Buying something no one else wants

RobAMerc

So - you get a good deal on a car you know you'll be stuck with as its an odd spec ( but you might actually enjoy driving ) - do you go for it or would you pay a bit extra for something you know will be easy to sell on ?

Just asking as I continually want the version with the bigger engine when here in Ireland if you go to sell it every dealer says ' Oh the smaller engined one is the one worth money '.

TheDriver

depends on how long you want to keep the car. If its only a year or two, then the more resaleable car is better but if you plan on keeping it for ages, then its whatever you want yourself.

GERMAN ROCKS

if u tell us the exact car we could tell you if we would buy it down the line yet.

nialler

Rob

I've resigned myself to the fact that in today's climate I'll never sell the S320, then again in saying that I have no want to sell it, very happy with it, gives me worries now and then but generally a solid lump not very good to the environment but I try to make up for that in other ways, I'd love a younger one (wouldn't we all ;-) say 03/04 but I'd be stuck with that aswell. I'll look after it and keep it till it dies should keep me happy until then.

RobAMerc

thinking of changing in our 2 cars for this.

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Volkswagen/Touareg/3.2-V6/1131567/

and a classic.

She needs the auto, I could do with the extra space - and there is not one well equipped sporting estate out there bar buying a new cars spec'd myself.

Slig

Why would you buy a car that the next person wants?
Buy one that you want and then get frustrated when you try and sell it.
youll end up owning it for a couple of years and hopefully only spend a couple of weeks trying to sell it. and any car will sell if the price is low enough:D

RobAMerc

nialler wrote: »

Rob

I've resigned myself to the fact that in today's climate I'll never sell the S320, then again in saying that I have no want to sell it, very happy with it, gives me worries now and then but generally a solid lump not very good to the environment but I try to make up for that in other ways, I'd love a younger one (wouldn't we all ;-) say 03/04 but I'd be stuck with that aswell. I'll look after it and keep it till it dies should keep me happy until then.

I hear you, but I am into car number 30 odd - I change very regularly ( longest ever is current car 18 months ).
Its hard to balance between nice and re-sale able - they are not always the same thing.

Anan1

RobAMerc wrote: »

thinking of changing in our 2 cars for this.

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Volkswagen/Touareg/3.2-V6/1131567/

and a classic.

She needs the auto, I could do with the extra space - and there is not one well equipped sporting estate out there bar buying a new cars spec'd myself.

Why in the world would you buy that above a Forester 2.5XT auto?

Steve

Anan1 wrote: »

Why in the world would you buy that above a Forester 2.5XT auto?

+1.
I don't see the attraction of the Toerag.

Personally I buy cars that I like and are fun to drive - then again, I tend to hang onto them so resale value is not really an issue for me.

-Chris-

I had a guy in with me today driving an A6 3.2 petrol with manual transmission and a basically standard spec. Our PreOwned manager described it as "saleproof".

I'll do my best to give the customer good value, but that car would be more desirable with higher spec or a smaller/diesel engine or an auto transmission. It has everything going against it and will only sell to a very particular kind of customer.

If he enjoyed driving it in the meantime, he may consider the depreciation acceptable. That's a personal choice.

I personally would always buy with resale in mind, especially if I was changing as often as you. If you usually keep a car 18 months and you buy something that takes 6-8 months to sell, you'll be pretty bored/pi$$ed off with it by the end.

Mailman

I once bought a new non-metallic green car.
The shade of green was actually quite tasteful and when the car was clean the car looked great but I suffered terribly trying to sell the car on afterward.
It cost me at least a thousand pounds in resale value and took months longer to sell despite being the cleanest car of it's type for sale at the time.
I won't make that mistake again.

RobAMerc

Anan1 wrote: »

Why in the world would you buy that above a Forester 2.5XT auto?

+1 - or Outback - but this car for once is a joint decision, not just mine and if I am good I will get to buy a nice classic that only has to please one person.

AudiChris - what would you say in 2 yrs time to that Touareg, if I turned up with it ?

-Chris-

I'd probably run away screaming.

The market for Touaregs has died in the last few months (don't know if it'll pick up in the next 2 years). We have several Touaregs in stock in diesel already and they're not moving.
If you put that beside them it would easily be the least desirable Touareg on the lot.

I can check it with our used car buyer, but I'd say in the trade that'd be worth sub-€10k in two years.

RobAMerc

I thought that to be honest - I think a Cayenne would be a better option as there may always be a market for a Porsche or maybe a diesel Touareg ( but they are V slow and I am not sure I could live with that ).

She likes this because of the colour and the toys.

cjt156

I'd always buy for me, not the next owner. Having said that I try to buy cars I love and will keep for many years. Also I have impeccable taste and everyone will want to buy them from me.


Anyone want to buy a gick-brown Opel Omega with a V6, manual, cloth seats, no air-con and one missing plastic wheel trim?

