Mum popped an interesting choice this evening.

 

Her 2008 Fabia 2 1.6 was in for its MOT - only needed droplink thankfully and whilst there of course the sales people tried to get her to look at a Fabia III.

 

Her 1.6 is very low miles - About 45k - Mum only does about 5k a year.

 

The deal was she paid full £15.1k for a 1.2 TSI DSG (she only has auto license) - they gave her £2,750 for her Fabia (I think it's worth more like £4k, but that's me) and she pays £152 a month for 3 years and then has to find £7k to buy the car outright in 2018.

 

Personally I don't think her "£3k" 1.6 is going to cost £1800 a year to run/maintain in and whilst the £152 a month gives peace of mind with warranty and less fuel used / insurance / RFL I thought running the 1.6 into the ground was a better option as it will always be "quite new" due to the low mileage / low use of the car.  Whilst the 1.2 is a tiny bit more powerful too (110hp VS 105) I guite like the way the 1.6 drives.

 

Anyone else agree with my advice to stick, not twist?   (I also like the red paint / white roof / 16" alloys combo too)

Having never owned a Mark I or Mark II Fabia I could not possibly comment.. OH poop, I just did!

But, having driven many VW's in the last 20 years, I am struck by how close the mark III is to the Polo.. in build, comfort, economy etc. Its even better in my view which is why I bought one, and not a VW (irrespective of any tiny price difference). Heart speaking.

That said, it isn't worth swapping a good mark II for a mark III, simply because of your good maths on the finances. Head speaking.

I had a Mk 1 Fabia 1.9 diesel with 100K on the clock which I passed on to my daughter when I got my new Fabia. It had a full service history. I never got a tradein price but I did look online and an estimated price was £1k to 1.8K it might be worth getting a price from "we buy any car" or something similar. You might get a better price on a new car with no traidin if you go to the parkers price guide website for £3.00 just put in the car details it will give you tradein valuation, private sale price and garage sale price Joe

I would consider it this way..... why did she go into the dealers ?? To have an MOT... Not to buy a new car. I would forget the deal (it does not sound good at all), if she is happy with the car then why change, i assume she owes nothing on her current steed so immediately she has a £152 a month liability plus another £7k after 3 years !!! If you divide that end sum between the previous 3 years and add it onto the monthly direct debit.......you get a total amount of around £350 a month, for a car she did not go in to see or had any intention to buy !!! Stick.

 

I have a Mk2 1.6TDI Elegance with just £20k on the clock (2010), its like a new car and owes nothing..... why would i change, my money is best spent on nights out with the family, weekends away and family holidays. I do get that older cars do need changing or you simply fancy a change but is she that bothered ? The car has done hardly any mileage and i assume its well looked after ? Don't bother.

Edited 22 August, 201510 yr by Hudson01

I agree with hudson01 I had the 1.9 fabia from 2007 and clocked up 70K most of the things replaced were tyres,break parts, servicing etc so your mums cars engine has at least 100k so that's about another 11 yrs of low cost motoring. Joe

My lad has just parted with his 2009 Fabia 1 HTP 70 with 60k on the clock; he got £2000 for it in P/X.

 

His new motor is an Ibiza with the 1.4 MPI lump. Old tech but a sound motor and far smoother than his HTP, or the new breed of 1.0 litre three cylinder engines and less complicated then the small TSI's, which keep being updated or replaced on a frequent bases of late. Large discount of list was also a persuader with the second Ibiza facelift due out now and stock to clear.

 

So for me I'd probably stick with the tried and tested 1.6.

 

 

TP

devil and the deep type choice

 

the mk3 will give her more toys, but more electronics to go wrong, the 1.2 tsi will not drive like the 1.6TDi

 

I feel the mk3 has less roomy feel than the mk2, plastics and interior did not seem as good to me

 

so £152 / month and what final payment?

