To think £15K is excessive to spend on a car?

[SunflowerOwl]

DH and I seem to disagree massively over what a 'reasonable' budget is for our new car.

Our requirements are that it will last us a good 10-15 years so not too old (I cant be doing with having to car shop again in a few years time!), is safe and has a big boot as we have a large pram and a dog.

Every car he sends me that he likes seems to be in the region of £15K whereas I was thinking we would need to spend half of that! He tells me I'm out of touch and that's just what decent cars cost these days.

Is this true? Is this really what the average family spend on a family car?!

Our most recent car purchase was 14k (two year old). However, the one before that cost 7k.

We don't do HP or lease, so how much we spend just depends on how flush we are at the time. Similar to you we will keep a car 10 years.

If there’s any advice I can give you it would Don’t buy anything expensive, the Ev market is going to make your petrol car worthless when you come to re-sell it no matter how expensive it is.
In the next few years the price of EVs and their mileage is going to improve a lot making petrol cars obsolete.

I don’t know why anyone who would not want to run their car for 1p/mile.
Yes, 1p. It is not a typo.

My advice like others have said, get a Toyota estate.

I love mine and they now give 10 years warranty! No other company matches that for warranty. They released it this month called Toyota relax.

Mine has loads of room and drives beautifully, it also got what car award this year first place for reliability.

Show me another company that offers 10 years warranty for all its cars including 2nd hand ones.

Given what you need this car to be and do, that's a perfectly reasonable price to expect to pay, give or take 1000. I remember buying my last used car, and how stunned I was at the prices now!

We recently gave in and got finance for a car. I specified £100 a month payments. We got one for just about £4000 that is paid back at £125 a month over 5 years (not exact figures, but thereabouts)
The car is 10 years old, an estate, so fits us, our teens,my mobility scooterand giant dog.

For 10-15 years you need a new car, or nearly new. Otherwise you'll be spending loads on garage fees or losing it altogether.
We recently bought a new car and it was £23k, nothing fancy although it's electric (lots of savings and perks for an electric car!)

Someone else mentioned the 2020 Whatacar Reliability Ratings for brands of used cars, done from surveying 13,000 owners of cars up to five years old. And yes, VW came in 20th, while Skoda came in 5th. The top three were Lexus, Mitsubishi, and Toyota (of course, Lexus is owned by Toyota).

www.whatcar.com/news/2020-what-car-reliability-survey-brands/n20069

Just to widen the discussion I think the overall sweet spot for longer term decade plus bang for buck personal motoring value proposition is to purchase a nearly new preowned or pre registered boring reliable model from a mainstream manufacturer. If possible to select a popular model with some sort of electrification so basically a dual petrol and electric motor drivetrain rather than less practical fully electric car bar Tesla with their useful unique practical faster charging network infrastructure investment.

Seemingly for marginal environmental benefit the UK car market will within the next decade switch towards full electric vehicles if not dual motor fossil fuel combustion engine and electric motors. Pure petrol and diesel engined cars will begin to become obsolete as these will be prohibitively taxed to extinction based on maximum emissions even if driven very very sparingly and due to rising petroleum pump prices.

As a motoring enthusiast I am personally saddened that there can not be a diversity of future car choice including continued use of highly developed optimised traditional drive trains with the joys of mechanical driving dynamics and feel. The new electrified "golf carts" are advantageous in many ways including costs per mile in energy costs and lower mechanical maintenance and near silent "surreal" semi auto pilot. However these new energy cars still can't replicate the driving feel and feedback of a sporty rear wheel drive naturally aspirated V8 petrol combustion engined car with a balance weight distribution and unrestricted limiter and manual gearbox.

In addition to future drive train changes from fossil to electric there is I would imagine be a change of long term personal car ownership to a newer blended market to include more options for popular and convenience (bar daily high mileage drivers) pay as you use car club membership for on demand access to local electric cars rather than outright traditional car ownership which essentially means the car is parked for most of it's lifetime. This is the continuation of the trend towards the sharing economy and similar to the introduction of shared bicycles and electric scoters.

Finally the next evolution in the UK car market will be the introduction of Chinese brands following in the footsteps of Japanese and more recently South Korean cars. The Chinese car market has been the largest globally for years and the unique characteristics is the drive towards electric cars. Leading international quality standards new Chinese brands including Nio will be big players globally and new technologies including full autopilot will become a reality subject to new legalisation. Many Chinese manufacturers have already long brought out and invested heavily into many western car brands and technologies including Volvo and London Taxi. Other electric technologies changes will be a Moors Law evolution in battery storage and fuel density technologies and the concept of rapid battery leasing and unlimited swap outs than waiting for charging. Just some long term horizon scanning as many of us especially in London with otherwise perfectly serviceable newer classic combustion engined cars are about to be hit by ULEZ and other cost prohibitive motoring tax penalties making occasional use cheaper by Uber!

Isn't the UK government getting rid of petrol/diesel cars in 2030?

Holy heck: if you think thats expensive our eldest has just paid £36 k for his car.

Yes he is married, with two children and is one of the fortunate ones to have a very good life, low mortgage cos of inheritance and so on.

