Just spotted it now coming out of Liverpool.

BMW 520d - should have known.

I'm pretty sure that only idiots and old people buy new these days, surely?

Well, and those that get a new car on a company car scheme.

Over the next week, all the people in our office who opt into the CC scheme will begin to receive their cars. Their A3 diesels, their 320d's, their low powered 1 series diesels and their Audi A(x) etc etc, all subject to a nice little deduction from their pay packet.

Me? Nah! Put £500 a month into my pay packet and I'll have 45p a mile allowance instead of 13p (iirc) and I'll drive a car that costs me nowhere near the £500, never mind actually paying for it...

All seems rather strange to me.

So... what 61 plate cars have you seen today?

(I predict bottom of the range diesel executive models)

The only exception to the rule are those to whom money is really no concern, if I see a 61 plate Lambo/Ferrari etc etc then fair play, well done.

I haven't seen any!
I remember my mate getting a 1.4 8v Vectra as a company car. They only made a few 1.4's, utterly miserable.

Some people definitely get excited about having a brand new car.

I'd rather have a 5 year old car that is better, for cheaper!

we have a white 61 plate BMW in work and 61 plate transit lwb

I bought a brand new car when I was 21, and never bought a new one since then. Sold it 12 months later and lost far too much money. I'm with you Alex buy a bit older and get a lot more.

last company car was a 59 plate Merc c250 - that was nice.

Not seen any 61's yet in North Wales

Always let someone else take the initial hit.

Letting someone else take the initial hit is generally a good idea. However, it does rather depend on for how long you usually keep your car.

Today I took delivery of MY 61 plate car

I had the previous (seconmdhand) Landy for 11 years
Before that I had the VW for 30 years - and finally sold it for twice what I paid for it

So, if you are a 'keeper' like me then it is fair enough to go for new

Snod

Well, what if you went for a, say, 11 plate, and kept it for years... you'd save thousands!?

Before I went for an 11 plate I would seriously ask myself - WHY is someone selling an 11 plate vehicle?

I suppose it could have belonged to old aunty flo who hardly ever used it so the trivial mileage is correct - - but one has to wonder.

Nah, at my age I can afford a bit of new luxury (no it is not in the BM/ Merc class - came from Lookers)

Snod

I saw a 61 plate voaxhall at arrow park today. The big one (I've forgot the name)

Your boss offered my boss an Aston Martin DB9 with only 14k on the clock for £40k yesterday. Got some dough your boss, tell him you want a pay rise!

Also al, I wouldn't knock the BMW diesels as they can be quite quick

On a serious note, I'll likely take that if the offer still stands...



I know mate, I drive a 635d Convertible quite often, brought it to one of the Wiki meets recently, quick... but lacking in anything but point and shoot boring power.

116d on the other hand... shoot me!

I wouldn't buy a brand new car, unless as Snodvan says, it was for keeps. There are a lot of nice 80's cars from new with one owner about, and it's the same thing. Some people hoard their money for years to splurge on a deposit for a car that is worth half it's retail value in a couple of years. It makes no sense.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3458025

I saw a white Quashqui (sp) 61 plate yesterday

Quote "I'm pretty sure that only idiots & old people buy new cars these days"


I appreciate everyone has the right to an opinion, but I don't think this one was particulary thought out.

Well if it's not a company car, and you're not so old that you don't care about wasting your money (or you've got so much it doesn't matter) then I think you'd be an idiot to buy a new car.

As you said, it's my opinion, and I thought it out.

I have always asked 'why do people buy brand new low spec cars?' Spend less get one a few years older which is better specd and will hold it's value better?...

The only reason is 'keeping up with the Jones', ergo idiots.

but buying a brand new crap car makes you look like a fool...

It's all about the plate with some people isn't it. Well, those that don't understand cars.

"Well, mine's a 61 plate"

"Yeah, but it's a 1.4 Astra Expression numb nuts"

Now Now lets be nice now everyone has an opinion so lets all respect those opinions without the name calling theres been enough bad mouthing and disagreements lately on wiki so lets please get wiki back as on keel a friendly atmosphere
Thank you for reading

correct. We're all entitled to an opinion

There's no direct name calling here, just an opinion.

so true.

Why stop at just cars then.

Why spend £100+ on new designer jeans when you can nip down the charity shop & pay £5 on a 'non-branded' used pair?

