Hi All, I've been lurking for a while but this is my first post so be gentle :-)
I'm a mid-twenties guy who has recently got a decent job and I'm currently looking to replace my old Citroen AX with a newer supermini. By reading around and talking to other people I've pretty much concluded that the best value and least hassle route will be to get a under 2 year old, low-mileage car.
I have thought about lots of cars but so far I've only test-drive two. Lots of people here seem to like the Yaris so I've had a look at a 1.3 SR petrol. I have also had a look at a previous model Fiesta with the old 1.3 engine in it.
In my opinion the Yaris is definitely the better car. It had a great engine, reasonable handling and lots of equipment. However the Fiesta was pretty good and nearly £2000 cheaper. Seeing as I will have to take a loan out to pay for either of these cars that could save me up £500 on repayments.
Anyway does anybody have any advice. Which of these would you go for or would you suggest something different?
Thanks for any help :-)
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Only one choice for a cool young bloke like you - Mini. Great fun, low depreciation and 5 years servicing for almost nothing. Drive one and then tell me I'm wrong, not before.
Have fun
Andy
ps. if you want practical , then Honda Jazz
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I have to admit I'm sorely, sorely tempted by the new Mini. My Dad used to rally the original and the new one has his approval so it must be good! However to keep the repayments to a reasonable level was looking to spend at most £8000 and I doubt any Mini is below that level yet.
I suppose I should really test-drive the Mini before completely discarding it but if I do that I'll probably fall in love with it and buy it anyway!
I did consider the Jazz, but new cars start at £9000 and I doubt I will get any decent deals on nearly new cars yet.
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I reckon if you drove a Mini you wouldn't want to even look at anything else, but the Jazz is really cleverly designed and I respect it for that but couldn't fall in love with it like the mini!
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Hello!
I've been through the same sort of questions you're asking yourself and for what it's worth this is the stuff you might be interested in.
I've driven most cars that fit into your group in the last month or so and found the Skoda Fabia the best of the bunch. Not sure if you could live with the badge (tragically I couldn't).
The FIAT Punto is an excellent car, but the interior in the Mia, Active and Dynamic is rubbish - however an Active Sport gets a decent interior, good spec and a CD player with bass box. Whatever that might be. with a bit of haggling someone will sell you a brand new one (3 year warranty!) for £6695. Try Reg Vardy online for starters.
Andy is the devil in disguse. I was all set on the Punto, fell for his talk of fancy little cars with smiley faces, and went off to drive one. Once driven, I couldn't really think of anything else. It'd be amusing to look back at the thread where I wrote to him "I've set a budget and I'm sticking to it". Once driven, forever smitten. Beware of the options list, you can add £000s without even trying and look long & hard at any importing. There are stories of problems with importing them from sites recommended by TopGear. UNfortunately I've not seen a new MINI anywhere for less than £10,300. BMW finance can do nice things for you, but be careful of buying over twenty years!
An excellent car too is the Seat Ibiza, pretty groovy styling and it's now got standard aircon for £7995 - the Polo is a lot of money for a big badge on the boot of an Ibiza.
Citroen will practially give you a C3 and throw in the salesmans dog, they're nice cars.
So am I telling you anything useful? Possibly not - maybe go test drive a MINI and see what you think and also try the Punto. £8000 will get you an Active Sport in metallic with alloys, a three year warranty & AA membership and enough spare change to go twice to Ibiza and dance around with your pants on your head. If you like that kind of thing!
Good luck and enjoy the hunting, beware of salesmen with photos of their wives and children facing you on their desk...!
Lee.
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Just noticed the post from Vans..
The Sporting is a different model entirely to the Active Sport. The latter gets the former's body kit but not the engine. As a result the insurance is significantly cheaper on the Active Sport. It seemed fast enough to me when I tried it.
And Vauxhall are doing free insurance on the Corsa sporty three door thingy. I think that's at £7995 too with alloys & stuff.
Lee.
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Thanks for the suggestions Lee. It good to hear from someone who has been through the process before.
