While this is a UK site the same advice stands over there as here. Don’t spend such a large percentage of your monthly salary on a car, especially your first car which takes up so much just to cover insurance. Buy a cheap older, smaller and thus cheaper to insure model instead. Get a bit of experience then get a nicer model. As a new driver you are almost guaranteed to scuff and bump any car you buy so it’s always best to buy something that won’t lose a fortune in value thanks to this. Plus you’ll soon tire of paying out all of that money every month on a car. After a few months that lovely new Civic will be just another car and another millstone round your neck. The excellent reliability of Honda’s means an older car will be perfectly fine as long as you buy a well cared for example. Reign in your ambitions a bit until you’re earning more and the insurance falls.

Totally agree.....Nice car...good choice...but I'd think carefully about the big commitment I was about to make..and how I might think about that a few months down the road.

BUT...if that's the itch you have to scratch then the best of luck to you...and enjoy it.!

Personally I'd be starting a little lower on the scale of desires.!

Edited by nellyjak on 16/01/2019 at 07:17

Re the economics, buying a new car is nuts,

EVERYONE knows this, so I seriously doubt you don't, and suspect you've already made up your mind.

Re the Honda Civic, apart from Honda motorcycles, I've only owned a Honda TN550, which was a wee jem, but not exactly a mainstream private car,

Given my lack of Honda experience, the best I can do is quote the Dog and Lemon Guide, which I generally find pretty plausible.

dogandlemon.com/sites/default/files/Honda%20blurb%...f

"Hondas are beautifully engineered cars with a definite ‘use-by’ date. They glide effortlessly along the road, offering both excellent performance and economy, and unless you fail to service them, are among the most reliable cars available – until they reach the end of their useful life. The end of their useful life is somewhere between 120,000 and 200,000 kilometres, and it is an optimist who owns one after this. That’s why it’s rare to see a Honda taxi."

So if you get sane and decide on an older car, maybe NOT an older Honda.

If you want to spend over 15% of your net income on owning a car, go ahead. As someone who has spent a fraction of that percentage on car ownership during the last few decades I can only imagine you will have to significantly curtail your investments in wine, women and song.

Last summer a friend of mine bought a new car for cash-£18,000. I say new--but in fact it was a five week old second hand(used) car that had done 750 miles. The cost new was £24,000 on the road, thus my pal saved himself £6000 in depreciation.

So-when considering your pros and cons list and the wise points made by other posters, might I carefully suggest you also add depreciation into your thinking pot?

Good point - when I was looking for a new car two years ago, I noticed a VW Scirocco GT 2.0 TSi 180 with only 900 miles on the clock advertised on a supersite for only £17k. Admitedly it was an ex-showroom car and was 9 months old or so, but hey, original price £26k: 35% off for essentially a new car.

I didn't go for it in the end (not due to price, though nothing to do with its condition, which was as new), but still, what a bargain. Sometimes 'practically new' cars can be more of a bargain than 'proper' second hand ones with 5k+ on the clock.

The same applied when I bought my car (same site) 13 years ago - del miles only car from Cyprus (owned by a hire firm, not used) cost me less than a 1yo car of the trim level below. Mine didn't depreciate for about two years (not that I cared as I knew I'd be keeping it much longer - it was the price I paid that was the great thing). Admitedly I was lucky as I was in the market just when oversupply in the UK had reached its peak, so prices were low and lots of such cars were available on supersites

A similar thing happened when that VW came to be sold - lots of del miles Golf GT 1.4TSI 150s (RHD EU imports again and with higher spec than the UK equivalents) for the same price as that Scirocco. I almost bought one as the discount was almost the same (about £8k or so).