After a decade of my wife trying to persuade me of its merits, we’ve recently bitten the bullet and bought a VW T5-based Danbury camper – arriving in a few weeks’ time.

The existing family vehicle is a 2015 Golf SV (fat, slidey seated Golf) in a very high spec: DSG, leather, nav, LED lights, upgraded audio etc.

At the same time, my parents are trying to pass on their 2004 Clio, which I suspect would be free and has only been owned by them – but requires a couple of bits sorting. It’s slightly dog eared but has a/c, auto lights and a few other niceties.

We could afford to keep the Golf as well as the Camper. However, neither of us commutes by car and I suspect the Camper is capable of taking over almost family trips apart from town driving. The scenario I’m thinking of is to sell the Golf and use my parents’ old Clio as our town runabout (we live in a city centre).

Selling the Golf would be painful due to the depreciation on a less than 1-year-old car – but I am wondering if it’s otherwise just going to sit around depreciating even more, without getting much use from it?

Extract the maximum return from the Golf and buy something opposite to the T5, like a smartfor2 or VW Fox, Fabia.. as a runabout… Audi A2’s are pretty cheap now as well…

I’m taking a look at the Clio in the next few days.

My man maths tells me that the running costs (insurance, tax, maintenance etc) will be more on the older car. Hence, it’s all about the Golf SV’s depreciation.

The Golf SV has probably lost £9k in its first year (ouch!), but will probably lose only another £5k in the next 3. It’s all about the further £5k depreciation of the SV and whether I can get much use from it during that time – I’m looking at an annual mileage of 3-4k (if that).

The question is whether it’s worth £5k more over, say, 3 years… bearing in mind it’ll be an urban runabout used 1-2 times per week, mainly by my wife.

If you think the t5 will do all trips other than town trips and you are used to having one car the T5 can do all trips. I drive a van t5 size and have no issues in town / city centres. Fits in parking spaces fits in most height restricted car parks easy to parallel park.

The Clio won’t cost you £5k to run over 3 years.

I’d do the maths on just using taxis and public transport over the Clio when the t5 isn’t suitable…..

I’m ditching a car and going to an electric assisted cargo bike for local trips fed up paying 500quid a year before the car even moves.

Thanks guys. It’s helpful to hear that the T5 can be used for most – if not all – driving, which is what I suspect.

To put it another way: I think the Clio would cost £5k less over 3 years.

Not having a car at all and using City Car Club would save a similar amount, but no more (the Clio would not cost anything to buy).

The question is whether it’s worth c.£5k over 3 years to keep the Golf, considering that it’s a lovely car (even if it doesn’t get used much). It’s starting to sound like a “no”…

It’s worth what it is worth to you…

but the £5k difference buys an awful lot of bike and holidays…

Indeed – lots of bikes and holidays!

I’d do the maths on just using taxis and public transport over the Clio when the t5 isn’t suitable…..

This
+ city car subscription

we’ve two cars – similar runaround and a Mazda Bongo camper. Once the youngest moves schools in September we may be thinking of selling the runabout; petrol costs of the school run being the only reason why we’ve not done it thus far.

Why what does golf do that the Clio doesn’t?

Apart from depreciate I fail to see anything

Why what does golf do that the Clio doesn’t?

What does a Specialised S-Works do that a Boardman doesn’t?

If you were commuting on it nothing

If your a modest rider not much

If your balls out a fair bit.

Still not sure what the golf does extra

My daily drive is a T6 kombi. Can’t really think where I couldn’t get to in it. Ditch both cars, and try to forget about all that money you just threw away……..sorry.

All fair points… and we already have City Car Club subscription in lieu of a second car.

I should add that the my wife inherited some money after I’d bought the Golf and – after other priorities were sorted – it’s funding most of the T5 camper purchase.

It’s a lifetime ambition for her, so not something I wanted to stand in the way of (and it’s her money!)…but it does mean I either need to crystalise a big loss on the Golf, or see it sat mainly idle.

johndoh – Member
It’s worth what it is worth to you…

This…
If you can afford it and enjoy having the use of 2 good motors then why not? You don’t need to justify it to anyone 💡
My new 2nd “car” is a Roller team 707 ❗
MrsT has a year old Sorrento K2 which we bought to tow our caravan, now superseded by the R.T. 707.
Retirement due in a few years and we will and would not be able to afford such luxuries. Some life changing events during the past few years and likely I’ll health(MrsT)focuses our minds on what we wanted to do for the next 3-5yrs, hence the extravagance 😆

We bought a T5 and intended on using it as the only car but there are inconsiderate pricks out there – in the first few months of owning it someone hit the rear bumper twice so that was it – it was retired from daily duties and left to be pampered and used for weekends and camping trips only.

Instead we now have a 2004 Mini and the T5. Cost a couple of grand, fits us and the two kids easy and a surprising amount in the boot. Perfect for the missus to use for school run and work.

Sounds like you’re trying to justify a £14k loss over 4 years as better than a £9k loss over 1yr.

But the comparison should be £14k over 4years or £9k over 4 years.

