[Zippeh]

Well I ended up cancelling my M140i order. I've come to the conclusion that I've wasted a bucket load of cash on cars over the last couple of years, so I'm going cheap for two years, then will review again after that.

The new steed will be a Skoda Octavia vRS diesel! It'll be fine for what I need for now. Nice size, good economy, pretty nippy. Most of all cheap!

£2190 deposit, and £216 a month for 17000 on PCH. Once I sell mine, clear my loan and pay the deposit, I should have around £11k in cash to put to one side. The contract is only for 2 years, so I get plenty of time to have a proper look for what I want next. And as the child will be a bit bigger, hopefully a 440i will be on on the cards! I just didn't want the M140i enough to justify spending that much on it.

Now then. Who's going to buy my 330d?? It needs to go in the next couple of weeks so there's a deal to be had.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1265350

[philiper1]

good luck with the new car

[Consett Mag]

Good luck with your swapping. Hope you get sorted.

After my two recent BMW's, it would take some special car to get me away from this product. My 330D is just so good. My Mini Cooper SD was cracking.

[teaston]

How come you didn't go for the crazy Golf R deals around currently?

[dopper99]

And this .............. cheap as chips if you want a fast car, on a budget.
My missus was paying more than that a month on a Fiesta Zetec.

[dopper99]

Or the Golf as teaston says..........

[Zippeh]

Originally Posted by dopper99

Or the Golf as teaston says..........

Its the mileage that I need. Once you start adding the miles theyre no longer that cheap. Im going for mega cheap as part of a longer plan

[Zippeh]

Well ive sent an email to see just in case

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by Zippeh

Well ive sent an email to see just in case

[Drisser]

Surely if you are aiming to save money, better to buy a used Golf Tdi Mk7 or something similar for about £10k ? I understand the appeal of leasing but you still have nothing to show for it and the end, whereas a sensible used buy will still be worth 50-60% after your 2 years..

[Consett Mag]

Originally Posted by Drisser

Surely if you are aiming to save money, better to buy a used Golf Tdi Mk7 or something similar for about £10k ? I understand the appeal of leasing but you still have nothing to show for it and the end, whereas a sensible used buy will still be worth 50-60% after your 2 years..

Sounds some good advice. I still regret paying about £12k for my leased mini before handing the keys in and being left with nothing.

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Drisser

Surely if you are aiming to save money, better to buy a used Golf Tdi Mk7 or something similar for about £10k ? I understand the appeal of leasing but you still have nothing to show for it and the end, whereas a sensible used buy will still be worth 50-60% after your 2 years..

What sort of age, spec and mileage Golf TDi does £10k get you though? To have something comparable to an Octavia VRs I guess you're looking at a Golf GTD but would £10k get you into a Mk7 version of one of those that's in decent condition and without a very high mileage? Obviously if you take the low cost theme to extremes you could buy a shed for a grand and run it for a couple of years but I suspect the OP is looking to strike a balance and has a minimum standard he wants to maintain!

Having said all of that I agree that leasing is probably most effective when the alternative is buying a new car. I accept you have nothing to show for your outlay after 2 or 3 years but if the total cost (deposit plus monthly repayments) is no more than the depreciation on the outright purchase then to my mind you're still no worse off!

[isleaiw]

agree with the above. I run a Pug 206 for my son to drive and take to the station. Paid a grand, had it nearly 3 years, still worth £400 plus and only spent a couple of hundred on running costs (low mileage - about 5k in total!). But I wouldnt want to drive it as my only car....

fixing the cost of running a decent car at a sensible level makes alot of sense to me.

[Zippeh]

It doesn't worry me that I've got nothing to show for it at the end. In fact, I'm quite happy with it! It means I know how much my driving is going to cost me over the next two years. I'm not at the mercy of the used car market when it comes to trading it in. I'm getting a brand new car for just over £7000 for two years driving. So in effect, same as if I bought it for £25k, and sold it for £18k. Now, a two yr old Skoda with 34000 miles on it is not going to be worth £18k when it comes to trade in. The only time it's better buying a car outright I think is if the APR is high, or if you're planning on keeping it for 4yrs or more. I know I won't keep a car for that long, I never have!

I'm free after two years to find another deal for a lease (if I want to) without any trade in hassles.

You're right in that I could save even more by getting a older Golf GTD or other used car. But chances are that will require maintenance (cambelt, brakes, tyres maybe). With the new Skoda, any major issues will be covered by warranty. Any servicing will be minimal (every 20000miles apparently). Tyres might need replacing towards the end of the lease I grant you.

[willjames]

Nooooooooo, don't leave us!

But seriously, do what's best for you and yours and like you said you'll have a shit load of money in two years for a bigger better BMW!

[SkyJawa]

Cupra has a much better standard spec than the R.

You won't regret an Octavia, great cars.

