Buying a car in the UK

[JacoJa]

Hey peeps.

With the strong Australian dollar at the moment, it seems like an ideal time to head over to the UK and buy everything for bargain prices. I might be in with a shot of working there within the next year, and I plan on buying a decent car for exploring the country on weekends.

The two cars I have in mind are very different: A Lotus Elise 111R (vvtl-i toyota engine), or a BMW 645CI Coupe.

What does everyone here think about maintenance for these cars, and insurance costs? I do not understand anything about the insurance system in the UK, but I know it's lot more expensive than it is here.

The BMW is roughly 9,000 pounds, and the Lotus is roughly 15,500 pounds. Both at 100,000 miles. Not sure if I'll save more money on the lotus in the long-run, with its reliable toyota motor, compared to the BMW. I'm 24 and I've been driving for about 7 years.

Is this a retarded idea? Would be good to hear your opinions. Thanks.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

From what I know of UK insurance, either of those cars will absolutely murder you regardless of where you'd be...

And depending on where you'd be, you may get murdered by insurance regardless of what you're driving.

 

[JacoJa]

Haha, that's exactly what I'm worried about.

When comparing the exact same 6 series over here, it costs 35,000GBP... But it only costs 9,000GBP in the UK. Sounds too good to be true, so i assume the insurance costs must be horrendous.

 

[Mike Rotch]

A few of the UK friends here have thought about importing cars from the UK given the huge price differential. Some things to think about:

1) You have to have had the car registered in your name over there for >12 months for it to qualify as "your" car to import here.
2) Work on the customs/ importing tax being 100% of the purchase price.
3) You'll need to pay someone to ship it over and register it here. Remember, it will need to be fully inspected by a mechanic to get a rego, and if anything turns up, on that kind of car, it will obviously be costly.
4) You may want to play around with a few online insurance quotes through NRMA etc to see what you'd be facing here. I would expect, plenty .

There is a reason why people aren't arbitraging the prices at the moment - after costs and rego fees, it's not a bargain any more .

 

[JacoJa]

I have looked into doing that, especially with something like an Aston Mantin Vantage or a 911. There are too many hurdles, and in the end you don't actually end up saving all that much. You also need proof that you used the car all the time... Receipts from the mechanics, etc. And you are only allowed to import a car once every 10 years or so.

I have no intention of bringing a car back to Australia though. This is a car I'll own if I end up living in the UK long-term. The question I'm asking is about car insurance in the UK. 👍

 

[Mike Rotch]

I have no intention of bringing a car back to Australia though. This is a car I'll own if I end up living in the UK long-term. The question I'm asking is about car insurance in the UK. 👍

Ma' bad

 

[FordMKIVJ5]

It depends whether your driving in Australia will count for you or not. I doubt you'll get any no claims bonus, but insurers may look on it favourably. The insurance may well be very expensive, especially on cars like you've suggested. I wouldn't be surprised if it was upwards of a grand.

 

[JacoJa]

Ma' bad

That's cool. It'll be good to do that someday though. A person I used to work with imported a 5-Series from the UK, and he had the EU number-plates fitted to his car for a few weeks. Looked awesome.

It depends whether your driving in Australia will count for you or not. I doubt you'll get any no claims bonus for that so the insurance may well be very expensive, especially on cars like you've suggested. I wouldn't be surprised if it was upwards of grand.

Dangit... I didn't think about that at all. Thanks for the post. 👍 I'll need to do some research on that.

 

[homeforsummer]

The two cars I have in mind are very different: A Lotus Elise 111R (vvtl-i toyota engine), or a BMW 645CI Coupe.

What does everyone here think about maintenance for these cars, and insurance costs? I do not understand anything about the insurance system in the UK, but I know it's lot more expensive than it is here.

The BMW is roughly 9,000 pounds, and the Lotus is roughly 15,500 pounds. Both at 100,000 miles. Not sure if I'll save more money on the lotus in the long-run, with its reliable toyota motor, compared to the BMW. I'm 24 and I've been driving for about 7 years.

I've run through a couple of insurance quotes to see what turns up.

I'm 27, been driving for 9 years, have 9 years no-claims, and live in a low-risk area. I deleted my MX-5 theft from the quote to make it a bit more realistic. I set a low-ish annual mileage of 5,000 - obviously, more miles usually means a little more cost, as does using for commuting as well as just pleasure.

