you have a dog and double buggy I'd get a Ford galaxy or Ford S Max then have the back 2 seats down with the dog in a crate or one of the seats up for the dog to sit in a harness in and plenty of room. Plus the flexibility of 7 seats as the kids get older and want friends to come out or take nan and gramps out with you.
Plus it will last decades with the sort of mileage you are doing.
In fact I wouldn't buy brand new but 3 years old as you will get a much better deal than brand new.