Buying Audi/BMW as a first car ?

I'm 20, still in university at the moment, and I'm about to start my practical driving lessons. I started looking over the cost of cars/insurance and found a few under a £1000 as I don't plan on spending too much money on my first car.

Found an Audi A3 sport FSI and a BMW (series 1) for under £1000, cheapest car insurance being £1300.50/year for both. Audi seems to be in good condition, bmw needs a turbocharger repair. I've heard the cost of repairing/replacing either of these cars is pretty expensive, which is the main reason I'm considering other ones. Any thoughts ?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

cath_slater

Audi and bmw are both v expensive cars to run and repair. Turbocharger repair on a bmw would cost a bomb and it would most definitely be more than the car is worth. I know for a fact that a turbocharger repair on a vw golf is +£1500 so I would assume it be about that for the bmw

Reply 2

Simbal

Hey,

How old are the cars you mentioned and what mileage have they done? Something to watch out for is if they have been driven wildly either by looking at the mileage or if you know they have a history of being driven by careless drivers. I personally would opt for something like a toyota or a honda. Reliable and tend to be cheaper to repair but ultimately its your money and your commute!

Reply 3

aims143

What's the mileage? I'm assuming it would be pretty high w prices like that. That is also something you need to take into consideration

Original post by JonkMoon

I'm 20, still in university at the moment, and I'm about to start my practical driving lessons. I started looking over the cost of cars/insurance and found a few £1000 as I don't plan on spending too much money on my first car.

Found an Audi A3 sport FSI and a BMW (series 1) for under £1000, cheapest car insurance being £1300.50/year for both. Audi seems to be in good condition, bmw needs a turbocharger repair. I've heard the cost of repairing/replacing either of these cars is pretty expensive, which is the main reason I'm considering other ones. Any thoughts ?

Reply 4

Mustafa0605

If you’re looking at cars for under 1k, you should not be looking at the German heavy weights like Audi bmw or Mercedes. You should look at the lower end cars which for the same price are generally newer and more reliable then older German whips

Reply 5

StriderHort

Yeah BMW & Audis for under £1000 I'd be expecting a multitude of issues, no matter how good it looks. otherwise, well, why the hell is it so cheap? if they thought they could get more they would do so.

I got an 06 Audi A4 Cab back in May for £1500, looks fantastic, good MOT history but has high mileage (130k) and no service history, in the last 2 months i've had to buy...

new battery £130
'new' tyre - £25
about 4 different cans of contact/throttle cleaner - £20
new sets of bulbs for most lights along with lens repair stuff - £40 (after finding out a new set of OEM tail lights would skin
me £400)
special dead screw extracting drill bits to get rusty screws out - £10
new licence plate light bits and screws - £10
air filter - £20
1l engine oil top up - £10
Diagnostic kit - £35

...So already i'm on the best part of £300, and this is just for wee cheap things i'm fixing myself, i'm bracing myself for the service/electrical work/new 5 tyre set/transmission oil change at a garage that it really needs. (I'm likely looking at £50+ just for the super special unicorn piss multitronic trans fluid alone).

As a few others have noted, once something big goes on an older one of these, engine, transmission or turbo, it's v likely uneconomical to repair or replace, anything like that goes on my car i'll likely need to scrap/sell it.

Reply 6

LTEcactus

Original post by JonkMoon

Those sound suspiciously cheap, are they like 15 years old or something?
Do yourself a favour and get something cheaper, ie a Ford, cos those cars are just gonna be money pits.
You really need to be spending £3000 for a decent BMW or Audi.

Reply 7

classic3296

If you really want a cheap bmw/audi look for a petrol ones. The diesels will start to have problems with the turbo which could cost over £300 to get it refreshed (rebuilt). Granted cheap german cars = expensive maintenance so unless you can do work yourself and you don't mind the extra maintenance then go for it. or just buy one so cheap that when it has problems you can just scrap it and move on.

Just make sure to read around on the specific model you want and learn all the common faults that could come up. You'll make a much more informed decision when it comes time to look at one and you may even be able to buy one thats been misdiagnosed but i wouldn't wish cheap bmw repair costs on my worst enemy

Original post by JonkMoon

Reply 8

TajwarC

There's no real reason to be buying an older BMW/Audi when you can get a much more reliable and cheaper to run car for the same price. Trim levels are something a lot of people overlook too, unless it's an M Sport or S Line, your interior probably won't be any more impressive/comfortable/kitted out than any other car but you will still have to live with the expensive maintenance costs anyway. Not to mention resale value will drop even more.

Unless you're looking at a performance model (S3, 130i/135i etc, in which case I understand but you are not getting those with your budget) I can only imagine you're looking at the German brands because of the badge. Forgive my bluntness but believe me, no one cares what car you drive.

BMW turbocharger repair is no joke by the way, although the cost of the car is probably quite low you'll end up paying a massive percentage of its worth in just repairs, not to mention road tax and insurance.

Reply 9

Xarao

You haven't even passed and you're thinking of buying a car? Also, there is no way you're getting insurance for 1.3k even with a black box unless you was doing something dodgy.

Reply 10

StriderHort

Original post by TajwarC

There's no real reason to be buying an older BMW/Audi when you can get a much more reliable and cheaper to run car for the same price. Forgive my bluntness but believe me, no one cares what car you drive.

'There's no real reason' Mate lookit my car, just LOOK AT IT!, I know you're miles away but C'MON it's beautiful! :biggrin:

that's my reason and I don't need a better one. I don't really dispute there are cheaper more reliable used options, but my 1st car was a Corsa D, wee diesel, and i went out my way to be sensible...looked at loads, test drove, check it over, registered used trader ect...and i got landed with a total unsafe lemon.....my A4 cab I bought with a wad of cash under a bridge with no service history...and despite it's issues it's been a reliable runner.

I kinda feel the same about 'no one cares what you drive'..there's truth there...but >I< care, I love driving mine, massively, huge cheesy grins...I got none of that with Corsa and Fiesta, they simply do not roar. I think my car is stylish yet elegant, it meets MY tastes...but obv aware its a 13 yr old used cheapie, plenty better cars zooming about. But I do like the saying 'If you don't look back at your car walking away, then you bought the wrong car', i'm a reasonably new driver so still feeling a lot of the novelty tbf.

(BTW I didn't get mine for the badge, Audi was never on my shortlist, it just happened to appear in the 'most recent' section of gumtree. I basically agree with the service cost problems, the first moderate/major repair job will probably cost more than you paid for the car.

Reply 11

TajwarC

Original post by StriderHort

'There's no real reason' Mate lookit my car, just LOOK AT IT!, I know you're miles away but C'MON it's beautiful! :biggrin:

"but >I< care, I love driving mine, massively, huge cheesy grins" - I couldn't agree more. It's why I said I understand if you're looking to get a more driver oriented model but on a low budget, realistically you're getting a 116d SE with 116hp (maybe a 118 with a little more power) which lets be honest isn't going to be amazing to drive but still gives the extra expenses.

I'm similar to you, and ironically I do own an older German car but I bought it because it was the most driver oriented model in the range and the highest trim line. It was the status quo "most bang for your buck" car I could find. Having the badge is really just a perk which no one really cared about after a day lol. You can definitely get some enjoyment out of older cars on a lowish budget but only to a limit. In my opinion, 1k is well below what you should be spending if this is the case