Only you can decide whether it’s worth £5k to have something prettier and more desirable on your drive for the neighbours to see 🙂

Thanks guys. It’s helpful to hear that the T5 can be used for most – if not all – driving, which is what I suspect.

I don’t get this, why could you not use the T5 for all journeys. I’m intrigued to know what the situation would be where you really couldn’t use a van over a car. I just don’t get the ‘most, if not all’ thing.

But to be honest you know you want to keep the golf, I’m presuming it’s paid for so just keep it. I wouldn’t as I’m not bothered about what car I drive but it sounds like you want to as you are bothered.

I guess you either take the hit now or at a later date, whichever way you look at it you’re still losing the initial £9k. When I sell stuff on ebay and I don’t get what I expect I’m not that bothered, it’s worth £0 sitting around being unused so whatever you get is a bonus.

All helpful, again – thanks.

I’m actually quite close to selling the Golf: just looking for more perspectives. There’s a good balance evident in the thread. 🙂

Our current commutes and school runs are car-free. However, my wife does about 1-2 other trips per week in densely-packed streets. I know she wouldn’t use the T5 for those.

This is really about making sure we still have access to a suitable and convenient alternative to go alongside the T5 for those occasions.

Well, to bring this to a conclusion…

I’ll be making arrangements to sell the Golf SV – but only after the holiday season and another 2,000 miles of family driving, so that I can extract some value before making quite a financial loss. :rolleyes:

To make me feel a little better, I’ve accepted my parents’ offer of the Clio – for free, as I’d hoped:

It was bought new, with my input, back in June 2004 – and has been their second car since that time. To put things in perspective, I have since that time had: Clio Williams, Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo, Clio 172, Clio 1.2 8V, Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo (modified), Fiat Grande Punto MultiJet Sporting, Clio 197, A3 2.0T quattro, Audi S3, Volvo V60 D5, Clio 1.2, Golf R32 (supercharged) and the Golf SV!

It’s in a rather fetching Nordic Green metallic and has the Cool Pack: adding an electric sunroof and climate control to an already good-for-2004 spec; including auto lights & wipers, electric windows & mirrors, Isofix points, airbags all over the place and air con.

To my (rather sad) pleasure, I went through the folder of receipts in my dad’s office over the weekend; finding that every receipt since new was present:

Having seen that lot – clutch, cambelt, servicing, common faults and MoT all done – it seemed crazy to pass up on this offer. However, there are some items that need attention:

To drive & mechanical: Really pleasant, but it pulls to the left and the ABS kicks in when braking to a standstill. June’s MoT advisories point to the common worn ABS reluctor ring / driveshaft problem and the need for some other bits like a CV boot, top mounts etc. I suspect a cost of £500-600 to make it perfect and add 4 new tyres.
Cosmetic: I doubt it’s been waxed since June 2004, when I did it last! The whole car is covered in scratches and some minor parking scrapes and bumps – the above pic shows the driver’s side, which is in far better nick than the passenger’s. The interior is intact, but the seats are stained and it needs a deep clean. Headlamps are very heavily glazed and I found some gravel in the spare wheel well!

The crux of the matter is that, compared to the cost of the SV over the next, say, 3 years – I calculate that the Clio will save about £7,000…which isn’t to be sniffed at when all it’ll be used for is occasional town driving. Given this and the above history, I had the wife take a good look at it this weekend and we agreed it was perfect for her needs (perfect for not caring about where to park, scuffs, kerbing wheels etc).

Having made the decision, I couldn’t help myself from restoring one panel on the passenger’s side using just cutting compounds and waxes. It’s not going to look perfect, but I’ll try to do the whole car once it’s in our possession. I also preemptively spent some pocket money on:

– 2 new new wheel centre caps (missing on passenger side);
– new gear knob;
– Renault interior mats;
– and some touch-up paint.

I was mulling a £30 eBay replacement for the scratched rear bumper, but I think I’ll leave it at the above for now. As mentioned above, it’ll need some mechanical attention and probably 4 tyres to the tune of £5-600 – although it’s perfectly adequate and does have the balance of June’s MoT, when it was also serviced at a Renault main dealer.

I’m likely to get it in early September. Roll on bangernomics!

Going to need to learn how to spanner on it yourself to make it bangernomics. £600 is an awful lot to spend on a banger.

CV joint <£35 from Euro car parts, and should be able to get non-ditchfinderspecials for <£50 a corner.

4 tyres on a clio, £600! 😯

You’re doing that very wrong. You’re new to bangernomics, you need to stop thinking like that.

I’ve obviously not written that very well!!

I’m budgeting based on £50-250 for the ABS reluctor ring issue (depending on whether just rings are available or new driveshafts are needed), plus another £150 for a few other bits and £200 max for tyres.

If it’s cheaper than that, then that’ll be great. 🙂

I run a 53 plate Scenic 1.6 for my daughter, it cost £100, a £100 for me to service and £12 for one brake pipe, it’s been brilliant!

Old Renaults are fine bangernomics cars..