I feel like they sell most of the high-rate financing deals out of simplicity - it's a one stop shop with the dealer. It also can give more wiggle room on the price if you finance through the manufacturer's financial services - not that you necessarily save more overall.
Some PCP deals come with a finance incentive that could be worth signing up for and then settling, of course you should check any Ts &Cs regarding settling the finance early. I did this on my Abarth to get the ~2k finance discount but just settled the finance early. With a HP type deal, you can if you got into financial difficulties and couldn't pay there are conditions where you can just hand the car back and cut your losses, again take note of all Ts&Cs We did this on a VW my Missus had, she took it on finance before she met me, owed about 7k on and she wanted to buy iy outright, car was worth 3k, we handed it back and then picked it up at auction
As Sandys says - a good trick if you have the actual cash is to barter the dealer hard based on taking finance, then paying it all off within the cooling-off period. That way you get the best price overall, the dealer gets their bonus for the finance deal (which is often a hefty slice of their commission), and you don't pay the interest.
The missus is insistent that it has to be a Meriva "'cos it's familiar," so we're seeing about buying this one. It's white, so will be permanently filthy, but I'll take what I can get.
Be careful that a newer Meriva (can't remember the age of yours...) is the same or similar. Friends loved their Nissan Almera(?) but bought a newer one without a proper test drive a didn't like it half as much
Having been thoroughly messed about by Evans Halshaw (see the Ruin thread), I've switched. Per the Purchases thread: New caaaaar (finally): Vauxhall Zafira Tourer 1.4T. Would have preferred the 1.8 non-turbo for long-term reliability reasons, but the missus was insistent on a new-as-possible vehicle and this was already £4K over our initial budget. Manufacturer's warranty through to March 2020, which is nice. Yes, yes, I should have bought a Mazda and I'll live to regret having another Vauxhall. Frankly, though, the whole process of buying a car turns out to be so stressful I'm just glad it's over!
Nicely done. I wouldn't worry about the turbo - the water pump on these cars is electric now, so will keep the turbo happy and healthy for many years. Service it when it asks and just use it as a tool.
They can be cooled by both oil and water or just oil, always need good oil and would suggest interim oil services as that little engine will be running ~1bar of boost and be on boost a lot pulling that car, 20k is a lot of miles to do, but if you barely use it, your annual services might suffice, I see what comes out of mine at 6k though mine is only 2 and a bit litres, the Zafira is at least 4 litres.
Cheers for the advice - so you reckon an oil change and new filter every half-service-period, then again during the actual service?
In my opinion yes, but as they say, opinions are like arseholes every ones got one and mostly full of **** Again, sounds like your usage is mainly just pottering about you may not hit any mileage limits and could be satisfied with an annual service, your manual may give you some guidance though it can often be woolly statements like if you drive in x y or z fashion extra changes are recommended but rarely do they put a number on it, anything they write down would reduce the cars lease value (increase the business lease costs making it unattractive) which is all about cheap servicing over a short period rather than keeping the car tiptop for someone who wants to keep they car for the next 10-15yrs.
It's here, and the missus says it's lovely to drive. I haven't had a proper look yet - spent the last bit of daylight cutting a rubber boot protector to fit and putting the kiddie seats in - but it's certainly promising. It supports Android Auto for a start, which is nice - I'm pretty sure that means we can use Google Maps on our smartphones as always but have it be displayed and controlled on the fancy touch-screen ICE. Speaking of: bloody hell, trim levels are a bit crazy now aren't they? This thing is the absolute bottom end trim, and it's got: alloy wheels, electric windows everywhere, full-colour touch-screen infotainment system with satellite navigation and support for Android Auto and whatever the Apple equivalent is, steering wheel ICE controls, OnStar vehicle tracking and concierge service with integrated 4G Wi-Fi hotspot(!), smartphone control (if you subscribe to the aforementioned OnStar service, £90 a year), tyre pressure monitoring system, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, speed limiter... All mod cons, man!
No doubt you'd mod it in an attempt to get it to drive itself first. [And no, i don;t mean pestering the other half to drive]
You should, seriously, you're missing out - it's a whole lot of fun and I'd go so far as to say an essential life skill you'd not regret possessing
Nah. I bleedin' hate cars, and by extension driving. I've made it this far in life without a licence, and I have no desire to change that now. If I need to get somewhere, I'm probably going with the missus anyway and she, for some reason, likes driving. If not, a taxi costs way less than owning a car, and you can even take 'em drunk (£50 clean-up fee applies if you hurl, mind you - but even then, at least you don't have to clean it yourself as you would in your own car!)
Ok, I concede some valid points there lol, as distasteful as it is - the cleanup point does have merit
