Trying to decide

[chobbit]

Hi names Michael and sorry for other brand name dropping but this is my story, currently drive a '62 Alfa Giulietta diesel and a '14 ecoboost petrol fiesta so a choice for longjourney (my current work commute) and short journeys (my wifes previous work).

Both cars are remapped with the diesel giving a punchy 0-60 of 8 seconds and the fiesta 0-60 in a wafty 7.1 seconds which isnt bad for a 1.0 engine. I love the Giulietta and dont want to get rid of it but i'm being forced too as my wife is starting a job 1/2 a mile away and my work is cutting from 40 miles a day to 7 and i wont be using motorways. So i have no need of the diesel or a second car so they are both going.

Which should leave us a good 15k trade in even if we don't sell privetly. I want to move up to a saloon in preperation for a family and something faster still than the fiesta, almost convinced my wife we could afford a Jaguar XFR SC 5.0 but then she saw the tax, mpg and the cost of winter tyres and that was struck off. So been looking elsewhere and we found the A7 Sportsback 3.0 petrol we both like so we will be joining the forum to askand read up on many things before looking at a test drive. 

Obviously the s7 and rs7 are out of the question for much of the same reason as the XFR but hopefully i can get involved with the community here :)

Thanks

[Trevor]

Hi Michael...welcome to the Forum!

Good reasoning behind the choice of cars and to arrive at the conclusion of the Audi A7.

It's certainly a great car and would give the Jaguar a run for its money in both performance with good economy return and also in the comfort and looks department as well.

Let us know how you get on with acquiring one and would love to see some pictures of it when you do get one.

Cheers,  Trevor - Admin

[chobbit]

Thanks for the welcome, I have been looking at the tfsi but they are so far and few between that I've actually concidered the 3.0 bitdi (with that being an incentive to take it out for longer drives on the weekend) and actually went to test drive one yesterday that was very close to me but was a cat D thats been quite well repaired with no real signs except a dinted scuff on the left tailpipe that is only noticible if you look closely. 

 

Apart from that it was a cracking car, amazingly aggressive engine those bitdi with loads of punch, drove perfectly and very comfortably with the air susspension, sun roof, heads up display and just beautiful. 14 reg with 38k miles and only £19k but ive never bought a car that was Cat anything before so i'm very cautious.

[Trevor]

I have bought and still own some cars that are Cat C & Cat D...Cat C is not much good for resale, but Cat D is only really a decision to label the car as uneconomical to repair but someone has bought it for salvage, repaired whatever damage was there and resold it. Not really a problem as you can get a great car, that has been repaired extremely well (worth checking though) and you can get it for a cracking price but there may be some loss in retail that's worth considering

[chobbit]

Thanks for that i really do keep concidering it, I know I'm going to get an RAC inspection done on it and ive checked that my insurance do insure Cat C & D (not sure if it will add much to the premium?). Is there anything else you advise regarding going through with it?

I mean it's £11k cheaper than anything close to that year and mileage on the market thats a hell of a saving and i plan on keeping it for 8 years so i can imagine that at 10 years old the maximum difference between the car having or not having the cat D status will be 3k. As long as it doesn't look like its badly repaired and could be a costly 8 years i should still save 8k.

Should i be brave and take the jump!

[Trevor]

I would take a chance as long as you know for sure what the damage was (being Cat D...I wouldn't have thought too much) and that it has been carried out professionally.

Look at the cost saving!