Rowley Birkin QC

cjt156 wrote: »

Anyone want to buy a gick-brown Opel Omega with a V6, manual, cloth seats, no air-con and one missing plastic wheel trim?

How much? As in how much wil you give me to take it?:D

As for the OP I would usually be of the opinion that you should buy for yourself but losing the bones of €15k in 18 months is pretty steep.

milltown

I'm in a similar quandry myself Rob. Realistically I need more space than the E46 coupé has, an estate would be ideal. A few months ago I was window shopping for M3s (before milltown Jr. Pt.2 came along) and I still hanker after a proper fast car. With that in mind I was looking at '00/'01 Audi RS4s. I asked my brother and another guy in the trade (Audi main dealer) and they reckoned they were way overpriced at €30k, would lose me a fortune, even if nothing went wrong with it, and would be madness unless I was going to drive it into the ground. I was only slightly deterred at that point.

I think the clincher was the realisation that, as the ultimate roomy getaway car, I would have the creme de la creme of scumbags trying to nick it for their next bank job.

R.O.R

Don't even bother considering it. Place I used to work there was returned by the MD of a large Computer company as it was unreliable and crap to drive. The boss ran it for a few weeks till she got bored of it.

As she dumped it near the aiport when flying off somewhere I volunteered to collect it on my way home. Acceleration was pretty bad unless you slipped it in to Sport. In non-sport auto it takes a good 2-3 seconds to respond to inputs from the accelerator, in Sport mode you can see the fuel guage plummeting to the red zone. OBC was giving me 18mpg with the cruise control on, on a flat section of the M1 Northbound at a steady 65mph.

Guy:Incognito

Anan1 wrote: »

Why in the world would you buy that above a Forester 2.5XT auto?

Why dont we just make a list of 1 car in each catagory that everyone has to buy?

Personnally I'd buy the car I wanted with no regard for the next person in line. my main example being that if I was buying an executive car today it would be a C6.

nialler

sorry Ste beautiful n all that it is you could hardly put the C6 in the same bracket as an E, 5 series, S Class, A6/8 or Lexus GS/LS would ya?

Rowley Birkin QC

I would definitely class the C6 with those cars lookswise and from what I have read its comparable from an engineering and driveability point of view. I finally saw one up close lately, classy, luxurious and pretty rare.

Guy:Incognito

nialler wrote: »

sorry Ste beautiful n all that it is you could hardly put the C6 in the same bracket as an E, 5 series, S Class, A6/8 or Lexus GS/LS would ya?

Yes, yes I would. The fact it has a Citroen badge on the front changes nothing behind it.

EternalSunshine

Stekelly wrote: »

Yes, yes I would. The fact it has a Citroen badge on the front changes nothing behind it.

I would disagree although i only ever drove the previous model. I like citroens but they do wallow in corners and i would never buy one because of the depreciation. I would welcome the citroen to join the audi,merc,bmw class ; but it just aint there yet. It has nothing to do with the badge but just the engineering that goes into it.

RobAMerc

EternalSunshine wrote: »

I would disagree although i only ever drove the previous model. I like citroens but they do wallow in corners and i would never buy one because of the depreciation. I would welcome the citroen to join the audi,merc,bmw class ; but it just aint there yet. It has nothing to do with the badge but just the engineering that goes into it.

Can I ask when you drove the C6 what it is that didn't impress you about it that makes you say its not yet up to the equivalent BMW et al ?

Anan1

Stekelly wrote: »

Why dont we just make a list of 1 car in each catagory that everyone has to buy?

I think you might have got me wrong there. I didn't mention the Forester because I like it, rather because a.) I think RobAMerc would like it a lot more than he would a Touareg and b.) his mention of a Touareg petrol implies the kind of total disregard for fuel consumption necessary for happy Forester turbo ownership.

Stekelly wrote: »

Personnally I'd buy the car I wanted with no regard for the next person in line. my main example being that if I was buying an executive car today it would be a C6.

Snap.

Velocitee

RobAMerc wrote: »

' Oh the smaller engined one is the one worth money '.

That drives me nuts,

"I will buy the base model <insert mass market hatchback name here> (cos it's cheaper and why would you want any more than a 1.4?) and pull into the overtaking lane to overtake (painfully slowly) the guy in front of me while the person who was originally pulling alongside me at speed in the overtaking lane drops anchor to avoid going into the back of me" :rolleyes: "My maneuver shall take no less than 5 minutes to complete after which I will re-enter the driving lane at a time of my choosing".

For the love of Mike you're driving a car every day - this business of people willingly buying underpowered cars and insisting on attempting to overtake within distances that would make a 911 turbo driver wince is ridiculous

Cars which, for their size and weight have relatively small engines/low power IMO are a hazard on our roads and rewarding with financial incentives low engine capacity (and more recently, emissions) only makes the situation worse. (yes a turbo BMW diesel has low emissions but I'm talking in general dammit! )

E92

I've noticed that more and more people go for higher spec cars these days - on an E-class/5 series etc leather and an automatic gearbox are very common options. A lot of these cars have all sorts of gizmos that aren't too cheap to buy new either.

