Tough Times - Change S3 to what??

[AndyB-S3]

Morning all,

I work in oil & gas industry and times are pretty tough just now. My work has paid off quite a few and have put the rest of us on a 4 day week. Will be losing at least a few hundred £ a month by looks of it probs more so not too good.

I am fortunate enough to own my S3 outright but at the same time I am conscious that a lot of my money is tied up in it!

Anyway so do I sell up and get something smaller and cheap little runaround fiesta/corsa etc..

or because I am accustomed to the finer things in life, not in a badge snobby way, but I like having a nice car, do I get an older car that is in same bracket or even higher bracket of class as S3??..

Having a look on Autotrader etc I am hopeful of getting at least £23k. Cheapest S3 for sale in normal condition (not cat D) is £25k so if I advertised at say £24k then that'd hopefully get some interest?!...

What would you do?

Cheers

 

[SamBoy]

Skoda everyday for a cheap run around the fabia looks mint and is a chipper, not as fast as the S3 for obvious reasons but...

 

[Bainie]

I am offshore , all gone to rat sh*t hasn't it ! Sorry you are having hours cut , I am going through shift changes and the thumbscrews at the moment .

I would hang onto the car , an older fancy car could be a money pit !

 

[veeeight]

Focus RS, of course

 

[AndyB-S3]

Cheers for that Sam. I hadn't actually looked at Skoda..

Bainie, Yeah mate it is a complete disaster!! I am making plans to get out the industry but I guess so are quite a lot of others in similar positions.. I had a thought that older car might be worse off but tbh I would like a nice chunky bank balance and if it were to break down we have the wifes car to use and her father is a mechanic by hobby so would hopefully get fixed easily enough.

Well Veeeight.. that is a great shout.. wonder what sort of monthly deal I could get??.. A Fiesta ST is a possible though... lol

 

[Simon L]

As you own it outright I wouldn't bother Andy.

You'd still need a decent wedge to fund another car to avoid landing yourself with a 'pen n inker', as Bainie said, and probably only end up with a few grand......................which as we all know, doesn't exactly go far!

Any savings in running costs are also likely negligable. Keep it mate

.........and come on tell us the truth.....................you're sick of trying to keep the ol Panther clean aren't you!!

Seriously, sorry about your job situation and hope something turns up for you.

 

[AndyB-S3]

Well Simon a 4 day week will indeed help me keep her clean!! lol.

Appreciate the advice mate, my head is all mush just now so am just going down every avenue... it'd be nice to have some bank but yeah you are right it wouldn't last long..

Just found out 2mins ago I have an interview on Monday for a local company which are not in the oil & gas industry too so fingers crossed. Would actually be decent as it's 5mins from home as opposed to the 30mins I drive just now..might be a blessing in disguise this cut.

Cheers all!!

 

[msdmjb]

I agree with Simon L, you will realise the loss on the S3 if you sell it now. As it is under warranty it will only cost you consumables going forwards, if you bought another new motor you run the risk of losing the depreciation on the new car, if used then you maybe hit by additional repair/running costs. As for the economy argument 10mpg difference won't make any real difference cost wise unless you do mega miles, you could just drive the S3 slower.

Bottom line, keep it unless you run out of liquid cash.

 

[SamBoy]

The oil industry fluctuates as one job goes another appears keep your head up mate, i'm currently doing an apprenticeship as an installations engineer offshore and there have been alot of guys going....

 

[xBox]

In the cold light of day, realising £15k of S3 depreciation, to free up what, £2-3k + a Focus RS, doesn't make sense unless you want the Focus and a change.

IMO, not gonna make sense, unless you jump into a £10k runner and free up something in the same ballpark as the depreciation.

 

[cpc_s3]

yeah the markets have dropped ridiculously working in the industry.

i would try and keep hold of it you will miss the power alternatives arent many out there golf r 135i amg a45 which are pointless if you have an s3 already. downgrading would cause alot of running cost as mentioned above but for 7-8 you could get alot of car. rs4 would be cool but running costs of v8 arent easy

 

[Daveotto]

Keep hold of it, and treat it as an insurance policy if things dont buck up in the next few months.

