General Buying My First New Car...

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General Buying My First New Car...

gemnomnom

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Hi all,

I've read the stickies and just want to say I think this is a great forum. I've loved the Fiat 500 since I was first a passenger in one 3 years ago, and now I've decided to buy one!

Ahhhh

Okay so my first question is whether to buy new, nearly new or used. I am pretty certain I do not want to buy used, as I have fallen in love with the new rear lights and the uConnect system inside. The older model of course looks lovely but I feel I need 'technology' with my next car, having currently got a BMW 116 Sport with basically no additional extras and looking very sparse inside.

Regarding nearly new... What is the earliest reg that I can expect to have the new infotainment inside? I think I was told in the dealership yesterday it was 64. And am I right in saying the new model with the rear light cluster was only made from March 2016 onwards?

Also - does anyone have any advice on the experience following buying a nearly new car - are there regrets on not being able to customise your vehicle exactly? Or is this outweighed by the cost savings? I know it would depend on the individual but just want some feedback if anyone has any.

Now - buying new (which looks like the most likely option)... I have read reviews on here which seem to favour the 0.9 TwinAir engine... I also see that it is one of the more popular ones in the poll results. My husband discussed technical bits with the dealer yesterday and he thinks this is the best one to go for too... But in the interests of saving money, should I go for the 1.2? What noticeable differences are there? I would mostly be using it for stop/start commuting, but on the occasion of open roads then I do like 'fun' driving and so does the husband. I've come from a 2.0d BMW which is a RWD, so want to make an easy transition from that as possible.

I have test driven the 1.2 petrol yesterday and would like to test drive a 0.9 to compare. However these seem to be a lot less common for resale. I would be going for a PCP - which is something I never seriously considered before learning more about it yesterday. Does anyone have any advice on PCP either?

If I do go for new then I want to get the best price possible of course :D I was thinking of approaching several dealers and haggling with them, maybe getting some of the additional extras thrown in for free. The dealer I went to yesterday quoted me a price for a standard 0.9 in white with no additional extras (just as an indication) which is the exact same price as listed on Fiat - so I'm not sure how much leeway they're going to have to knock money off? What is the best way to go about this?

Finally the fun stuff - optional extras. I am going for a Lounge plus....

  • 7" TFT Instrument Cluster - £275
  • 5" Touchscreen Radio with Navigation, Bluetooth, USB, Aux-in & DAB - £350
  • Leather gear knob - £100
  • Automatic Climate Control - £300

Total cost = £15,125

Any recommendations/reviews on the above?

So many thanks in advance for all your help!
Gemma
 
Hi all,

I've read the stickies and just want to say I think this is a great forum. I've loved the Fiat 500 since I was first a passenger in one 3 years ago, and now I've decided to buy one!

Ahhhh

Okay so my first question is whether to buy new, nearly new or used. I am pretty certain I do not want to buy used, as I have fallen in love with the new rear lights and the uConnect system inside. The older model of course looks lovely but I feel I need 'technology' with my next car, having currently got a BMW 116 Sport with basically no additional extras and looking very sparse inside.

Regarding nearly new... What is the earliest reg that I can expect to have the new infotainment inside? I think I was told in the dealership yesterday it was 64. And am I right in saying the new model with the rear light cluster was only made from March 2016 onwards?

Also - does anyone have any advice on the experience following buying a nearly new car - are there regrets on not being able to customise your vehicle exactly? Or is this outweighed by the cost savings? I know it would depend on the individual but just want some feedback if anyone has any.

Now - buying new (which looks like the most likely option)... I have read reviews on here which seem to favour the 0.9 TwinAir engine... I also see that it is one of the more popular ones in the poll results. My husband discussed technical bits with the dealer yesterday and he thinks this is the best one to go for too... But in the interests of saving money, should I go for the 1.2? What noticeable differences are there? I would mostly be using it for stop/start commuting, but on the occasion of open roads then I do like 'fun' driving and so does the husband. I've come from a 2.0d BMW which is a RWD, so want to make an easy transition from that as possible.