Even in the Focus category the Zetec Focus is considered more desirable than the LX Focus in the eyes of the ordinary person on the street. How many times have I heard those in the trade say on this forum that "because it's the base model it's worth far less than the mid or high spec model"(with the same engine obviously).

Looking at the new Mondeo the Zetec is by far the most common model, with the old Mondeo the LX was way more common than with the new one.

I would say that people like higher spec cars these days, but what they don't like is a bigger engine than absolutely necessary under any circumstances.

Max_Damage

The whole 'next buyer' thing doesn't bother me at all because I'll keep a car until the engine dies in it.

And anyway, I doubt many people would want a base model '95 Escort in 5 or 10 years time.

E92

Max_Damage wrote: »

And anyway, I doubt many people would want a base model '95 Escort in 5 or 10 years time.

I wouldn't have thought there would be too many that would have wanted one in the first place:p!

Max_Damage

E92 wrote: »

I wouldn't have thought there would be too many that would have wanted one in the first place:p!

That worked to my advantage then as I got it fairly cheap.

Steve

Velocitee wrote: »

That drives me nuts,

"I will buy the base model <insert mass market hatchback name here> (cos it's cheaper and why would you want any more than a 1.4?) and pull into the overtaking lane to overtake (painfully slowly) the guy in front of me while the person who was originally pulling alongside me at speed in the overtaking lane drops anchor to avoid going into the back of me" :rolleyes: "My maneuver shall take no less than 5 minutes to complete after which I will re-enter the driving lane at a time of my choosing".

For the love of Mike you're driving a car every day - this business of people willingly buying underpowered cars and insisting on attempting to overtake within distances that would make a 911 turbo driver wince is ridiculous

Cars which, for their size and weight have relatively small engines/low power IMO are a hazard on our roads and rewarding with financial incentives low engine capacity (and more recently, emissions) only makes the situation worse. (yes a turbo BMW diesel has low emissions but I'm talking in general dammit! )

I'm going to be laughing for at least another 10 minutes after reading that - great post!

:D:D:D:D

RobAMerc

I would love to buy a C6 too or a 4.5 cayenne, but lets face it I don't have money to burn, so what I am trying to do is figure out how stuck we'd be with the Touareg in 2 yrs time.

The issue with the Forester is that
a) the main driver of the car (wife) doesn't like the look of it.
b) I am not sure it would be any easier to sell on than the Touareg.
c) think I would prefer the Legacy 3.0 spec b - it would give me space and pace.

dizzydiesel

RobAMerc wrote: »

+1 - or Outback - but this car for once is a joint decision, not just mine and if I am good I will get to buy a nice classic that only has to please one person.

AudiChris - what would you say in 2 yrs time to that Touareg, if I turned up with it ?

I'd say 3.2l petrol will be hard to sell......now and especially in 2 years time. Just think how much a litre of petrol will cost in 2 years? Somewhere between €2-3 is quite possible....not to mention the markey will be flooded with cars registered under the new VRT/C02 emmissions......so annual road tax on something "cleaner", registered post July '08 will be more attractive.

dizzydiesel

Velocitee wrote: »

That drives me nuts,

"I will buy the base model <insert mass market hatchback name here> (cos it's cheaper and why would you want any more than a 1.4?) and pull into the overtaking lane to overtake (painfully slowly) the guy in front of me while the person who was originally pulling alongside me at speed in the overtaking lane drops anchor to avoid going into the back of me" :rolleyes: "My maneuver shall take no less than 5 minutes to complete after which I will re-enter the driving lane at a time of my choosing".

For the love of Mike you're driving a car every day - this business of people willingly buying underpowered cars and insisting on attempting to overtake within distances that would make a 911 turbo driver wince is ridiculous

Cars which, for their size and weight have relatively small engines/low power IMO are a hazard on our roads and rewarding with financial incentives low engine capacity (and more recently, emissions) only makes the situation worse. (yes a turbo BMW diesel has low emissions but I'm talking in general dammit! )

+100

Anan1

RobAMerc wrote: »

The issue with the Forester is that
a) the main driver of the car (wife) doesn't like the look of it.

Nothing to be done about that, i'm afraid!

RobAMerc wrote: »

b) I am not sure it would be any easier to sell on than the Touareg.

The Forester does seem to have a solid & loyal following, I think it's going to be far less susceptible to the whims of fashion than the Touareg.

.

RobAMerc wrote: »

c) think I would prefer the Legacy 3.0 spec b - it would give me space and pace.

Now that might be a lot harder to sell on! It is bigger than a Forester, but I don't think it's any quicker. Mind you, if you got a used one at a good price...