I do like the look of the Punto and they seem to be good value. However my big worry with Fiat is the complains about dealer service and reliablity. Does anybody know if Fiat have improved recently or is the reputation still deserved?
Overall I'm probably tending towards the Corsa. I checked Vauxhall's website and they are offering free insurance and 0% finance on the normal Club and the sporty SXi models. Combined that could save me upto £1500. The only downside would be that I'd have to find a 40% deposit.
I assume that you did actually buy a MINI in the end. How are you finding it? As I said before I would love to buy the car but I wouldn't have much money spare if I did buy it.
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MINI are doing very low rates on the finance, but not 0% and no free insurance either. I guess because they don't discount the cars then fianance is the carrot.
Not got the car yet (2 months today!), but really, really looking forward to it. I'll no doubt be posting when I do take delivery. I know for certain that someone here (was is Becky?) has recently got a new MINI, perhaps she could give you a fairer view.
The Corsa is a very good looking car in black and I love those "hide & seek" adverts, some very clever work on the part of the advertising agency there.
Whatever you decide, don't rush in and make sure you enjoy the whole buying process.
Regards,
Lee.
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Not got the car yet (2 months today!), but really, really looking forward to it. I'll no doubt be posting when I do take delivery. I know for certain that someone here (was is Becky?) has recently got a new MINI, perhaps she could give you a fairer view.
I hope you enjoy the car. Sadly I think I'm going to have to let my head rule on this one. Going from an AX which has almost no trade-in value to car costing more than £10000 is a big jump! I'll have to start saving and see where I am in a few years time when I next change my car.
The Corsa is a very good looking car in black and I love those "hide & seek" adverts, some very clever work on the part of the advertising agency there.
I agree that the Corsa does look good and the advert are very smart. However I've now test driven it and things are definitely not all rosy. You can read all about it below but in short the Vauxhall dealer was much less helpful than the other dealers I've talked to.
Whatever you decide, don't rush in and make sure you enjoy the whole buying process.
I think that is part of the problem at the moment. I still feel a bit intimidated about the whole setup. I'm also still wishing that the dealers would put the real price on the sticker instead of the price they hope to, possibly, sell the car for. Not attempting to hide costs in expensive finance deals and various 'optional extras' wouldn't hurt either.
I suppose for some people all that it half the fun of buying a car :-) Anyway I've got a couple more models to look at but I definitely tending towards a 1.3 Yaris. It's got a good engine, acceptable ride and handling, decent looks, a few nice gadgets and Toyota reliablity and dealers. Can't be bad!
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And to my great sadness I have to admit to have read the ad. 3 yrs @ o% finance.....almost to good to resist.
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Sorry Lee!
I just hope you like the car when you get it. My wife and I are still saving up!
All the best
Andy
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No worries Andy, I'm so very glad that I did try the MINI, I can't think I'd be this excited about getting any other new car. I never thought I'd desert Citroen, but maybe if the Pluriel was available now it'd be different.
I'm sure you and your good lady will enjoy yours! I've every intention of making the most of ours. I'll have to seeing as I'll be living on a tin of beans a week when we get it.
;-)
Cheers,
Lee.
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Before you go the 'nearly new' route,check out the 0% & cheap finance deals or at least free insurance on a new car.
Tried a Punto Sporting? Although lots of views on build quality.
Polo will always sell on the used market, easily, when you come to swap in again, but not so many toys per £££.
Mark
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You COULD get a new AX for £170 per month - which includes insurance!
However, the best 2-year old Supermini would be the Fabia - and the best model of the Fabia is the Tdi.
The biggest problem would be finding one.
New ones are very scarce as well, as they they come in back door of showroom and straight out front.
The main advantages of Fabia over Yaris are better seats, better ride and speedo where you can see it - in front of you.
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Hmmm...I hadn't really considered buying new before because of the depreciation. Virtually all new cars seem to plummet in value in the first year and then drop more genetly after that so I buying at a year old seemed to offer the best value. However if I could get free insurance and 0% finance the sums make much more sense.
