Things I’ve learnt: When buying a car…
When buying a car there are 3 basic parameters to consider:
- Affordability
- Reliability
- Coolness
You can pick any two.
Of course affordability is relative and cool is subjective, but in my experience it simply isn't possible to have all three.
UPDATE 05/05/08: I brought a new (used) car...a Skoda Fabia vRS, and I'm very happy with it.
It's the best combination of affordability, reliability and coolness I could find. Skoda has a rather chequered history as a marque, but there's no denying they are making really solid cars these days (2 of the top 5 in the Top Gear 2006 survey).
It's a 1.9ltr Turbo Diesel so it gets great mileage, which at 4-5ltr/100km is down to hybrid territory. But of course that assumes very moderate driving, which is not necessarily a safe assumption...the turbo charged 1.9ltr engine delivers about 130bhp which is a hell of a lot for such a small car (based on the VW Polo platform), so it is fun to drive, and difficult to drive moderately :)
Far too true indeed! Never can win.
mate, what about the corona! actually, it was not always the most reliable…
Actually, the Corona has been very reliable and cheap…but not so much the cool ;)
(with all due respect of course)
Hehe, reminds me a a saying we used to have in a design department I used to work in which shall remain nameless:
You can have things:
[1] Good
[2] Fast
[3] Cheap
Pick two.
:]
Hey Mike, yeah I’ve heard that before too in software development circles…I was always troubled with the combo of cheap and good though, because it seemed to contradict another maxim that time = money :)
How’s things with you fella’s? Loving your Flickr stuff recently.
Yeah, it did over simplify things a bit.
Things here are good. Lizi is a studying machine and I am hatching plans for whatever comes next.
Have been taking less photos, but thats got something to do with the wintery darkness down here.
How are you kids?
You simply have to be able say ‘no, thanks at that price’ at least once to the dealer. This gives them a strong message that you are serious about your research.
You should also bring a piece of paper to the dealership and make sure you do all the math of the finance calculations yourself. The point is not that they will do the math wrong. The point is you will see exactly how the deal is structured. Do not be afraid to take the time to do this or look like a fool for mapping out your car deal in the dealership.
My dad swears by this process, http://tinyurl.com/nxutm2