Why did you buy the car that you drive?

[Honoop]

Got my Fiesta last year because......

I had clocked 28k on my Focus in 18mths and if I kept it til the Option period came up on my finance I was going to be stung on excess mileage charges. Also it was a diesel and having changed jobs to within 2 miles of where I live I didnt really think it was necessary to keep it - plus my partner at the time was itching to get a new car so dragged me round garages every weekend for AGES!!
Decided on the Fiesta because I wanted something cheap to run/insure plus it came with 1yrs free insurance! The new shape Fiesta is the first model Fiesta that I have driven where I dont have to sit with the steering wheel in my lap and my knees around my ears!!!
It handles well, is proper nippy and although I wasnt 100% taken with it at first (I REALLY wanted another Focus but couldnt afford one!) I love it now!!

The End....
(Well until I get another new car in 18mths time!)

[wilsonian]

well i always wanted a wide arche clio, so i set off saving up. in the mean time i get insurance quotes and they're coming at silly prices... still with my heart set on a clio, until on my Bday my dad asks me how much do i have saved for the clio, just under a grand i reply. he says well put that towards the insurance and here's your mums M reg 1ltr Micra, woo hoo a free car! had it ever since although it can go slighty faster now and has a dent on the bonnet! LOL

[Rob]

Got my Fiesta last year because......

I had clocked 28k on my Focus in 18mths and if I kept it til the Option period came up on my finance I was going to be stung on excess mileage charges. Also it was a diesel and having changed jobs to within 2 miles of where I live I didnt really think it was necessary to keep it - plus my partner at the time was itching to get a new car so dragged me round garages every weekend for AGES!!
Decided on the Fiesta because I wanted something cheap to run/insure plus it came with 1yrs free insurance! The new shape Fiesta is the first model Fiesta that I have driven where I dont have to sit with the steering wheel in my lap and my knees around my ears!!!
It handles well, is proper nippy and although I wasnt 100% taken with it at first (I REALLY wanted another Focus but couldnt afford one!) I love it now!!

The End....
(Well until I get another new car in 18mths time!)

I thought you got hammered if you chopped it in before finance perioid up. I'd love to know cos I got exactly the same mileage, and chopping in would look *very* tempting

*edit* PS, sorry for hauling this thread back up

[Lowe]

Bought the Clio since I fancied a change from my old Fiesta (RIP) and my mate's missus was selling hers cheap. I knew the history of the car, it was at a decent price, so that was the end of that.

Then somebody at the RSC jokingly suggested I put a GTT lump in it. The more I thought about it the more I realised it could be done, and it'd be blummin hilarious... so despite the cost I thought "What the hell" and went for it.

It rattles, shakes fillings out, and is made out of plastic. But the smile per mile factor keeps me driving her.

[Captain Fizz]

Reasons I bought my Primera GX 2.0TD (Saloon):

The GX is near the top of the range. A/C, RCL, trim etc. No alloys but bought alloys for it anyway.
The 2.0TD engine seems to do 200 000 miles with very little spent on it.
Reliable - Very important.
It has a HUGE boot and I need the space for LAN's etc.
It's Blue/Turquoise depending on how the light hits it.
It handles superbly for a car of that price range.
The saloon models are surprisingly rare. I've seen 1 other car like it, and many 5 doors but lower spec.
Oh - And I just LOVE the sound of Turbo's. Have since I was an iccle kid.

[Honoop]

I thought you got hammered if you chopped it in before finance perioid up. I'd love to know cos I got exactly the same mileage, and chopping in would look *very* tempting

*edit* PS, sorry for hauling this thread back up

Ahh, you do get stung a bit if your car is worth less than the amount of finance outstanding on it.
Technically you should pay the difference - which could be as much as few grand. However, it depends how much the garage wants the deal. If you are taking out a new finance agreement they are able to 'fiddle' with the figures and add the difference to your new deal. This isnt 100% cosher and the technical term is "Lumping and Bumping". What they do is raise the price of the car you are buying on the finance deal to accomodate for this extra amount. It only really works if you are buying a car which has a lot of play in the purchase price (ie. Say you are buying something like a VW which could have a much higher screen price than they are selling it at) because the dealership needs to make the finance company believe that this is a le-git deal, and it is - but not all the figures on it are 100% straight - they have been played with to accomodate your finance needs.
End of it being that you get the car you want, they get a deal - but you end up paying extra for your new car because of the negative equity on the car you changed in.
Its not necessarily a wise thing to be doing, but if you have a car which you need to get rid of because of mileage etc then it could be worthwhile. Its not worth doing it just for the sake of it coz you are only burying yourself into more debt in the long run!

