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Buying a new car - advice wanted

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    Buying a new car - advice wanted

    I'm buying a new car for virtually the first time in my life, any tips/tricks?

    Vague plan of action is
    1. Get list price with options from manufacturer site.
    2. Look up the indicative discount available on Broadspeed web site.
    3. Go for test drive.
    4. Ask dealer if they will match Broadspeed indicative price, if not get full quote from Broadspeed.

    If it makes a difference, car is a Mercedes GLA, base price about 27K, but I'll be adding 5K worth of options. Paying cash. (Well, not literally, I mean paying with debit card.)

    The GLA is a new model, so likely not much discount available. (Broadspeed indicating about £500, I think.)

    The Broadspeed indicative prices don't take into account 5K of options, so I wonder if the indicative quote will over-estimate what I'd actually have to pay.


    ...


    Second issue, choosing navigation, high quality traffic info for navigating through London rush-hour is the priortiy, options are:-
    1. Continue with current TomTom HD that sticks to windscreen
    2. Mercedes Command navigation (£1000 option, apparently now does/soon will use TomTom traffic info.)
    3. Becker device in glovebox that displays on built-in screen, from memory something like £500.
    4. Mercedes Drive Kit plus will allow selected iphone applications to display on car screen, selected navigation app is from Garmin. Cost about £500, in reality a lot more as I'd also need to buy an iphone.

    Becker is ruled out, no traffic.

    Mercedes Command - even if they get traffic info from Tomtom, is the sofware any good? Does it re-route automatically based on traffic info? Does it even do 3D display? I suspect the software is inferior to TomTom, but willing to be informed otherwise.

    The Garmin software - it's not actually clear what Garmin iphone software they are talking about, what reviews I've found of Garmin for iphone have said it's not good, and similarly reviews of Garmin traffic info say it's not as good as TomTom HD. So unless someone can tell me otherwise, I guess the Garmin is out.

    I can't believe that the best Satnav option for a 32K car is a £150 device stuck to the windscreen, but at the moment that's what it looks like.

    #2
    Wait a year and buy one 2nd hand.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Old Greg View Post
      Wait a year and buy one 2nd hand.
      WHS. Recently got a mint 1 year old BMW tourer (estate) for the missus that cost, new, with options, £30K-odd for just over £20K.
      I used to buy cars new, but have seen the light.
      Hard Brexit now!
      #prayfornodeal

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Old Greg View Post
        Wait a year and buy one 2nd hand.
        Originally posted by sasguru View Post
        WHS. Recently got a mint 1 year old BMW tourer (estate) for the missus that cost, new, with options, £30K-odd for just over £20K.
        I used to buy cars new, but have seen the light.
        WTS. Buying new is just pissing money down the drain. Leave that to the lease companies and the corporates.
        And what exactly is wrong with an "ad hominem" argument? Dodgy Agent, 16-5-2014

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Mich the Tester View Post
          WTS. Buying new is just pissing money down the drain. Leave that to the lease companies and the corporates and the stupid fools and the wealthy.
          FTFY

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Mich the Tester View Post
            WTS. Buying new is just pissing money down the drain. Leave that to the lease companies and the corporates who get whopping discounts of upto 40% off list price.
            ftfy hth
            merely at clientco for the entertainment

            Comment


              #7
              In general I entirely agree with the advice about not buying cars new. However after 25 years of contracting while not spending more than necessary, I'm now in a postion where, after paying ordinary living expenses, I need to blow an additional 20K a year of investment income, just to stop my balance going up. Buying a new car is the only idea I've come up with for getting rid of money. (Though I admit the traditional options of loose women and drugs have not yet been tried.)

              Comment


                #8
                Merc Forums

                Do a search for few Merc Forums, bound to be some good tips there...

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by IR35 Avoider View Post
                  In general I entirely agree with the advice about not buying cars new. However after 25 years of contracting while not spending more than necessary, I'm now in a postion where, after paying ordinary living expenses, I need to blow an additional 20K a year of investment income, just to stop my balance going up. Buying a new car is the only idea I've come up with for getting rid of money. (Though I admit the traditional options of loose women and drugs have not yet been tried.)
                  Buy a nicer 1 year old car.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Old Greg View Post
                    Buy a nicer 1 year old car.
                    I can't think of anything else, at any price, that I would prefer. I'm quite fussy, and even this choice has shortcomings. (No built-in TomTom HD, not as good-looking as an Evoque. However Evoque doesn't have adaptive cruise control, which is a must-have. Also Evoque width is off-putting - won't fit in my garage, might be difficult to get through London 6 ft 6 width restrictions, given that it's seven foot wide. And it has ancient inefficent engines compared to everyone else.)

                    Using the same logic as you, I did previously look up the price of Porsche Panamera, but it's a bit too large a car, and even second-hand is 60K, which is outside my comfort zone. (I think I've done well to psyche myself up to spending 30K, have never spent more than 7K on a car before.)

                    Comment

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