Some advice for my next car

[gingerwarrior79]

So my 408GT goes back at the beginning of next month. I’m now stuck between going with a new lease car or a used car (budget of £5-6k).

There are two lease deals that are within my monthly budget -

Toyota Corolla Touring Sports 1.8 Hybrid Design (£245pm - £2.2k down over 36 months on 10k annual mileage)

or

Renault Symbioz 1.6 E-Tech Techno Esprit Alpine (£240pm - £1.5k down over same term and mileage)

Both cars have great MPG which is quite key as I will be getting c£160 per month for travel costs following an office move - diesel is not an option as I only do 10 miles of M25 on a daily basis.

I enjoyed my Kadjar when I had it but have a feeling the Corolla will be more practical when it comes to driving holidays, sports gear in the boot (cricket bags and golf clubs) and the fact reliability of Toyota.

The other option as mentioned would be a used car, but it does worry me that at my budget we’re looking at a 100k+ mileage car (not necessarily a bad thing) but the uncertainty of buying second hand.

Would welcome thoughts of the above.

[Russet Grange]

gingerwarrior79 said:

So my 408GT goes back at the beginning of next month. I m now stuck between going with a new lease car or a used car (budget of £5-6k).

There are two lease deals that are within my monthly budget -

Toyota Corolla Touring Sports 1.8 Hybrid Design (£245pm - £2.2k down over 36 months on 10k annual mileage)

or

Renault Symbioz 1.6 E-Tech Techno Esprit Alpine (£240pm - £1.5k down over same term and mileage)

Both cars have great MPG which is quite key as I will be getting c£160 per month for travel costs following an office move - diesel is not an option as I only do 10 miles of M25 on a daily basis.

I enjoyed my Kadjar when I had it but have a feeling the Corolla will be more practical when it comes to driving holidays, sports gear in the boot (cricket bags and golf clubs) and the fact reliability of Toyota.

The other option as mentioned would be a used car, but it does worry me that at my budget we re looking at a 100k+ mileage car (not necessarily a bad thing) but the uncertainty of buying second hand.

Would welcome thoughts of the above.

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but the cost of that Corolla over three years is £11,000 and then you have to give it back. Can you not look for a used car at similar money up front and similar monthly payments? I wouldn't wish to suggest you get into debt, and there is a lot of appeal to having a new car, but is this perhaps an option?

[66HFM]

Russet Grange said:

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but the cost of that Corolla over three years is £11,000 and then you have to give it back. Can you not look for a used car at similar money up front and similar monthly payments? I wouldn't wish to suggest you get into debt, and there is a lot of appeal to having a new car, but is this perhaps an option?

IF you use the example above from Russet, I've assumed that you have the £2,200 cash and want to borrow £7,800 (£10k total), using an average Barclays rate of 6.2% your monthly payments for 3 years would be £237.40 and at the end of the three years you own the car outright.
On a technical point you would still own the car anyway as a bank loan is unsecured against an asset.

If you already have the £5-6k available then using a similar amount you are looking at a circa £13k car.

Personally I'd spend the £5-6k on a car and then put some money aside for a contingency fund... Good luck

[gingerwarrior79]

Thank you both.

I do have the £5-6k available for a used car purchase. I’ve not bought a used car for 20 years and guess I’m wary I’ll end up getting a dud and the maintenance will cost me loads.

Obviously you do read stories of people getting brilliant used cars. Ideally I don’t go down a loan to go alongside the £5-6k I’ve set aside.

[ZX10R NIN]

You can get a good reliable car for your budget just look at the rep car side of things.

Insignia SRI:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510317...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510277...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202511057...

Previous gen:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510217...

Mazda6 Sport:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202511117...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510307...

Avensis:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510127...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510237...

Superb:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510157...