stephenb
December 9th, 2017, 11:34 AM
Here's a post I didn't ever think I'd be making. At least a few years back at any rate. Turns out not having a life is quite conducive to saving money :P I'd been toying with the idea of a new car for the past year or so. My reasoning being if I kept it long enough to amoratize the cost of depreciation , and didn't run up any major unexpected bills (touch wood), the lifetime cost wouldn't work out that much more than my then current car an A4 diesel which I'd bought second hand at five years old.
My first thoughts back last year were for something small, fun, economical and petrol. 99.9% of the time it's just me in the car and my commute to work is only 8 miles. The turbo diesel was something completely different to my first car, a high revving naturally aspirated 4 pot hot hatch (Xsara VTS), but no so well suited to short trips. Especially now I do very little road miles for work. My office happens to be in a road full of main dealers, VW, Ford, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Skoda, some marks more in reach than others. The Polo Bluemotion GT had caught my eye but a trip into the local VW dealer didn't bear much fruit. This was last year and at that stage I wasn't looking so seriously.
It was this summer that started looking in earnest. My head had been turned by the MX-5 and a test drive at a local dealer was arranged. Unfortunately as much as I liked the car I had to concede that at 6ft 3"/189cm I didn't quite fit with the roof up. A colleague suggest I try the Fiat 124 Spyder in case the seats were different enough to make a difference. I was a little better but still would have been a compromise and for new car money not one I could allow myself to make. My other consideration was parking. My spot at the back of my flat over grown by trees which for 'reasons' I couldn't get cut right back. Bird mess and needles a constant threat.
The search went cool for a while until manufacturers started tripping over themselves to offer scrappage incentives to owners of dirty diesels like mine. Some big savings in the offing, one of which was from Audi. Well having a look couldn't hurt could it? A wander into my local dealer, whom I'd bought my previous car from, brought about a test drive in a TT. Thanks to the wonder that is Carwow I'd already had offers from some other dealers giving very nice discounts in addition to the scrappage incentive. Showing these to my local dealer after the test drive brought about a very competitive offer, so good I couldn't turn it down!
My car is resolutely 'pov spec', an entry level 1.8TFSI Sport. The only optional extra I paid for was the paint. As it turns out I have got hill hold assist on it to as my car came from another dealer to my supplying dealer. I guess maybe a cancelled order? My parents have kindly given me an early xmas present of a half car cover, got to make some effort to keep it clean.
Now for some pictures :D
277327742775
Running in period is 1000km according to the manual (no full throttle, no more than 2/3 max RPMs), then another 500km where you can gradually increase things. After a little running around today it now has 80km on the clock. A while to go before I can really test its capabilities. Early impressions are positive and the virtual cockpit display is a very nice toy :cool Rear seats for shopping only.
Happy motoring one an all, hopefully I have many years in this car ahead of me.
My first thoughts back last year were for something small, fun, economical and petrol. 99.9% of the time it's just me in the car and my commute to work is only 8 miles. The turbo diesel was something completely different to my first car, a high revving naturally aspirated 4 pot hot hatch (Xsara VTS), but no so well suited to short trips. Especially now I do very little road miles for work. My office happens to be in a road full of main dealers, VW, Ford, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Skoda, some marks more in reach than others. The Polo Bluemotion GT had caught my eye but a trip into the local VW dealer didn't bear much fruit. This was last year and at that stage I wasn't looking so seriously.
It was this summer that started looking in earnest. My head had been turned by the MX-5 and a test drive at a local dealer was arranged. Unfortunately as much as I liked the car I had to concede that at 6ft 3"/189cm I didn't quite fit with the roof up. A colleague suggest I try the Fiat 124 Spyder in case the seats were different enough to make a difference. I was a little better but still would have been a compromise and for new car money not one I could allow myself to make. My other consideration was parking. My spot at the back of my flat over grown by trees which for 'reasons' I couldn't get cut right back. Bird mess and needles a constant threat.
The search went cool for a while until manufacturers started tripping over themselves to offer scrappage incentives to owners of dirty diesels like mine. Some big savings in the offing, one of which was from Audi. Well having a look couldn't hurt could it? A wander into my local dealer, whom I'd bought my previous car from, brought about a test drive in a TT. Thanks to the wonder that is Carwow I'd already had offers from some other dealers giving very nice discounts in addition to the scrappage incentive. Showing these to my local dealer after the test drive brought about a very competitive offer, so good I couldn't turn it down!
My car is resolutely 'pov spec', an entry level 1.8TFSI Sport. The only optional extra I paid for was the paint. As it turns out I have got hill hold assist on it to as my car came from another dealer to my supplying dealer. I guess maybe a cancelled order? My parents have kindly given me an early xmas present of a half car cover, got to make some effort to keep it clean.
Now for some pictures :D
277327742775
Running in period is 1000km according to the manual (no full throttle, no more than 2/3 max RPMs), then another 500km where you can gradually increase things. After a little running around today it now has 80km on the clock. A while to go before I can really test its capabilities. Early impressions are positive and the virtual cockpit display is a very nice toy :cool Rear seats for shopping only.
Happy motoring one an all, hopefully I have many years in this car ahead of me.