Trainers, cloths, white goods (fridge,washer etc NOT shellsuits)

Why 'waste' you money on a 4 bedroom detached house when a '2 up 2 down' is sufficient?

etc, etc, etc

Never bought a new car in my life, and dont think I ever will.

The things that I think attract people to new cars however are:

- Trade in deals on you old car to get good money off the new car.
- The manufacture warranty - you know it should be ok for x miles or years without major cost.
- Some new cars have x amount of free servicing.
- New (small) cars come with free / very cheap road tax and are very economical.
- Finance options.

For some people they are quite important factors, especially the warranty etc as you know you will never get stung by a big bill.

My work today are taking the delivery of 61 plate scooby WRX STis. Jammy gits get a new one every 6 months if they like, apart from the MD, he's been smart and kept his cosworth scooby!

I dont know how people can spend £100+ on a top or some jeans. I'll spend that on a coat to keep me warm but just to keep up with todays rapidly changing fashion...No thankyou!

I also think it's a completely stupid analogy, again my opinion.

People who have the money for £100 jeans buy £100 jeans.

People who can't buy jeans on varying levels of cost, according to income.

Same with cars. If I had £20,000 to spend, it wouldn't go on a brand new £20,000 Astra that was then worth £15,000 as soon as you drove it off the forecourt.

It would go something much better, where the initial depreciation had been taken by some other mug.

FFS, jeans and cars cannot be compared. One is a depreciating asset that you expect to sell in the future and one is an item of clothing which is very much one-use in the majority.

You don't walk into a clothes shop wondering which pair of jeans will sell for more in 2 years time when you've finished with them and jeans have a much shorter useful life.

I'm yet to come across a 'Glasses Guide for Denim' and I can't find a site like parkers.co.uk FOR CLOTHES.

If you want me to keep picking holes in the jeans analogy then I will? £100 for a branded pair of £5 for a none branded pair? See what you did there? BRAND. Why buy a Ferrari when you can nip into Alfa and pick something up much cheaper... ERM, BECAUSE THE FERRARI IS BETTER.

In most cases the more you pay the better the item is you are buying, but just because you can afford it doesn't always justify buying it.

Clothes and cars are in two completely different catagories yes as u can usually sell a car on were as clothes are a bit trickier to.

Think this is going slightly off topic here.

So back to cars...
Why buy a new one? Im clueless, I suppose someone has to or there would be no 2nd handers for us lot to buy!

My personal thinking on this has been to buy a new car, then run it into the ground/scrappies! Then buy another new one. I've done this with my last 3 "daily driver" cars and it seems to keep my wallet - and me happy. Keeping up with the Jones's is a Vomit Brothers Production. I couldn't be bothered. Ditto with the flash car "gotta have new the latest plate" people.

It seems that the average life span of the cars has been 10/12years. By that time, the rust worms that are placed in the box sections, hard to reach areas etc. by the manufacturers upon assembly, have started to eat their way out !!

The exception being the Black Pig/Pinzgauer. Bought 2nd hand but now 38 years old. With continuing TLC ie. a few buckets of Waxoyl and a big hammer, it might see me out!

OK, but what if you'd have bought it 'nearly new' or 'ex demo' or a year or so old? Maybe with a manufacturers approved warranty from a dealer? Saved a few £k and still run it into the ground?

Saved money!

Don't spread your wise ways Al... someone has to buy them new otherwise we'd all be buggered!

If any 'old people' or 'idiots' are following this topic & are now unsure as to what to spend their money on. PM me & I'll be happy to show the overall running costs of both new & used. Only then will you be able to decide which is better for you.

Don't forget about the numbnuts'

New car salesperson perchance?

Almost.

I manage a team of 9 sales guys. Offering new & used.

You surprise me.

What marque?

BMW

I guess you now know why I didn't share you view with your original post.

If the person you see driving a new 61 plate negotiated a deal that was acceptable to both parties & left the dealership with what they wanted, surely everyone is a winner?

As long as it's not a crap spec Mr special K... everyone's a winner... apart from the original buyer who will lose lots of money in depreciation... granted probably not as much as some cars because it's a beeming boomer...

If they're happy then they're happy, it's as simple as that I guess.

I'm also a big BMW fan, I've had BMW's for the majority of my driving career and my Dad's company cars were always BMW's including E28 M535i, E34 M5, E39 M5 amongst others.

