I do love stats which tell a story, and some I’ve come across recently are rather relevant to what is happening in the current used car market. According to some figures from Indicata, petrol engines dominated the list of the fastest-selling used cars for April, accounting for 70% of the top 10 compiled by Indicata.
So yes, petrol is the fuel that the used car buyer truly understands – and they remain terrified of diesel. Forecourt sales staff will tell you of the reluctance they encounter when it comes to oil-burners. The models at the top end of the fast sellers list include the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Ford Ecosport and Vauxhall Mokka. The used car market is therefore petrol SUV-shaped at the moment, in particular the dinkier, more compact ones.
That inspired me to go super-cheap-car shopping for something similar, but rather more Banger. I may be odd but I’m always looking at Land Rover Freelanders, not least because I can’t help thinking that the new Defender should look like this, but probably won’t. Just £595 gets me into a 2003 1.8 Maasai with an MOT and recent service to its name. A lovely looking three-door.
But Land Rover’s marginal reliability is a worry for some, including me, and that might send me into the welcoming, alt-Defender style of a Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin GDi Equippe. It too is from 2003 and is up for just £595. Five doors, spare wheel on the tailgate. Fantastic.
Then there’s an old-school Kia Sportage 2.0 XSE, which actually does not look so cool now. Just old. This 2002 with less than 80,000 miles is – guess what? – £595, and the dealer was selling it with a year’s breakdown cover. Then again, there’s a Honda HR-V 1.6, which is way cooler than the latest one. This 2000 example had covered just over 100,000 miles and seemed quite tidy, although they can cause trouble if less than pristine. Quite an old vehicle now but I’d still take the risk.
A bright spot in the stats is the BMW 3 Series, which is the only saloon in the top ten. Obviously that is the sort of transport I’d buy, and the bigger the engine the better.
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£292 to recalibrate a new MX-5’s screen
Ahhh don't you just love modern cars
xxxx wrote:
Yep, the Xenon bulbs in my A4 are not DIY replaceable and cost £180 each from Audi apparently. Luckily it's not fitted with the top end LED matrix lights, if one of those dies it's £2k
Small petrol SUVs will
Small petrol SUVs will certainly find no shortage of supply, particularly as reality hits the owners and they realise that they have just doubled their monthly fuel bill. One of my co workers raved about his 15 year old CRV. It IS really reliable but he drives a Mini 4 days a week to keep the fuel bill down...