 

if you are looking for a keeper for more than 3 years then PCP is not the way to go, and a bank loan or other finance is cheaper than dealer loans

 

PCP is great if you intend to change your car every 3 years (and great for dealers to tempt people to buy new), but no good if you intend to keep it longer as you will end up taking a loan at the end to be able to own the car

 

and this is all without the mirror link / smartlink issues

 

I must admit I am a bit biased as I looked at the new fabia and walked away instant dislike when I sat in it, felt very cramped and no real improvement over my GLII

My Mum is 62 and toys are irrelevant.  I had a look through the brochure she was given and much of the usual stuff she would never need.  Even me explaining how DSG worked confused her.  Her "I don't want gears" - Me "It's still an auto" - etc etc

I have just swopped my wife's 2002 Polo 1.4 16V 75PS with 106K miles for a brand new Polo 1.2TSI 110PS SEL, but that change was due entirely to that car running out of life, though still seemingly still reliable - but soon to need lots of work.

I had absolutely no desire to move forward into owning a more technical/troublesome (different words still same outcome) engine car, but that is exactly where we are in this sector of the market, emissions count for everything, though we tend to miss the extra emissions making all the bits to keep these "clean" engines running!

So, I would also say "stick"  - if VW had had its head in gear, that 1.6 16V petrol engine might have had a future in some Polos, I think that it appeared briefly in the 9N3 Polo but always with auto/semi-auto trans. Plus I'm sure that they could have cleaned up its emissions/economy enough to make it attractive, as there are quite a few people that are quite happy to have a car that can move about with a bit of pace without being a pocket rocket.

My current "moan" about wife's Polo 1.2TSI 110PS is, VW have gone and fitted 288mm discs on the front - I was looking forward to being able to clean the 16" 5-spokers easily, not so!  My 2000 B5 Passat 4Motion 2.8V6 193PS only had 288mm front discs, though that was pushing things a bit! (B5.5 went up to 315mm I think)

Sounds to me, like a bloody waste of a lot of money!

Tell her to treat herself to baking a cake for you or something (:

In my opinion its a poor deal.

 

For a start there is now a 42 month option on the 0% PCP, so why go for 36 months, especially as you will almost certainly borrow (likely at 7%+) to pay balance.  Incidently if you intend to keep probably worth buying the 5 year warranty.

 

We did a similar calc recently,  and it went something like this :

 

she will have to pay £152/mt for 36 months = £5742 which wouldn't be paid out if sticks with a fully paid for car. 

 

Her Direct savings will be :

1st year, no servicing or mot saves about £250

years 1-3 free warranty and breakdown cover worth about £200 + £80 per year

car tax should be lower (probably saving £100 per year)

repairs shouldn't be needed as warranty will cover faults, saves about £150-£600 per year (depends on if things like cambelts or tyres need changing on existing car)

no mot until 3rd birthday (might be 4 years by 2018) which saves £40 per year (and a lot of worry, most people will value this worry saving)

Fuel savings, new one should be better, but probably not that significant on only 5k miles per year.

 

There is spec factor, assuming main objective is a reliable runabout and not a car with extra gizmos you wont ever use, are you buying what you need, rather than some overspec'd and thus higher priced car.

 

There is the depreciation, her current car will be falling by £700-£1000 per year (depending on condition), but the new one will fall by nearer £2000 per year, so does the savings offset the extra £1000-£1300 depreciation

 

However, if you intend to keep the car for many years, there is a good incentive to change by Mar 2017 (when car tax jumps by about £120 per year) as you will save over £1000 tax over life of car.  

There is also the likelihood that bank interest rate will go up so soon, so the zero percent deals might disappear next quarter (or in 2016).

 

I've guessed a couple of figures here, but I'm sure you can tweak it to workout your own breakeven point.

 

Thanks.  All good

 

There are significant fuel (1.2 vs 1.6), tax (£20 vs £200ish) and running costs like servicing etc, but @ £1,800 a year for peace of mind?  Her 1.6 seems to still be a fine car to me.

I have had more thoughts on this and your timing is wrong.

Shouldn't be paying for mot / service / repairs just before disposing of the car, keep it now and look again in 9 months (or 7 months if you want a factory order) so you offload with 2 - 3 months MOT left.

Makes sense to buy a long term car next year with £20 car tax, as will save >£1000 tax compared to one bought after tax change

Edited 25 August, 201510 yr by SurreyJohn