New Car...What to get?

Impspeed

Impspeed

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David
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My current car, a 1997 3dr Nissan Almera SRi, is for sale at the moment and I'm looking at new cars, something similar size or bigger and most importantly diesel...

I've spent hours, days even, trawling through adverts on Auto Trader for cars and think I've finally decided on a Skoda Fabia vRS (SE) but wondering if i've missed anything?

Looking at spending between £8-9k (Although looking at cars up to £10k as we can always barter), has to be no older than 56/07 and ideally less than 35k with FSH. I like something sporty (as far a diesel goes) so welcoming any suggestions.

Have I missed anything in my quest for my next car?


David
 
I'm guessing a BMW 1 series diesel is probably still out of budget at that age and mileage?

Good call with the Fabia though. I had one as a courtesy car when my Octavia was in for some work and they're cracking little cars.
Very easy to chip them for even more smiles per mile as well ;) Have a look at www.briskoda.net if you need any more info on them.
 
Maybe have a look at a Seat Ibiza/Leon aswell - finish and interior of a better quality than the Skoda generally, although build quality is obviously similar overall.
 
Not a fan of the Ibiza (although same chassis/engine as Fabia) they feel cheap and plastic compared. The vRS SE I'm looking at is the limited edition (1000) run they did in 2007, all come in Race Blue with Black Leather, Air Con, 6CD Changer, Cruise Control etc so fully loaded in these terms.

The 1 Series may be a good car but as many VW/Audi's hugely inflated prices compared to others in the market just push the prices too high.

It's really difficult! I've got to live with the car for the next 5+ years so gotta be a good'un.


DB
 
Alfa 147??? Good looking, all the toys on a well specced one, stylish and great to drive.
 
Can't comment directly on the Fabia, but I've got a diesel Octavia and it's probably the best all-rounder that I've had.
 
Alfa is not a bad call... My sister has a 147 JTD Q2 with all the toys. I'm surprised how cheap they are!

DB
 
Get a Jaaaaaaaaaaaaagg S type. Or a Merc C270 CDI (gran has one, its awesome :love:), C220/C180 CDI. Cruise in styyyyyle. ;)
 
golf?
leon?
ibiza?
bora?
focus?
mondeo?
megane (poss convertable?)


Bora is a good bet - a golf with a larger boot at much cheaper than golf money.

And the MOndeo, whilst bigger is probably cheaper than a focus, which is more popular.

And the astra, particularly the 3 door (sporthatch) are v nce in an SXI spec. Get the 1.9 cdti though, the 1.7 is not so good.
 
my choice would be:

vw golf 1.6tdi(my current car)
vw jetta tdi
vw golf gttdi
vw bora tdi-owned one couple of years ago and it was a fun car to drive with exc mpg

avoid:
renault laguna 2 diesel- mine blew the turbo last aug bank hol mon
 
lawrie29 said:
golf?
leon?
ibiza?
bora?
focus?
mondeo?
megane (poss convertable?)


Bora is a good bet - a golf with a larger boot at much cheaper than golf money.

And the MOndeo, whilst bigger is probably cheaper than a focus, which is more popular.

And the astra, particularly the 3 door (sporthatch) are v nce in an SXI spec. Get the 1.9 cdti though, the 1.7 is not so good.
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batemansxxxb said:
my choice would be:

vw golf 1.6tdi(my current car)
vw jetta tdi
vw golf gttdi
vw bora tdi-owned one couple of years ago and it was a fun car to drive with exc mpg

avoid:
renault laguna 2 diesel- mine blew the turbo last aug bank hol mon
Click to expand...

The problem with most of those cars is the cost vs age vs mileage...

I cover easily 30k per year and need a car that will last me 4-5 years so Golf and Jetta are both out as they're too expensive for the comparative age/mileage. As I've already said the Ibiza feels very cheap inside and the Leon are now too old for the money - probably looking at £10+k for a descent spec which is comparable to the vRS.

The real problems are age and mileage. I'd love a Mondeo ST TDCI on an 05 but can't justify £9k on a 5 year old car which has covered 50k miles.

