General Buying tonight... advice.

[moogs]

Yikes, at near 90p a litre you're a braver man than I to drive the Abarth.
The Abarth certainly has plenty toys but my last car choice was based on that and taught me a few things.

Company Pug 607 - I paid extra per month for the SE and leather spec. Got col sat nav, double glazing, electric seats, in fact you name it - it really has everything.... but do I use them? Not much.
I'm afraid I found that the novelty wore off all too quickly for me. Perhaps the only thing I'll miss will be the remote electric bootlid which rises when you click the remote - great for if you're carrying bags.

The best thing about the 607 is the economy. For a car that size the 2.0 diesel returns 58mpg on a motorway run and 41.4mpg all round. Amazing.

That's what I'm after from my JTD. Plus, as James notes, the performance in real life driving is definitely more than the spec would suggest.

Having said that, the Abarth is a very very nice car. If I could I would, but unfortunately I have to weigh up the costs vs driving experience and settle somewhere in between. Shame since my local dealer has a beauty - chrome grey and low miles for 8500.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hmmm, having just bought an Abarth Selespeed, I think it would take a very rich student to drive one.

However, the driving experience is pretty impressive; I will find out a bit more about the economy after a few tank fills. Will have to also find out what the average mileage is on a full tank, just to get a yardstick.

I know I could have gone down the JTD road, but having come from a 2l Mondeo and also owning a 2.2JTD Ulysse, I felt the gas-guzzler won it for me!

Stu

 

[moogs]

Stu, I can see where you're coming from.
I very nearly bought a new Ulysse before I got the offer of company car. Absolutely wonderful vehicle imho. Unfortunately I found the pedals and their offset to be no good for me, quite painful as I've got a broken heelbone in my right foot.
Still, think they're a great looking car!

 

[moogs]

NCC just got back to me with an impressive list to choose from.
Best of the bunch in terms of my chosen spec is a Tiziano Red with 17" alloys, mp3 and steering wheel audio.

£10,609 OTR delivered, delivery miles only.

List price for same is £13,502!
Not a bad colour either, ok not metallic but as you can see from the attachment, rather nice.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hmmm, looking good

Not a bad discount either, but then again it is on its second-owner! I picked up my Abarth for £7500, so obviously the first owner had taken the depreciation hit....

So then, is the final car we expect to see in members' motors?

 

[moogs]

Of course, soon as I get my Stilo - whichever one it be then I will take nuff snaps.

I would buy an older car with a bigger discount but there are precious few JTD about it seems. Also, I really really must have a car with 3yr warranty as I fear the prospects of major garage bills. If I didn't then I'd probably buy a mid mileage 607, though those things are coomplex beasties and have even more to go wrong.

Really looking forward to my 2nd Fiat. Learned to drive on a Panda 1000 u see

 

[Stu DemonD]

Just managed to confirm my 3rd warranty on mine, plus have a 4 and 5 year extension as well, so hopefully that will cover me *goes off to touch some wood*

Believe me, I never thought I would ever own 2 Fiats, lol. It is amazing how ones attitude can change. The Ulysse was a real eye-opener; without that, I would have never found this forum NOR bought the very car I picked up yesterday.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Out of interest, look at:

http://www.coast2coastcars.co.uk/

Managed to get a NEW one of yours for £10,697!! I think I got all the options right, maybe you can confirm....

Stu

EDIT - btw, this was the company I WAS going to buy the Ulysse from, mainly because dealer only gave me a miserly £1200 discount initially - I went back to the local dealer with this information and new level of discount [over £3000], and they price matched, plus threw in a free set of mats and a tank of fuel....it is worth playing one off against the other

 

[moogs]

Hi, another good link!

Thanks for that. I just followed it through and got it to £10857. Still, not a bad price. They are good for the discounts they offer on the options. Not sure what delivery time would be - that's the sticking point.

Looks like I need to rearm myself with quotes like these and go back to the local fiat and see what they can do.

Thanks again

Morgan

 

[Stu DemonD]

Right, basically Coast2coast use a load of dealers down on the South coast, I think.

Delivery time would be like any other dealer. The car is UK sourced, and you are first registered keeper. The only downside is that you have to pick the car up for them, which may be a hassle.