Does not seem to make sense to try and go to some sort of middle ground older car with a reasonable performance as will not free up a significant amount of cash and you iwll miss the performance

Worse case in a couple of months a £24-25k car will yield at least £20K on WBAC at short notice and you can buy a cheap £2- 3K run around

 

[AndyB-S3]

xBox, I bought 2nd hand and got a really good deal not even a year ago yet so if I sold for £22k for eg then I would have lost approx £3k. ok not the best but not too bad considering. And I was joking in regards to the Focus RS. That would just be stoopid to even think about it.. lol

I am swaying more and more to keeping S3 but still have my doubts.. I will wait and see how my interview goes on Monday, heck I may even still sell it if I got the job 5mins from home and get a V8 beast of some sort. haha

We will see though, thanks all for your replies! Much appreciated.

 

[Darlo]

i was in a position years ago when I had to sell my 130i. I bought an old 5 series as a cheap run about but it became a right pain having to spend money on bits to keep it going. So think carefully about what you replace it with.

Like someone else has said maybe only sell if you really have to. A lad I work with had a beautiful xf and like yourself struck harder times. He sold before he really had to then two months later work picked up and he realised he could have easily got away without selling it.... He misses it every day driving his 53 plate Volvo v70. So hang on as long as you can!!

 

[Jassyo06]

Hey...l can empathise with you mate right now, l have had just a few months of bad luck in the job front,but that's only short term.Yours on the other hands seems a bit more longer term.
You have a
certain amount tied up in car,l would release this amount as soon as,then take it from there.
Finding another job,then go for whatever car, you want
Good luck

 

[THQuattro]

Yes get a V8.

 

[veeeight]

I'm already spoken for

 

[A3_Rider]

Just weigh up your finances if you need to then factor in enjoyment, for some of us the S3 is our only enjoyment!!

Aside from that, unless you tell us what you're wanting to spend/save its too wide to speculate.

I agree with the post a bit above; keep as long as you can but don't go into denial!

 

[danilotto]

After 23.000 km and two years with my S3 I am very disappointed by the car. Too much problems in so few kilometers.
So I am planning to trade it in at the dealer and get a 184CV TDI A3 SB.

 

[veeeight]

^ shhhh @danilotto you will be put on the naughty step with me and the others

 

[paulk]

look at the focus st diesel , seems a real good package

 

[AndyB-S3]

@A3_Rider, if the worst happens then i will be happy to have the cash in my bank. I will try and keep it as long as possible, I do love the car and would be sad to see it go.. fingers crossed the next couple of weeks go to plan!!

@danilotto.. shame you have had so many problems..i think you are going to miss the power though!! :-(

 

[AndyB-S3]

Heard they were decent Paul but tbh they are close in price to current car. If I sell up then will probably be for a £2-3k runaround for time being.

 

[paulk]

Heard they were decent Paul but tbh they are close in price to current car. If I sell up then will probably be for a £2-3k runaround for time being.

I have a fiesta zetec s tdci run about , great car 60mpg gave 2k for it

 

[xBox]

xBox, I bought 2nd hand and got a really good deal not even a year ago yet so if I sold for £22k for eg then I would have lost approx £3k. ok not the best but not too bad considering. And I was joking in regards to the Focus RS. That would just be stoopid to even think about it.. lol

Phew.... and AndyB-RS_Focus just wouldn't sound right

 

[veeeight]

Will be the best drivers car

 

[Jassyo06]

Hey Andy another route you could go down is personal lease not pcp lease
Centralvehicleleasing.Co.uk do some cracking deals on a lot of cars,6months up front 23 month lease 6k to 10k mileage
A 2 year lease could help you in the interim keep in a new car,majority of S3 money in bank just another option for you could choose mate til thing's get better

 

[paulk]

Will be the best drivers car

Lol really

 

[Jassyo06]

It's off topic!!!!!!!! but a few have mentioned the Focus RS as cheap replacement for andy's S3
Poppycock it's £30k plus and pcp will be silly money on a car that will suffer badly from depreciation
So irrelevant

 

[veeeight]

Off topic indeed, but thats the pot calling etc.

