poprock wrote:

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

The banks that over corrected on mortgage limits and who they’ll now lend to had to find themselves a new ridiculously profitable revenue stream and that was the auto market.

Also … It’s always cheaper to take a cash loan from your bank than car finance from a car dealer. So car dealers must be offering finance to people who haven’t compared, or are already overextended or deemed too high a risk by their banks.

The other scenario is what Boris described, where you take the harsh finance deal because the dealer only gives you the car/price you want if you do so.

So, to generalise, people are either overpaying or overextended. Neither are good long term risks for the lenders. It does smack of a financial industry repeating the mistakes it made with sub-prime mortgages.

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to tie the price to the finance, so as long as you can get them to confirm the price in writing you can the just offer to pay that price to the dealer without the finance package.

One thing I’ve noticed going to any main dealer is any offer they make you that is outside the normal price, let’s say they offer to knock another £500 off they never write it down but will give you a pen to write it down yourself. I’m certain that’s so you can’t hold them to it.

They are supposed to give you any finance quotes in writing under the consumer credit act

If I’d managed to persuade Sylvia not to go for a sunroof it would’ve been the sane

Funkstain wrote:

If I’d managed to persuade Sylvia not to go for a sunroof it would’ve been the sane

Quote of the week.

On the subject of suspecting people over stretching, I have noticed a distinct increase in people owning more premium branded cars over the years.
Having a Merc, BMW, Range Rover etc used to be quite the thing back in the day, seems much more common now.

Yeah some goods points there. The extended range did cross my mind, having a 1 Series myself.

I'm mostly thinking about Milton Keynes as well as it was where I grew up so the only fair place to compare. Very middle class , very car focussed and lots of commuters so it is a hugher priority.

It does worry me though. When I was a kid households had one half decent car and maybe one piece of shit. I worry when things go tits up (which there are) having two cars on finance rather than owning one outright limits options. I predict a buyers market on second hand repos next year.

Extending their range of cars has definitely had an affect. You could argue to the dilution of the brands. M logos being stuck on everything other than a proper M car is one example.

On a slightly different note, reliability or lack there of, on modern cars is annoying and has to be a factor of cost cutting and purposely built in. The more tech that gets thrown in the less reliable the cars become and more expensive they become to fix.

Also BHP is having an affect on some cars. For example the AMG A45S, is a 2L 4 pot that will produce over 400bhp. From a car that is probably a hyperhatch rather than a hothatch. Those two turbos in that car will be overworked as will the engine. Its mounted sideways and needs additional cooling. That car in 5+ years time will be a moneypit to fix and keep running.

The M340i from BMW is a lovely car, however the engine is mounted back to front so the VANOS (timing chain) is close to the driver rather than the front bumper. Thats a full removal of the engine to change that timing chain. That will cost £££ when it does need replacing. Also BMW using so many plastic parts (to keep cost down) doesnt help with longevity of the cars.

Its telling that Toyota have such a strong reputation for reliably and the other Japanese/South Korea brands arent too far behind. Toyota testing of parts is a legendary. 300,000-400,000 miles for a particular model to ensure its reliability. Thats why they are alittle behind the germans when it comes to tech in the cars as they place reliability over the latest and greatest gadegts.

The toyota Supra which shares alot of parts with the Z4 was massively delayed because the BMW parts kept failing Toyota reliability benchmarks. To the point that toyota had to manufacture some of them themselves to get the car out of the door.

I think if i was buying a car be it PCP/PCH/New Used, i would stick to Toyota, Mazda, Lexus, Honda,Kia and Hyundai. Now hand on heart I'd love a Audi S4 Avant or a BMW series but the reliability and options cost is painful. On the later, i love how much far east companies throw into their car pacakages, whereas with the germans and whatnot every bloody thing is an optional extra that you have to pay through the nose through.

Anyway im ranting, in a nutshell, nowadays there is no excise not to build reliable cars, unless its done on purpose for the financial models of these car companies.

On the VW MQB/MEB/ god knows how many of these things VW have platforms to keep costs down and standardise production. But i do like them.

Nissan make some of the ugliest cars on the planet, so imagine my surprise to see them showing this today:



It’s their new Z concept. And they’ve nailed it, haven’t they? Quite a looker.

Question is whether they’ve got the balls to put it into production.

It might be just the yellow but it looks a lot like that fancy Toyota.

Actually ended up watching the livestream of that cars reveal on YouTube late last night.

I really like it.

afgavinstan wrote:

Yes I'm inexperienced and can count the number of car models I've driven in one hand but my first car is a petrol manual and I love it and I want nothing else in my future.

This is the way.

I think the current Z is a bit of a fat bloater. This is probably even bigger but is at least styled to disguise it.

I was watching a show from 2005 and the car had a start button. It was weird seeing that next to a tape player.