At least this way, you have some ammunition for your local dealer - it makes their Pre-reg car price seemed slightly expensive, imho.

Stu

 

[moogs]

Yes, it does make the pre-reg look dear. Pre reg quote 3-4 weeks delivery.
I'll pop round to the dealer's tonight and show them the coast-2-coast et al.
If I can get a new 1st owner car then I'd prefer to - and in the meanwhile I can borrow bro's car.
Times like this I wish I'd shop around more before dropping deposits hither and thither... mind you I do get a cooling off period whatever happens.

Having said that, I think wise consumers are a dying breed - on two occasions in the Fiat dealership, other customers have strolled in, sat in the cars and signed up for massive% finance there and then. Dealers must love them and hate me.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Exactly, dealers will always tend to go with the wiser customers [you and me, for example] because they get it all back on the mug who walks in off the street without a clue.

On Ulysse HP, I was initially offered 6% flat over 2 years. Again, got a contact through coast2coast in London, and could get it for 4.5% - went back to dealer with this info - guess what, they rate-matched.

Moral of the story - if you don't ask, you don't get

Good luck tonight, be interesting to hear their response.

 

[James M]

It is definitely worth haggling, however I couldn't get any dealer down to anywhere near what I paid for my Stilo, lowest my local dealer would go was £11900. But then I did go in my student attire so he maybe didn't take me seriously, especially as I was driving a battered banger

We did however manage to brow beat the local vauxhall dealer into what I believe is a fantastic deal on my girlfriend Corsa CDTi.

Had a sit in an Abarth tonight when I went (unsuccessfully again) to pick my car up. Might be tempted next year, as I graduate and won't be travelling to uni everyday (how I rack up the miles). However we are looking to buy a house next year, so I might be back in a banger

Good look anyhow mate, Tiziano Red looks ace, I like a solid colour myself, looks strong whereas some metallics can look a touch insipid

 

[christie]

ok - i relise that as a girl my input into the car buying advice thing is pretty limited (thats putting it nicely). wheels/tyres - SPEND LOTS!! get the wheels you like best best best of all, then get the highest grade tyres to match em.
Stereo gadget on steering wheel - this is about the only gadget on my ( or more corectly my "partner's") abarth that hasnt flashed up a warning ding or failure light after 50 miles in use. fab little thing. v.useful. it works. it (so far) hasn't broken down. airbags were standard (as far as I know).
my advice is only buy the blinking thing if u really, really, really love it. spend as little as poss as you will spend loads in taxi fares to/from the dealers getting the very smart sensors re-set as they tend to go off fairly regularly. fine if you don't rely on em -not so good if you get a bit concerned if it happens at high speed on m'ways.

i use steering wheel stereo buttons lots - also for busted - but usually when in car alone to drown out the other "warning" pings my stilo thinks i should know about.....

 

[daftcars.com]

I went into Benfield Motors , Newcastle just over a year ago, looking to spend about 7K. I had no money at all (!) and was going to put it on my mortgage (plus a bit more for a porch). I mentioned this to the salesman, and he said look - we have a pre reg here with 0% over 4 years, you'll end up paying the same for a lesser, 7 grand car. The car was 1.8 Dynamic at £10,500. This seemed like a good deal, but the car was Bordeax Red (Brown). So I went into another dealer and asked if they could do the same deal but a different colour - no problem. Back to Benfield to tell them I was taking my businesss elsewhere and hey presto - they managed to get me a brand new (not pre reg) Black 5 door 1.8 Dynamic with multiplay, £10,250 and lend me 10,000 over 4 years at 0%. This was the same a Jam Jar but Jamjar wouldn't do the cheap finance.
I think I got a decent deal. List price at the time was over 12K.

 

[James M]

I know the bordeaux red you mean, its not the best Benfield didn't want to know when I went there, oh well, their loss

 

[moogs]

Thanks to all for your continued input.
I still have yet to give my dealer the definite final order as the process seems to get more and more confusticated the more I look into it.

So, I looked into other suppliers such as coast2coast and NCC and took these offers to my Fiat garage. After all, I'd much rather buy it there - the sales people are a bit 'eager' but good lads really and the aftersales will be more amiable idf they supplied the car originally.

