to wonder how anyone can afford cars?

[Pariba]

I have a really small car and we need a bigger one. 5 seats and a big boot. I really love the Nissan quashquai (sp?) and similar. ..... but upon a quick look ok autotrader I can see any of the cars that we think match our criteria are like . 11k+ not even talking brand new.

since my current (08 plate) car is worth 3 k at the very very most, and we could maybe scrape together another 2k. . I can't see us getting much. I refuse to put a car on finance. .

aside from my personal circumstances, I just think a) who has that money! and b) it's such alot of money for a car! ...I do so much driving it almost makes sense but I can't really get my head around it.

I'm think decent- ish second hand - 4 k max but never on finance...drive into the ground for 5-10 yrs - when they need a couple of expensive repairs in a year , sell for a couple of hundred.
And avoid obscure/expensive makes ...stick with vauxhall/ford etc -parts are affordable and you usually can get certain ones from the scrap yard...
I know someone (posh/flash car) who has just been quoted £400 for two new tyres....

Quashquais are known for problems, stay clear.

I think most people with decent newish cars have them on finance.

This is the most sensible option if having a new car is important to you as you can trade them back in every 3 years or so.

I'd avoid buying a brand new car unless you plan on keeping it until it dies. Otherwise the depreciation just isn't worth it..

You just need someone to assist you in looking for a car that meets your needs.

I just got a 2007 5 dr Audi A3 Sportsback (large boot) for £4.5k, without a mark on it, 95k on the clock (nothing for a diesel), 1 owner and a full service history.

Finding a decent second hand car isn't that hard, you just need to take the time to look, take a long someone who knows a bit about cars to give it the once over, and be open minded to different models.

That's not being unable to afford a car, though, that's being unable to afford a new, expensive model. I don't know anyone who can!

Our 7 sweater zafira cost about 1k second hand, no problems with it.

I think not Fairy. I've had the misfortune to drive a Golf Bluemotion - utterly soul destroyingly dull. How many miles a year do you do BTW? Mazda are an odd one as they seem to have gone down hill since joining Ford. Generally speaking Honda, Toyota and Lexus absolutely destroy VW in reliability studies and scores. The last person I'd take advice from about buying a car would be a car dealer! They come out with so many incorrect 'facts' that it's laughable.

i would look at a different model you need to be realistic within your budget

£11000 would be our car budget for about 20 years.

Me too! My 2001 Poo Goat diesel estate cost me £750 a year ago- most I've ever spent. The vendor wanted £900 (they're very optimistic with car prices in these parts) but I went along with a pocketful of money and bargained him down. It's cost me £100 for a couple of minor repairs and £200 for the MOT so far- other than that it's been great. Cheap insurance, tax, running etc- and I have a cheap independent mechanic to do any work. It'll probably last me a couple of years, then when something goes seriously wrong I can just weigh it in- I can afford to at that price. I'll probably get about £100-200 for the scrap value, too!

Surely buying a new or nearly new car is just chucking money down the drain, with depreciation? Especially if you get a finance deal....I just don't get it

I have a fairly new discovery. Its not on finance, I had a car previously on finance and paid it off, so had a large chunk to put down, and savings. that paid my discovery in full.

I have no objections to finance at least I know what I will be paying each month and when I did I got rid of them after the three years and got a new car, so all servicing costs were covered in the plan.

If I needed to get a new car now, id sell mine and buy something with the cash as really don't need a car as big now, but I I needed to put on finance I would.

No one needs a new car, but as long as you can afford the repayments I don't get all the snobbery about having a car on finance?

If you like the Qashqai, look at ford Kugas, they are lovely, I have had one previously and considering getting one next year when looking to replace my car.

I think, ramrod that my dad is going to give me the best advice, tbh as I am his DD!

I'll carry on enjoying driving my Golf, you carry on spouting your bollox!

I drive a brand new car, we get a brilliant deal as it was a pre reg (a Dacia would've been dearer) but it's a low spec, tiny engined corsa. It's actually going to be cheaper for us long term than my ancient old car with a thirsty engine and a spec that increased the insurance. It also has a lifetime warrant and hopefully low maintenance costs.

We're planning on keeping it til it dies, either as my car or a first car for one of the dc.

I think,ramrodthat my dad is going to give me the best advice, tbh as I am his DD!

You didn't answer my question about mileage?

Dacia Duster or Logan

Basic but brand new, which means better efficiency and more peace of mind than second hand for the same price.

Plus they also score highly on low tax, low insurance, reliability, cheap to repair (they are based on old renault and use renault parts and are actually badged as renaults in some countries). They are pretty good on fuel, even though they aren't eco cars, purely for the fact that they new cars.

We worked out getting a second hand car worth about £2000 versus a new Logan over a finance period of 3 years. The Logan came out very favourably indeed... especially considering its covered by warranty and no MOT for that period.

It is choice for some, I hate debt and I don't have a love for cars. Have been lucky to have had a period of company cars a few years ago but still kept my old banger as it was cheaper for petrol for private use. Have known far too many people where car finance was the loan too far. They have found themselves with a broken car, still owning money and needing a car for work. If you can afford it then it is great in cash or finance (for me as well as I could be buying at a later date). I probably spend too much on holidays.

