What car next - also car depreciation £117/month

[swiftguy]

Hi,
After 6 years of proud ownership of an 2009 Audi A6 2.0 TDI, bought in 2012 (3 years old), it's time to move on - though I'm not sure what to get next. It's served me well, great boot space and spacious, being a family man with kids. The obvious alternatives is BMW 5 series or Merc E-class - just wondering if there is anything else I should consider.
I mainly use the car for commuting from the midlands to London (stay in London during the week - around 400miles/week) then family use at the weekends.
I was tempted to get something like an X5 - fancied a SUV - but not great for commuting - and probably quite expensive to run, service and maintain.

Trying to look for something that is good for commuting - fuel costs etc

The Audi has served me well, - solidly reliable - the most reliable the car I've owned - just basic wear'n'tyre - disc'n'pads, tyres and bulbs!
The only downer being it is a bit sluggish - slow to get going. (It's a multitronic - CVT)

The best under-rated feature I've found, is the child lock buttons on the drivers side door - I've not seen this on other cars - and is an absolute god-send when you have kids in the back.

Also, I was looking at the depreciation costs, looking at the sale price on Auto-trader - the depreciation cost over the (nearly) 6 years is £8,500 works out £118/month. Which I thought was pretty good going.

I'm trying to find the sweet spot of owning a nearly new car without having to suffer massive depreciation. I'm thinking of doing the same - buying a 3 year old car.

Would welcome your thoughts/views.

[Rob69]

All I'd say is be cautious if considering buying a 3 year old diesel for longer term ownership, although at 3 years old it should be a Euro 6 emissions standard engine . At you're weekly mileage you're probably on the cusp of choosing between petrol or diesel.

[lynalldiscovery]

Dont forget most 2/3 yrs old motors will be ex PCP ones and they arent always the best looked after, mate has new fords every 2 yrs and never ever lifts the bonnet ever! washs it often at least once a year
Starts up from cold slams it in gear and hes away every morning, could be your next car!

[swiftguy]

Dont forget most 2/3 yrs old motors will be ex PCP ones and they arent always the best looked after, mate has new fords every 2 yrs and never ever lifts the bonnet ever! washs it often at least once a year
Starts up from cold slams it in gear and hes away every morning, could be your next car!

Hmm, your mate didn't drive a lexus at one point, my previous car was a lexus gs300 - worse I've ever owned - within months the ABS pump went and would make this really scraping nails on the chalkboard noise constantly. Lexus wanted an arm and a leg, this was quite a common fault on lexus and should have been covered by a recall. Got part from breakers. From there on, there was always something going wrong with it.

The Audi as I've said has been solid and it's a CVT gearbox too.

What is the other option - to buy new? Even though I can afford one, it just seems to be a terrible waste of money.

I guess to protect myself, I could always add a warranty.

[swiftguy]

All I'd say is be cautious if considering buying a 3 year old diesel for longer term ownership, although at 3 years old it should be a Euro 6 emissions standard engine . At you're weekly mileage you're probably on the cusp of choosing between petrol or diesel.

I know diesel appears to be out of favour with the politicians, but hadn't heard of anything too drastic - so are the y looking to ban/penalise anything less than a Euro 6 emission standard (whatever one of those is).

Not sure about being on the cusp? - can get twice as much mileage out of diesel than petrol.

[Rob69]

Maybe you've heard of the clean air zones being brought into Notts, Leeds, Birmingham and some other cities, sure others will follow suit. It probably already applies in London, I understand any diesel car less than Euro 6 standard will be charged or banned from 2020. Maybe diesel is your best bet £/mile wise though. I'm just put off by all the additional gubbins in modern diesels to try and reduce emissions, but I exist much further down the ownership chain than 3 years - I'd never consider buying a modern common rail diesel car once it was in my territory!! My old PD passat will probably be my last diesel engine.

[lynalldiscovery]

I think the problem with any diesel especially second hand is you dont know whats happened to it in the past and with common rail a simple misfuel can de the death knell long term and bloody expensive.
Euro6 is the dogs whatsits emissions wise BUT as we are learning at work on the trucks they go wrong a lot and its all electrical issues, roughly 30 of them all 64 plates and good as gold for the first 2 years then they started to drop like flies, even the dealers struggle to fix them and its not unusual to have repeat visits on the same vehicle.
I like diesel and have always had them, but in todays uncertain times Im not sure I would invest heavily in a newer one.

My Discovery is 2006 and Ive had it 3 years, wife said to me the other day havent you thought of getting something newer? I said yes BUT I would have to spend 25k to get same high spec and still only be 2013 model so Euro5 and if diesel all goes **** up Im screwed, whereas I would currently be screwed but not for 20 odd k!

[54A4Avant]

Starts up from cold slams it in gear and hes away every morning, could be your next car!

Ok, that caught my attention. Is there a reason you shouldn't do this with a modern car? I grew up driving cars which would benefit from being warmed up before driven, but with modern cars with ecu modes a plenty and wonderful oils is there really a need to warm an engine before you drive?

Even if you floor it right from the off, surely the Ecu is going to manage the fuelling and cam advance, etc to keep everything in a safe zone based on the engine's temp? The one exception, just to contradict myself, is I wouldn't abuse a turbo engine when cold, but for FSI - game on..!

[lynalldiscovery]

Im sure theres no issue to the first owner as its warranty, but when I said starts it into gear and goes I mean literally that, as soon as it fires its in gear and off he goes there cant be a 2 seocnd delay between it starting and the car rolling.
I can be mechanically cruel but even Im not that cruel.
Car is a mondeo diesel, his 3rd since Ive known him.

Another guy I worked with had a golf 130pd treated same way, cam got the sulks big time, I reckon the lack of oil changes didnt help either