[Drisser]

Originally Posted by JNW1

What sort of age, spec and mileage Golf TDi does £10k get you though? To have something comparable to an Octavia VRs I guess you're looking at a Golf GTD but would £10k get you into a Mk7 version of one of those that's in decent condition and without a very high mileage? Obviously if you take the low cost theme to extremes you could buy a shed for a grand and run it for a couple of years but I suspect the OP is looking to strike a balance and has a minimum standard he wants to maintain!

Having said all of that I agree that leasing is probably most effective when the alternative is buying a new car. I accept you have nothing to show for your outlay after 2 or 3 years but if the total cost (deposit plus monthly repayments) is no more than the depreciation on the outright purchase then to my mind you're still no worse off!

that is man maths talking, not money saving !

Doesn't really matter about the mileage on a used car like that if you are going to rack up loads more.. leasing is still paying the depreciation on a new car.

If you want to save money the only way really is to buy something used that's 3 years old or so, taken a 50% hit but still got plenty life and reliability, bet you could get a decent Mk7 Gt tdi for just over £10k with some haggling and someone will always want to buy it privately at the end even with 130k on the clock..

[Drisser]

Originally Posted by Zippeh

It doesn't worry me that I've got nothing to show for it at the end. In fact, I'm quite happy with it! It means I know how much my driving is going to cost me over the next two years. I'm not at the mercy of the used car market when it comes to trading it in. I'm getting a brand new car for just over £7000 for two years driving. So in effect, same as if I bought it for £25k, and sold it for £18k. Now, a two yr old Skoda with 34000 miles on it is not going to be worth £18k when it comes to trade in. The only time it's better buying a car outright I think is if the APR is high, or if you're planning on keeping it for 4yrs or more. I know I won't keep a car for that long, I never have!

I'm free after two years to find another deal for a lease (if I want to) without any trade in hassles.

You're right in that I could save even more by getting a older Golf GTD or other used car. But chances are that will require maintenance (cambelt, brakes, tyres maybe). With the new Skoda, any major issues will be covered by warranty. Any servicing will be minimal (every 20000miles apparently). Tyres might need replacing towards the end of the lease I grant you.

hmm not convinced of the logic - no denying its a good lease deal though. You can get a lot of good reliable comfortable mile munchers for a little over £10k though that will still be easily worth £5-6k after 2 years. That said if you want to have a new car then it sounds like a good deal - albeit " new car" and "saving money" don't ever really go together IMO.

Last year as a stopgap I ran an E46 330ci for 6 months, sold it for £250 more than I paid for it and spent nothing on it but petrol. That is sensible motoring and if you find something like that with low miles, even them out over 2 years you wont lose much at all in deprecation.. with it comes the risk of more repairs though

[Zippeh]

Granted i could save even more money by getting second hand. But I fancy trying out the lease option and it will save me a packet (just not as big a saving as used )

Phoned about the vw / seat deal and all the golfs are gone, but the seats are available. Factory orders. 7.2p per mile over the 5k allowance. Bargain!

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Drisser

that is man maths talking, not money saving !

Doesn't really matter about the mileage on a used car like that if you are going to rack up loads more.. leasing is still paying the depreciation on a new car.

If you want to save money the only way really is to buy something used that's 3 years old or so, taken a 50% hit but still got plenty life and reliability, bet you could get a decent Mk7 Gt tdi for just over £10k with some haggling and someone will always want to buy it privately at the end even with 130k on the clock..

I'm not really up on my Golfs but can you really get a Mk7 GTD for around £10k that's in nice condition and hasn't been to the moon and back? On the odd occasions I've seen them on forecourts (admittedly at main dealers) they've been a lot more expensive than that!

However, I get the impression the OP wants a decent car that isn't going to cost him an arm and a leg on monthly payments and isn't going to give him any reliability issues or nasty surprises with maintenance bills. That being the case the lease deal he's got doesn't sound unreasonable to me as you could easily lose £7k in depreciation over 2 years buying a new car (or even on a nearly-new car for that matter). I don't disagree your proposal of buying used offers a lower cost solution but I don't think it's all about cost for the OP; get the impression he still wants the piece of mind that comes with a new car but not at the expense that comes with a new BMW and that being the case some of these lease deals on VAG Group cars have their merits. A Leon Cupra R for just over £5k over 2 years looks pretty good value unless there's an extortionate excess mileage charge for exceeding 5k miles/annum!

[happycow6171]

I have decided to get out of the car finance spiral and have payed off 335d touring and have put a cash order in for a m140i!

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by happycow6171

I have decided to get out of the car finance spiral and have payed off 335d touring and have put a cash order in for a m140i!

I think outright purchase makes sense if you're confident you'll keep the car for a relatively long period of time (5 years plus) and actually want to own it. However, I suspect most who acquire a car from new change within 3 years and in that scenario I think it makes perfect sense to look at the cost of a lease (deposit plus monthly repayments over the term of the agreement) and compare that to the likely depreciation if the car was bought outright. If the former is less than the latter I don't really see the benefit in buying to be honest.....