Are PCPs running used car choice?

safrane

safrane

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OK a personal view i know.

Why are there so many basic spec premium cars out there?...My view is the PCP system!

Looking for a premium convertible for Charlie, but almost all of them have black or white paint, black leather and a spec akin to a life of celibacy. Is this because people want the badge, but not the extra couple of hundred of pounds per month for something that may make it a nice thing to have and be in?

I know we could buy new ourselves, but given the miles she does now (and these will be lower in the years to come) why would we buy new when her present car is 20 years old but still less than 80k on the clocks.

Of for a nice car in a vibrant colour with cream and wood trim and does not look like the inside of a coffin!
 
Oneball

Oneball

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Black and white cars with the full Audi dull interior are the fashion and have been for the last ten years go look at the Strad thread.
 
Wack61

Wack61

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White is always the no cost option , I remember when you couldn't give white cars away , even the police went silver so they could sell them after they were decommissioned
 
Wanderer

Wanderer

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Even at my low level I see these cheap white or light grey QPV's and to be honest they look pants and I think mine must too. But mines Argentine Blue and it's a class apart as are all the Maserati blues. Look 200% better especially with Avario interior.....
 
Ewan

Ewan

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Wack61 said:
White is always the no cost option , I remember when you couldn't give white cars away , even the police went silver so they could sell them after they were decommissioned
Click to expand...
When I went to the Gallardo launch many years ago, White was a £16k option!!!
 
sionie1

sionie1

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I agree, even ex demonstrators are poverty spec now, unless you can find a dealership principal who specs up the demonstrator to do exactly that. I'd always thought the demo should have everything possible to try and get purchasers to part with a little more cash. Mind you how often have people on here commented about the colour of a car and interior looking like a pair of trainers , so perhaps its no surprise there's not a lot of bold choices out there 2nd hand.
 
mjheathcote

mjheathcote

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When I bought my M140i I didn't want to buy new/PCP so bought 1 year old to save the initial depreciation.
With these being mostly dealer cars, with very low mileage, they where mostly poverty spec, including mine.
However poverty spec is hardly poverty spec.
All the extras are more useful to youths in supermarkets car parks, mostly around incar entertainment and their inability to park cars without driver aids!
 
Ewan

Ewan

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As a PCP is only a way of spreading the cost of a car purchase, much as having a mortgage spreads the costs of buying a house, I don’t see this as a reason in itself to effect specification.

Spec is a personal issue and many people see most “extras” as pointless fripperies. And this applies whether you are paying cash for the car, or buying it on finance. And as I understand it, White is very popular in Essex and Cheshire.

I have recently specced a new 911 and a Roma, and in both instances my extras were very modest and way bellow what the average buyer goes for. But I just didn’t see the point. Naturally I wanted to choose the interior and exterior colours, and nice wheels, but beyond that the base spec was fine for me.
 
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Ewan

Ewan

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The ex-demo E-Tron I bought at Christmas was a higher spec than I would have chosen. But with the £15k or so discount from it being a demo car and two months old, they came free. (Man maths alert!)
 
GeoffCapes

GeoffCapes

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14,000
Had a conversation with a mate about this time last year when he was speccing his 4 series BMW.
He went without the leather seats as they added 200 quid or something to his repayment (can't remember the actual amount but it was quite a lot considering) and he went for slightly smaller alloys than I would have, which was another 150 quid or something silly.

Then he tries to justify it by saying, "leather seats get hot in the summer and smaller alloys mean a better ride".

What he really meant was he saved 350 quid a month on his repayments.
 
B

bigbob

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safrane said:
OK a personal view i know.

Why are there so many basic spec premium cars out there?...My view is the PCP system!

Looking for a premium convertible for Charlie, but almost all of them have black or white paint, black leather and a spec akin to a life of celibacy. Is this because people want the badge, but not the extra couple of hundred of pounds per month for something that may make it a nice thing to have and be in?

I know we could buy new ourselves, but given the miles she does now (and these will be lower in the years to come) why would we buy new when her present car is 20 years old but still less than 80k on the clocks.

Of for a nice car in a vibrant colour with cream and wood trim and does not look like the inside of a coffin!
Click to expand...

It's complex but if you look at most nice cars now people just take white or black to 'save' the money then they give it all back by going for M Sport/R Design/S Line/AMG etc etc trim that they don't need that typically gives low profile tyres that look good but give a poor ride.

A bright convertible with cream hide and wood? Bentley Convertible (wacky colour but check under the seats for...) or Merc SL (mid blue with cream exists) are your best bets or, possibly, an M4 (will be special order purple or bright green). Other than that it's all what you don't want. People tend to even order mid engined Ferraris' with black interiors these days.
 
Scaf

Scaf

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I think the problem is people buying cars they can’t really afford, so they go for the basic Audi / BMW /Merc instead of a higher spec Renault or Vauxhall.
I like the luxury feel of a quality interior so buy Jaguar XJ, normally ex dealer principle car / demo so get all the bells and whistles (most of which never get used) but the Jag gorgeous and a Greta place to be.
 
safrane

safrane

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More likely to be a MB CLK or SLK than a Bentley and needs a soft set up rather than a bone shaker ride, so that's M cars out of the running.

I guess that extras give little return come sale price, so add a lot to a PCP cost; such as nice wheels, nice paint and upgraded colour leather.
 
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