OT: WOOHOO

good choice, have fun.

Good god. There are /so/ many cars that are vastly superior to that for the money...

Richard

`-'\_)Morticia

You can have my Audi for not much more :)

Ron

What can you get with: ~200bhp

406 coupe's sexy looks (subjective I know) Francomobile reasonable ride quality/handling Extras like 406 coupe's big brembo brakes 5 to 6 grand?

If we're being fair, it's gotta be the same sort of age (from 97ish) and its not allowed to be a rover 600ti (c:

I've never driven a 406 or a 406 coupe, I like the look of them though and I've enjoyed the 205's, 206's and 306's I have driven (we were an all Peugeot family for a few years - this may make me slightly biased).

Douglas

I wouldn't if I were you.

I've been there once, got very badly burned, and wouldn't again.

4 years is a long time to keep a car, and you're going to be in -ve equity with it for a vast proportion of this time.

To be fair, it only needs those brakes because it so frigging heavy :)

So how do you think people buy cars ? I'd hazard a guess that the percentage of cars bought outright, is down in the single figures !

NB - Obviously I'm discounting pocket-money cars here :)

Like what ?

I'm struggling to think of many (any ?) !

I've looked at the figures time and time again.

I can buy a 'banger' for £500 or so, have a fund of another £500 to keep it legal, flog it a year later for £500, and will have owned a car for a couple of months repayments.

If you are going to get in the hock for a car, a 4 year term makes very little little sense as the car will either be worn out or you'll be bored of it before you've finished paying for it.

As I say, I've been there, done that, and won't do it again. It just makes no sense whatsoever, unless you are vain enough to want a £5k car to impress neighbours / friends.

I paid cash for my car ::)

Theres a Yellow Maserati V8 on my road, a really new one. I know this is irrelevant, but its sweeet :)

Well, excluding the looks, a Subaru Legacy GT for a start. Personally, given my experience of Pinifarina built Peugeots, I'd reckon anything twice as old an Japanese or German is going to be in /much/ better shape. I reckon that £5K would be well spent on a 200SX, for example.

I totally admit the 406 is a beautiful car. However, take it from someone who has experienced Peugeot/Pininfarina (and spoken to loads of other owners) - DO NOT touch with a bargepole.

Richard

If you're ever passing through Lyndhurst in the New Forest (about 4 miles from where i live), stop and look in the garage in the high street. Predominantly Maseratis and Ferraris, but most exotic cars pass through there at some point. Every now and again you'll see one of them with trade plates on getting caned through the Forest - a magnificant sight!!

Yes - but when it comes to cars bought on HP, some are much more likely to be 'upside down' than others. Anything French with a V6 is not a sound financial investment. Sorry, but that's just how it is. You either buy cheap or buy German. Cliched but true. TBH, if I was the original poster and wanted to spend 5 grand on a car, I would never take a personal loan. HP on the car itself gives you the little used voluntary termination clause at half term. On a 406 3.0 V6 which is probably going to be substantially upside down by half term, it makes sense to walk away and let the finance company take the strain.

200SX is pretty much the only thing I can think of - it's stretching things a little to place the legacy in the same class.

I'd immediately discount "anything twice as old" - simply because it was twice as old.

Anyhow - I'm not sure your 306 story applies to the 406 Coupe. I've never noticed it having a bad rep. Remember it's being bought as a £5K used car - so it doesn't matter one jot how useless the dealer/aftersales service is.

What relevence does that have ? Unless the finance is interest-free, then quite obviously you're going to be worse off !

Exactly my point. If you don't get finance to buy a car, then you have to drive a cheap banger. Very few folks have X thousand pounds simply sitting around to buy cars with, no matter what their income. A friend of mine recently started working for the BBC, earning a smidge under £50K per year. He bought an Astra Coupe for £12000, on finance.

In which case, you simply sell it and get a different car. You either make the loan bigger to buy the replacement, or use the money from the sale to pay off your loan, and then start again. You don't have to "finish paying for it".

Huh ? You don't half have some wierd ideas !!!! People buy modern cars for their reliability, comfort, ride, standard equipment levels, build quality, etc. etc. - most of the things you sacrifice by driving a cheap banger. "impress neighbours / friends" ranks WAAAAAAAAAAAY down the list ! If a car-maker's modern cars were no better than their older cars, then they'd go out of business VERY quickly - newer cars are almost universally better than their older equivalents, for obvious reasons.

Bar exotic/rare things, NO car is a "sound financial investment" - they range from VERY BAD to ULTRA BAD. People simply don't care - it's certainly not something I look at when buying a car.

Without VASTLY increasing the price, the 406 V6 Coupe has no German equivalent. "buy cheap" is exactly what he's doing - I can't think of much else in the same class for as little money.

I agree - there are probably better ways to finance his purchase. The point being, you have to have some sort of finance - most people don't have a big wodge of cash simply sat doing nothing, to spend on a car !

Exactly. Which is why I can't understand people doing it.

Then just buy what you can afford to buy out of your cash reserves.

How often have you done this?

I've tried it - bought the Cinq., decided I wanted a Punto after about

18 months. Trade-in and private sales figures were significantly less than the amount owed on the loan.

This remained true up until the last 12 months of the term, ISTR.

I'd say that the 406 isn't a _significant_ step over the 405. In fact, they could even have been conisdered a backwards step in some respects. And a £5k 406 Coupe definitely isn't 10 times better than a tidy £500

405 SRi, for example.

People _don't_ buy new cars because they're better then their predecessors - if people actually bought cars based on how 'good' they were, then Ford and Vauxhall would be bankrupt, with, for example, BMW selling shedloads more than anyone else.

The only reason people spend 'proper' money on a car is to show off, simple really.

There's plenty of sub-£1k cars out there that offer 90% of the driving pleasure of a £10k car for 10% of the cost.