Hi Guys,
I'm a newby on here, but post regularly on other forums

I really need help on this. I have a Hyundai Santa Fe 2012 2.2 Diesel with a 6 speed auto gearbox, which i have owned for 2 years. The gearbox randomly clonked since i bought the car (35k miles), but last month started slipping in 3/4th gear (80k miles). I had to drive a 350 mile return trip, and it eventually stuck in 4th gear permanently. The next day 1st gear and 2nd gear started to slip bad and it finally gave up. I checked the fluid and it was horrible, so it had deffo crapped itsself.... Read more

I’m sure this subject is an old chestnut in the forum and I’ve seen the odd thread about it, but I have only recently realised that it could be for me and begun to think seriously about it. I wanted therefore, if I may, to use the forum as a sounding board.

I’ve until now been against the idea as you don’t get to own your car and - without considering it in any detail - it has always seemed to be an expensive option. However, after talking to a mate who leases I am coming round to the idea. Looking back at my pattern of ownership, I have been buying new cars outright since 2006, keeping them for no longer than 4 years and then moving them on. In all that time I have not had a single mechanical breakdown and beside annual servicing costs and MOTs, I have only paid out for 3 tyres. My annual mileage has never exceeded 9,000. As to owning the car, if I only keep it for 3 or 4 years, why is ownership so important?

As to the expense, you can appreciate that having changed my car 3 times since 2006 I have taken a fair hit on depreciation. In each case, I have accepted that as the price of having the excitement of a new car and a good chance of continuing to avoid costly repair bills and the risk of breaking down. But what I have come to realise lately is that the depreciation I have experienced compares favourably with personal lease payments, so in my circumstances is personal leasing such an expensive option? To give a couple of examples, my last car was an Audi A3 and depreciation cost me £7,000 when I traded the car in after 26 months and 17,000 miles. Ignoring the effect of any upfront payment and admin charges, that works out at £269 a month in rough terms and I wouldn’t be surprised if that compares favourably to the cost of personal leasing, bearing in mind I traded the car in 2 years ago. Looking at my current car, an Audi A4 Avant, the current trade-in value is likely to be about £14,000 less than the price I paid new (yes, I know!) after 26 months and 16000 miles. That works out at £538 a month on the same rough basis as before and from my investigations, it does compare favourably with personal lease repayments. So on my rough calculations, the financial case looks to be made.

That leaves the disadvantages to consider. Leaving aside the ownership and expense issues, if indeed they are issues for me, I can think of only two. Firstly, if I committed to a 36 months term, for example, and had to give up driving before expiry, for whatever reason, it could be costly to get out of the arrangement. Secondly, whether I want to or not, I have to give the car back at the expiry of the term, but what if I then don’t know which make and model I’d like next? I could be stuck without a car (although my wife has one) until I find something I like at a lease price that suits.

I’m prepared to accept that I may be overthinking this and the issues are more straightforward than I realise, but I would be grateful for views and opinions - particularly from those who lease currently. Thanks in advance. Read more

Hi,

First Post. Ive had a Ford Mondeo for 2 years from 5k miles (Ford Direct Car) its now done 70k miles mostly on the motorway. Ive had 3 Fuel Vapourisers & 1 Alternator in 24 months all under Warranty. Its an Automatic 210 twin turbo. Not really that quick either. ... Read more

Rubbered up - checking the tyres on a used car should be one of the fundamentals - if there is a mixture and/or cheap brands fitted you can tell the attitude of previous owners to how much they wanted to spend on their car and how it has been driven. What's worse is the dealer who sold my other half a Seat and changed all the tyres for used economy ones prior to delivery.... Read more

Feetal Mistake? This pun is not only tasteless in the context of this tragic accident, its's irrelevant. The driver fell out of her car, it's an auto so continued reversing without a driver and ran over a jogger. Which foot was being used for braking was not part of the problem.
More to the point, HJ should caveat this left foot auto braking advice much more carefully. Here's why: My daughter is learning to drive in a manual. Once she's passed I will advise her to get something like a Yaris 1.3 auto as it suits her needs, if she then switches to left foot braking it will very soon become habitualized. What happens if and when she steps back into a manual a few years later? She'll have no instinct to brake with her right while having to engage the clutch, let alone which foot to use to brake in an emergency. A young driver should not left foot brake until manual cars are so rare as to be irrelevant (which will happen at some point) Older drivers, I agree, can benefit from left foot braking as long as they never drive a manual. Read more