New Mazda 6 or a secondhand 316/8i?

LegacyUser · 11-04-2004 1:50pm #1

The Mazda to the spec I want will cost €30,500 (1.8 touring hatch), or I would also consider a secondhand BMW 316 or 318 (would have to have all the extras). If I was to go for the BMW, I wouldn't want to go over around €27,500 though. I'd appreciate people's opinions.

How are secondhand Mazda 6 prices holding up in comparison with BMWs?

Are the Mazda's developing any common/expensive faults?

I am trading in a 99 Astra 1.4 saloon, 68k on the clock. Went to the Mazda garage in Galway yesterday, and the guy said he'd give me 6k for it (he reckoned the timing belt might need changing, which would cost €800!!!!!!). I said I noticed he sold a lower spec, higher mileage 99 Astra the previous week for €8950.

He went on again about the belt, so I literally said 'Good Luck' and walked out the door with my gf. You should have seen the look on his face. That wouldn't put me off getting a Mazda, but i certainly won't buy from there.

dahamsta · 11-04-2004 6:00pm

Late model 3 series or the last model? The last model was mank.

unkel · 11-04-2004 9:45pm

How long are you keeping the car and if you go for the BMW, does it need to be a touring?

Presuming your looking for the sedan, for your budget you're looking at a low mileage 2001 318. That is expensive imo for a 3 year old car that is gonna take a bigger depreciation hit than the mazda 6 over say 3 years. Why not save yourself money and go for a 1998 318 for about €12k?

There are very few second hand mazda 6 coming into the market as the model is so new. Who's gonna trade in there 1 year old car?

wolfman · 11-04-2004 9:55pm

For the kind of money you are talking about spending, I would recommend the BMW 5 series!

I see a 1 year old model for 30,750 on Car Buyers Guide. I bought a 1998 523 recently and its the best car I have ever owned although most of my cars have been bought new every time

Check out the one in the Car Buyers Guide

wolfman · 11-04-2004 10:00pm

Although to be honest, this price CAN'T be right. Generally that kind of money would get you a 01 model???

unkel · 11-04-2004 11:04pm

That price can't be right - or there's something dodgy going on there

Originally posted by wolfman
I bought a 1998 523 recently and its the best car I have ever owned although most of my cars have been bought new every time

Nice one wolfman :cool:

That's the very car (year and model) that I had set my eyes on until I came across my current car about 7 weeks ago. kbannon bought one of them as well last week

Would like to know all the details and what you paid for it - some pics would be nice too

I agree with you that if I were Buckfast, I'd go for a E39 5 series second hand. The best car in the world if you exclude cars that the vast majority of people could never afford, not even second hand...

3 series second hand of a certain age are relatively expensive imo - you get a better deal with the 5 series

wolfman · 11-04-2004 11:17pm

I got it in Capital Auto in Coolmine. It was advertised at 15950 for a 1998 523 without A/C.

Basically I traded a 01 Alfa 147 3dr (1.6 Lusso) for it and ended up giving about one and a half with the Alfa, but I am thrilled with the car.

Funny thing is....the 1.6 Lusso Alfa has a trip computer and I was averaging about 34.5 mpg over 12 months consistently.......

Then....I got the 2.5 litre Beemer and was expecting about 20-22 mpg and so far, over about 4 or 5 thousand miles I am constantly showing 31.7 on the trip computer!!!!!!

This is excellent in my opinion for a car of this size.

Don't have many pics, but here's one

Seth Brundle · 12-04-2004 12:12am

I bought a 97 523i last week and it has full leather, air con, sunroof, 17" deep dish alloys, full BMW service history & 53K miles.
Not bad for 14k.
The E39 was described by pretty much every motoring journalist out there to be the best car in the world. It was nbriefly replaced by a Merc and the new E60 5 series has taken the mantle back.
Mazda is just a Ford in disguise!

LegacyUser · 13-04-2004 3:29pm

Cheers for replies ...

I'll be keeping it for four years anyway, and I'd rather a newer car than an older one TBH.

Anyone know about the Mazda having a pistonless engine? What's the deal with that, and if something goes wrong, would it cost more to repair?

Mythago · 13-04-2004 3:42pm

Anyone know about the Mazda having a pistonless engine? What's the deal with that, and if something goes wrong, would it cost more to repair?

The RX-8 (or is it 9?) is the only car in the current range with a rotary (pistonless) engine.

Gmodified · 13-04-2004 3:46pm

I got it in Capital Auto in Coolmine. It was advertised at 15950 for a 1998 523 without A/C.

Capital Auto in Coolmine?

They do clock cars from time to time.

Not saying that yours is clocked but this happened to good few people. They also changed the company name to lose bad reputation

Hyzepher · 13-04-2004 3:51pm

I have a Mazda 6 - 1 year old - bought it new. best car I have ever had, well worth the money and they are retaining their value pretty well. If you are keeping it for 4 years then I would recommend it. haven't had an ounce of problem with it.

Hyzepher

unkel · 13-04-2004 4:22pm

Originally posted by Gmodified
They do clock cars from time to time.

:eek:

What you base this on? Would be good for all to know.

Also, it is very easy to read out the BMW motor management to confirm if car is clocked or not and other info. I had that done for my current car before I handed over the moneys and it took only a few minutes

Gmodified · 13-04-2004 4:52pm

They managed to get into the paper .when buyer returned clocked car after checking it with previous owner.
He got better deal and got new car instead, which was worth more anyway. Happy with the deal he was going through the events in his head and the only thing came to his mind was:

They wouldn't do this again !

but

he checked his replacement car and to his amusement

They did it again.

