Mrs Monkey needs a new car. She drives for work (planning officer) and really isn’t enjoying the little 106 we were donated after our Yaris was written off. Plus we’re after something a bit bigger – 5 door Focus kind of size.

What we can’t decide is the best way to purchase. Would you go for:

[list][*]Brand new lease hire. No worries about it breaking, but potentially expensive and we’d never own the car. [/*]
[*]Buy a second hand car from a dealer on credit. Should be some comeback, but potentially expensive if a 6k car goes wrong – but how likely is that?[/*]
[*]Bangernomics style. Buy something cheap outright (circa 1.5k) and run it till it dies. This worked well with the Yaris. But potential unreliability issues.[/*][/list]

Any sage advice?

Bangernomics works well with Toyotas as they are so reliable. Downside is they are more expensive. New Yaris is quite a bit bigger than old model as are most “super minis” now. Of all your options hat seems the best

IMO a used car for £6k from a dealer isn’t going to give you a great deal of aftercare, but if you want the credit and its a car you like then its a route which makes sense, note you can get a car loan yourself independently although buying privately is more tricky this way (eg pay first, borrow later)

We work on the basis of buy a four year old car for our main car, maintain it better than most new cars and keep it for ages. That way even where we’ve borrowed we end up with at least a couple of years of no payments for a car we know really well and has been well looked after from an early age.

Our second car we bought a 2.5k Mondeo ex lease car. It’s a scruffy lump but has touch wood been mostly reliable and comfy. Others experiences might vary.

are their any restrictions in her contract that states the age of car?

Surly as a planning officer she should be driving round in a Prius or something of the like 😉

Actually it might not be a bad idea to look at the various used hybrids for that type of work and most will probably be toyotas so should be good reliability.

We bought a brand new Ford Fiesta on finance, thinking that the warranty, free servicing and no MOT for the first few years and no car tax (as it was low emissions), along with the lowered chance of stuff going wrong (because it’s new!) was a good plan.

It’s generally a good car, apart from the fact it occasionally jumps out of gear when reversing (not that it just has difficulty going into reverse at all, although that happens too occasionally – you can actually have gone backwards several feet when it falls out of reverse!), and the dealer keeps shrugging about it when we complain, saying they can’t find anything wrong. I also suspect the front suspension may be a bit knackered, not taken it in to be looked at yet though! Oh, and the claimed fuel economy figures are bobbins (out by about 20mpg), but we kind of knew that in advance.

So, even brand new is no guarantee of being free of niggles, and dealers can be a pain in the backside when getting them to deal with it! In hindsight, I would have gone second hand and got a car that was a couple of years old with low mileage – with second hand cars, it’s important to research the make and year model for known issues.

For example, I once had a Micra – I bought it for Japanese reliability, not realising the new models at the time were secretly French (I was young and foolish, and did no research). They had Renault electrics and engine parts, and it wasn’t even out of its warranty before it started playing up. Three recalls for electrics, one EGR valve, a complete replacement of engine electrics, and three starter motors in two years.

Both the Vauxhalls I owned were pretty much bombproof though – a Corsa (my first car, a colossal four gears and 56bhp), and a Vectra (which was beige and horribly and handled like a barge – it did have an issue with the dash display towards the end, which could be fixed by poking the corners of it – sage advice I got from this forum! :D).

Cheers guys, some good food for thought there. If we go the “nice second hand” route we’ll definitely be keeping on top of maintenance; obviously if we go bangernomics it’ll be done on more of a shoestring.

No restrictions on car, though it might be worth looking at a hybrid. That said most of her miles are currently A roads and motorway so I’m not sure we’d see much benefit.

For once on STW “fun to drive” is of no concern – I have an MX-5 for that. Practical, reliable and able to fit a bike are the main considerations.

£6k is a grey area for secondhand too – smaller and newer or older and bigger.
All depends on the sort of thing you’re after in the end.
Even warranties are a minefield – have a look on Pistonheads for advice about lease deals and warranties.

Got Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 in good condition, 06 reg, very practical, long not, fsh etc that I’m about to put for sale for about a grand? Worth more but would prefer a quick sale. email me if you want more details.

Find the best condition bmw v8 or straight six you can find for 1500.

@leythervegas – cheers, I shall run it past the Mrs but not sure she’ll be keen, she’s driven my dad’s and isn’t a fan (I don’t mind it for what it is!).

@DaveyBoyWonder – again, not sure the Mrs would be keen. Isn’t a Beemer at that price going to have done a million miles and cost a fortune to run?

If you go for second hand car from a dealer, consider a bank loan rather than dealer finance.

My Wife got her Ibiza by taking out a Barclays loan for part of the cost. They were doing 3.8% while the dealer’s lowest offer was 6.7% or thereabouts.

bank loan like tesco is like 3% (ish) then get approved used..or low mileage with still manufacturer warranty from car supermarket.

Bangernomics for work cars, as long as her contract doesn’t preclude it.

