I was thinking about one these's forester's, with ppp, seem quite cheap at present + im looking for good ground clearance and part of off roader

thoughts??

dave

 

They're cheap for a good reason. They will be very expensive to run in the future. Top tax band so £400/yr road tax this year and more to come in the future. Fuel consumption is heavy and servicing pricey compared to other soft roaders of similar size.
You could argue that the comparison with other soft roaders is not valid because of the difference in performance but you then have to consider what it offers over a 5 door old shape Impreza. The Impreza drives much better, gives better performance and has only marginally less space inside.

Viewed in isolation, however, it is a really nice car - particularly with leather, big sun roof and Sat-Nav. If the deal is right, you can live with the running costs and it ticks all your boxes then why not?

 

The deal would have to be very, very good though because any old stock will be impossible to shift by the end of the year.

 

yeah ive see some nice top spec ones with sat nav, etc, all the car mags seem to think its a great drive, etc

I do need good ground clearance, so the 5 door wrx is no use, I think for the new 09 forester, there's no more 2.5 L models, shame really

thanks

dave

 

and the £400 tax doesnt really concern me greatly, its not much, time you added up all the other running costs!

its going to be quite interesting to see how it affects future sales of high co2 cars, the working man wont be able to afford to run scoobys, and other high powered cars, maybe high powered scoobys will be a thing of the past??

dave

 

You're right that £400 road tax is quite insignificant in the scheme of overall costs. When you come to sell in 2 years time or whenever, you'll have lost at least 10 grand in depreciation. Not that I like them, but a 3 year old X5 3.0d Sport would probably be a better bet on a 'pence per mile' basis.

 

yeah I think your right about the forester losing money, concerning the bmw thing, 1.5 year ago. I brought a 535d m sport for 27 k, now it only worth 10k trade in, so ive lost 17 k in that time, so the forester would lose less, cos its cheaper in the 1st place, iam not keen on the x5, just too big for my liking

cheers

dave

 

Just to get the costs into perspective. If you plan on keeping the car for a 2 or 3 years then move on to something else then all Subarus (particularly Band G ones) make no sense at all. If, however, you keep your cars until they wear out then fill your boots.
I have a Classic Impreza and the wife has a Tribeca so you can imagine which group we fall into!! The Impreza is nine years old and worth next to nothing, the Tribeca is two years old and catching up fast!!!

If you need the ground clearance there are some deals on 3.0 Outbacks too. A much nicer drive IMHO.

 

I think just about any band g car is going to be a bad buy!, I think you find maybe in a few years it will sort it self out, less people buying new band g cars, but that will more less 2nd hand ones, so there's always going to be people that can afford to buy and run these band G's, at present there's loads of them, but in 5 years time there may well be a shortage, I could be wrong??

I did consider the outback, but none of them are as fast as the forester turbo one

cheers

dave

 

Normal foresters don't really hold there money well,the only one that's doing ok is the STI at the minute

 

Talking of which, View My Scoob.

I think the 08 Foggy is a bit of a munter but it's still a bit of a dark horse. The X5 is a vulva car (every **** as one) so that it off my shopping list.

The issue of Tax is not to important for at least another 2 or 3 years, it's on hold so make hay while the sun shines, it's £1.09 a day, cheaper than ****!

Mine is still only £210 for a year.