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Drive new no matter what brand and you will always torch a lot of cash. There can be good reasons to go this route for some. An example would be a business that had to buy new for tax reasons. At least there is a tax advantage to cushion the blow. For example a new Mercedes car in Australia will drop about 35% of its value once you put plates on it
There's been some interesting comments here. Thanks people.
As Tote said buying a car is an emotional exercise as well as being a $ exercise. If the head says buy and the heart says no or vice versa then I'd suggest the buyer will never be completely happy with his purchase.
But just to clarify my position. This thread is not about me making a decision as to whether to buy or not buy. It is purely a theoretical exercise triggered by curiosity based on the questions made by new posters about buying a Landrover..
@3toes I would be buying the vehicle as a business so yes itwould help
@grumbles Ah yes, I kinda looked past that. Personally the landrover buy is an emotional thing. It was with my first one anyway. I had driven japanese cars all my life (still do) but when it came time to pick a 4bee, I choose the landrover due to character. Purely a heart thing :) Today with landrovers latest offerings, if I had to buy new(ish)... not so much. (but then again, I would not be interested in the paj for that matter either)
Cheers,
-P
I totally agree with you Prelude that Landrovers have character. I saw my Classic LSE in an independent LR car yard, went in and bought it. I'd wanted an LSE ever since I first saw a new car review in a 4WD magazine in 1994. In the yard it was then 10 years old and I reckoned it was grinning at me and saying, buy me, buy me.[biggrin]
The buy made no sense to family as I sold a 4 year old Jeep with only 45000 kms on it to get the RR and although it has consumed some buckets of cash it is still with me today.....and I am still grinning.
But re the Pajero. I did buy one but that was 2 years ago. Soul less but a great car. Comfortable with good vision all round plus effective traction control. The factory fitted rear diff lock is a bonus and it goes pretty much every where I point it.
But there is another plus on its side. It hasn't had one problem and not likely to - I just get in and drive it....anywhere.
Land Rovers are:
Interesting
Fun
Frustrating
Satisfying
Maddening
Characterful
Crap
Wonderful
Useful
Useless
Individual
Pajero's are:
A car
So landrovers are:
Interestingly fun
frustratingly satisfying
maddingly characterful crap
wonderfully useful
but are owned by useless individuals?
[bigrolf]
All fun aside. Agreed. 101%
Probably.[bawl]Quote:
Originally Posted by prelude
It drops 35% in price certainly but not sure if that equates to value [emoji6] - I don’t see many European cars as good value at all. Their base models are **** boxes and to add any extras costs a fortune when we all know the tech is cheap as chips these days and that others offer all or most of these ‘extras’ in the base model to start with.Quote:
Originally Posted by 3toes
The question is how do you define value.
Go to a UK bomb site dealer who specialises in old cars that are 8 to 12 years old you will find most of the stock is Japanese as the Euro boxes have gone to the scrappers while the Japanese keep on running.
Or perhaps the Holden HQ to HZ range from the seventies. Many will say they were out dated and imported cars were better as the exteriors were put together with finer tolerances. However if you value based on life of the car the Holden was far superior as they stayed on the road for decades and would not die. (There is a James Bond quote there but will leave it out) There were enough of them they actually caused a bulge in the age distribution of the Australian car parc statics. Not so for the imported competition which were better made but bid not last.
VW is the Toyota of Europe. Builds cars that are unexciting but functional. The key difference is that VW gives priority to how the car drives while Toyota looks to reliability
Not everyone defines value the same way.
It is going to be difficult to see under the skin of a car which is where the short cuts are taken. So people go for what they can see or are lead to want by marketing
My current car is 13 years old with 280k miles on it. On original engine, gearbox and exhaust. Bought 7 years ago with 120k miles on it as I needed a car due to giving up a company car. Not something I really wanted but was available, would do the job and price was right. Intended to own for no more than 12 months. Still my daily driver and has never let me down. On a total cost of ownership pence per mile basis is the best value car I have ever owned. That said my garage says had never seen another one go over 180k
So is cost if ownership value? If so ownership over what term 2 years, 5 years, 10 years?
Everytime I read about cars loosing value or they depreciate quickly, or you loose so much CASH in the 1st year I just smile. You do not loose anything if you dont sell the asset. What its worth at any point of time is useless unless you actually sell it, then you get its ACTUAL worth. As accountants say the purchase of any asset is a sunk cost. You cannot usually get it back. Depreciation is only usefull for businesses as it allows the entity to charge back some of the original cost of the asset based on what the asset gives to the business. I have bought many cars in my life so far. However for my own personal use, since I turned 21, I have always bought Brand New. My reason is that I know what has been done to it, where it has been, what needs servicing etc. I service my car at the correct intervals, and so far I have never had one of my personal cars towed or flat bedded. I generally keep my cars for 5-10 years. I have bought many 2nd hand cars, which I have done up and sold. All boring pieces of S****. But people like them and thats their preference. If you dont like the way a vehicle looses its value, then buy one that appreciates in value. They are out there just go tp a classic auction.