To want a luxury car?

[lill72]

I recived an inheritance, which has given me freedow to do things I couldn't before. We don't own a car and are currently looking at a newish BMW.
Is it better to buy a newish car if you can and have it for a long time or an older car that is cheaper but higher mileage. Does the money you lose and maybe the need to sell/buy a new car sort of even it all out in the end?

Feeling guilty at maybe spending so much is difficult making a decision when I don't have a budget but the money could be spent in other ways - ie investment. thoughts?

Less than 10% of your inheritance Op? Go ahead and buy it! Get the wheels you want. Don't worry about depreciation - yes it won't hold it's value, so what!

Don't buy a French car - they're shit.

I'd buy a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, VW or Ford. I've had 2 Ford S-Max's and never had a problem with them. DP has a Merc and it's the most wonderful car to drive, so easy and incredibly reliable. Not that expensive to service and maintain - my service and wiper blades for my S-Max cost more than his service and wiper blades for a Mercedes!

I found the Qashqai rather plasticky, but just my opinion.

I'd say to buy it. Less than 10% is not going mad and spanking money up the wall.

Several caveats - I would check that you can afford to insure and run it from your normal disposable income. As a BMW driver in my experience a "full BMW service history" is a ton of bollocks and makes no difference to the resale value of the car so no need to budget for BMW servicing.

There's not a lot of internal space in a BMW 3 series when you stick modern stage 0 & 1 isofix car seats in there. Boosters should be fine. Before you buy it, install your car seats and make sure that both you and your partner have enough leg room with a child behind the driver seat. We had to change our car over it as DH is 6ft 4 and DD's lanky legs [at 2yrs old] meant that she kept putting her feet up around his ears which is a bit distracting on the motorway.

Pick the car you want. Don't be swayed by others. With my inheritance we got a Hyundai i10 for me and an i20 for dh. It is bittersweet as I would rather have my nan here and put up with an old car, however I like to think that she would be so thrilled that because of her we have got nice cars to see us through the next few years. Well, 8 years. We are hoping they will see us through until dh retires.

I don't think you can make a choice without test driving them - don't get too hung up on the badge on the back of it, lots of cars use parts from other models e.g. Mercedes use renault engines in some of their cars. Audi cars use the same parts as all the other group cars like skoda, seat & VW.

I'd go for the Tiguan, Audi Q5 or BMW Z3 over a Qashqui any day. And there won't be a huge amount in it, price wise.
We tried estates and 'soft roaders' and went for the latter, because they felt much more like a smaller car when driver. The estates just felt huge driving around town.

The build quality for german cars is noticeably different to others. They feel nicer inside and just don't go wrong as often!

I don't know a lot about cars. But the best deal seems to be to buy a low mileage car a year or two old. I don't think I'd go for an car more than say three years old if money wasn't the main priority.

Less than 10% of your inheritance? Go for it. It's your money, you'll be the one driving it so why not?

We had a 3 series for a few years and now have a 5. Nice comfortable car and we like it. It likes to eat fuel though! DH uses it to travel to work (motorway) though so he wanted something comfy. I've just got a Hyundai ix20 for me and the kids in the week

love my bmw. Ive got an m1 and trading it in this year. Going for the 3series m sport xdrive with red leather I think. Anyone who says they are shite is jealous

I'm pretty sure you don't have an M1. You maybe have a 1 series of some kind with the M-sport trim level. What 3 series are you getting? Again, the M-sport is just a trim level. If it's something like a 320d then yes, I'm afraid it is shite.

Have you considered a Volvo? We recently traded in our Qashqai for a n XC60 D5 R Design and it's lovely.

