Hmmmm my old Ford Fiesta has given good service but the last MOT warned of pretty bad underbody rusting so I am thinking of changing. Therein lies my quandry.

I have been looking at new cars, noteably Fiestas, but even with the scrappage allowance thyey are so damned expensive ! A 5 door Zetec is going to cost me around £11.5K I was just thinking about what I could pick up for that money or preferably less on theh secondhand market. Then I think "but where else will I get £2k for my old car?"

Argghhhh decisions decisions.

Do you have to buy brand new to take advantage of the scrappage?

Mark

In the UK, yes, I believe so. The original scheme, here in Germany, catered for new or used (less than 1 year old), but the UK dropped the 1 year old part of the scheme AFAIK.

Yup.

A friend just bought a Focus using the scrappage scheme and he managed to save himself a small fortune. I don't know how he managed it, so I'll point him in the direction of this thread and maybe he can help out the OP.

Mark

How good are your bargaining skills?

Dealers will move on price.

I''d save my pennies and look at a good used one. Do you really need a brand new car?

Yep, the new shape Fiestas seem to be holding their value very well, more so than the older models. I was looking at changing mine (a 2005 54-reg 1.4 Zetec), which I bought 4 years ago when it was just 9 months old. Cost me about £7,000 then from Evans Halshaw.

When I looked at the new shape Fiestas at the same Ford dealer, at a similar age to when I bought my old model (58-reg, 1.4 Zetec, about a year old) and they're still up around the £10,500 to £11,000 mark. And they say we're in a recession!! Must be because they're still quite a new model, not that many used examples on the forecourts.

Can't afford, or justify, spending that amount on a car, so I've put it on hold for now. I do rather like the new shape ones though, shame I can't afford them yet!

Be careful with the scrappage scheme

A lot of places will charge higher interest on the loan if you have to take a loan for it You can sometimes get a better deal just trading in and getting a car with delivery miles

WhatCar magazine had a list of the best ones, I think the VW Polo came in pretty well, as did a Fiat panda (possibly the 500 too)

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews ... dated.html
A list of good ones

Sounds stupid but more expensive cars are huge savings pre-owned, was looking at a 2.0tdci focus or mondeo, a mondeo with less miles was cheaper than a similar focus

Yeah I had that problem back in May.

I looked at Fiesta's (new shape) but way too dear for what you get - in the end got a very nice Fiat Grande Punto GP with leather interior, panoramic opening sun roof and rear parking sensors as extras for under £12k so very happy.

Got mine from Research Garage in Nuneaton - they could not have been more helpful.

You can configure any fiat car on their website www.fiat.co.uk - which is what I did first

Lady in my band recently got the Hyundai i10 and she says it is great to drive but might bit a little small for you so possibly the i20?

Seat Ibiza - a VW with a different badge - no risk of dodgy Italian or French build quality..

You can get a Kia C'eed for 10495...7 year warranty. I have only drive one once, was a courtesy car when I got rear ended (oooh matron), and I thought it would be a bit tosh. But compared to the Astra (new shape as well) i'd had the week before, it was loads better, and had plenty of poke too, handled better than the Astra (which was a sporty one too) But if you like to keep cars a long time, 7 year warranty...that's very, very good. In fact the build quality was impeccable, easily as good as my friends new Toyota.

I'd go with Heather's suggestion of a good second hand car.

ION, as it looks like I may be getting a small inheritance, the lure of a 5 litre V8 has gripped me yet again...

Think about running costs. Pointless owning it if you can't ever run it.
Other than that, I'm sure you'll make the correct decision.

Mark

With my 2.5l V6 returning about 21mpg on a run to Basingstoke (cruising at about 50-60mph) I can't believe it's likely to be that much worse!

Edit - and of course, there's things with bits of glass on the front and shutters in the back to be thought about too. Or things with Apple badges on them as well.