Should I go ahead and buy?

[golty]

Hi everyone,

Been looking to upgrade for my Fiesta Ecoboost for a while now, was originally set on a focus st3 2.0tdi but the delivery times were horrendous. I had a go in a A3 2.0 tdi but the price was too high.

Had a go in the Leon SC FR 2.0 tdi 184 yesterday, thought it was really nice to drive, just like the audi. Nice interior and similar to the Audi but didn't feel as special.

Seat seem to have pretty good offers at the moment with 0% and free tech pack, my local dealer matched my best carwow offer on this car:

Seat Leon SC FR 2.0 TDI 184 Tech Pack
Upgraded 18" performance alloys
Midnight Black Paint
Tailgate spoiler

All for £304 a month on a 42 month pcp (0%) with effectively no deposit.

I'm personally happy with this price but does it sound like an ok deal?

Thanks

 

[AlistairS]

Go for it. I also looked at the A3 & ST3 too. The thing that swung it for me was the 0% APR PCP & 2 Free Services ( don't know if that still available on the current PCP deal?). I have an SC & am glad I went for it

 

[dephead2004]

Only advice is to try other leons with different engines and if you like the dsg give that a go too..do you need diesel? What's your mileage?

 

[100andthirty]

I always try to test drive the exact model I buy especially when it comes to the size of the wheels in order to gauge comfort. Thus, if your test drive was on a car with 17" wheels, and you like the ride quality, then stick with them. 18" wheels will give an even harder ride than you get on a standard FR which already has sports suspension. Of course, if you tested a car with 18" wheels, this doesn't apply!

 

[JMAC]

Looks a good price. Is there a mileage cap for that price though?

Funnily enough, I'm toying with getting rid of my ST for a Focus ST2-3 estate.

 

[scrich7]

I always try to test drive the exact model I buy especially when it comes to the size of the wheels in order to gauge comfort. Thus, if your test drive was on a car with 17" wheels, and you like the ride quality, then stick with them. 18" wheels will give an even harder ride than you get on a standard FR which already has sports suspension. Of course, if you tested a car with 18" wheels, this doesn't apply!

I didn't notice much difference in ride quality between the 17's and 18's personally. Then again, I drove a 1.4 on 17's and a 1.8 on 18's, so the more sophisticated suspension could have made a difference, too.

 

[golty]

my mileage is high, the dealer has told me I should just choose 5k miles per annum even though I'm doing more. They have told me try and find a 2.0 FR 3 years old for £9k which is my GFMV and to be fair there aren't many around that price but I'm not sure I may up the mileage to something realistic.

Found out today that price also includes the convenience pack and convenience pack plus which made it even sweeter.

 

[simonali]

Looks a good price. Is there a mileage cap for that price though?

Funnily enough, I'm toying with getting rid of my ST for a Focus ST2-3 estate.

Swapping one ST for another, eh?

Hope you're going for an ex demo or used one, as the waiting times are huge.

 

[100andthirty]

my mileage is high, the dealer has told me I should just choose 5k miles per annum even though I'm doing more. They have told me try and find a 2.0 FR 3 years old for £9k which is my GFMV and to be fair there aren't many around that price but I'm not sure I may up the mileage to something realistic.

Found out today that price also includes the convenience pack and convenience pack plus which made it even sweeter.

What the dealer appears to me to be doing is lining you up for excess mileage payments which might be 7p per mile. You can easily tot up how much that might cost if you do a lot more than 5k miles per year.

 

[JMAC]

Swapping one ST for another, eh?

Hope you're going for an ex demo or used one, as the waiting times are huge.

Just looking at the mo, a few dealers have demos listed on Auto Trader.

 

[JMAC]

What the dealer appears to me to be doing is lining you up for excess mileage payments which might be 7p per mile. You can easily tot up how much that might cost if you do a lot more than 5k miles per year.

