Chaps, potentially thinking of trying leasing. Was looking around for some deals in the 24mth area. Seen Golf GTI performance pack car for around £280 a month and Leon Cupra for sub £300 a month. Hot hatches would be my preference. Question on leasing, is it worth paying the extra for maintenance to be included?

I haven't ruled out pcp, but I wouldnt buy new as the car would drop thousands just leaving the forecourt. A preowned say 1-2 year old BMW M140i or a Audi S3 could be doable if repayments were sub £300 a month.

My car is now 15 yrs old. Its an old golf diesel that has rusting on both wheel arches, needs a new muffler and it's due for mot in April. I think it may cost more than the car is worth to get it through the more stringent mot tests, so missus urging me to get something else/newer. Whether we can make it work financially is a different matter.

Just mulling over leasing and pcp, any opinions?

If your on pcp it doesn’t really matter if it drops loads

With a lease your Basically just paying depreciation Anyway

Bold move on the Macan cos that's a big seller for them isnt it?

My issue with electric and hybrid cars is that you are screwed if anything goes wrong with them. Combustion engine cars go wrong, well go to a garage and get a mechanic to fix it. Electric / hybrid goes wrong and you need an electrician who is also a mechanic. Basically go to the dealership pay through the nose and independent garages go byebye.

Dinostar77 wrote:

My issue with electric and hybrid cars is that you are screwed if anything goes wrong with them. Combustion engine cars go wrong, well go to a garage and get a mechanic to fix it. Electric / hybrid goes wrong and you need an electrician who is also a mechanic. Basically go to the dealership pay through the nose and independent garages go byebye.

I'd disagree, the independent simply has to grow the skillset. At the end of the day and motor is a lot less complex than an engine, should really be easier to service. However as we all know with any product there's more value in the service/support contract than the sale itself. That's one reason why motor firms have been trying to put their mechanics behind a firewall for years, of course they'd continue to do so

Got a courtesy car today.


Why did it have to be red?? It's bad enough, cutting about looking like a bear in a phonebox.....

*chuckle*

My mate is looking at second hand cars.
Has £10k. 5ish year old 1 Series and A3 are currently winning.
Needs are "nice place to be", drives good, reliable, looks decent. He doesn't do a huge amount of miles, he mainly commutes by train which is walking distance.

Any other suggestions?
He looked at Golf GTIs but I'm always wary of them being thrashed, especially at that price, he would probably have to go older.

I was amazed Polos appear to be the same price as 1 Series/A3. Fuck that noise.

He has an old school Civic at the moment, the look that was in the first Fast and Furious but not Type R. Dont think he wants a modern Civic.

I dont think he would want to go as old as an e36 or C70, good cars both though.

Haha

You want to be careful about buying anything over 5 years old especially if you live or go into a city where the ultra low emissions charges will come into effect this year. Also mot tests are more stringent now.

Sweet. My premiums are high enough because I started driving very, very late.

Dinostar77 wrote:

You want to be careful about buying anything over 5 years old especially if you live or go into a city where the ultra low emissions charges will come into effect this year. Also mot tests are more stringent now.

Mot tests are pointless. My garage is hardly able to look at my car because it's not allowed to remove any of the sound damping panels etc.

Ok here's a real challenge.

Currently my parents have 3 cars (not including my dad's project car, or his kit car that he is selling).
When my mum retires in the next few years they want to cut down to 2.

Nissan Note
This is the "dump run car" the concept of the dump car has evolved since my bro bought a bread van mk1 Polo for panels for his G40, he crashed the G40 before panels were moved.
It is my dad's day to day because his day to day involves muddy dogs, taking stuff to the dump and hauling furniture etc that he wants to restore.
The most useful car in the fleet.

Seat Ibiza
My mum's car. This is a bloody good car, nice and nippy, quick off the mark and perfect around Milton Keynes. She really, really likes it.
For those who haven't been to MK the roundabout thing is true. 0-60 isn't a performance measurement but a daily drive. (Except only outsiders actually stop at roundabouts).

BMW X1
My dad's second car. He got this a year before he retired. He always had a cruiser for going between Luton and MK daily. Prior to this it was various Audis and Bimmers.
Given that my brother is moving to Edinburgh and my parents holiday in all 4 corners of the country this is the long haul car. The Note couldn't hack 200-300 mile trips and the Ibiza is too small for holidaying with the dogs, especially as one has bad legs and needs to be able to stretch out.


So.
What do they do?
Dropping all 3 and rerolling is an option. My mum wont tolerate driving the dump car, which is understandable, it was my car on holidays back from uni, I've tolerated driving with a boot if grass cuttings with hayfever, washing machines and the worst when he put shake and vac everywhere and forgot to vac.

She also wants something easy to park at supermarkets etc, not too manly

The X1 is good but God knows why he got one with a beige interior, at the very least that needs chopping in for a car with dark interior.

What I think they need is to stick with the Note and for the other car...
Nippy, quick off the mark, easy to park and manouver, nice place to be, can cruise up and down the country, big enough for the dogs so large hatchback.
My dad to get over the fact he doesn't have the best car and it will get dents off trolleys.

No one needs a truck - they drive awful.