Some people choose to purchase our vehicles and some of us choose to lease them. The question is which is best choice to take, leasing or buying?

Look upon a car lease as a long term rental. You do not really own the vehicle and at the end of the lease you will then return it and pay any end of lease cost, that are due, to complete your contract.

In contrast when you buy a car and pay for it with a loan, the car remains your property at the end of the loan period. If you wish to buy a new car it’s up to you to trade in or sell the old one.

Most new vehicles will lose their value the moment you drive it out of the sales room! Obviously it will depreciate with age and as the mileage increases.

Lease payments will cover just the portion of the Cars value that you use during the time you drive it, the depreciation and not its complete cost. Finance charges are added on to your payment.

When purchasing a car with a loan you are liable for paying its full cost, plus finance charges. Depending on your deposit or trade in value of another vehicle, this can obviously result in higher payments than for a lease, even if you get a long term loan.

At the end of the lease you may be liable to pay excess mileage fees. A maximum number of miles are stipulated that you can drive during the lease period. It is policy that you would repay a charge for every mile driven over that limit. However, you can often buy extra mileage at the beginning of the contract at a cheaper rate than you would pay for more mileage at the end!

As regards damage to the car, the leasing company naturally expects a degree of wear and tear. The car will be inspected for any damage or excessive wear and tear when it is returned at the end of the lease.
A fee would have to be paid should you choose to end a car or van lease early.

It is a misconception that the car lease company takes responsibility for the maintenance of the car during the lease period. You will have responsibility for the costs of maintaining the car, just as if you owned it.
Warranty repairs will be honoured no matter who owns the car. Usually you will find that lease terms end before a vehicle goes out of warranty.

The best way to try to get an idea as to the deal that would suit you best is to work out how much you would actually be prepared to pay to own a vehicle. Add up all the payments you would make on the car and then compare that to the value when the payments have ceased. Owning Cars does not usually make money unless maybe when buying a classic car.

So, is it best to lease or buy?

Leasing:

A car lease might be best if you need a new car every two to three years.
You would obviously prefer to drive a new vehicle but cannot afford to to do so.
On average you drive 15,000 miles or less each year.
You would not be using the vehicle in such a way that it would cause excessive wear and tear.
You are not in a position to make a large down payment.
You use the car for business and can write off your car leasing expenses.

Buying:

You plan to pay off the car and keep it to avoid loan payments.
You are in a position to pay for repairs after the warranty period has passed
You put more than 15,000 miles a year on a car
You have credit issues, sometimes when this is the case it would be easier to buy than to lease a car
You may intend to trade it in for another vehicle in less than two years

Has the economic downturn decimated your plans for purchasing a lovely new car? If the answer is yes, you are definitely not alone. Over the past 12 months, the new car market has all but dried up, leading to job cuts, factory closures and hordes of new Cars remaining unsold and clogging up plant car parks. Bosses are even forcing workers to take paid leave to allow time for the build-up of Cars to sell. The problem for the consumer is simply one of money; barely anyone who wasn’t a millionaire before the economic crash has any cash to spare. So what do you do if your car conks out for the last time and you desperately need a new one? Buy a pre-owned car, of course.

The used car market has often been tarnished by cynics as a hive of ne’er-do-wells looking to con everyone who passes by out of all their money. This may have been vaguely true in the 1970’s and greed-orientated 80’s, but times have definitely changed. These days there are many reputable dealers who want your business and are willing to offer you incredible offers to get it. Because of the current economic slump the market is extremely competitive andvery single one of the dealers know this. The only way they can stay afloat is by offering the best possible price and the best possible quality. This places the consumer in a very agreeable position, being in a better position to bargain and haggle to get the best deal.

Everybody with even a cursory interest in the automotive industry will be aware of how drastic the depreciation of Cars is. As soon as a new car is driven off the forecourt, a car can have its value slashed by anything up to 50% depending on the model. So why not take advantage of this knowledge and look for a vehicle a year or so old that has barely been driven, but has had a massive amount knocked off its value. A great idea is to look for ex-demonstration models, which may have only a couple of thousand miles on the clock. Technically these Cars are pre-owned even though they have only been driven by the dealer and a few prospective buyers. These Cars will have considerable discounts on them, even though they have hardly been touched. You have to be quick though, as these deals are often snapped up as soon as they are announced.