DB
 
Flash In The Pan said:
There's a reason why secondhand Alfas are cheap.....:nuts:
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Get a good un and you'll have no problems. I have just got rid of my 04 plate 156 2.0 JTS, apart from consumables never put a foot wrong in 45000 miles and 2 years that I had it, with total mileage of 65000. And its something a bit different to the usual german / japanese repmobiles
 
are paying cash or taking a loan?
have you considered contract hire?
 
lawrie29 said:
are paying cash or taking a loan?
have you considered contract hire?
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Unless it's a company purchase would not recommend Contract Hire, your throwing money away. PCP would be a more viable option deferring a bulk of the payment to the end with the option to hand the car back if in neg eq/buy or re-finance the final payment or use the equity as the deposit for the next car...
 
Skodas don't have even a space saver wheels , all you get is a spray can . Get a puncture and your in all sorts of trouble. Replacement tyre instead of repair, spray can may not work so breakdown recovery to the nearest garage after waiting for them to turn up. Thats what put me off buying a new one.
Instead I purchased for my wife a Kia Ceed 1.6 ls diesel estate, very good on MPG (well over 40mpg around the houses) - 7 year warrantee - loads of room in the estate very good value for money and plenty of guts as well.
Realspeed
 
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TheNissanMan said:
Unless it's a company purchase would not recommend Contract Hire, your throwing money away. PCP would be a more viable option deferring a bulk of the payment to the end with the option to hand the car back if in neg eq/buy or re-finance the final payment or use the equity as the deposit for the next car...
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The reason that companies use contract hire is because it does save them money.

Not only does it preserve cash, but protects them from the future value of the vehicle.

A PCP may be a better personal option, but a contract hire is worth considering, if you consider that when you swap a car after 3 years, all you do is to rent it for that period, you just don;t know how much that rent is, cos you don;t know what you can sell it for till it is sold. SO by paying a known amount per month, you at least know how much the car will cost you.

But it is not for everyone.....
 
CHC generally saves companies money due to the tax implications which you wouldn't be able to do as a private individual.

PCP also partially protects against future value as you have a Guarenteed Future Value(GFV) setout with the initial purchase although it's worth looking at whose offering what GFV's. Most new car buyers will change between 2.5 to 3.5years which is exactly what PCP's are set to aid. As a example we did an exercise for the launch of the facelift Qashqai a couple of months ago and every person we looked at with a 2.5year old Qashqai on 3 year PCP would have a lower monthly payment for an equivalent spec'ed car with a deposit of £250.

If the market goes tits up you can always hand the car back with no adverse effect on your credit record so therefore know exactly how much your paying and how much your car will cost you...
 
A Fabia vRS is a hoot of a car EXCEPT ... if you easily cover 30,000 miles a year, the front seats are just awful! Sub-Imp! Try mkI Mini levels of comfort! :help:

Being practical, your budget will have to include either Recaros or chiropractors!
 
Plus 1 for the Seat Leon here... I had a Seat Leon FR which is the 150hp TDi model and it was a hoot to drive, well screwed together, and was very very good overall...

Take a look at one, I can't imagine you'd be disappointed with one :)
 
As much as it hurts me to say it if your doing 30k pa Peugeot maybe worth a look. The HDi engines have a good rep and french cars traditionally have exceptionally comfy seats.
 
With your user name you should get something (much) older. Like this (well, not that one as it's mine) :D :

jeb1-640.jpg


But the vRS is an excellent car and you wont got far wrong with one, a work colleague has one and he does a load of miles (25k or so pa) in it.
 
Looked at the Leons and they seem great cars - nearly bought one last week but again it's the interiors that lets the older versions down. The vRS SE has leather seats, nice solid dash and decent stereo...

Looking to pay cash so no worries about HP/PCP etc.

Used to own a MkI Mini Cooper so used to there seats, replaces with Corbeau low back buckets...

Ono, funny you should mention the Imp...

IMG_1254MOD-1.jpg
 
I know the Fabia is a little 'goer' but, gawd, it looks bloody awful.... me, I'd get the Leon or an Audi A4 1.9 tdi...
 
TheNissanMan said:
As much as it hurts me to say it if your doing 30k pa Peugeot maybe worth a look. The HDi engines have a good rep and french cars traditionally have exceptionally comfy seats.
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Problem with French machinery is the very poor build quality and materials they use. My girlfriend has a C2 and although it's a cheap car it's appaulingly built with trim falling off left right and centre. Same with her Dads 407 SW and 47 Coupe - to be honest I don't know why they keep on buying them.

Regading Merc, Jag, Audi - if you can find an 07 reg with 35k on please let me know!!

DB
 
All the vRSs I've looked at have a full size spare...