^^^ this. Dealer tried the same thing with me. Worked out an attractive deal based on 10k per year Vs the 23-25k I actually do. 8p per mile excess. "Of course the excess mileage wont be an issue". Yeah right. I can imagine in 4-5 years the current Leons will be worth feck all when it comes to trade in time.

 

[100andthirty]

If you could get the dealer to guarantee in writing no excess mileage payments or reduction in guaranteed minumum value, then I'd go for it, but I reckon that if you ask, the salesman will go quiet and the cost will climb.

 

[QuietQuackers]

Can't help but think you might be better off getting an ex-demo and doing hire purchase or personal loan instead at that price. That's nearly what I'm paying except I'll actually own the car. I can see the appeal of PCP, but not at that price for an FR

 

[marty_34]

id go ex demo, dealers can also get pre delivery cars from seat with 5 miles on, you'll save a packet agains new prices

 

[neil_f225]

What the dealer appears to me to be doing is lining you up for excess mileage payments which might be 7p per mile. You can easily tot up how much that might cost if you do a lot more than 5k miles per year.

You would only incur the mileage charge if you handed the car back and didn't buy another vehicle. Of course the trade in value will probably be lower than the guaranteed final value depending how excessive the mileage is. As others have said I would look at a nearly new vehicle instead. I got my st 6 months old with a really good spec for near enough the same payment as you have quoted but obviously it's not on 0%. My final value is also about 2k lower than yours - that was based on 15k per year. I'll have had it a year next month and I've currently done 17k in it so not that far off the finance estimate.

 

[Slipps]

Mileage and PCPs are a bit of smoke and mirrors I always get a quote for the lowest mileage and then an average mileage to compare the two, certainly in the case of SEAT the cost was the same by either paying higher monthly payments or by paying an excess mileage charge at the end and that's only if you hand it back at the end.

To make sure you're not wasting money never overestimate your mileage if anything go under but don't forget you might have a bill in the unlikely event of you simply handing it back.

 

[marty_34]

my mileage is high, the dealer has told me I should just choose 5k miles per annum even though I'm doing more. They have told me try and find a 2.0 FR 3 years old for £9k which is my GFMV and to be fair there aren't many around that price but I'm not sure I may up the mileage to something realistic.

Found out today that price also includes the convenience pack and convenience pack plus which made it even sweeter.

be very wary of this, theres a guy on here did that - traded the car in and then got a bill fr excess mileage even though he bought another leon, never ever happened to me, the other way is to call up and speak to seat finance to clarify and then note date/time of call and persons name as a safeguard

me personally id keep the mileage realistic, my current cpp is set at 14k miles, thought i may do 15/16 max but now I've changed jobs ill do 11-12k tops so works in my favour

dealer is right though you'll not get a 3 year old mk3 fr for 9k - id give some thought to were your mileage will be if its not going to be daft like 70-80k then go for the deal, even if the cars got 50k on at 3 year old it may still retail for around 11-12k

 

[Slipps]

be very wary of this, theres a guy on here did that - traded the car in and then got a bill fr excess mileage even though he bought another leon, never ever happened to me, the other way is to call up and speak to seat finance to clarify and then note date/time of call and persons name as a safeguard

From SEAT
Don’t forget – you have an agreed annual mileage for your agreement. If you exceed this and decide to hand back the car at the end of your agreement, there will be a charge for the excess mileage used.

Settle the finance early and you'll have no excess mileage to pay, by trading in you're settling the finance and then selling the car on in exchange for another, I guess the only way to get caught out is by going right to the end of your agreement before buying another car.

 

[golty]

just going to up it to 15k I think, theres a large difference between the GFMV between 5k and 10k but only fairly small between 10k and 15k. Really don't know how much mileage I will be doing in my new job it could be anywhere from 10k to 25k really

 

[damo74]

Don't do the PCP,
There are PCH deals around. I've seen the same car (without the big wheels and spoiler) for £173+VAT per month with a deposit of £1040+VAT