On the topic of mileage, I always remember some advice given to me in regards of buying a used car. Typically a car engine lifespan (depending on quality and other factors) probably only has a running life of around 100,000 miles. When choosing your used car it is worth considering how close the mileage is to the magic 100,000 mark. Ideally speaking, many great, wallet-friendly bargains can be found for 35,000 miles or less. These Cars generally ensure a longer lifespan and better customer satisfaction. The only exceptions to this rule would generally be classic Cars, which can be expected to have totted up a few more miles than a 2006 Vauxhall Corsa.

Many motorists harbour concerns that the used car they are buying has previously been written off or is stolen. These fears can easily be put to rest with lots of new services offered in conjunction with the police and the DVLA. By checking a website or inputting the Cars registration into a text message service you can easily find out the Cars history and be sure the car you are buying is exactly what the dealer says it is. Should you discover that the car is not what it seems, then you should notify the police as soon as possible. This is a rare eventuality for a licensed trade dealer, as they have a lot more to lose in the current climate by gaining a bad reputation. It is definitely worth checking though, for peace of mind if nothing else.

In summary, the used car market can generally be trusted, but only when using a reputable dealer. You may get a much better bargain if you do a little bit of research and at the moment I think everyone is looking for a bargain or two.

It is a common held belief that the Volkswagen Golf is the epitome of a cool car; style, performance and an impressive history all firmly place it in a very favourable light with the general public. Since its introduction in 1974 the Golf has walked that precarious tightrope of great motoring, but at a reasonable price. When I put some thought into it though, I can’t help but question the Golf’s credibility. Let me take you through my thinking and see if I can convince you.

I have nothing but fond memories of the Volkswagen Golf. My Grandfather owned a dark blue 1984 Golf MkII which was a huge part of my childhood; providing the transport for thousands of excursions over many years. I remember the growl of the engine, the sporty curves of the body and the dusty smell of the interior…but that may have been my Grandfather’s fault rather than an intentional Volkswagen specification. My point is that the VW Golf has a marvellous heritage and undoubtedly holds a place in the heart of anyone who has spent time in one. The question is, how can a car I associate with an elderly relative ever be considered cool?

In most circles, the VW Golf is recognised as ecologically sound as the automotive industry is going to get without resorting the poorly-performing hybrids, electric powered Cars that will only get you to the end of your drive before conking out, or bio-fuel which will probably involve you shovelling tonnes of bovine excrement into your car. But since when has environmentally sound motoring been considered remotely trendy? It may be important for the future of the planet, but it is without a doubt entirely uncool. When have tree-huggers looked like anything more than tussled-hair layabouts, with personal hygiene issues.

In recent years every other car manufacturer has began to produce hot hatchbacks and stylish superminis that have reduced Volkswagen’s uniqueness to practically zero. The Vauxhall Corsa, Seat Ibiza, Toyota Aygo and the Fiat 500 have all jumped on the bandwagon and have started pulling some of the market share away from VW. It is perhaps through reputation alone that the Golf has remained one of the brand leaders in this increasingly saturated marketplace. So as well as committing some extremely anti-cool clangers, it would appear the Golf has lost almost all of its individuality and personality.

To top it all off, Volkswagen’s Bavarian lineage hardly reeks of the Fonze does it? German engineering may be efficient and reliable but it rarely makes your body shake with joy, or reduce you to tears with its sheer great performance. If anything, German motors keep you on the straight and narrow, get you there on time and make no attempts to entertain or intrigue you on the way. So why is the Golf considered a cool automobile?

The answer is a mystery essentially; like Aurora Borealis or the Bermuda Triangle…it just is a car that exudes cool. There’s no reason or logic behind the VW Golf’s continued appreciation, it is just a naturally occurring phenomenon that even the hardiest of boffins would struggle to explain. The Golf is the equation for aero-elasticity of the automotive world; an enigma that continues to baffle and mystify.

The Golf is not the best looking car in its field, nor is it the cheapest or best performing, but for some inexplicable reason it remains one of the most popular, desirable and coolest Cars available. I know that I would personally choose it over any of its price bracket competition…I will just never be able to explain why.

This is the model many hope will bring BWM back to its glory days as the leader in admirable car design and sex appeal. Not that the previous generation of designs under the direct leadership of the popular Chris Bangle was bad. Perhaps the designs were too futuristic, too sophisticated and too sexy in a way that confused an average BWM fan. The Cars still delivered on the promise of “Sheer Driving Pleasure” the only issue being the driver wished dearly for better looks.