Do you know how free insurance deals tend to be organised? I will soon have 1 years no claims bonus. Provided I don't make a claim will I end up 2 years NCB after the year's free insurance.
TrevorP, maybe I'm missing something but didn't the AX go out of production years ago? :-)
As far as the Fabia is concerned I understand that it is a really good car but I wouldn't feel right going for it. Maybe I'm just being snobbish about the badge but I also reckon that the car looks too large. The Fabia seems as though it's half way to being Golf sized and 90% of the time I wouldn't need that much space. Being nippy and easy to drive around the city is probably more important for me.
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YTry the Renault clio and other series of Renault cars the free insurance for them after the 1 years has expires the insurance give you a quote based upon the concept that you have been driving since you were 17. I was told by the dealer that this mean that a 20 yr old had payed £500 full comp on a renault clio which is very good i guess if you shop around with just 1 yr NC the quote he would have got would be about £1000. No crashing for the 1 yrs free insurance though else you loose all the advantages. Plus they will give you the yrs free insurance plus cut price NC even if you have had 1 crash
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I used to have a Punto 1.2 SX - so did my wife, the reason being that there were three years' free insurance on them at the time. Good points - reliable, never failed to start, roomy in the back, fairly economical for a petrol car, nippy. Bad points - high depreciation, fairly sparse on equipment, appalling driving position (unless you had the body of an orang-utan, with arms as long as your legs) caused by pedals which were too high, too close and offset. After more than 60000 miles between the two cars, I still get a twinge in my ankle more than a year after last driving one - it was that bad. Ok for shorter trips though. The version with a sunroof meant that the ceiling was too low, so driving position was even worse.
The best point about the Punto we discovered by accident - literally. My wife was hit head-on in a front three-quarters impact by a gravel truck skidding round a corner at about 30 mph. Although the jolt did cause fairly severe damage to the muscles and ligaments in her back, with the result that she still can't walk straight over a year later, she sustained no "direct impact" injuries or wounds as the safety cell remained intact. This after a collision which shunted the car sideways about eight feet and almost completely mashed the front end at the driver's side. Surprisingly solidly built.
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To help HJ earn a few more pounds from this site:
Doddman: Look at the links on the right hand side, click on "This weeks brilliant bargains" and other similar news items; and you will find many new or nearly new cars within your budget.
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Thanks for the tip, I'd completely forgotten about all those offers! The 'Demon Deal on Corsas' item would have been very interesting, however I took a test drive in a 1.2 Corsa yesterday and was treated to some Vauxhall dealer 'service'.
I guess that the salesman must have thought that I wasn't serious. However that doesn't really excuse that fact that he was rude, unhelpful and didn't seem to want to do more than the bare minimum. If that is standard service I don't want any of it!
Interestingly when I started talking about the 0% finance deal the salesman quickly tried to steer me towards a >0% deal. Persumably he would get more commission on the >0% deal. Basically he said that if I took the >0% deal he would knock £650 off the asking price. Since I would need to take out a smaller loan to get a 40% deposit together the two deals actually would end up costing roughly the same.
The car itself was alright, but didn't feel like anything special. It seemed to steer and handle reasonably well and the engine felt like it had a decent amount of car. However the sensitivity of the clutch and accelerator seemed to be very different to the AX and the other cars I've driven. Hence I managed to stall it more times than I would like to mention :-)
Anyway I've pretty much discarded the idea of getting a Corsa. Which is a shame as the 'Demon Deal on Corsas' would have been very tempting. The garage is quoting £7995 for a 1.2 SXi with a year's free insurance providing you buy before the end of the month; and the garage is pretty close to me.
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Enjoy the process
>I think is part of the problem at the moment. I still feel
>a bit intimidated about the whole setup. I'm also still
>wishing that the dealers would put the real price on the
>sticker instead of the price they hope to, possibly, sell the
>car for. Not attempting to hide costs in expensive finance
>deals and various 'optional extras' wouldn't hurt either.
