Yes, what is your car criteria. So let's say your looking at purchasing a car. What do you do? What do you go for? For example do you only buy from dealers? Only look at cars under a certain mileage? Stay away from accident damaged? Buy something no more than 3, 5, 10 years old? Asking as I want to determine my own criteria. Mine used to be under 5 years old and under 70k mileage although with rising costs of those cars in the last 5-7 years in particular I'm having to expand my criteria, anyone else in the same boat?
My way has always been, see what’s available from trustworthy sources that, meets our needs and is within budget. Our car, bought last year, came from a local garage/used car dealer, that has an excellent reputation.
I want a reliable box I can drive about, as cheap as possible. Which might be why I've owned a series of old Skodas. Service history and general condition seems to matter much more than mileage. The lowest mileage car I've owned was also the least reliable, presumably because the old lady who owned it before me let it sit outside and rot for half a decade. Meanwhile my Felicia estate (in pink!) made it to 250k miles before it went to scrap because the plastic parts were starting to rot. That thing was bulletproof and I miss it.
I don't buy private - been stung a couple of times and I can't shake the feeling that every private listing is just hiding something. I've bought my last five cars from dealers, offering some kind of recourse should anything go wrong, and I've had fewer issues. I really don't do a lot of mileage any more - it used to be 40K+ per year but now I barely scrape past 8K, so the car itself doesn't really matter all that much. I'd get a city car if we didn't still trek up to Scotland once or twice a year - I find it quite stressful driving a small car hundreds of miles on one sitting. If I cared to work it out, it would probably be cheaper to get a super-economical city car and just hire a bigger one when we occasionally venture north. I suppose it depends on your typical mileage.
Only ever buy private to remove dealer mark up, touch wood, in the past 35 years I've never been stung, but it requires hours of research and due diligence to know what your looking at and to be aware of likely faults in the model you're buying. Way back in the mists of time anything with more than 75k on the clock was ready to be written off, nowadays I tend to hang on to a car until it's gone beyond 200k miles, get a reliable Jap box and treat it right and all should be well. But nowadays I'm toying with the idea of not having a car at all.
Fast, that's the only criterion. This is how I ended up with 6 months of free flat cleaning when I bet my flatmate I could get 0-60 and 200+HP for less than 500 quid 10 years ago. Enter £400 Saab 9-3 2.0Turbo
Have two wheels. And be cheap in all the ways. (Or if 4 wheels is a must just very cheap. Cheap. Like really cheap.)
The boring stuff... generally new for a daily sort of car, but for something more interesting, <10k miles and no more than a few years old. (I do go through phases of considering importing a Century though in spite of these things because it’s off the charts on the next scale…) Mainly… Hard to put something more specific on that... Not necessarily fast or even overwhelmingly "nice" ... a Nissan Navara 2.3d did more so than the 911 I had at the same time... weird, right?
I usually stick to private sales to avoid the "dealer premium", If i can save money with a smallish risk, I normally will. The lack of warranty has been better with my gambles than the horror stories I've seen at big dealerships (My sisters last 4 cars as evidence). Must-haves are mostly simple things for me: Has to fit the budget, solid history (mostly), rust-free, low tax/insurance, and family practical for kids seats and prams etc. Since November last year I have been on around 30 test drives of most cars at this point, Earning ok money for the first time in my life, so mostly new or close to new this time around. Tesla Model 3 and Y are the top contenders so far. The math works out for me. The monthly finance cost is lower than my current BMW’s fuel bill a month which is mental, even if electricity goes through the roof again, still a shed load cheaper for a nice around 300 mile range. If I sell the BMW to cover the initial first payment and charger/install, I’m set. I just need to decide if I want a brand-new lease or to buy a used one with 50k miles. Since Teslas seem to handle high mileage well, owning a used one long-term is looking like the smarter financial play. But yeah, family comfortable, fit a budget, good history. Im breaking all my own rules roughly with my latest choice lol.
My requirements are pretty simple: A car that my wife can get in and out of. She has fibromyalgia, complex regional pain, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, amongst other things and is only going to get worse as time goes on. All this means that she is not very flexible and in a lot of pain all the time. This means that we need a combination of large doors and a steep windscreen angle, something that we have so far only found in a 3 door Mini. 3 door cars are very few and far between these days so everything has smaller door openings as a result and the more angled that the windscreen is, the harder it is for her to get in. As for what I would like over and above this. I like to have a car that has a bit of "go" to it, hence why our Minis have always been Cooper S models, I am not a fast driver, but I do recognise the need to have that capacity there if needed as it has gotten me out of trouble by being able to scoot out the way of others if needed - better to have and not need than need and not have and all that. Plus the more sporty models are usually higher specification which is always nice.