I have test driven the 1.2 petrol yesterday and would like to test drive a 0.9 to compare. However these seem to be a lot less common for resale. I would be going for a PCP - which is something I never seriously considered before learning more about it yesterday. Does anyone have any advice on PCP either?

If I do go for new then I want to get the best price possible of course :D I was thinking of approaching several dealers and haggling with them, maybe getting some of the additional extras thrown in for free. The dealer I went to yesterday quoted me a price for a standard 0.9 in white with no additional extras (just as an indication) which is the exact same price as listed on Fiat - so I'm not sure how much leeway they're going to have to knock money off? What is the best way to go about this?

Finally the fun stuff - optional extras. I am going for a Lounge plus....

  • 7" TFT Instrument Cluster - £275
  • 5" Touchscreen Radio with Navigation, Bluetooth, USB, Aux-in & DAB - £350
  • Leather gear knob - £100
  • Automatic Climate Control - £300

Total cost = £15,125

Any recommendations/reviews on the above?

So many thanks in advance for all your help!
Gemma
just a question. why would you downgrade your car from a BMW to a Fiat?
 
Before you go into a dealer go onto carwow.co.uk and configure the car you want, then dealers will offer you their best price. The best offer I saw last week was 16.6% off list price for a lounge twin air.
If you opt for the twin air then tweek the finance configurator online and you can get 0% apr which is what I've opted for, I'll keep the money in my bank account and cycle it through a regular savings account a few times and keep the interest to myself.
I've just placed a order myself so happy to offer advice via Private message if you want, just shout :)
 
If you're coming from a turbo diesel, I think you'll definitely appreciate the Twinair.
 
Welcome to the forum

I think the new style lights came in with the new facelift 500 in sept 2015, so a '65' plate model onwards.

As an example, I bought a new 2016 1.2 lounge in March with satnav/dab, side door mouldings, choice of paint colour, tinted rear windows, 16" wheels and chequered side decals for £12,400.

I really wish I had opted for leather seats though as they make the car far more luxurious than the stock ones.

In addition, go for the TFT speedo too. Mine goes back to the dealership this week to have one retro fitted.
 
Any recommendations/reviews on the above?

So many thanks in advance for all your help!
Gemma

Gemma,

We've previously owned the 1.2 Fiat 500 and currently have both a BMW 1 Series 116i and a facelift Twinair 85 Fiat 500. The twinair engine is a bit marmite so a test drive is a must but I absolutely love the torque and engine note and really wouldn't entertain the 1.2 now.

Our 500 is on a PCP deal, the APR was less than the interest we are currently getting in our savings account so made absolute sense to finance this way for a new car. The 1.2 engine isn't currently attracting low APR's for some reason though. The thing to remember with PCP is that the car isn't yours until you pay off the balloon payment at the end of the finance term. If you decide to walk away during the finance term, you may be in negative equity after settlement. If you choose to hand the car back at the end of the term, then you may have to pay charges over and above the balloon payment if the car has done excess mileage or isn't in an a fair wear and tear condition.

Regarding your options, we didn't go for the TFT instrument cluster because we prefer the analogue but this means the reversing sensors are audio only. Ours does have the DAB radio but without nav. I thought the screen was too small to work well for satnav plus it is an expensive option. We also only have standard A/C - I'm not convinced about ACC being too much of an enhancement for car only being used for relatively short journeys.
 
If you plan to keep the car after 3 years I'd still get the fiat iDeal finance on 0% (which I already know that you can). Then, even including the admin payment along with the final balloon payment it makes financial sense if you are making interest yourself on your savings but this is definitely down to individual situations of course.
I thought the same about the sat nav option that gazz mentions above, I'd prefer my garmin sat nav to be on the windscreen in front of me where I don't have to look down to the screen. We've had a hire car before with an in dash sat nav and hubby spent too much time looking at it than at the road in front of him, I personally dislike anything which could affect your reactions to what's happening on the road.
 
If you plan to keep the car after 3 years I'd still get the fiat iDeal finance on 0%

You won't get the best discounts with 0% finance.

If you're paying list price, you can likely have whatever you want on 0% finance, but you'll drop £4000 the minute you drive it off the forecourt.

Personally I'd rather have £3000 off list price.
 
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