>I suppose for some people all that it half the fun of buying a
>car :-)
Don't be intimidated by salesmen - I met possibly the biggest ar*e ever to sit behind a desk in a car showroom (a chap called Tony in Huddersfield as it happens), he couldn't accept that we wouldn't sign there and then, in the end just had to be rude and walk away.
And I can't say I really enjoy the buying the car bit much - it's only by swotting up on prices, working out what I should be paying and then a lot of legwork and phonecalls to match what that deal. In the end I probably spend more money on petrol and time working things out, but it makes me feel better!
You're in a very stong position buying a new car, there's literally hundreds of people out there trying to make a living selling you the same thing and you should at the very least be made to feel welcome, especially given that you're probably making the biggest purchase this side of a mortgage. Walk away from the idiots, they don't deserve your time.
>Anyway I've got a couple more models to look at but I
>definitely tending towards a 1.3 Yaris. It's got a good
>engine, acceptable ride and handling, decent looks, a few nice
>gadgets and Toyota reliablity and dealers. Can't be bad!
You'll not go too far wrong there, the residuals seem pretty good and HJ recommends them! Not sure if you've seen it, but I drove past an advert today for the new Fiesta and they're offering a years free insurance- IIRC (check the car-by-car breakdown) there's a three door version due out here soon.
Finally, I'll just throw another spanner in your works - I see you were driving an AX - Citroen are doing some incredible deals at the moment, I'd think a C3 would be within your range, and our local dealer had a black 1.4LX Xsara with CD, ABS & Aircon and a few other gadgets for £7995, an ex-demo with 650 miles on the clock and a long remainder of the warranty.
Don't let the salesmen grind you down! And have fun playing them up against each other.....
Lee.
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Go to www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/index.htm?news_id=832
and then look up the lsit for GreatTradeCentre and then click on the link to their web site from there. (Going to the GTC link via this route again earns HJ some cash to keep this site alive).
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Hi All,
I just thought I'd conclude this thread by saying that I have now bought a car. I eventually decided to go for a Ford Fiesta now and save up to buy a MINI in a few years time. I also managed to find what I thought was a good deal. My local Ford dealer had a Ford-Direct supplied, 51-reg, Fiesta Freestyle in metallic green for £6995. However they also offered a minimum part-exchange of £1000 for my AX.
The car looked like new, came with 2 years warranty and drove really nicely so I decided that a price of roughly £6000 was pretty good. Sadly I didn't manage to get any further discount out of the dealer. He wouldn't even add on mats, flaps or 6 months road-tax so I guess he must have been pretty close to his margin.
All I have to do now is decide whether to take the dealers finance deal or a personal loan. At the moment I'm tending towards a personal loan as over 3 years it would save me at least £300. Does anybody have any comments? Do dealer arranged hire-purchase aggrements have advantages?
Anyway, I'd like to thank anybody who offered advice or suggestions. I appreciated all of the suggestions even if I eventually decided not to act on them. Buying a car for the first time has definitely been an experience and I have been very glad for the guidance. I'll have to print off this thread so I can use all the comments again the next time I buy a car!
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Some finance deals have heavy penalties for paying the finance off early (as much as 50% of the price of the car). Most personal loans these days allow you to pay the loan off with no penalties. Presumably you can't predict the next 3 years, so I would take the flexible personal loan option. Even better if you can save £300.
I've been stung by a dealer finance deal with penalties, and it's not pleasant. It's my moral duty to warn you of the dangers!
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Thanks for the warning, I imagine you where spitting feathers when you found out about that clause!
I think that the dealer finance deal I've been offered does allow you to make early payments but I'd need to make sure before I actually took it. There is some chance my job will pay a bonus next year so I'd like the option of using it to pay off my loan.
In the end I will probably take a separate loan deal as it does work out cheaper. However I would add my own warning as well. I've been using moneysupermarket.com to find good loan rates and a number of the best rate loans do also have early repayment charges. Ultimately when you're dealing this much cash you just have to be extra careful and read everything.
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