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Fri 26 Jun 2020 11:04

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Engineer Andy

Just because I was bored, I looked up on the Mazda wesbite to see what, if any, deals could be had for new or delivery miles showroom/pre-regged cars, not that I really can afford a new one (I technically can, but I really shouldn't at the moment, given I'm not working/earning).

Oddly enough, my local dealer had very few 'proper deals' on such vehicles, especially the Mazda3 or CX-30 (my preferences).

What I did find was some amazing deals on pre-regged/showroom models via the main Mazda site - most nowhere near me, but very tempting, at least for the Mazda3:

A Mazda3 4dr fastback (saloon) 2.0 SA-X GT Sport Tech Auto (that nice metallic red) with all of 1 mile on the clock (though it was a 2019 69 plate car) - £22k. List price (today) around the £30k mark. Not bad saving of 27% - better than (for a new car) the lowest via this site's broker section by nearly £2.5k!

Still, this has to be compared to the price I paid for my current 55 plate (late 2005 build) Mazda 3 4dr TS2 1.6 petrol (obviously lower spec in comparison, but not that bad) which I managed to pick up (15 del miles) at Motorpoint in Jan 2006 for all of £10.3k. The new 'version', even after all that discount (similar to what I saved last time), is STILL more than twice the price.

Anyone else found some ultra bargains on cars dealers are desperate to shift to keep them afloat?

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Sat 27 Jun 2020 08:49

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - S40 Man

£14k for a 109 mile Astra 1.2 (145).

I have a pre-facelift model, which is a nice enough car £6000 price difference to a similar size Mazda 3 seems like a lot. Does that qualify as a bargain?

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20200616017...9

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Sat 27 Jun 2020 11:59

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Engineer Andy

£14k for a 109 mile Astra 1.2 (145).

I have a pre-facelift model, which is a nice enough car £6000 price difference to a similar size Mazda 3 seems like a lot. Does that qualify as a bargain?

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20200616017...9

Definitely! I agree that even after the discount (apparently 'down from £25k') that Mazda is still expensive - though admitdely the Mazda is a higher spec car in both performance (180PS+) and trim, and it is an auto (£1500 more just for that alone), but still - £14k is a decent price.

One thing I've noticed (including this link you gave) is that there are a LOT more and better bargains to be had from dealers 'up North' than 'down South'. Practically none of note in my neck of the woods (edge of East Anglia-ish).

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Sat 27 Jun 2020 12:26

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - daveyK_UK

FIAT Tipo 1.4 petrol , easy trim

Widely available for £10,490

Same size as Mazda 3 and Vauxhall Astra

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Sat 27 Jun 2020 14:51

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Zippy123

FIAT Tipo 1.4 petrol , easy trim Widely available for £10,490 Same size as Mazda 3 and Vauxhall Astra

That’s a lot of car for the money and it’s not too bad looking either!

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Sat 27 Jun 2020 16:20

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - badbusdriver

FIAT Tipo 1.4 petrol , easy trim Widely available for £10,490 Same size as Mazda 3 and Vauxhall Astra

That’s a lot of car for the money and it’s not too bad looking either!

That is certainly a good deal, but i'm not sure it's any better than what was available before covid19 came along?.

The Tipo isn't exactly a big seller, at least not in the UK.

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Sat 27 Jun 2020 17:16

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Engineer Andy

FIAT Tipo 1.4 petrol , easy trim Widely available for £10,490 Same size as Mazda 3 and Vauxhall Astra

That's for a NEW car? If so, WOW! I thought that a couple of years ago, the run-out Nissan Pulsar in top spec form with the 1.6T petrol engine for about £13k was a good deal, but this car is only £150 more than I paid (essentially new) for my Mazda3 TS2 1.6 N/A petrol back in early 2006, and that was a car with an effective discount of about 26%.

Sounds like some dealers and makes are desperate to shift some metal to keep them afloat.

I wonder if anyone can beat davey's deal? That's going to be one some ask.

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Sat 27 Jun 2020 21:51

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Falkirk Bairn

Astra £14K for 1 litre manual

£14.5K 1.4 litre SRi Auto

all about 6 mths old but 10/20 miles on clock

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Sun 28 Jun 2020 19:15

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Zippy123

Just missed this deal on a Suzuki SX4 for £11450!

I would have travelled to buy it but messaged the dealer today and it went yesterday:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20200625050...7

My local dealer has the same model used for £18500!!! :-(

Edited by Zippy123 on 28/06/2020 at 19:26

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Mon 29 Jun 2020 08:31

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - daveyK_UK

Good deal , shame it went so quick.

Some good deals available on Fiat 500’s, after nearly a decade the interest in the model and subsequent residuals are starting to take a decline. New 500 out in the next 12 months,

Fiat 500 has been a fantastic success story for Fiat; I have no doubt they would have gone under without this model sustaining the rest of the range.
The Arbarth version of the 500 is still a joy to drive.

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Mon 29 Jun 2020 11:03

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Engineer Andy

Just missed this deal on a Suzuki SX4 for £11450!