I saw a century at a local used car lot a few days ago, not sure if it belonged to someone who worked there or was for sale. The ship still hasn't sailed
After careful consideration and many, many test drives... I've just ordered my first EV - a new Tesla Model Y Premium LR AWD. Estimated delivery is September at the moment, but expecting that to come to the left by a few weeks. Having had a Powerwall 3 installed and in anticipation of Tesla energy discount to Tesla product owners when they begin operating as an energy supplier later this year, it was the smart choice for us. My present commute fuel bill will almost cover the monthly payment and the rest is history. Having driven the Model 3, Model Y RWD and AWD and EVs from other brands like VW, Skoda, BMW and Audi, I'm quite happy with the decision and the extra screen in the back will keep the daughter entertained on road trips. Just need to wait for VIN allocation now and then finish the paperwork.
We are very much the Mercedes people. 2014 E350 Coupe - Continent crossing levels of fastness! We have a 2010 SLK for those not so rare hot sunny days and most recently in February this year bought a 2021 GLC 300 as we need to drag our 2 dogs around . Im not a fan of EV .
It needs to be able to fit a 12 foot plank, with a light color and light interior so the sun won't turn it into a toaster. A working AC is a must and the seats have to be comfortable enough to not cripple you after an hour drive. -That last one is a deal breaker for just about every modern vehicle. The partially inflated basketball they call 'lumbar support' doesn't exist in any household seat made in recorded history. Why are they in cars?
We do similar mileage (we've had our car from new, it's 15 years old now and will reach 50k miles later this year) but, even though we're not exactly racking up the miles, we couldn't get by without the car. But it's a cheap wee Skoda Fabia and we certainly couldn't justify getting anything fancier!
Agree totally, but with 1 other car and 2 motorbikes in the house the need for me to have my own car isn't so great. If I was a city boy with rental places on every other corner it'd be gone by now, but living out in the country getting access to a car on 5 minutes notice when I need one for work isn't so easy.
5k a year here, my car is an expensive luxury really, not really needed but public transport or cycling is not a realistic prospect, it's worth every penny, never really cost much as I had a reliable car on such short mileage but even renting one as I am doing now the 3k a year is worth it for the freedom and arriving anywhere clean and fresh without a shower or clothing change as was the case on bike regardless of push or motor variety. You've not bought a sofa in a long time I'd guess, so many have this.
I'm not a fan of what came before modern EV's...... What do you go for? -- Electric, there's no way I'm buying any ICE ever again. Apart from wash it and add wiper fluid, I've had 3 full years of zero money and time spent on it. Only recently went to their service centre to get warranty work done before end of warranty. Even though it only took 1 hour to drop off and 40min to collect, it was still such a faff. Glad servicing is optional with Tesla's and only just need to do the air filters. For example do you only buy from dealers? -- Depends on the value of the car. (see below) Only look at cars under a certain mileage? -- Depends on the condition of the car. (see below) Stay away from accident damaged? -- Yes, no question about that. Buy something no more than 3, 5, 10 years old? -- For the right price, years shouldn't matter. EV battery will outlast the cars themselves. Our 2014 Leaf still has 78% health remaining and zero problem for local uses. If I were in the market for a cheap vehicle for local use, these first-gen EV's are superb buy. Our 2014 Nissan Leaf may be facing a big suspension repair bill soon, knocking and steering noises. So we recently went looking for replacement. 2 weeks ago saw 2 newer Leaf, both were in dire condition. Cobwebs inside and had clearly been mistreated with scratches all over. One even had broken front trim piece where the radar is located. Last weekend had much better success at main dealer. Despite just over 3 years old, it was like new with very low mileage <3k per year (9k total). Combined with Nissan 1 year approved used warranty it was like an almost new car. Asking similar price to double mileage same age from a car supermarket. So we've put down the deposit and hopefully will be collecting on Thursday. Now with Powerwall 3 and Vehicle-2-Home for the new 40 kWh Leaf (100-10% usable) I would have 45 kWh of usable home battery storage. Time for heat pump. Very nice. What colour? I've got a blue one but would have loved quicksilver if it were available when I ordered my car in 2022.
