Decisions decisions....opinions time!

[Craig-o]

Riiiiiiight, here we go again. I have come to a blinding conclusion that keeping this Fiesta is not neccesarily going to be in my best interest long term. Why, you may ask? Well basically, at the moment it suits my needs well, it's uber good on fuel which helps me as I have a bit of a trek to work, and it's been relatively reliable up until now (had to change the clutch last week and now possibly the MAF sensor is packing in), but been fine apart from those.

Currently this car is on finance, which is costing me £130 a month. I am looking to move close to work (walking distance), so I will barely be using the car then, so I'd be, in effect, wasting £130 a month on a car I'm not using. After doing some looking around, I have found a 1995 VW Golf TD which is up for £595 in a garage. I have spoken to this garage who have said that they would be willing to swap cars (once the dent is fixed on the front) and clear the finance, so they would be getting my Fiesta and clearing the finance, and in return I will be getting the Golf.

On the face of it, this seems like a very poor deal for me, but from a financial point of view, I would be £130 a month better off. The plus side being to the Golf is that it's still a diesel, so should still get about 45mpg going to work hopefully. Although I am then back in the territory of cars that are more likely to break down, need parts replacing, MOT time becomes a lot more stressful, and are generally a bit less reliable and expensive to run overall. But, as said, this car will not be getting used very often.

My family think it's a bit stupid because I've finally got a nice, newish, reliable car thats cheap to run and looks nice, but I just think I would be stupid paying £130 for something I'm barely going to use.

And before you all start preaching about getting a 306 instead, I know, but I cant find any cheap ones in garages, and this Golf has come up and fits the bill.

Any advice/input appreciated!

Craig

[Scott]

Any chance you could sell the fiesta and use the money to pay off the remaining finance, hopefully with a little spare? I have no idea how much you paid for it or what it's currently worth, mind.

[4WayDiablo]

if you dont mind me asking how much is left on the finance?
whats the fiesta worth? 3k? id do the maths and if its there abouts i would do the deal

[Craig-o]

Well the dealer said about £3500 for the fiesta, and there's 3 years left on the finance, so don't know if he's taken into account how much the finance will be to pay off but if he's willing to deal then thats his problem lol. I would sell it but it's a huge hassle trying to sell a car privately when it's still on finance, plus who would pay a few grand for a car still on finance, I wouldn't! :/

[Toms306]

A clutch after 5 years!? Doesn't sound sound all that reliable then! :?

I'm not sure a 95 golf td is the best car to change to though, high tax, high insurance compared to the fiesta and mpg won't be particularly good, I'd look for something newer than 2000 tbh, high milage newer diesels should be more reliable and a bit cheaper to run and insure and tax but still fairly cheap to buy.

[Scott]

I meant if you sold it for a decent value you could pay off the finance (so the buyer would not be buying a car which has finance on it) and have a bit spare towards another car

[Craig-o]

Ah it was 100% finance with no deposit, so I'd be lucky to be able to sell it for more than what's left on the finance to be honest. Yeah Tom I wasn't expecting to have to change the clutch after 5 years either but the owner before me was a rental company, so I imagine it's been ragged a few times before I bought it

I kind of think I may be jumping at this without thinking it through properly. But I'm just fixated on having to pay £130 a month for a car that would barely get used....wouldn't add up to me

[ginge191]

as a small input whether it makes any difference - my brother has just downsized from a V6 merc to a 2.0L TDI Astra which drives REALLY well and has a decent 50+ mpg... could be another option, chap to insure also

[Grant]

To me it sounds as if your stuck between a rock and a hard place. If it was me in your situation I would sell the car privately (f*ck going through a dealer) as soon as possible, before it drops in value any further, in the hope of making minimal loss. From the sound of it though you may have to take it in the chin and accept a bit of a loss...

[THE_Liam]

Just a little input on the Golf, seeing as I've had one (8v GTI), they are very underrated cars. Comfy, nice to drive, smooth ride, well built, roomy, and mine was faultlessly reliable and went pretty well...

As for the engine, if it's a TD it will either be the 1.6 Umwelt TD which is sluggish but bombproof and will run on veg as it has a Bosch pump, or the 1.9TDI which is even more bombproof, it won't run on veg but it will do 55 mpg on a run easily. Look for rust, they love to do that, and make sure the suspension is tight and well looked after because they handle terribly with sloppy bushes