The Lotus came up at an actually pretty reasonable £480, the BMW at about £520. So insurance isn't necessarily your biggest issue. That said, you are younger, and you may not be living in as safe an area - I know people living barely 10 miles from here who'd easily pay double either of those figures at the same age and experience.

Fuel might be more of a problem, for the BMW at least - 5,000 miles per year at 24 mpg is about £1,270 at current fuel prices, and you've got £270/year road tax to pay on top of that.

The Lotus is better - the 111R gets 32 mpg, which is £950 for 5k miles a year, though somehow road tax is again £270/year.

The Lotus will almost certainly be cheaper on maintenance too, given the small and fairly humble engine. Plenty of people hear daily drive them despite the crap weather so if you can put up with the lack of creature comforts it should be fine. They're even praised for having good ride quality on our crappy roads, since they were developed on our crappy roads.

Incidentally, have you considered anything else? I've nothing against the BMW, but as cars for "exploring the country" go it's a bit of an elephant. Small sports cars and hot hatchbacks are virtually designed for UK roads so my first choice would be either of those, rather than nigh-on two tonnes of BMW wafty coupe.

 

[JacoJa]

I've run through a couple of insurance quotes to see what turns up.

I'm 27, been driving for 9 years, have 9 years no-claims, and live in a low-risk area. I deleted my MX-5 theft from the quote to make it a bit more realistic. I set a low-ish annual mileage of 5,000 - obviously, more miles usually means a little more cost, as does using for commuting as well as just pleasure.

The Lotus came up at an actually pretty reasonable £480, the BMW at about £520. So insurance isn't necessarily your biggest issue. That said, you are younger, and you may not be living in as safe an area - I know people living barely 10 miles from here who'd easily pay double either of those figures at the same age and experience.

Fuel might be more of a problem, for the BMW at least - 5,000 miles per year at 24 mpg is about £1,270 at current fuel prices, and you've got £270/year road tax to pay on top of that.

The Lotus is better - the 111R gets 32 mpg, which is £950 for 5k miles a year, though somehow road tax is again £270/year.

The Lotus will almost certainly be cheaper on maintenance too, given the small and fairly humble engine. Plenty of people hear daily drive them despite the crap weather so if you can put up with the lack of creature comforts it should be fine. They're even praised for having good ride quality on our crappy roads, since they were developed on our crappy roads.

Incidentally, have you considered anything else? I've nothing against the BMW, but as cars for "exploring the country" go it's a bit of an elephant. Small sports cars and hot hatchbacks are virtually designed for UK roads so my first choice would be either of those, rather than nigh-on two tonnes of BMW wafty coupe.

Oh, wow! Thank you so much for that, homeforsummer! That's pretty much all of the information I was after.

All of that doesn't actually sound as bad as I thought. Expensive, but the price of the car certainly makes up for that. Fuel is a killer... Last time I was there I remember nearly going broke just to fill up a Vauxhall Corsa. That was a bit of a surprise.

Can't believe how much the insurance quote can change so drastically, depending on the area. That is one bit of information I'm not sure about. I'm not exactly rich, so it'll probably be in an area a little more dodgy than where you live. Time will tell I guess.

Sounds like the Lotus would be a better option to buy. I'm sure maintenance will be a lot less due to the cars' lightness... Less wear on brakes, tyres, etc.
As I plan on also doing long journeys through other countries, that's why I like the idea of having a quiet/comfy coupe like the 6 series. If I were to drive through several countries in the Lotus, my ears and brain will probably be bleeding by the end of the journey.
The BMW I think is also a very beautiful car, and I've always wanted to own one. It just seems so tempting when it's 6,000 pounds less than the Lotus.

As much as I love brilliant hot hatchbacks like DS3's, Minis, 500's... I'm sold on the idea of having a RWD car. Maybe a first-generation boxster would be another alternative. Overall, I'm still in favour of the Elise.

Thanks again. 👍

 

[homeforsummer]

Well to play devil's advocate, Porsche Caymans are dipping down to about £15k over here at the moment...

 

[Moglet]

Out of interest; how the hell can you afford to buy and run either of those cars at 24?!

 

[JacoJa]

Well to play devil's advocate, Porsche Caymans are dipping down to about £15k over here at the moment...

Ooh, there's another car to consider maybe. I guess it has the best of both worlds... Excellent to drive and quiet when you want it to be.

