I really wanted a v90. The interior is amazing. It was roo expensive so ended up with an e class estate. Its truly huge. 5cm short of 5m long so too big for some spaces. It has an underboot area the size of a small hatch and the boot is simply huge. Seats folded 2 road bikes fit in wheels on (or nearly 1 mtb, need a wheel off) It comes with loads of toys and with amg pack huge wheels so actually handles. An e was the same price as a c class/a4 estate to lease so why not go huge? Oh amd fancy retractable tow bar is a real treat too.

What kind of deal did you get for the 520 if you don’t mind me asking?

Alex – Member

Ended up with a new 520D (2.0) SE Touring with a couple of options. UK stock so basically 0% APR and a ridiculous discount that made me walk away from a couple of 2nd hand deals on year old cars.

I had a second hand M5.
Ran it for a year, sold it at a profit.
Sorry. 🙂

Good to hear about the new 5 Tourer. I loved mine (13 plate) but couldn’t hang off for the new version so ended up with an A6 Avant.

I tried the A6. Felt a bit dated inside after the new 520. Nice car tho. I’m hoping to drive mine on a monster road trip. It feels like it’d just eat it up and come back for more. Getting back in the Yeti, it still feels like a great car bit it’s a bit noisy and roll-y.

In terms of PCP, I’m going to be a bit oblique but basically the list on the car was over 42k. We agreed on around £29k. I put £5K down on a 36 month / 17,000 miles per year contract and my monthly was below £370. The original quote at the std APR and a far higher list price was £490.

The deal on the other one was even better (as it had a couple of options I wanted) – so it’s a good time to buy right now.

520 is nice, good choice. I had a D5 xc60, hateful thing but it was cheap, drove like a barge and wasn’t exactly frugal. Did the spreadsheet thing and then bought an rs4 before we’re all made to drive electric pencil cases. Bike goes in the back, plenty of room for 3 of us and makes a grand noise. I’m shallow.

the passat is starting to annoy the shit out of me. Its turning into £1,000 a year on maintenance/problems. Not really surprising on a 160k 10 plate but it’s getting beyond bangernomics. Fortunately it isnt doing the miles that it used to so we are toying with a lease car, potentially even an electric one. Has anyone looked at these? Small family hatchback, 150 miles range, all in lease cost?

Small family hatchback, 150 miles range, all in lease cost?

I am sure there was a thread about cheap Renault Zoe’s second hand, with £80 a month battery lease cost, making them an uber cheap local runaround in my head…

FWIW, my VW (Touran) cost way more than the current Ford (Galaxy) to keep going in maintenance over 100k miles. I am now at the Galaxy being worth not a hill of beans, and if a massive new set of bills comes in I may just scrap it…That said it cost £7k nearly 4 years and 85k miles ago, so owes us not a lot. If I can eek out another couple of years / get to 200k it really will be bonus time.

looks similar maths to the pashat.

£7.5k, 3.5 yrs ago. Have put 60k on top of the 100k it came with.
Unfortunately in that time it has lunched a gear box and some front arm bushings. Ive just splashed out on new disc and pads all round and a new set of tyres. Next major hiccup and it’s toast. Probably worth about £2.5k now. So £5k + £4k over 3.5yrs to own. Not much less than a 6×35 £250pm lease deal.

We are on similar – likely £5.5k depreciation and £4k maintenance = £9.5k over 42 months = £226 a month. BUT a Galaxy or similar on a 25k a year lease is twice that, and I would still have done tyres, brakes etc in that four years.

and I would still have done tyres, brakes etc in that four years.

I thought the point of a lease was that was all covered in the rent?

thought the point of a lease was that was all covered in the rent?

No, it is with some but there’s obviously a premium to pay for that over a lease where you have to get maintenance done yourself.

ah. not the slam dunk genius financial plan I had hoped then.

Nope.

IMO, leasing/pcp etc works if you do low miles, in a small/medium car OR employer pays.

Otherwise, it just costs more financially.

hmmm. might have a look at a cheap leaf then…

Just to finish this off

Here’s the car.

And here’s my very sweary rant on the car buying experience 🙂 http://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=4010

In terms of PCP, I’m going to be a bit oblique but basically the list on the car was over 42k. We agreed on around £29k. I put £5K down on a 36 month / 17,000 miles per year contract and my monthly was below £370. The original quote at the std APR and a far higher list price was £490.

The deal on the other one was even better (as it had a couple of options I wanted) – so it’s a good time to buy right now.

Jesus. I need you to come and negotiate for me.

Not me. What you need is my wife who is perpetually unmoved by any sales technique. If it was left to me I’d pay list price and give the sales bloke a tip 😉

With your deposit over 3 years your forking out about £18.5 K in total. Does your PCP include servicing and breakdown? 17k a year is quite generous mileage wise but that is a fair chunk of cash every month. I wouldn’t feel too sorry for the dealer. Nice car though!

Yeah that’s the whole package. I do a 1000 business miles a month which I charge back so it pretty much covers that. It’d been sat on the dealer forecourt for nearly 3 months and they were desperate to shift it. I’ve seen other very similar models for £500 less but they are 300 miles away. So it’s a decent deal rather than a spectacular one.

I was paying something similar contract hire (billed directly to the company but obviously quite a lot of BIK for me) for my Yeti. So that number was pretty much the budget figure in my head. I actually slightly misread the finance agreement which put another £12 back in my pocket a month 🙂

Entertaining blog. Nice car; I don’t think the wheels are stupid.

Thank BigJohn. I have another post lined up journaling my trip through the bonkers technology in the thing. It’s been quite the education 😉

My view (based on research) was the run flat tyres were pretty jiggly esp on bad roads (of which we have all of them here). The ride is actually fine, brilliant on the motorway and not the spine jarring experience I was expecting elsewhere. I had also been a bit prejudiced after driving the Audi S-Line variant. Jeez, that thing was harsh. This is really quite lovely.