He worked darn hard to get where he is and has a very good job with high earning potential. I know our family personal story and though I'm biased I know he deserves all he has.

I was gobsmacked when he told me what he had bought and the price of it was really the meaning of my message.

£15 k seems peanuts by compare

On a new car now, probably not. But my second car was a 12 year old Mitsubishi colt that I paid £800 for. It did me a further 2 years and then I sold it. To a friend, so I know it's still going strong!

I would recommend looking nationally at dealers rather than restricting yourself to local ones, they will generally deliver to your house for a modest fee.

Isn't the UK government getting rid of petrol/diesel cars in 2030?

Sales of petrol/diesel only cars will stop in 2030 and hybrids in 2035. Petrol/diesel cars will be a common sight until around 2050 I reckon.

It could also be that the prices of second hand petrol and diesel cars increase or stay stable as supply wains and people want to hang on to them. Also that they become a commodity for scrappage incentives.

I know Mumsnet loves an electric car, but they don't suit everybody and prices at the moment are too high for the low to medium end of the second hand market.

^
I know Mumsnet loves an electric car, but they don't suit everybody and prices at the moment are too high for the low to medium end of the second hand market.^

We had a quick look earlier in the year. Both DH & I had a look separately & both came to same conclusion. Too expensive for now. If we needed a new car then perhaps but we have now decided to keep the ones we have as long as possible.

What might become a pain is these Clean Air Zones. Ar the moment only one of them can go into Birmingham without charge.

I used buyacar.co.uk for my Jetta. Very easy to use and great service

You could go for diesel - as the London ULEZ expands, the price of used diesels is falling rapidly in the SE. On the down-side it's possible more city centres may bring in zones that ban them so that people can pollute the air with home wood burners instead. If you don't need to travel into a major city (often easier to use park and rides anyway) then you can pick up some real bargains.

You also have to be careful about where the ULEZ will be as it's not just city centres. The extent of the proposed ULEZ in my city went all the way out to the outer ring road in many directions (up to about 5 miles from city centre). Which is no good for the P&R at that's only a mile outside the city centre.

Fortunately it's been dropped for now, as they say it's no longer needed as most pollution was due to buses and lorries, which are now mostly compliant. Plus covid is still having an impact in reducing traffic, but of course that won't last forever.

Biggest kicker though is that we're the largest city in western Europe without a mass transit system and buses and trains are infrequent in many areas, so a lot of people really do need a car.

Yeah we were wanting to avoid diesel for the same reason as others I guess which is why they've become cheaper? We dont live in London, but on the outskirts of another big city where there has been talk of diesel free zones and I wouldnt want to risk not being able to get into work.

Surprised to see that about the VW Golfs. I know a few people with them and they all seem to love them.

@SunflowerOwl

Surprised to see that about the VW Golfs. I know a few people with them and they all seem to love them.

Anecdotal evidence isn't that useful - even if you buy the exact same model. The person you speak to could have the only vehicle of that kind that actually works properly, or they could own the only lemon!

Someone else mentioned Honest John - it's a VERY good source for finding out what hundreds of buyers think about a given vehicle.

As far as VW's go - my current car is a VW golf estate. VERY unhappy with the purchase - bought specifically for the high claimed mpg, and it's crap - nearly 30mpg below manufacturers spec when driven (unloaded) at a steady 70mph on the motorway.

Personally I can't see the 2030 date being met. There just isn't any sign of the required infrastructure being built, nor any plan to. It's just another populist announcement this gov has no intention of implementing - perhaps they estimated that the public would have tired of Tory by then and it would be the job of a Labour government to necessarily postpone, in which case they could be criticised for it...

Two massive problems with electricification of cars.

1. Chargers needed everywhere. Most people don't have a driveway so need street chargers all over the place and not sure if the cabling is currently up to it!
2. More power stations needed - and these take years to come online - currently not enough in the pipeline.

Im surprised about VWs too. My golf is 14 years old, my FIL has one that's about 25 years old!!

Im surprised about VWs too. My golf is 14 years old, my FIL has one that's about 25 years old!!

It’s not just VW, all German brands are the same. They used to be excellent quality but from the mid 90s that started to decline and now they’re pretty much all mid table or slightly lower for reliability. If you work on 1992 Mercedes or BMW then a 2015 one you can feel the difference in quality. I’ve heard it said that historically the engineers would design and build a new model then the accountants would price it accordingly, now the accountants price the new model and the engineers design and build it accordingly. How accurate that is I don’t know but it makes sense. Not German, but if only Toyota could buy JLR and build them to Lexus reliability levels they’d be unstoppable.

Sorry but I’m with other posters here. 15k is about right if you want something that’s going to last - especially if you have kids and want something bigger to accommodate. Worth the initial outlay IMO top avoid problems further down the road.

I spent £7500 on a two year old low mileage high quality fiesta with four doors as I give lifts to old ladies so two door was not an option, and I expect it up last for years - but I drive it once or twice a week and only occasionally on long trips. DH spent £25000 on Audi which is the main car. Clearly it will last a good while but we’ll not have it after 5 years..