Out of interest; how the hell can you afford to buy and run either of those cars at 24?!

It's really more to do with the exchange rate. The BMW for example costs $14,000 if you convert it to AUD. If you were buying a new car here for that sort of price, you'd only be looking at Chinese cars. The best selling car in Australia (the Mazda 3) starts at about $21,000.

 

[Roo]

Can't believe how much the insurance quote can change so drastically, depending on the area.

When I moved out of my mum's house my car insurance went up by about 25%. The distance between my old home and my current one is almost exactly a mile. Go figure.

 

[homeforsummer]

Ooh, there's another car to consider maybe. I guess it has the best of both worlds... Excellent to drive and quiet when you want it to be.

It's one of the ones on my shopping list when I'm earning decent money.

 

[Frisky]

I think you should buy an MX-5, great little cars! (NA,NB) they are pretty good on fuel too, I don't think insurance would be a problem either, plus for a really nice NA you're looking at £1500-£2000, which isn't that bad, really!

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

15.5 grand for an Elise with 100,000 miles on it!? I've seen Lotus main dealers selling Elise for under 15 grand with half that mileage! I'd take a little look on some U.K classifieds if I were you.

Oh, the Elise is fantastic on U.K roads if you don't mind travelling light (geddit!?)

 

[JacoJa]

When I moved out of my mum's house my car insurance went up by about 25%. The distance between my old home and my current one is almost exactly a mile. Go figure.

Wow, that's pretty nasty.

I think you should buy an MX-5, great little cars! (NA,NB) they are pretty good on fuel too, I don't think insurance would be a problem either, plus for a really nice NA you're looking at £1500-£2000, which isn't that bad, really!

I quite like MX-5's... Mainly the 3rd-generation models. Might be another car to consider, but I'd prefer a car a little more rare. I haven't driven one before though.

15.5 grand for an Elise with 100,000 miles on it!? I've seen Lotus main dealers selling Elise for under 15 grand with half that mileage! I'd take a little look on some U.K classifieds if I were you.

Oh, the Elise is fantastic on U.K roads if you don't mind travelling light (geddit!?)

lol, my bad. That was a pretty bad example I did in my first post. The 111R's I've been eying up were all on the Autotrader website. The car with the highest milage only has 48,000 Miles on it. That's insanely good value.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone.

 

[Frisky]

Wow, that's pretty nasty.


I quite like MX-5's... Mainly the 3rd-generation models. Might be another car to consider, but I'd prefer a car a little more rare. I haven't driven one before though.

lol, my bad. That was a pretty bad example I did in my first post. The 111R's I've been eying up were all on the Autotrader website. The car with the highest milage only has 48,000 Miles on it. That's insanely good value.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone.

Well there is always the older Elise, like the '96, personally I think it looks better! And you could probably get a mustang in here for that money, but then fuel would cost... Quite abit... Have you considered Evos/STIs?

 

[homeforsummer]

And you could probably get a mustang in here for that money, but then fuel would cost... Quite abit... Have you considered Evos/STIs?

There's an irony in there somewhere.

The latter two cars will do barely better economy than a Mustang. And probably a good 10-15mpg worse than an Elise will average. Quite a bit less than a Cayman, even.

 

[Frisky]

There's an irony in there somewhere.

The latter two cars will do barely better economy than a Mustang. And probably a good 10-15mpg worse than an Elise will average. Quite a bit less than a Cayman, even.

Actually that's quite true, you hardly see anything sporty in the U.K, you'd be lucky to see a Ford Focus ST, and I wouldn't call seeing one of them 'Being lucky.' The fuel AND insurance prices are enough to make you sick. It makes me so jealous when I hear 16 year olds from the U.S are going to get a foxbody V8 for their first car . We have to get 106's and econoboxes... Actually I didn't do too bad, I got a Suzuki Cappuccino EA11R for £700, great on fuel and cheap to insure, It only had a 660cc engine, but I was really tempted to put a Hayabusa TT engine in it . I think you'll get the most fun out of an Elise, but just be careful in the rain and ice, ;-)

 

[homeforsummer]

You got a Cappuccino as your first car? Blimey, you can hardly complain about that

Performance cars aren't that uncommon here. Does depend where you live, but Imprezas and STs I find are fairly plentiful.

That said, winter isn't the best time for performance car spotting anyway. A lot of people really do use something else over winter, with so many families having two or more cars these days. The nice stuff remains parked up.