Well, the biggest talking point about the new Z4 will whether there has been an improvement to its predecessor. Is the car good looking? Difficult to tell at a first glance. The design is still faithful to the original Z4 by continuing with the shark nose theme together with very masculine styling. One cannot say immediately that the car is good looking.

Which is a good thing because there is just a lot depth to the design of the Z4 which needs careful observation for it to be fully appreciated. The Z4 is on track to being a timeless beauty. It will be still cool to buy this car long after the hype has subsided.  BMW is really being themselves by venturing into uncharted design territory with the new Z4, just like they did with the previous model. Only this time they seem to have thought carefully about what people will say. The Z4 of late is more elegant, more civilised and more acceptable.

The new design is more like the story of sweet and sour of any favourite food. Sweet and sour desert. BMW have managed well to combine elegance and aggressiveness by blending the conservative front with the sporty lines that flow all the way to the rear. The front looks more like a Mercedes CL coupe while the rest of the body paying tribute to the original Z4. One gets the feeling the car could have been much better if the back was as great as the front. Modesty is also found in the interior which could be yet another sign that BMW are playing it very safe.           

The new car will be propelled by straight 6 engines  and BMW is now coming up with an unusually naming convention for their engines. There will be the sDrive23i (2.5 litre/150kw) followed by the sDrive30i (3litlre/190kw). The will also be a turbocharged version sDrive35i which produces (3 litre/225kw). The new comer is quite quick off the mark too with times to 100 km (60 mph) ranging between 6 and 5 depending on engine size off course.  

Other minor points that work in favour of the Z4 are that it is bigger (5.8 inches longer) and partly because of the new aluminium hard top which closes down in a whooping 20 seconds. Z4 would not be a real modern BMW without the iDrive which is ever being improved.

Is this a winner? Difficult one as a lot of BMW fans lost faith during the previous wave of designs. Jugded solely on engineering this car should be near perfect if not extrodinary. Sadly many buyers will still keep a grudge from the previous design. It will be scrutinised for the next while but in that time it might win new hearts for Bavarian Works.

Used cars for sale, Audi A3 For Sale, Advertise my car free 

BY M.E Bapela

Let’s be very frank and honest about this; Vauxhall is hardly a ‘fashionable’ brand. For as long as I can remember they have been churning out Cars that have been…well…a bit underwhelming. The engineers at Vauxhall may be adept at producing comfortable, well performing and reasonably priced vehicles, but they’re hardly setting anyone’s world on fire are they? that is, until now…Enter the new Vauxhall Corsa.

Ok, you can stop cringing and come from behind the sofa; I’m not going to build the Corsa up to be a Zonda F or Lamborghini Gallardo, as it is clearly not. What Vauxhall have done though, is inject some much needed ‘VAVOOM' into their entry level product. The old Corsa resembled a shoebox on wheels and had all the cool points and street credit of cordurouy trousers. A few design changes to the bodywork and all of a sudden Vauxhall have created one of the most stylish looking superminis available.

The Corsa comes with a selection of engine options ranging from the bland and rather pathetic 1.0 3 cylinder to the growling 1.6 Turbo VXR, the latter being something of a boy racer’s fantasy. The popularity of the Corsa has some minor drawbacks however. Due to the dinky size, responsive handling, stylish looks and cheap running costs, the Corsa has been adopted as the driving teacher’s car of choice. With leading driving school BSM operating a fleet of thousands of Corsas, you’ll be hard pushed to go for a drive in your Corsa without getting stuck behind another Corsa with a big trapezoid with a ‘L’ on top of it. Thus the illusion of cool is mortally ruptured and you end up feeling like a bit of a fool.

The snowball effect aside, you cannot deny that the Corsa probably deserves its popularity. It has taken on the Ford Fiesta, VW Polo and Fiat Panda as the new driver’s first car and is putting up a valiant fight. The current market for superminis has found itself in a state of saturation recently, with almost every car manufacturer vying for the precious profit to be made from entry-level vehicles. The Corsa was the 4^th bestselling car in the United Kingdom in 2007 (shifting 94,120 units in the UK) and has consistently been in the top 10 selling Cars list since its introduction in 1993; quite an achievement in anyone’s book.

