Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I’d stay petrol G, you might be able to charge at home (probably more expensive than filling the 50ltr tank of an Up!

But you might struggle at your destination if/when you go away

That’s not to mention 2nd hand woes with warranty/future problems with an electric option

The car would only be for short local journeys - but I hear you on warranty/future problems

The car would only be for short local journeys

Have you considered CyClINg??!???!!1!!1!!

...Was waiting for that.
Cycling/cargo bikes don't work for my mother-in-law's hospital visits.
Plus if you have very young children cycling is challenging for all eventualities.

:)

You don’t really have to justify yourself.

That CSL :D love it.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/retro/sale-paul-newmans-modified-1988-volvo-740-turbo-estate

This is very cool

We briefly had a v6 auto (4s slush drive) estate one of these in not quite black (sort of a murky purple?) in early 00's as a stop gap car, remember it being obscenely cheap at only 5 years old and no one wanted it. Had it as family wagon for a year between A6's. Annoyingly it would have been much more reliable than the 2005 ish A6 allroad we had waited for using the Scorpio.

Vauxhall Carlton/Senator/Omega? Was the GM equiv car, equally slushy, but exactly what you want for just comfort, reliability and a big useful boot.

Obviously owning a spicy car is slightly harder these days, but think I've unashamedly moved into the camp of exclusively wanting an out outdated lux-barge, pref in estate form, to use day-to-day. Always thought this was pretty cool

Yeah basically this. Fun cars are fun, but sometimes you just want comfort and practically and don't want a wanky looking SUV (some SUV type cars are nice, most are just obtuse).
SO many brands have ditched their decent estate cars now, been trying to buy a 530d or E350 for about 2 years now but keep drawing blanks. Those that have good ones, aren't selling as its likely the last good one that you'll find if that makes sense.

Wouldn't even mind an SUV if it was actually practical, i.e. seats fold flat, front passenger seat folds over, was square at the back. Actually handled without making your kids projectile vomit, didn't have 22" tyres that cost £350 a corner, had the same aero/drag coefficient as a car from the 70's, made you look like a tosser, big on the outside, small on the inside, made of low grade noisy plastics, my rant could go on.

i want to fit 4 bikes (2 adults 2 kids) on my car for a family holiday to the netherlands this summer. Is a tow-bar mounted rack the best way to do this?

edit: my car is a skoda octavia estate 2019

Do you have a tow bar already?

Probably because roofrack will cost you more money on the ferry or tunnel

And over double your drag so cost you loads more in fuel too.

nope :(

That seems like it might be a bit expensive.

Each of you holds a stem through the window

Yup! If you're doing this multiple times then it's a worthwhile investment. If one off, perhaps not and borrow roof bars.

Perhaps a challenge for the 3 year old 😬

Wouldn't even mind an SUV if it was actually practical

I find this quite a funny aspect of them. The uncomfortable truth is that for families MPVs are much more practical.

I’ve got fairly extensive experience of roof mounted and tow bar- go tow bar.

Advice please :)

Lease is up on our 2020 octavia in July. Currently we pay £160 a month for it and we paid £800 down payment originally when we signed up.

The equivalent new Octavia is £250 a month and £2k down.

Would you extend the lease again, or get a new car?

It is due an Oil service, and obvs. an MOT in July (where I suspect we'd be looking at tyres), and the warranty is up.

I would make the assumption that this will be your last (affordable) ICE car if you're looking at a 4 year lease.

Probably best to try to buy the existing one and live with it until there's a wider range of EVs that suit your needs.

Having said that, it's not like the new one is that expensive for what it is.

Yeah. Until there are some infrastructure changes where we are, EV is off the table. I'm skeptical of plug in hybrids, suspect if we got one it would run on the petrol engine most of the time which seems silly.

The question is more, is it realistic to expect the existing to cost me less over the next 3-4 years than new, given the new will have warranty and not need an MOT.

is it realistic to expect the existing to cost me less over the next 3-4 years than new

Cost you less in what sense?

As in it breaking down and you having to pay for repairs? Has it had any issues so far? Very anecdotal vibe-base opinion; but I'm inclined to think that if your modern car isn't beset by gremlins within the first 3yrs then a VAG will be fine for ages. Definitely not £11k of maintenance.

In terms of on going depreciation + costs? You're going to have to get the spreadsheet out for that I think.

Quick finger in the air on ebay says a 2017 is still probably worth at least £6-7k. So assuming you're buying your car for what? £13k? It'll be cheaper to buy than to lease.