advice on trading up

Hi

the uk.rec.cars newsgroup doesn't seem at all active, so I thought I'd try here. Let me know if there is a more appropriate news group!

I've been a long distance train commuter most of my adult life, but for the last couple of years have travelled to and from the office by car, twice a week, which is a 260 mile round journey. So I've gone from the one car we used to run, and use on weekends, racking up not much more than 10thou miles a year, to about 35thou miles a year.

She Who Must Be Obeyed also has a car, and is also doing a lot more driving, about 15thou miles a year.

So I'm trying to work out the best strategy for buying and replacing cars. In the past we would buy a 4ish yr old Megane and drive it a couple of years, and sell it. The 05 Megane we bought in May has already got 20k on the clock, taking it over 50k.

So what would be the best kind of strategy going ahead to make sure that we aren't costings ourselves more money in depreciation than we need to?

Best to put as many miles on one care, or best to share equally.

Best to buy new on warranty and keep a year then trade in?

Best to buy new or nearly new and put on 100k in 3yrs and not worry that the car's value is likely to be less than nil?

Go for something like a VW that appears to hold its value more with high mileage on it?

Mike

Reply to
MW
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I'd buy a decent 2yr old Toyota/VW and run it for as long as you can.

Regrds

Reply to
Huey

That's pretty much what my father does but with 6mth old Focii - He's just got his second now.

The first he had for 8yrs and drove it to about 240k, before it was iffy for the MOT and he got a good deal on a new(er) one.

Reply to
Kipling

Buying new you'll lose around 25-35% of its value in year one.

As for high milers, I bought my Mondeo with 90k on the clock at 3 years old. It was a non issue as it had been well looked after and both drove and looked like new. My Mondeo is under a year older than yours and has just turned 127.000 miles. Serviced when it should do and all repairs done as they've come up, not left. Drives perfectly well and should do another 127k quite easily.

Keep the Megane, keep up to its maintenance and drive it into the ground.

Reply to
Conor

snip

I've just had a quick look at Autotrader and new car discount places, and depreciation seems to vary between 5% (Audi S3) and 22% (Ford Focus). Exceptions abound of course - especially for the Focus (1.8 petrol, range 10% to 40% depreciation for what appear to be similar cars).

It's just that, depending upon what you want to buy, I wouldn't rule out new.

Rob

Reply to
Rob

Its going to be a motorway muncher and its being done for cost. Somehow I doubt a S3 comes into the equation.

Reply to
Conor

I would buy a 3 year old TDI and run it into the ground. Any problems should have already been fixed under warranty yet you've skipped the worst of the depreciation, and it won't cost you that much that you'll worry about depreciation. I found Ford TDCis are good value at that age, and seem to be designed for high mileages.

Z
Reply to
Zimmy

ileage on it?

Thanks to the various posters. Running in to the ground seems a sensible option.

M
Reply to
MW

Indeed, something that holds it's value at high miles, is comfy and has a reasonable engine, and doesn't cost a bomb to run and repair. I'd get a 1.8 petrol Golf/Focus sized car - I like VWs because the parts are good quality and surprisingly cheap, whereas Japanese parts are hugely expensive. I'd avoid Peugeot as the parts are hugely expensive and often not available within sane timeframes. My experience of high mileage TDIs is that they throw extremely large and sudden bills when the dual mass flywheel fails, along with smaller bills when the EGR system clogs up, which are common faults across all marques and models of common rail diesel.

I'd honestly not run anything "into the ground" unless it's your only feasible method of affording a car - sorting out & arranging your schedule around repairs is a pain in the neck. I'd buy something 1-2 years old with not too many miles, run it for a couple of years and then swap it. You'll then avoid having to look for cars too often, and when you do it hopefully won't be a distressed purchase (ie, you're buying it because the existing one's blown up). And you avoid driving around in a car with ruined seats and getting back ache, which is my experience of anything with monster miles on it...

Reply to
Doki

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