DH picks cars up really cheap. He is a mechanic, so will buy cars that need work doing such as a head gasket (costs about £100-£200 parts but labour costs mean most people would rather buy a new car than shell out for it) or conversion (from automatic to manual - again labour costs put people off) then does the work in his own time. It does mean a long wait for my car to be road worthy as he does 10 minutes here and there between work, but ultimately I get a decent car for a very good price.
That is the only way we can afford to have a car each, that and DH does all the maintenance and labour free and we get discounted parts.
We don't get new cars though, my new to me car (which I am waiting for at the moment to be completed!) is an 03 plate. The one I drove before that was FILs old rust bucket KA (which I loved dearly) and it was a 15 year old car.
DHs car looks like it cost us a fortune, but he bought it with a blown head gasket from a trader who had bought a job lot of this type of car for bits. Cost us £300 plus a new head gasket. My new car was £250 plus £100 for parts.
No way could we pay auto trader prices.

mrsbasterd thanks for the tip! We'll have to have a day at Mothercare or somewhere checking out which prams/travel systems will squeeze in. Though it would be fab to have a bigger car, its an expense we hadn't budgeted for!

I don't need to answer you questions ramrod.

DH and I sat down and chose the best car for us. We know my requirements, DH did a lot of research, spoke to my dad, test drove a lot of different vehicles and decided on a Golf. My DH is a highly experienced and knowledgeable mechanical engineer. He knows a lot about engines. I don't need to justify our choice of car to some random person on the internet who thinks they know it all!

I take it Fairy that you do over 15k miles per year and most of that are motorway? If so then great - if not then you've been given totally duff advice. Also my 'bollox' is backed up by actual data from different sources - different surveys by different organisations and you know what? The Jap stuff always kills VW. Just to give you a couple of examples, the Golf doesn't even make the top 100 in one model specific reliability survey and in another VW comes joint 20th out of 36 manufacturers. These are not made up stats but based on many 10s of thousands of users and 100s of thousands of miles. Far more experience than you, I or your dad have individually. Oh and I also know a lot about engines BTW. As for driving that is of course totally subjective - I personally couldn't live with something so gutless and dull to drive but as long as you enjoy it then great. One of us is talking bollox but only one of us is backed up by actual facts. In summary - Golf ownership whilst in warranty fine. Out of warranty I wouldn't touch one with a shitty stick.

Ramrod - we may have to odd slightly larger bill to pay on our older car (so far so good and we have done over 40k miles in it!), the thing is that if you weigh up the depreciation of a new(er car) versus our occasional bill, we are still far better off!
We would never put ourselves in a position of debt purely to look smarter in Waitrose car park!

the odd sorry!

I have a Fiat Panda I bought with a personal loan last year. It was cheap, it is reliable and inexpensive to repair. I'd rather borrow to have a new car than have the scenario I had with my previous 5 year old car which regularly seemed to need large amounts spent on repairs. When I retire I'll buy a new one out of my pension lump sum.

Well as a comparison wibble we had a Silver Cross 3D when DC was small which fitted into the passenger seat ok, then moved onto a Maclaren which does the same. I was told there's only one pushchair out there that actually fits into the boot of a KA (cant remember which one, sorry) but this has never been a problem for me. Each to their own, but don't feel you HAVE to get a bigger car, especially if (like me) most of your driving is done round town. Good luck!

We have a 2001 golf, its awful. Maybe new golfs are good. Was perfect until it was 10 years old and since then, we've spend around £500 a year on repairs alone. When you add a service and MOT, we spend around £900 a year on keeping the sh*tter going. Then add road tax and thats around £1100 per year. DH says that all car cars 10 years + need money spent on them but i feel like we are just flushing money down the bog.

We have had cracked cylinders, new exhaust, constant replacing of coil springs (car dying out on main road/ roundabout- frightening). Engine light coming on about 4 times a year to indicate somethings up - i hate it so much.

But it still looks great and we get compliments on how good the body work is.

I love cars - always have.

I know they are expensive and you lose money - but I really enjoy owning something special.

In my case I am lucky to have a good salary but I do budget for my extravagance in the sense I tend to buy a new car every 3 years and start saving for the next one the day my new one arrives .

However I don't spend what I can't afford and stick to my (admittedly probably to most peoples POV excessive) budget.

I think I am pretty unusual buying my cars for cash - most of my work colleagues get some sort of finance deal over 3 years or do contract lease for their cars.

I agree with you entirely Asteria buying brand new is often false economy. Some morons will go out and spend £10k to change just so that they can get an extra 10mpg and save £100/year RFL. I wouldn't really recommend buying new unless you have money to burn or are going to keep a car for 7/8 years+ Some brands however are a much more sensible choice than others as an out of warranty purchase.

My friend also had a 2002 golf - she got rid as it kept costing too much to repair.

Amazingly I managed to get our old silver cross linear freeway folded up sideways in the boot of our fiat 3 dr seicento, dd, ds me and dh all in it. Fab little car