Yeah I’m a fan of the bangernomics route, it’s done me well so far (bar getting unlucky with the turbo on a Passat, but even that lasted me a couple of years without too much outlay). Mrs Monkey on the other hand is swayed by new and shiny.

Isn’t a Beemer at that price going to have done a million miles and cost a fortune to run?

A couple of years ago we bout a 330 M Sport (previous shape) for a bit more than your budget. It was a bargain because of the big petrol engine – it was below average miles, full service history and in really good nick. To date it;s been pretty good on running costs – one set of tyres, servicing, passed it’s MOT’s. It had one issue with the VANOS (£300 to sort). Its probably cost less than a new car would in depreciation. Only downside is that on short journeys it has a drink problem but is OK on longer trips. It may be getting on but it still scrubs up OK and gets positive comments from people.

When we were looking, the equivalent 320/30d was a lot more expensive for a car with higher miles and in worse condition.

We bought privately – I rang up BMW to check the service history / recalls etc and it all checked out.

I personally don’t see the attraction of lease/hire deals, so I have nothing to offer re: option 1.

For £6k, you’d get a good spec Honda Civic. The wife drives a bog-standard 1.8 petrol but it’s a very nice car. Lots of room inside, handy split rear seats for lugging bikes and child, enough toys and luxury to make it not feel like a “making do” car, and it’s been ultra reliable in the 2 years we’ve had it so far.

For £1.5k bangernomics (although I think bangernomics is technically <£1k) again look for something Japanese. Maybe an older shape Civic? Or, and I’m surprising myself with this, a Peugeot 306? I’m currently using a 406 HDi and it’s surprisingly good. No electrical gremlins, no strange Gallic quirks, just a decent workhorse that costs me very, very little to keep going.

Having done bangernomics in the past nice used (2.5 year old 14,000 mile) is working better for us. Payments are roughly equal to what we spent on average per month fixing the banger, but we have a nicer car, it’s the same payment each month (not £10 one month and £800 the next), I don’t have to spend my weekends working on it and as it’s newer it is more economical and cheaper to tax. Then once it’s paid off (it’ll work out at around 18 months) it’ll run for a few years when we just pay the maintenance.

I’d not do a lease deal, the monthly payments will be the same but you have no car at the end of it.

Aye given the choice I’d go bangernomics and just pick up whatever looked good for under a grand – my experience is that you can’t be too picky. A quick look on Autotrader shows some right bargains in the “massive engine pimpwagon” section – I might be tempted to change my MX-5 for a big wafty coupe.

One key aspect of bangernomics is that it sort of assumes you’re moderately handy with spanners and can do most repairs yourself. Scouring ebay for a part and spending an hour or two fitting it will save you a lot of money. Or save you a LOT of money if you’re otherwise daft enough to take a banger to a main agent 🙂

munrobiker – “Payments are roughly equal to what we spent on average per month fixing the banger…” ? How much were you spending on repairs ?? My banger’s not gone wrong in over a year, and even then it was only an £80 exhaust part and a couple of hours mucking about fitting it. Sounds like you might have been unlucky.

I do understand the lure of new & shiny, I’m just too mean to pay for it !

Mrs Monkey has decided that the best solution is in fact a ten year old hatchback for around three grand. For which current favourite is a BMW 118i in sport flavour. Part of me thinks this is a great idea because I’m sure a 1 series will be great to drive; most of me thinks We’d be better spending 2k less on the very clean looking 2.2 DCi Almera down the road with similar miles, age and spec but apparently that’s too ugly. Sigh.

So – any advice on buying a 1 series? Alternatives in that price range I might not have thought of?

We’ve always done what Garage Dweller does and its worked Ok. Take out a personal loan then spend about 5k on a 5 year old car from a main dealer. Stick to mainstream companies with ‘normal’ models (eg Ford Focus) and you usually get 3 years of services without big cossts (just consumables). By which point the loans paid off and all you’re paying for is fuel, MOT and tax.

Its nice having a car that you know well and is a ‘safe bet’. Much as a new car with extra toys would be good, buying cars is something I don’t like doing as you’re moving from a known risk to a whole new quantity.

Another Astra my be a good choice as they are cheap. I’ve just been offered by a family friend a one owner 61 plate Astra estate diesel with 12k miles for £7,000. It’s as good as new.

a cheap mx5 is not really representitive of bangernomics though…. munrobiker

not a bangernomics first choice of car as they are too much of a popular used car but were not a popular enough new car… hence supply is limit so even cheap ones are over priced and quality variable.

Makes it easy to shift rotters for reasonable money and burn inexperianced buyers fingers…..

Also im with your wife on the almera im afraid. UGLY and not a very nice car period.

My MX is a bit beyond Bangernomics aye, I’ll probably sell it for similar to what I paid (or kill it) but that’s another story.

The Almera IS ugly, but a 1 series ain’t exactly pretty either. She doesn’t really care about handling or engine refinement beyond “better than the Pug” – if someone hadn’t driven into our 1.3 Yaris we would likely be keeping that.