My own personal experience of the Corsa comes in the 1.3 CDTi. Whilst driving I felt as though I was encapsulated within a metal bubble, enjoying the comfort of the seats and the relatively elevated driving position. The plastics all felt rigid and of good quality, the only drawback being the stubby indicators which are as responsive as a dead camel. The central console’s screen was clear and concise, despite having a differing opinion to the speedometer regarding the car’s velocity; a minor irritation and barely detracting from the driving experience.

 The engine was punchy without being overly-erratic, though it has to be said that it did often make a lot of noise without actually achieving very much…but I guess that’s diesel engines for you. The engine was also ecologically sound, producing around 57 mpg, which is not only a relief to the consumer, but also the planet. The gearbox was relatively smooth, though occasionally refused to go into third without me resorting to violently aggressive manoeuvres.

The Vauxhall Corsa is ideally suited to those amongst us who want to feel integral the driving experience,. The car seems to have been designed to be a relaxing and soothing drive, but jolts you every now and then to keep you alert. The race for the ultimate supermini hatch is very much open, though it is refreshing that not everyone is automatically heading to their local Ford dealership. Now let’s all rejoice in free market capitalism and the consumers right to choose.

At any one time, in any city of the United Kingdom you care to choose, at least one hundred thousand drivers will be slightly irritated by the intermittent beep of the Ford Focus’ ‘the door is open’ / ’you haven’t done up your seat belt’ / ‘it’s a bit cold outside’ tone. They may also be bored to tears with the plain interior, the uninspiring plastics and the general feeling of ennui that envelops any Focus owner. So why on Earth do people keep buying them?

Ford’s tradition for outselling the competition has slipped slightly on a historical scale. The Ford dynasty now sits 4^th in the table of highest selling car manufacturers behind Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen despite holding second place for something close to a million years. This has probably got more to do with globalisation, out-sourcing and recession as opposed to Ford making a colossal engineering boob. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting statistic considering that the Ford Focus is quite simply everywhere!

Any variation on the Focus theme can be witnessed umpteen times a minute on the average high street. I use the term ‘variation on the Focus theme’ as Ford have pulled the oldest car engineering trick out of the bag; by adding a couple of letters to the Focus badge, you can release a new edition and extend the car’s lifespan limitlessly. Nobody actually knows (or cares) what “Zetec”, “ST”, or “C-MAX” actually means, but they continue to buy the Focus in droves. Their only concern is the £12 Smoker's Pack.

The reason why Used Ford Focus’ outnumbers people by at least nine to one in this country is a relatively simple twofold paradigm; the Focus provides quality and value for money. In many ways it is the automotive equivalent of Tesco; popping up here and there in a stealthy manner, hoping no one will notice that it is slowly taking over the world.

In these economically dire times, the public demand value for money. The days of affluence, reckless spending and an insistence on remaining de rigeur at all times are long gone. Here to stay are the days of huddling round a solitary burning coal for warmth, eating cold beans to save on energy bills and wearing your grandmother’s hand-me-downs because you can no longer afford a decent pair of jeans.

So while we’re irretrievably sinking beneath the gloomy waters of a global recession, why not drive a car that is great quality for money, cheap to maintain and the best performer for its class? It may not be exciting…or uber-stylish, but it's the best your depleted bank account will yield. The 1.8 Petrol and 2.0 Diesel also better 50 mpg so it’s an ecologically sound vehicle as well.

For me, however, the Focus is at its best when you put it to the test. I was glad to scare my passengers whilst driving around Cheshire in a Focus.6 Zetec (a relatively standard model). I was pleasantly surprised by how the Focus handled the corners as my mother screamed on the back seat. I laughed as the engine roared from 0-60 in less than ten seconds, whilst my father put his hand over his eyes and wept. I exhaled in wonder as the Focus slalomed down the roads whilst my dog howled in terror. The point is; as the driver I never once felt like I was not completely in control. My family were in fear of their lives, but I was as calm and collected as I could imagine.

For less than £10,000 you will easily be able to find a used Focus, with great spec and much better performance than its closest competitors (Citroen C4, Vauxhall Astra and the Volkswagen Golf). So in true form, Ford have manufactured a car that won’t ever be considered ‘cool’, ‘hip’ or any other trendy adjective you choose to bandy about, but what they have done is create a car for the masses. The Ford Focus is a triumph.