In fact, I can't remember a time when my parents didn't have BMW's, he had an E31 from new, and recently got a 635d Convertible from new. But there are advantages to sticking them through the company.

In terms of 320d/520d etc you can't sell an awful lot of them new to private buyers can you?

I'm interested to hear your views on this and I'm happy to be proven wrong on everything I've said but to my mind I can't see an advantage. My latest car was a 2 year old Z4 which I picked up at half the price listed on the original order form and an E31 840Ci that cost £68k new for £4k today. Extreme example I know, as the running costs stop it from being a viable alternative to a Ford Focus.

Example... 318i M Sport Coupe has to be £30k list brand new?

http://www.approved.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/bmwauc/details/0,,1156___ask-4%40adm-xx,00.html?ch=_V0JBS0s3MjAxMEU0MjQxODI=&btp=10x12

Give me £30k ish and tell me I have to have a 3 series coupe...

I hear you phil....but

If the customer gets a handsome discount on the car they really want then you can only calculate the depreciation when it comes to the day of selling/trading it on.

Divide the depreciation by the period of ownership & you may be surprised. No unforeseen bills to worry about & I don't care what anyone says, it puts a smile on all of our faces when we own something new!

Those people that change their cars every year or so clearly do have money to blow but if that is how they wish to put money back into the economy then so be it.

Er, maybe I am missing the point here, but if it wasn't for all the 'idiots' who buy new cars, then where would all the used cars come from? (Don't answer that, it'll probably be somewhere rude!)

I do believe my signature takes care of that

I guess you must have to be an idiot to earn enough money to be able to enjoy brand-new cars. But never mind, you can go on thinking you are out-smarting them, if you like!

I know plenty of extremely wealthy people who don't buy brand new. But as I said above if you have so much money that it really doesn't matter then you are exempt from my idiot category.

But also worth pointing out is that the rich don't get where they are by wasting money for no reason. They will have started out buying second hand, I'm sure.

IF you are in the position, like most, where you have a budget in mind then you can get a lot more 'bang for your buck' buying pre-owned, and those who buy brand new euroboxes are the people I refer to.

It's still, fundamentally, I suppose I am saying, a healthy (and therefore, not stupid) thing for people to buy new cars (for whatever reason), or we wouldn't even be here, talking about cars at all... right?

Someone has to do it for the sensible amongst us to enjoy lower cost motoring, so don't get me wrong, I'm all for it!

il stick to buyin older cars in the sub £1000 bracket,even if i could afford to buy new i dont think i would.old cars are more fun!

Personally I was sick and tired of fixing them (eg going into work with a faulty carburetor - weekends over/under them - etc)
Plus at my age (71) you can't take it with you!!!

You fit one of my categories quite well then

well, back on subject kiddas...I was loading my car up at ASDA before with my shopping, parked in parent and child (as I had my 2 babies with me) and a man in a 61 reg bright white peugeot 508 pulled up in the space next to mine and he and his 3 GROWN UP lads got out and went in. Tosser.

Agree, he's a tosser for buying a brand new 508 when the same money would have bought him something that wasn't shit.

he's a tosser on both accounts

Maybe on that note even a Toss-Pot!

Strong... but yeah.

Not seen any driving near where I live... Just goes to show brand new cars are harder to steal....

sod that buying a new car, give me a 15 year old scooby any day

I was in London a few weeks ago and I spotted a Range Rover with the reg. V I P YE. I was not impressed. My only thought was "pretentious prick". Apparently it is worth in the region of £58k.

Just to go with the trend I spotted my first 61 plate before and it was a BMW 320d convertible in a funny brown colour.

Spotted a 61 Alfa Romeo being hitched up to an AA van a few days ago. It must've been 1 day old!

(I may have posted this before, I can't remember).

Had the rust worm caught it that quickly

if you were gonna spend that kind of cash,why would you buy a car in skid mark pearl?

Insignia, I got a new one two weeks ago.

and its had a knock all ready, you should not be trusted with a new car, you should have a 3 wheeler

My first 61 plate 2 days ago a white Range Rover Evoq by the Green Lane Esso Garage.

Unlucky.

I agree insignia is too big a car, but nice and comfy

Well, as long as it's not the painfully slow and dangerous 1.8!

Still not spotted any 61 plates...