It has the family pack so built in booster cushions that fold in and out of the rear seats. It's all wheel drive so no slipping and sliding in ice and snow, it's reasonably quick and fairly economical given the size. It fits our family of four plus dog beautifully.

build quality for german cars is noticeably different to others. They feel nicer inside and just don't go wrong as often

Hilarious! The Japanese stuff is much more reliable. I love both German and Jap but you're deluded if you think the German stuff is better built and more reliable. The stats back that up by the way.

rich
DH has a suberu and I have an audi
Both bought for about the same price, but one feels a lot more plasticy and budget than the other... Neither have broken down
I know Japanese brands have great reliability stats, but I'd love to see your stats that show that French, Italian and US brands are better than German ones...

I want a Tesla.

The build quality for german cars is noticeably different to others. They feel nicer inside and just don't go wrong as often!

On an American forum I'm on the consensus is that only people with far more money than sense would ever buy any German car. Japanese cars are considered far superior.

It is acknowledged that German cars are nicer, until the repair bills start spoiling the experience.

Please test drive a few then make a decision.
As for German cars, I've had an Audi A3, mk2 TT and they were lovely to drive but nothing but problems!
My rx8 which are notorious for breaking down didn't let me down once in 4 years of ownership.
Now the happy owner of an evo Ix

The BMW 320 Diesel is probably the best "pound per pound car in the world" certainly it is the best car in the Mid Executive range around the £30-35K range. 60+ plus to the gallon 140 Mph Plus performance . what does anybody thinks wrong with that. I think the poster was talking about a M135 I not a 1978 (BMW M1 Supercar) which is a "rapid" Hot hatch that is only slightly slower than the crazy A45 AMG

smoke The 320d is about as dull a car as it's possible to get. I couldn't live with something so gutless. If I had to buy a new, sensibleish car for £30-35k then it would be an M135i for sure. I just have to laugh at the people who claim to have an M-sport BMW 3 series and mention how quick it is. Fantastic, i think, it must be a 335i or maybe a 335d as if it was an M3 they'd have said so. Invariably it turns out be a shitty 318d or something. Bonus points for having an M badge stuck on the back.

I like the 2-3 yo cars- they've already depreciated around 30% or more (depending on brand) and a lot are ex company cars so well looked after.

We got ours from Cars 4 Staff in Coventry- it's for Lloyds Bank staff, customers and their friends and family (so anyone really then I guess). They have good prices but won't negotiate on price at all.

My only warning about the 'luxury' brands (Audi, BMW, Merc etc) is that the parts and tyres etc are more expensive. One tyre on our S-line A4 Avant (dh's choice but I've slowly come around to it) is nearly the price of all four on our Golf!

Also find a trusted local garage that specialise in your make rather than the dealership- we've saved around £700 on two jobs going to our garage vs Audi (plus more on the stuff the dealership said we needed that our garage said was not necessary for a while). The local garage won't make you a frothy cappuccino though (but mine told me to help myself to a Nescafé and a grubby mug if I wanted ).

dont go for a Toyota - all they seem to do is recall their cars. the last few years have seen them recall thousands of cars.

I'd consider an Evoque. A 4x4 that looks pretty.

Have you been on autotrader yet? You can search for the vehicle that's exactly right for you.

I have an evoque and I looooove it . I get many compliments on it.

They feel heavy and well put together and the only thing I would say abut them is that if you are not buying a 4 wheel drive model you will be stuffed if you Iive somewhere where you get a lot of snow as most of the, are front wheel drive.

It is actually the other way round, 2 wheel drive BMWs are rear wheel drive and that is what makes them more difficult to drive in the ice and the snow.

In front wheel drive-front engined cars the weight of the engine is over the driving wheels giving better traction. That's why you see rear wheel drive cars fishtailing all over the place in icy and snowy weather, the driven wheels have no weight over them.

I wasn't being snotty about BMWs, as I say I have a geriatric Toyota so have nothing to be snobby about. A 316 is a small family hatchback with a smallish engine and having driven one, didn't find it noticeably more pleasurable than other small family hatchbacks, certainly not enough to justify the price mark up. Other people, might feel they are worth it, but certainly not for me.