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.

What do you have Tulips? I hope it's not a diesel S-line Audi!

Ramrod - might have to don my flack jacket for the admission but current car is a Porsche, M3 before that . I know I am beyond hope - I blame my father who had me reading car magazines from the age of 6....

Well I think people certainly have different levels of income, buy what you can afford. Me and DH spent £30,000 on our first car built new together so we could drive a nice sporty number which holds is value and we only needed one car. I would have been 21 at the time and it was my first car really as I was driving my DH car for six months before that. Some people just earn more money, some people spend too much money on other things, some people save and some people get into debt.

Buy what you can afford

I like your style Tulips!

Thank you Ram - my first car was a 1.1 Peugeot 106. I'd saved so hard to buy it and it was my pride and joy. Even now when I see one I can't help smiling

As others have said, plenty of 5 seaters out there that won't put you back £11k+. We have a old style Honda CRV which appears to be bullet proof - we use it as a camping car, boot plenty big enough for most people's everyday needs. Not fun to drive but we have other cars for that!

Urgh, if you want something long term buy Japanese! No no no. German every time.

Just traded in 5yr old car with 90k mileage, got very little for it but got enough to cover the last two months of repairs - it is out of warranty and things have started going wrong whivh is costing lots to repair.
Need a reliable car for work, need a safe car for work (transport other peoples children) so don't need a car that needs frequent garage visits.

New car half on finance as 0% was offered. Means I keep some savings for a rainy day.

This is 4th car brought from new. I know they lose value quickly but they never seem to get much trade in due to mileage.

A good friend of mine called hers a cash cow rather than a quashkai.

We have had 15 cars in the 12 years DH and I have been together so have test drove a fair few.

We bought a 5 yo car with a low interest bank loan. It was cheaper than car finance. It's now paid off and still going strong. It's a 5-seater (can fit three actual people in the back) C-Max and is fantastic.

Nanny - according to my dear old dad - who knows his onions (traded in cars and tractors for 40+ years!), get rid of a car before 80k miles. After that the value slides away quite rapidly. We usually buy ours after that - but only ever diesel as they last longer! I was amazed when I saw a Merc estate with 200k miles on it going for £7k - but they do hold their value!
DH wants a Maserati Quattroporte - I would like to have the new Mercedes 7 seater GL... One day we will, but they won't be new ones!!

It's trading it in Nannynick that loses the money - you could get loads more by selling privately.

90K on a 5YO car isn't much at all and it should still be worth at least 4k unless a very small car. It shouldn't be going wrong all the time either, unless it was French or Italian.

Has anyone suggested a Skoda Octavia yet? With the OP's 5k budget, you could get a great car that will last a good few years.

I paid 7k for a 3 YO Octavia estate 3 years ago and it has given us 3 years of virtually trouble free motoring 5 seats and a massive boot. I fully expect to keep it for another 3-5+ years at least.

Tbh I second the post about German cars. Had 5 in total (B/M/P - not had an Audi) and not a problem with any if them.

My experience of French cars (though much loved for sentimental reasons as per post below) wasn't great in terms of reliability.

That said have had 2 MX5's over the years and they were both bullet proof in terms if reliability though slightly problematic if you wanted anywhere to put kids other than the boot rack .

Service costs on the Mazda's were a lot cheaper than the German brands though.

We have a German and a French at the moment Yellowtulips.

12 of our 15 cars were German, 2 French and one British. No problems with any of them except the British one as whole engine control system went. Luckily they fixed it for free though as had only done abut 50k and said was supposed to last at lest 100k.

Wow Siarie, you have done well to be earning well by 21 and able to buy a 30,000 car. I'm impressed. I'd just come out of uni and had student loans!

Fairylea I had a Seicento too - had it 12 years from new. Cried when it died. I still get soppy if I see one now. And Oh My God a tank of petrol cost about 50p and would last for 2 years. Or something like that.

We too got a family of 4 and a pushchair in it (not much else though!). And I miss the split rear seat

get rid of a car before 80k miles. After that the value slides away quite rapidly

That probably was true in the past but not so much these days as cars do generally last much longer and the general public seem to be catching up with that understanding.

Urgh, if you want something long term buy Japanese! No no no. German every time

You're joking right? 25/30 years ago the German stuff was really well built. Nowadays not so much. I love BMWs and run BMWs but they're just not as well built as the Jap stuff. Lexus for example make BMWs look as though they were built by a 5 year old in my experience. As mentioned before, the stats across a much wider sample back that up. German reliability is largely a myth these days I'm sad to say. Less fun to drive but if you want dependability over a 10 year ownership buy a Lexus.

My Dad just got rid of his Lexus for a Beamer - he'd had it for 2 years and he just didn't gel with it. Found it a bit soulless.

My mum won't drive anything other than a VW - 20 years of Polo's and now in a shock change to a Golf.

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!

^ that was my point! .. yes I realise there a masses of big cars I could buy for 5k or less, but after years of little run around we decided we'd really upgrade, I was really shocked to see cars going for 19k. . 2nd hand! let alone from new. I found it hard to imagine that there would be alot of people who could buy cash.

We've had a car on finance before, I don't mind the idea of it and it worked fine, until I lost my job and it came down to needing to get rid of as many outgoings as possible. I handed the car back to write off the finance and bought the cheapest thing on the forecourt to get to work with. now we don't have that extra outgoing I realise how nice it is not to have it! (i actually got another job 2 weeks later so perhaps a bit hasty)

I happen to totally love my clio it's so cheap to run .. but ready to have some actual room! I just thought - you know what, we work hard, I do lots of driving so seems sensible to have a nice car I would enjoy driving etc. but then saw autotrader and just thought.. how ridiculous!

I think we'll save a bit more and keep researching :)

Oh jap stuff you just mean Lexus not the other plastic fantastic ranges!

Are you Jeremy Clarkson by any chance. Youare almost as patronising. You have to be male.

You do know Lexus is just a more expensive Toyota Madame. Just like a VW is a more expensive Skoda.

No Littlebear I didn't know that because I have no intention of buying one so have never looked into it.

I bought a brand new car a few months ago. Pre registered so saved a fortune on it. Am repaying it on 0% interest.

If you're buying new pre registered is definitely the way to go

Oh jap stuff you just mean Lexus not the other plastic fantastic ranges!

No, Lexus was just an example. Also tell me just how many German and Japanese cars you've taken apart? I'm guessing none. Hondas for example always feel over engineered - 10 bolts in something when other manufacturers would use 6. Their bolts can also be a bugger to crack but once cracked they're finger tight unlike the German stuff - this shows quality engineering and quality materials. Forged crankshafts which can handle 3 times the power output of the motor - do you find that in a VW? Do you fuck!