There was this other guy which was going to buy another car

Dude called his mate to help him with purchase and do test drive. Turned that his mate was bidding on the same car week before at Merlin Auctions.
but car had different mileage, simply had haircut too.

When comes to checking mileage, NCt test comes handy as they log mileage at the time of the test. This make things more difficult for most of cowboys, unless they are selling car which never had NCT before.

pedro ferio-vti · 13-04-2004 5:07pm

Don't trade your astra in whatever you do, you'll get screwed. Garages often give people a great price on the car they trade in with the proviso that they buy another car off them and they screw you on the car you are buying off them. Has the timing belt ever been done on the astra? It should be done on most cars at 60k miles or a 5year period whichever comes first.

Sell the astra privately, you'll get more money that way. Then maybe approach a garage if you want to buy a car, personally i'd only buy privately but its good for some people to have a "warranty" or comeback or whatever makes them feel better.

Just to confirm what mythago said as well, the RX-8 is the only rotary powered car being sold at the moment by mazda. Oh and in theory if something did go wrong with a rotary engine, generally they're easier to fix since the have way way less moving parts in them than a standard 4 stroke engine. Downsides to the rotary are they use a bit of oil from time to time and they have horrid fuel consumption! But they have a lot of upsides too but thats kind of off topic here.

Cheers
Pete

Banjo013 · 13-04-2004 11:31pm

Mazda 6 wins, hands down no competition.

Originally posted by kbannon
Mazda is just a Ford in disguise!

By that logic, then Jaguar and Aston Martin are also "Ford in Disguise". Sorry, but your view just doesn't cut it with me to be honest ... !

Originally posted by Buckfast
Anyone know about the Mazda having a pistonless engine? What's the deal with that, and if something goes wrong, would it cost more to repair?

It is the RX-8. Was also a rotary engine in the RX-7, but it never took off much for various reasons, one of them being that petrol just flowed straight through it.

Apparently the RX-8 is an all new engine, and rather amazing really considering it's a powerful engine, but only 1.3 litre. Still a bit thirsty though I believe, and to be honest I'd wait a while before buying one. They're very new and as yet very rare. The rareness bit means it would probably be very expensive to maintain, and also if anything should go wrong with them they'd probably burn a right hole in your pocket.

What a beautiful car though ...

unkel · 14-04-2004 8:15am

Originally posted by Banjo013
Mazda 6 wins, hands down no competition.

Against an E39 523 as suggested by wolfman? In what way exactly? Can't think of any reason apart from subjective ones, like you prefer the colour range or the mazda badge...

LegacyUser · 14-04-2004 11:51am

I thought about selling the astra privately, it's averaging €8k on CBG.ie. Am I liable if anything goes wrong after a private sale.

Don't think I'd buy privately, wouldn't know enough about cars. I know a retired mechanic, but I think "these new-fangled contraptions" might be slightly beyond his knowledge!!!

I really don't think I'd go 5 series anyway — again, I'd either like a two-year old 3 series or the new Mazda.

Anyone know if the 3 series is due for an overhaul like the 5 soon?

Seth Brundle · 14-04-2004 1:04pm

the next 3er is going to be the E90
See:-
http://bmwboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3242
http://www.wheels24.co.za/Wheels24/News/0,,1369-1372_1492624,00.html
http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e90/

LegacyUser · 16-04-2004 1:39pm

What about this —

a 316i, 2001, 66k on the clock, alloys, CD player

for €25,500?

Does that seem expensive for the spec and mileage????

unkel · 16-04-2004 2:43pm

Originally posted by Buckfast
What about this —

a 316i, 2001, 66k on the clock, alloys, CD player

for €25,500?

Does that seem expensive for the spec and mileage????

That seems a normal enough price, a tad high perhaps given the mileage. Also the 316 is badly underpowered and will hardly give you a bmw driving experience. Would you consider the excellent 320d? Also very expensive second hand imo though

Above 316 will only be worth about €11k in 3 years time, giving you €5k per year depreciation. You'd have less depreciaton on a new mazda 6 over 3 years. Given this choice, I'd get the mazda

Would you really not consider something a bit older and cheaper? I drive V8 top of the range BMW's. Buy them at 7 years and sell at 10 years and my annual depreciation is not much over €2k. This and the hefty interest charges on loans compensates the higher tax, insurance, maintenance and fuel costs several times over even if you would run into a serious and expensive problem on the way, which hasn't happened to me yet. And no, I don't do any maintenance on the car myself

LegacyUser · 16-04-2004 3:59pm

5k depreciation per year? Even with the new model coming out, it'd hardly be that much after the first two years, would it?

I've gone right off the idea of a Mazda, and goin over a 1.8 engine would give the insurance company an excuse to bugger me again.

How 'bout this —

01 316 SE, 50,000, every extra, upgraded alloys, 25,500?

It was originally a UK car -- anything I should ask/watch out for?

Mythago · 17-04-2004 12:33pm

have a look at http://www.totalbmwmag.com i think there's a buyers guide on the site for e46's (current shape 3).

Also check out http://www.bmwland.co.uk and http://forum.e46fanatics.com/

Not sure if it was introduced on the 316 but it's worth finding out if the engine is a "valvetronic" unit. They are a better smoother engine & more economical than the older 4 cylinders.

New Mazda 6 or a secondhand 316/8i?

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