Sales manager was a bit surprised at the list of 'available' cars I had been quoted from NCC. He then brought up the screen of all current Stilos in the UK for pre-reg, none of which matched the spec I had been quoted. He did warn that a lot of companies take pre-orders then approach Fiat for discounts on a 'bulk purchase'.

So, from all the cars actually showing on the Fiat system, there are none that exactly match what I'm after. I've had to re-evaluate my colour choice too as a trip to another dealer let me see some of the colours in the flesh. I'm sure you'll agree, the configurator on fiat.co.uk is completely pants, only showing a side view- not the car's most flattering aspect.

Chrome grey (gunmetal to you and I) is the colour of tarmac. I'm hypersensitive to cars that blend in to the background as my accident may have been partly caused by this. In a forecourt, looking at the chrome grey, half closing our eyes made it vanish. The one car that was inherently visible, ergo safe was the yellow.

This was good news for me as I really want yellow, bad news for my girlf as she hates them like I hate the loud exhausts on the crappy astra that shakes the windows in our village (another story).

However, I managed to persuade her that she would spend most of her time in the car, not looking at it and so we concluded that yellow would be cool.
Back to my local dealer and the only cars in yellow have leather - two tone, predominantly light grey (nearly white). The potential future Mrs Moogs thought they looked a bit like teabags and wouldn't stay clean.

So, where am I now?
Well, I really want to get it ordered. I've had to cut down my list of required extras.
MP3 player, once essential now not. I can always fit one myself; one of those Mstations or an iPod. I'd like the steering wheel audio controls but they're rare, usually without the MP3 and frankly if I'm fitting my own Mp3 then will I need them?
So, the only mandatory extra is the 17" alloys.

Still leaves me in a colour choice predicament. I like the yellow. Dark is dangerous. Sales manager told me to avoid the Tizi red - for resale. Light metallics are not to my taste.

Oh, and one more thing. Couldn't believe how open the sales manager is. I think he can see I'm not impulse buying so can't easily bluff me. He showed me the car with the extras I'd seen online. Matched the online price and the system showed a £500 loss for them. He called his group manager and they're willing the match it. Not often you get to see a full price breakdown of a vehicle, the mfr discounts and the final profit figure.... or is it?

Sorry to waffle and banter. So many thoughts, so much confusion and yet I'm just dying to get this car bought... trouble is, it's impossible simply can't spend 10,000 quid without pondering every last eventuality.

Cheers for reading (if u made it this far ;-) )

Morgan

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi Morgan,

Yep, read it all with interest

Looks like you got some tough questions to decide on. Are you sure you still want to buy new? Knowing that whatever discount you agree on, the car will plummet in value as soon as you drive away?

I was in the market for an Abarth, second-hand, and did have to make some sacrifices, but overall I still saved a shed-load off list. 17" alloys you can pick up from eBay, say.

BTW, you read the magazine called Car Buyer - looked at it at weekend in Smiths, and the best place seemed to be drivethedeal.com, or something. Not sure of exact site name, but worth a search?!?

Stu

 

[moogs]

Hi Stu,

Yeah, read car buyer - it's on my desk. Curiously drivethedeal that they show as cheapest don't list the JTD on their site.
As for buying 2nd hand. Yes, I'd love to. However, the JTD are so few and far between, especially in the 3 door. Autotrader shows one in yellow at Mangoletsi in Cheshire with 9k miles on it, asking £8700 - quite a saving but a chunk out of the warranty too. I wish there were loads around, would love to pay about 5k for one but it looks like a remote chance. New, or rather pre-reg seems to be the best chance at actually getting one at the moment...

Take your point about the alloys. I worry that it might impact the insurance whereas if one gets the 17" that came with the car then it's unmodified. Pedantic I know.
More likely is that if I got the 16s then I would just never get round to changing them.

The 2004 colours are not as favourable as older ones. The Cosmo blue is a bit murky - much prefer the old metallic 'navy'.

Any thoughts on the leather - especially the light grey? I didn't get a chance to sit in the car as time was pressuring us yesterday. Not sure what a rear view mirror full of light interior would do for my sanity.

Edited to remove attachments for your inline viewing pleasure.

 

[DOG]

go for the leather m8, i did and it looks great, really sets the interior off. i have a couple of kids in the back and it just wipes clean.