I filled it up with juice earlier. After 3 years of running a petrol car I was chanting ‘Diesel Diesel Diesel’ to myself at the pump 😉

Proper car.

Enjoy it.

Go over to PistonHeads and read the “ask a car salesman anything” thread and it will portably enlighten you to the world of car sale people and the rubbish that they also have to put up from the general public. It’s seems that car buying is a two way street of unhappy buyers and sellers

Bit late to the party but I was looking for a new bike swallowing comfy estate that would be good for work trips and holidays earlier in the year. Ended up with an E250 (twin turbo version of the 2.1 in the E220). AMG kit, 7 speed, pano roof, real leather, black alcantara roof, adaptive headlights etc, 0-60 in 7.5s and will do 50-60mpg on a run.

It’s a fantastic car but I am starting to look around again as having such a nice car and racking up 2k a month and having to go between our fields to check the sheep just seems like I am going to ruin it 🙁

Did 2k miles around France in October, in the boot we had our luggage, an inflatable sup, picnic hamper, lots of wine we picked up as we went, dog stuff, a 29er mtb (both wheels off and in wheel bags) and I could still see out of the back window! We drove some friends over to Bordeaux and had their hold suitcase and one of the cabin bags in the boot as well and it still wasn’t up to the roof. Averaged 50mpg for the whole trip without any attempt of driving economically!

I think anything else is going to feel like a downgrade but looking at maybe a Leaf or i3 and a cheap 4×4.

oh and yes, the underfloor storage on the E class is great. I have a space saver in there but still have room to keep my bike helmet, cycling shoes and clothes, changing towel, wet suit, surf boots. In the underfloor tray I have a tool kit, ratchet straps, bulbs etc. All I then have to do is thrown in either the sup, bike or both if I fancy stopping off somewhere on the way home.

Are you selling it andyl or is it going back?

One of these types of cars would be perfect for me but I’m hung up on not being able to swallow a £300 payment every month. Just feels a lot.

Will be selling, but not sure when. Was going to try and sell while it’s still under warranty. Need to find the time to find a suitable replacement first as it’s going to be hard 🙁

Merc E220/320’s are awesome cars, bit large but awesome.

Why not look at C220 next?

On my 3rd e class here. Great car, especially living moving the tech in the new one

I looked at the E estates when getting rid of my 5 Tourer. Lovely cars, but they didn’t stack up on the PCP deals. I smugly await the snow in the west of Scotland to go play in my A6 😀

Just to resurrect for some info…

How are you getting on Alex, is the SE suspension really that much better?  And people in general, with that length of PCP don’t you get nervous as to what’ll happen if you find yourself unemployed or is that just me worrying unecessarily?  Has that happend to anyone and whats the score?

Kryton – in 2006 we bought an A4 outright and worked out after 2 years that a brand new A6 would be cheaper once you’d taken into account depreciation and any issues. Loved the A6, it ate miles when travelling to the Alps. It was our first PCP/lease/lease hire and it took some persuading, but once you’d put the numbers into a spreadsheet, it made sense.

Once the lease was up, my father in laws car came up, (C240 V6 petrol), which we bought cheaply and it got written off. Then we went back to PCP and got an A3 as we’d dropped the need for pushchairs etc and didn’t need the space. We put a roof box on it when required and we also have a Discovery3 should the need arise. That was much cheaper and we haggled a really good deal and the A3 worked out well for us financially.

It’s worth shopping around for those that are being discounted and as long as you’re not set on a particular brand or model, there’s bargains to be had.

We’re now on the Father-in-laws latest hand-me-down, which is an E220 CDi. Not what we wanted ideally, but we paid the trade in price which made it cheap(ish) and it should last forever (think Stuttgart Taxi). It eats miles and lugs huge amounts of stuff around, plus we have an asset.

What will I do when this one finally dies? It’s hard to say. The up front costs of a 6 year old Panzer-Wagon are still quite high. However if you haven’t got £10 000+, then PCP with an initial payment can make sense. Although the Direct Debit sucks, you’ve got no surprises as everything is covered under the agreement – you just have to know that you can cover the £200-£300 every month.

I’d prefer not to go down the lease/hire route as you have to be too careful with the car. If you buy something to shift stuff (ie an estate car) it’s hard not to damage the car, with general usage. Paving slabs, rubble sacks, garden rubbish, mountain bikes, dogs, puking children etc all take their toll. I use roof racks a lot for SUP boards and windsurf kit and inevitably things get scratched or chipped. If the car belongs to me, who cares? If it belongs to a hire company, they go over it with a fine tooth comb when you hadn’t it back and everything gets picked up, no matter how dirty you leave it or if the arrive in the rain…

You pays yer money…

How are you getting on Alex, is the SE suspension really that much better?

I’ve no idea really. I never drove the M sport for that long. It is very good though, a bit choppy in town but the roads here are terrible and the ride is definitely better than the Yeti. On the motorway it’s brilliant, I drove to Durham – which is 250 miles door to door and it was effortless and comfortable. I

It’s a fun car to drive as well. Currently averaging about 45mpg. It’s not great round town, but 50+ on the motorway is easily achievable. It still feels big compared to the Yeti but some of that was just new car stuff. Now it’s got 3000 miles on the clock, I’m a lot less precious 🙂

So very happy with it. In terms of lease cars, my Skoda had seen a lot of MTB dirt on the inside but it cleaned up well and I didn’t pay the lease company a penny for damage. This one has a boot buddy so it’s well protected. I’m not really worried about being stuck with it. If I didn’t think I’d be in a position to afford to run it for three years, I wouldn’t have bought it!