£3k - which car? Lowest depreciation / easy to shift..

£3k - which car? Lowest depreciation / easy to shift..

Author
Discussion

kaisah16

Original Poster:

32 posts

125 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
quotequote all
Right guys, if you had £3k~ to buy a daily to last 12 months, which will retain as much of its value as possible after this time and be relatively easy to sell on. What do you pick?

anonymous-user

61 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
quotequote all
A £200 snotter with long MOT leaves you with £2800 at the end of the year. Buy sensibly, poverty spec etc and there are few things to go wrong...

Alternatively a good Clio 182 will pretty much get you all the money back and be fun to drive, depends on the mileage really.

fivepointnine

708 posts

121 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
quotequote all
pablo said:
A £200 snotter with long MOT leaves you with £2800 at the end of the year. Buy sensibly, poverty spec etc and there are few things to go wrong...

Alternatively a good Clio 182 will pretty much get you all the money back and be fun to drive, depends on the mileage really.
Wrong on the 182, values are tanking (I Have owned 2 in the past 2 years). Maybe a facelift EP3 type R that is left stock? Mini Cooper S that is stock? Micra? I would say some sort of economical supermini.

CaptainMorgan

1,454 posts

166 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
quotequote all
I agree that spending less is the better way to go. Get something old thats lost the majority of it's value and you'll sorted, something around the £1000 mark with a years ticket on it. I ran a £1000 Octavia vRS for nearly 2 years and lost nothing on it, just put a new fuel pump on it for £30 and it kept going.

Bordtea

362 posts

153 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
quotequote all
fivepointnine said:
pablo said:
A £200 snotter with long MOT leaves you with £2800 at the end of the year. Buy sensibly, poverty spec etc and there are few things to go wrong...

Alternatively a good Clio 182 will pretty much get you all the money back and be fun to drive, depends on the mileage really.
Wrong on the 182, values are tanking (I Have owned 2 in the past 2 years). Maybe a facelift EP3 type R that is left stock? Mini Cooper S that is stock? Micra? I would say some sort of economical supermini.
182 prices seem to on the up? I sold mine for significant profit around 6 months ago after a year of ownership and after a brief look they seem to have gone up again since then?


fivepointnine

708 posts

121 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
quotequote all
Bordtea said:
182 prices seem to on the up? I sold mine for significant profit around 6 months ago after a year of ownership and after a brief look they seem to have gone up again since then?
Last summer I sold a 182 that was due its belt job for 2250, this summer I sold a much better one with recent belts and struggled to get 1900, average 182 price is hovering at 1700 or Lower this fall.

SebringMan

1,773 posts

193 months

Tuesday 4th October 2016
quotequote all
fivepointnine said:
Last summer I sold a 182 that was due its belt job for 2250, this summer I sold a much better one with recent belts and struggled to get 1900, average 182 price is hovering at 1700 or Lower this fall.
It's time I threw a spanner in the works.

I sold mine for £1800 in May on a set of Clio Turbines within 2 days of it being up for sale. I originally put it up for £2250.

That was a 2003 172 as well with 79k on the clock, Quantum remap, full service history including the all important cambelt and Cup parts including the rear spoiler, Fabia front spoiler and the Trophy washer jet blanks. The buyer said it was alot cleaner than two others he saw for £1500 and indeed tried the "182s go for this much" line initially. TBH, given how clean the car was I wasn't bothered whether it sold or not and would have happily mothballed it which may have played a part in the price it sold for. I "think" he sold it again 2 weeks later for £1500, again well within a week, but considering he asked me for my advert and without being too harsh him not appearing to be the smartest tool in the box it may not have helped his cause. I was tempted to buy it back!

The car:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

pablo said:
A £200 snotter with long MOT leaves you with £2800 at the end of the year. Buy sensibly, poverty spec etc and there are few things to go wrong...

Alternatively a good Clio 182 will pretty much get you all the money back and be fun to drive, depends on the mileage really.
IMO a £200 snotter may be more hassle than it is worth. If I am honest, alot of 'family' cars below £2-3k can be more hassle than they are worth. It's one reason we've kept a Mondeo until recently. Most cars were in worse condition with a 1/3rd of the mileage on them.

Me? I'd definitely consider a GOOD Clio of sorts in the MkII shape. I wouldn't settle with 'the odd knock etc.' when buying a car. Mileage below £3k is immaterial IME but condition is everything, even the person you are buying it off ; is their house nice, and do they look like they can keep a car in good condition?

Otherwise? Petrol MkIII Mondeo. Maybe not our family one as the mileage would be too high for many, but there are plenty in the marketplace.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

VAGs tend to be tricky and potentially expensive to run at this price point. Japanese may be a good shout as well, but I'd check for rust very carefully.

I'd also add an MX-5 to that list if practicality is not a massive concern. They IME are not as cheap as they used to be for a good car, and the good ones sell fast. I should know. I sold mine at a classic car show with a nondescript for sale sign within a day for £2.3k:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...



Edited by SebringMan on Tuesday 4th October 08:57


Edited by SebringMan on Tuesday 4th October 09:02


Edited by SebringMan on Tuesday 4th October 09:04

Usget

5,426 posts

218 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
Second the suggestion of an EP3 - facelift if possible. Values don't move much and it'll be a fun DD.

fivepointnine

708 posts

121 months

Wednesday 5th October 2016
quotequote all
Usget said:
Second the suggestion of an EP3 - facelift if possible. Values don't move much and it'll be a fun DD.
Only a facelift, the values are much lower and falling on the pre-facelifts (trust me, I tried to sell one last summer).