 

[Frisky]

You got a Cappuccino as your first car? Blimey, you can hardly complain about that

Performance cars aren't that uncommon here. Does depend where you live, but Imprezas and STs I find are fairly plentiful.

That said, winter isn't the best time for performance car spotting anyway. A lot of people really do use something else over winter, with so many families having two or more cars these days. The nice stuff remains parked up.

Yeah, she was a brilliant car! Started everytime, but I had lots of sideways action in the rain (non intentional!) I live next to a long road with around 10 car dealerships, a lot of sports cars are on sale pretty cheap now, there is an NC MX-5 2011, for £6,000, I don't know any specs, but I think now is the time to buy a sports car, and hide it away 'till summer!

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

Well there is always the older Elise, like the '96

No. The S2 is so much better, and not just because it has a proper engine in it.

 

[Frisky]

No. The S2 is so much better, and not just because it has a proper engine in it.

I always thought the S1 looked better, and was cuter! Performance wise the S2 would blow it out of the water, no question. But the S1 is cheaper, and less to insure, not much less to be honest, but hey ho!

 

[homeforsummer]

It's a bit unfair on the K-Series too. Once it's problems are cured - and they're certainly curable - it actually has more potential than the Toyota unit and its a bit more characterful too. Has more of a traditional sports car noise.

And of course, earlier cars are lighter too.

All that said, later ones are probably the more usable cars out of the box.

 

[JacoJa]

Evo's and Sti's I think are great value, but I've never wanted to own either of them. They'd be good winter cars I guess.

The old elise I wouldn't buy either... Because I probably wouldn't fit in one, and I prefer a Toyota motor over the Rover K series. I owned a Celica a couple of years ago which had the same Vvtl-i engine in the 111R, and I thought it was extremely good. Drove it 60 miles a day for about two years and it never had a problem, so I think the S2 will give me better peace of mind. And performance. It had a pretty high milage by the time I sold it too.

@Frisky; Pretty awesome that you had a Cappuccino as your first car. I've probably only ever seen five of those my whole life. They rock. 👍

Also, forgive me since I live in a hot climate... but why should I avoid using something like an elise during the winter months? I would have thought lighter cars would be easier to drive. Or is it too risky?

 

[Grayfox]

Plus you have to have it meet our emission standards.

Eg I know of a few British chaps that wanted to export their 2.2 i-CTDi Civic Hatch to the US.

Issue was Since America doesn't really sell many DERVs(Diesel Engined Road Vehicle) it was even harder because Honda America does sell a N22A engined car so they could not import it unless they paid a huge amount.

So if you get a car make sure Australia can use the UK Euro emission tests to allow said engine into the country.

 

[homeforsummer]

Also, forgive me since I live in a hot climate... but why should I avoid using something like an elise during the winter months? I would have thought lighter cars would be easier to drive. Or is it too risky?

I think you misunderstood my post - I meant that many people here who do own Elises and the like don't use them over winter, instead using something more comfortable and warm!

It's entirely possible to use an Elise over winter, and in fact I can think of some advantages. It's light, as you say. The engine is to all intents and purposes over the driven wheels, which helps traction in snow/wet weather. It doesn't have power steering, which helps with steering feel. It's made out of aluminium and fibreglass, so rust isn't an issue like it is with many other vehicles.

Of course, there are disadvantages too. Low ground clearance if it snows, you'll drown if it floods, the whole interior will turn to ice when it's cold, and the roof isn't the most weatherproof ever designed.

 

[Frisky]

Also, forgive me since I live in a hot climate... but why should I avoid using something like an elise during the winter months? I would have thought lighter cars would be easier to drive. Or is it too risky?

It's just that you'd have to be pretty careful in the ice and snow in the U.K, there is a lot of black ice where I live (Clear ice.) And in my Cappy, I was all over the place, I got my first car in winter XD it had no power steering, ABS, or TC, it was definitely fun, and impressed the kids waiting outside their schools. But it is quite scary when it catches you by surprise! and the Cappy only had about 50-ish BHP! So I can't imagine what an MR car would be like! I doubt it'll be that bad as the engine is basically over the rear wheels. But I think your biggest worry in rain or snow, is the other drivers. Round where I live, is basically retirement city! Everyone drives Nissan Notes, and Honda Jazz/Fit. and they can't control their car in the dry, never-mind wet, or snow! I think you'll be fine though mate