Anyway - you of all people should know better about the Focus RS depreciation -

With the last RS, you could buy a brand new car, and sell it 6 months on for more.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles/2012/07/cars/the-top-10-depreciation-proof-cars

There aren't many cars you could do that with. - Albeit that last car was a limited production run.
However the UK order books are full, so the new car will hold its value for a bit yet!
(If you pre-order now, you won't be getting your car before June 2016, according to @Pulp84 )

 

[Jassyo06]

Off topic indeed, but thats the pot calling etc.

Anyway - you of all people should know better about the Focus RS depreciation -

With the last RS, you could buy a brand new car, and sell it 6 months on for more.

There aren't many cars you could do that with. - Albeit that last car was a limited production run. However the UK order books are full, so the new car will hold its value for a bit yet!

This forthcoming coming focus RS will be a different kettle of fish veeeight as it's a world car as you will know, off topic yeah l am one to diverse very often shall we say but l think andy's dilemma s thread doesn't lend much to diverse

 

[paulk]

Off topic indeed, but thats the pot calling etc.

Anyway - you of all people should know better about the Focus RS depreciation -

With the last RS, you could buy a brand new car, and sell it 6 months on for more.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles/2012/07/cars/the-top-10-depreciation-proof-cars

There aren't many cars you could do that with. - Albeit that last car was a limited production run.
However the UK order books are full, so the new car will hold its value for a bit yet!
(If you pre-order now, you won't be getting your car before June 2016, according to @Pulp84 )

You would be a very big fool to compare mk2 rs to the new one

 

[veeeight]

You would be a very big fool to compare mk2 rs to the new one

You're right. The new one is AWD, and will be *awesome* !!!!

 

[Jassyo06]

You would be a very big fool to compare mk2 rs to the new one

Ford won't ever design a more aggressive looking focus like that again it had great Road presence stunning, 10 plates still sell for mid twenty k,but it was a heavy nosed car and torque steered very very badly
A classic in the making though

 

[AndyB-S3]

So should i get a mk2 focus then??..haha

Just a little off topic chaps but this has certainly helped me feel better!! Asn is a great place!!! Haha

 

[veeeight]

Personally, Sell the S3 if you want to release the equity, and get a 2nd hand Fiesta ST Incredible smiles per mile in that car!

Or hang on to the S3 if you feel you'll miss it!

 

[Scottyg]

Mate of mine was in the same industry a few years back and got out early enough. He's now doing the same thing off the coast of Brazil. 7 weeks on 3 off. Money's superb.
On topic, keep your S3.

 

[Tony1982]

Seeing as it's fully paid for I'd keep it mate.

 

[Pulp84]

Trade in market is super depressed from what a few friends tell me in the trade.

There are a few stars (Macan, Cayman and RS6). Also horror stories - friend of mine bought a £25k MINI Cooper S (£28k before discount) and after 6 months it's booking £17k trade in. Forecourt prices are still high for them but trade-in market is like the Wild West. Dealers basically taking the ****....

Apparently all these cheap finance deals and discounts (I'm talking about you BMW), lots of people looking to change their car two years in to a four year PCP and general over supply do result in stupidly low book prices. It had to catch up at some point.

In someways the OP is lucky he won't have any negative equity to worry about. I'd keep it and enjoy it

 

[Pulp84]

Off topic indeed, but thats the pot calling etc.

Anyway - you of all people should know better about the Focus RS depreciation -

With the last RS, you could buy a brand new car, and sell it 6 months on for more.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles/2012/07/cars/the-top-10-depreciation-proof-cars

There aren't many cars you could do that with. - Albeit that last car was a limited production run.
However the UK order books are full, so the new car will hold its value for a bit yet!
(If you pre-order now, you won't be getting your car before June 2016, according to @Pulp84 )

£1,500 deposit and June 16 delivery my local Ford dealer quoted for the RS.

The sales girl left me a voicemail Thursday saying all build slots are gone If that's right what that will mean for depreciation? Looks like it will be a good buy at least for the first 6 months it's out.

If the OP did consider an RS it might be a very long wait now!