Hope that makes sense?

Kinda verging off the point of this thread now, so if you want to know any more PM me if I can be of any help! (Sorry guys!)

[dkmech]

Don't worry honoop, i found this quite interesting, even though i have my own very second hand car and don't use finance.

[Rob]

Hope that makes sense?

Perfectly, TY

[gobbo]

Having only been driving for a short length of time, and going off to uni next year I thought there was little point in buying a car that did anything more thn get me from A 2 B as cheeply as possable.

Agreed that i'd leave the car at home during uni, so parents agreed to pay half the cost of it as they'd use it when i'm at uni. So i started looking at the 6 month old market, small cars like Corsa, Fiesta, Micra, Yaris, Polo and Clio. Went to the relevent garages and test drove them, looked at running costs.

After testing them all and looking at running costs I ruled some out. I was down to Yaris, Micra and Fiesta. The others were either rubbish to drive, imo, or to expensive to run (VW).

After thinking and looking at what was available, i finally decided on a 53 plate Silver Micra 1.2 SE. It's not flash, no alloys etc, but was in amazing condition, only 1,500 miles.

It has air con, leather, cd player, split rear seats, the best power steering (imo), ABS w/ EBD, 90bhp. Still under 3 yr warrenty, and I got three years free servicing, 1 years free RAC membership, 0% finance and 3 MOT vouchers worth £40.

Throw in 50mpg and low insurnce, group 2/3 i think, and to me, this is the best car for me atm.

Tbh, i didn't look at anything sporty, insurance and running costs would have been to high, plus having only had experiance in TD Fiestas and 1l Micras, getting something fast would have been a shock.

Maybe in the future after i've got some no claims and more experiance though

[Skii]

Worked for my sister in law, was given 15k to spend on a car, originally wanted a Focus but was offered a good deal on a V5 170bhp Golf for £15,500 by Dave Clark at Specialist Cars in Milton Keynes (Dave is a good freind of my Sis-in-Law and the guy who came up with the 'Road Angel' speed camera detector)

The company only lasted a few months but made a boatload of dosh, they liquidated the company and I was allowed to keep the car + payoff.

So basically got a nice car for free

[ken]

Vovle C70 T5, it was just next car to have,

had the fords, peugeots, renaults, vauxhalls, rovers, would never buy them again. no disrespect - there just not what i want.

couldnt bear the thought of driving bmw's or mercs, the models i like i couldnt afford, just like the rollers and maseratis. porsche 'also out of reach' dont do 4 seats.

the japs dont make what i was looking for, speed quiet, exec, style, comfort. ive had a type r and was cool but not the easiest to live with, had the 4wd, nice, comfy but quite noisey!

also i sort of look for something slightly different, dont want to be one of the masses.

economy insurance doesnt make any difference.

[Grey M@a]

well been driving clio's for years so it was time I bought a clio of my own and put my own stamp on it and mod it to hell. Was going to get the 182 cup 2 litre then rang round for quotes and they were comming in thick and fast close to 1/3 of the cars price, then i picked up a few points for speeding so the insurance went even higher, so 22 years old on a new car has to be fully comp due to rules of finance so i had to drop even lower to a 1.2 16v clio hence what I am driving today, it aint to bad, nippy as hell just slow once it hits around the 75mph mark to gain even higher speeds.

