Autonomy

I hear you... see above....

Grace O Malley

DO NOT GET A SOFT TOP...............

Mine is and the effing thing has caused so many problems, soft tops are not meant for 40 above temp.

Convs are great, but TBH, even in the winter, I hardly ever put the roof down.

Autonomy

haha... pipe and slippers for O'Malley.....

seven seas

Don't get a mini or a Yaris coz you'll be Hummer bait.

Pathfinder?
FJ cruiser?
Pajero?

Who said cool can't be practical?


totally agree that a sports coupe is wasted here though.

Grace O Malley

ha ha probably, but the truth is most of my driving is around town, so can not be bothered putting it up and down, pain in the ass and the novelty wore off quite quickly and big hair is so not a good look, (Bridget Jones scene if you know what I mean

With hindsight, oh what a wonderful thing, it was really a stupid buy but i loved it

Ethos83

Ok. Here's my few bits of advice which is naturally more valuable than anyone else on here.

1. Buy a car that you can sell quickly.

2. Buy a car that gets you most of your money back.

So what does that get you?

A Japanese 4x4. Toyotas and Mitsubishis (the Fortuners, Prados and Pajeros) are probably the best car in terms of value and resale. They are exceedingly popular. Plus they have generally very good warranties and servicing is cheap once the warranty expires.

Forget the fancy European cars. They may be a beaut to look at but not out here when they are a dime a dozen and every scratch or ding is going to be painful.

Don't get the Minis - horrible resale value and awful servicing charges.

Don't get the Saab. PRobably the worst resale value of the 'luxury' car level.

Don't get a Wrangler. Damned uncomfortable to drive.

If you want something that has a cool factor higher than a Yaris look at the 3-door Pajero. It's a 4x4 but not as awkward as the larger ones may be.

Probably the absolute best savers are the 10 year old cars. Had a friend who bought a 10 year old Jeep for 10K. Drove it for 18 months, and resold it to some dude in Sharjah for....10K. You should easily buy a 5 year old, say Pajero, for 30 or 40K and resell easily after a year or two with only minimal losses. The one downside is the lack of a warranty.

Autonomy

exactly.... we look back on the wonderful with love and affection..... a yaris can go and **** off....

kittycat1

Matahari-

This is completely where I'm confused, the sensible part of me which is thinking house deposit and is shouting get the cheapest most economical car, but the fun side of me wants to get something cool as to be honest Ive never bought a new car and wouldn't be able to afford it at home, and with all the offers on here its very very tempting. Whether I like it here or not I will be staying til the end of my contract so have over 2 years left here so am trying to do whatever I need to to enjoy it and having a nice car could help, but also buying my own place when I go home would make me happier in the long run- oh god Im going to have to be sensible aren't I...

Dilema Dilema Dilema.

I'm away quite a bit over the next few months so might sit on it a bit longer and just carry on cabbing it for a couple more months.

I'm so confused

Millhouse

Totally agree with this post.

I have a 3.0 SWB Pajero and a 4.0 Fortuner. In my view, the Pajero is shite but they are popular and despite me having offroaded it, had a concrete mixer drive down the side of it and scrapped it down the wall of the underground car park the day I bought it I know that I could sell it tomorrow.

I looked into this carefully, a yaris to hire costs around 22k/ year. I paid 40k for my 2006 Pajero last year and despite the abuse I can easily sell it for more than 18k tomorrow. I have had the benefit of a much better car, some fun offroad and if I had to sell it tomorrow it would still be cheaper than leasing a yaris...

The Fortuner is an awesome car - fast and a tank. Sadly the misses stoved that into the back of someone and I've had the front rebuilt. If I had to sell that tomorrow I'm sure that I would lose money on that one but you can't win them all. I will hold that car until it's death.

By means of a reference, when the Fortuner was in the garage being fixed - renting a Prado for a month was 6k and a shitty outlander 3.5k / month.

Autonomy

if you want some sort of middle ground - do not buy new. do not buy new.... do not buy new.... you'll get decent cars about 12 months old that have taken the sharp depreciation hit already....

Millhouse

Agree... the newest car I've ever bought has been 18months old (here and the in UK)...

norsk

I wanted a Porsche, but ended up with a used VW Touareg. The back seat in the Porsche would have been a squeeze even for my 3 year old son..

I usually follow three steps when buying a car (to ensure I'll be happy with it):

1. Decide on budget
2. Look at cars within the budget (used only - new cars are for people with more money than sense)
3. Buy a car that is no more than 5% over your budget (I usually fail on this point)

And because I'm feeling extra generous here's some light advice

• Don't buy a convertible (too hot here and you'll never put the roof down)
• Don't buy Korean or Chinese (do i really need to explain this?)
• Don't buy French (if there is a market standard for how to do something it will be done differently on a French car)
• Don't buy German (unless you can live with the servicing costs)
• Don't buy the entry level for any car model
• Make sure you get warranty (unless you buy a really cheap car)
• Try to get servicing included in the deal
• If you have no idea about cars take someone with you who does
• Don't trust car salesmen!
• Don't forget that there are running costs! No point buying a cheap Ferrari if it costs you a fortune to run it...

benzonar

Well after being here for over two years and having a company provided car, I changed jobs and got an allowance instead. Got a lease car for 4 months but got sick to death of the lease companies lack of servicing, bald tyres etc.

I'd been saving a fair bit and have stashed away a nice little nest egg, I then saved some extra cash for a car. Was looking at 2nd hand cars, like the Infiniti G37 etc. Even looked at the new Hyundai Genesis Coupe.

In the end I thought bollocks, go for a car I wouldn't consider in the UK due to petrol consumption etc. So went out and got a US muscle car and haven't looked back. You only live once so may as well enjoy life, you can lose everything but the only thing you can't get back is time. The permagrin I have every morning driving to work is more than worth the risk.

Inselaffen

If I moved back to Dubai would probably get a Civic or an older VW Passat or something similar

lost far too much money when I sold my Yankie Capri there

Morecambe Mindy

My husband is driving an FJ at the moment due to his car being in for fixing; and he hates it. He said there are too many blind spots; and lets be honest, you need eyes in the back of your head driving here as it is!

My sensible approach would be to get a car you can afford now and save up for the cool one later.

(I'm actually just jealous that you have a choice, with three kids in car seats to ferry about, I'm afraid boring family car is my only option.)