I would have travelled to buy it but messaged the dealer today and it went yesterday:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20200625050...7

My local dealer has the same model used for £18500!!! :-(

Indeed - as a similar experience, my local Mazda dealer is currently offering lower spec (engine [and a manual gearbox too] or trim level) del miles or proper second-hand Mazda 3s for £1k more than the essentially new one was up in Hull.

If forced to choose, I'd rather take a trip to Hull (£50 - £60 for the petrol for there and back) and save myself a Grand plus on a much better, new car.

Hopefully these dealers down South will soon realise most people would rather save their money at the present time and go where the bargains are.

Edited by Engineer Andy on 29/06/2020 at 11:04

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Wed 1 Jul 2020 22:48

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - daveyK_UK

I have read Dacia are building the last run of the current Sandero and Sandero Stepway in right has drive this August ; no more builds of the current model in right hand drive due to an all new model due out early next year.
Could be some bargains towards the end of the year when dealers want to move on the last of the existing Sandero stock.

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Thu 2 Jul 2020 10:47

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Engineer Andy

I have read Dacia are building the last run of the current Sandero and Sandero Stepway in right has drive this August ; no more builds of the current model in right hand drive due to an all new model due out early next year. Could be some bargains towards the end of the year when dealers want to move on the last of the existing Sandero stock.

Are they pulling out of the UK entirely or just reducing their RHD range because of low sales/the effects of the pandemic?

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Thu 2 Jul 2020 13:14

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - alan1302

I have read Dacia are building the last run of the current Sandero and Sandero Stepway in right has drive this August ; no more builds of the current model in right hand drive due to an all new model due out early next year. Could be some bargains towards the end of the year when dealers want to move on the last of the existing Sandero stock.

Are they pulling out of the UK entirely or just reducing their RHD range because of low sales/the effects of the pandemic?

There is a new model coming next year so expecting they are building what they think will sell until the new version is ready.

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Thu 2 Jul 2020 17:11

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - daveyK_UK

Alan1302 is correct

There is some disruption to set up the production line for right hand drive so they are doing one last run which should be enough stock produced until the new model is released.

Hence, there could be some bargains if by next Feb the new model is out and there are still some of the existing Sandero / Stepway built but not sold.

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Sat 4 Jul 2020 16:05

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - daveyjp

Toyota have deals on new pre reg Yaris as a new model is out. £4.5k off Icon models reducing it to just shy of £12k.

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Sat 4 Jul 2020 22:13

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Jamie3141

Is this helpful to anybody?

www.honestjohn.co.uk/cars-for-sale/search/New/

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Sun 5 Jul 2020 09:32

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - daveyK_UK

Not really!

The honest John website has gone down the pan (IMO).

Increasingly dumb ask Honest John Questions (are they real questions or made up?) and answers, awful car reviews by some Georgie kid trying his best to sound like a bad Jeremy Clarkson and this very forum deleting anything critical of the site.
The site constantly misses latest news stories which are on most other car websites, it’s been pointed out they only get reported on when they are raised on this forum.

Does honest John still own the website?
Some of the questions on the ask honest John (and even more so the answers) are so bad I can’t recommend to friends to use this site for advice.
In fairness the chap who answers the legal questions is consistently accurate but the rest of the team who respond to the questions I find it hard to believe they have any knowledge of the industry; some of the answers are completely clueless and plainly bad advice.

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Sun 5 Jul 2020 10:47

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - jthan

I too have noted the disappearance of HJ's photo, the absence of news, and the change in emphasis in the query answers. I wouldn't say that the new answers are "bad advice" from the perspective of the motor industry (and particularly VAG), though...

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Sun 5 Jul 2020 12:35

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - sammy1

Increasingly dumb ask Honest John Questions (are they real questions or made up?) and answers, awful car reviews by some Georgie kid trying his best to sound like a bad Jeremy Clarkson and this very forum deleting anything critical of the site.

Regrettably, I mentioned the same thing a few weeks back re the questions and IMO some of the forum asks are also questionable or are some people really that stupid!

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Sun 5 Jul 2020 14:11

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Avant

The last three posts are nothing to do with the subject of the thread, but to answer the question, HJ himself is no longer anything to do with this website. He continues to write his column for the Telegraph.

Ths site is now owned and operated by Heycar (I am a volunteer and have no connection with them). Although they have connections with some car manufacturers, they bought this site because of its reputation for impartiality. There would be no point in the purchase if they didn't intend to maintain the impartiality.

Edited by Avant on 05/07/2020 at 18:05

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Sun 5 Jul 2020 17:18

Best pandemic Period Car Deals - Engineer Andy

The last three posts are nothing to do with the subject of the thread, but to answer the question, HJ himself is no longer anything to do with this website. He continues to write his column for the Telegraph.

Ths site is now owned and operated by Heycar (I am a volunteer and have no connection with them). Although they have connections with some car manufacturers, they bought this site because of its reputation for impartiailty. There would be no point in the purchase if they didn't intend to maintain the impartiality.

Sounds like some of them either haven't been frequenting the Backroom or paying attention to the News over the last 6 months or so!

The 'Cars for Sale' section has been quite useful for finding some bargains country-wide, although it obviously doesn't cover every one (as much I would like it to).

Hopefully SLO can return soon, given his industry experience is invaluable in often sourcing some good bargains.

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