DB
 
Jim R

I looked at Skodas late last year for a brand new one and when I asked I was told all new Skodas only have cans now. Older Skodas may well have tyres . Have a look at the Skoda web site they even boast of no spare wheel on the favia models, havn't looked at the others.
 
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dave,
Mother's got a fab vrs, dad's got an octavia laurent clement estate (or something along those lines)

Both excellent, the Fabia is quick, handles well, comfortable unless your over 6ft as the seat position is high and upright, for comfort i prefer the Octavia but it's a propper cruiser with full leather heated seats, DSG semi auto box (which is fun), 17 speaker sterio blah blah.

The Fabia has been the reliable one, 50k in 3 years and a hard 50k at that with me + my brother ragging it round...so far the only thing we've had to sort was a new bumper after i smacked a badger at 60odd...Octavia has had power steering failure, air con compressor failure and fails MOT every year with a split CV boot, same side, always replaced with OEM parts....

The Fabia will do 55mpg easy, yet will burn most stuff off the lights if you want it too...

Speak to Neil Simpson (former VW works rally driver (disel golf in BRC 98?)) who runs Simpsons skoda in Calne (http://www.simpsonsskoda.co.uk/)
we've had alot of cars through him, but he did us an unbelievable deal on the 2 cars together, one was the service managers, the fabia was his own company car AFAIK

Charlie
 
Cheers for the info Charlie. A lot of the rally togs out there seem to rate the vRS and having been out with Dave Johnson the last few weeks in his I think my mind is pretty much settled now.

Good to know they're reliable, even with you behind the wheel ;) and the MPG is what I'm really after.

Think I've found a good'un down at Cinderford, Skoda Main Dealer, so going to have a look at that one on Monday.
Will keep you up dated but not likely to have everything sorted until mid-May :(


DB
 
realspeed said:
Jim R

I looked at Skodas late last year for a brand new one and when I asked I was told all new Skodas only have cans now. Older Skodas may well have tyres . Have a look at the Skoda web site they even boast of no spare wheel on the favia models, havn't looked at the others.
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Thanks, that's interesting to know. I was considering a Mk2 Octavia vRS to replace my current Mk1. Seems they've been scrimping to keep the costs down then :(
 
Yes Jim and they are not the only company to take this route, Havn't checked but I believe the VW Golf is the same, but I may be wrong, but whatever new car is bought its well worth checking up on first.

Realspeed
 
Not a genuine ex-works car but full FIA Historic car, with all papers, in need of a new engine :-(

She used to compete over in Belguim and Ireland before I bought it and gave it a full rebuild.
 
Impspeed said:
Looked at the Leons and they seem great cars - nearly bought one last week but again it's the interiors that lets the older versions down. The vRS SE has leather seats, nice solid dash and decent stereo...

Looking to pay cash so no worries about HP/PCP etc.

Used to own a MkI Mini Cooper so used to there seats, replaces with Corbeau low back buckets...

Ono, funny you should mention the Imp...

IMG_1254MOD-1.jpg
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I still have memories of the o/s doughnut exploding on my last Imp, causing the driveshaft to wrap itself in my brand new Janspeed manifold and the car to go about 2ft in the air and land across two lanes of rush-hour traffic in the middle of a roundabout :lol:
 
Jim.R said:
Thanks, that's interesting to know. I was considering a Mk2 Octavia vRS to replace my current Mk1. Seems they've been scrimping to keep the costs down then :(
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Is the Mk2 the just-superseded model? If so, then they have a spare wheel.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I still have memories of the o/s doughnut exploding on my last Imp, causing the driveshaft to wrap itself in my brand new Janspeed manifold and the car to go about 2ft in the air and land across two lanes of rush-hour traffic in the middle of a roundabout :lol:
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Always the o/s doughnut and always on cars with a Janspeed, the number of times I've heard that there's some sort of inescapable logic to it...

I bought one of the last combined manifolds Janspeed sold before they sold the moulds two or three years back. £750 + VAT. Would be well gutted if the driveshaft went through it. I use Lotus doughnuts though and at some point will go over to CV joints.
 
I've just bought a brand-new '10' plate Mazda 3 TS2 and I love it :) :thumbs:
 
Dave are you at the Plains? If you can prove your 3rd party on any other vehicle insurance you're welcome to drive me around in it!
 
i would go for a ibiza cupra tdi 50mpg and 0-60 which would scare some petrol hot hatches LOL
 
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