[Vimeous]

The Vimeous Method

1. Write a list of wants but forget desireability.
2. Get reference material that lists all available second-hand cars from the last 10 years from all makes. Include extensive knowledge of what imports are available.
3. Set a target price.
4. Now cycle through all of #2 and write down ALL the cars that meet #1 and #3. When considering #3 use the parkers guide or similar, then add £1k to account for silly sellers.
5. Take your nice list (I'm anal enough to rate each of my wants and chart the lot giving more points to things that mater more), select the top 3-5 cars that came out best and hunt them down, chase dealers, autotrader and the like and see what's available. Often the car you ideally want is rare.
6. Drive them, poke them, understand them.
7. Decide if, from the cars that are available, there is one you really want. Put sensible to one side for a sec because by now you should have a group of motors that will do the business regardless of what your heart says.
8. From the top of your list, now you've seen the cars, are you prepared to wait for the best example?
9. Do 6, 7 & 8 until you have a winner or reconsider what you really wanted in the first place.
10. You should have bought a car ages ago!

My Criteria -
Decent space for 5 peeps - I usually do the post-pub driving.
Hatchback or Estate for moving stuff - I rent and therefore move house often so anything else is totally impractical.
Sub 10secs to 60mph (offical) - My old Polo was 11.2 offical so less than 10 is good without threatening stupid insurance.
40mpg crusing - Crucial, my Polo could do it, my Dads MK2 Golf GTi could so why not?
Reliability & running costs - New enough to be worth servicing at a main dealer and not into 'serious' mileage. Overall mustn't cost more to run than the Polo which (because of advancing age and rapidly rising mileage) was about 1k a year before fuel.
Q-Car desirable - The Polo GT was superb at annoying Mercs and BMWs, the new motor should do the same.
Main Dealer History - For once I wanted a car that someone had looked after and had the lovely stamps to prove it.

I lucked out with the Civic in the end as it did everything I wanted, my only compromises being only 4k miles before the BIG service at 60k, traditional ex-fleet scratches and it's red (something I was very uncertain about but now love).

The one's I almost bought -
Nissan Primera GT+ (150bhp hatch) - 2K too expensive on a Y-plate.
Fiat Bravo HGT - Over priced and massively rare for a good one.
Citroen Xsara Coupe GTI - Cheap, fast and nearly new but a little too ugly.
Honda Civic 1.8VTi Aerodeck - Black, two years newer and 1k cheaper than my eventual purchase. I might have compromised on the 90k miles but the boot had obviously been very well used, the key hole looked like it needed new and the cost of replacing the locks on a new car is frightening. Shame.

In the end I've been a happy camper for 2+ years. 60 in 8.2 (less in reality), plenty of space, subtle looks, it's only a Civic Q-carness and similar running costs. Ins group 15 meant I had to wait a month to collect the car until my 25th birthday but it was worth it!

When I next buy I need to add a few more requirements.
Air-con, a working clock, a better supply of cars (this was hard to find) and 10k mile service intervals! (6k is a killer)

[gobbo]

[QUOTE=VimeousThe one's I almost bought -
Nissan Primera GT+ (150bhp hatch) - 2K too expensive on a Y-plate.[/QUOTE]

Shame it was too expensive, my old man drives one, brilliant car, grips like its glued to the road, often takes hot hatch/bmw/merc drivers by surprise on the twisties, and sometimes on the straights too

[Moby-Dick]

40mpg crusing

not the way you drive

[RVF500]

After watching the the ST170 sucking fuel out of the tank at a phenomenal rate I decided it was time to get something a bit less of a toy. Trundling up and down the motorway every week I wanted something that was reasonably pokey. Didn't want a performance loss but was good on fuel. So I ended up with a BMW 320d. Well happy. Does what I want it to do and then some and I can throw it about a bit if I want to. Combined fuel consumption is around 45mpg. Over 50 on a long haul.

Car I nearly bought as a toy...Jaguar XK8 (obviously fuel consumption wasn't an issue at this point). Test drove it, had the money for a 4 year old model, sorted the deal out. Then got tipped the nod that all the contractors were going to be laid off shortly. So it didn't happen. Glad it didn't as I would have been selling it after about 6 months at the most. The S80 had to go too and I was running around in the wife's renault. Never mind, sh*t happens.