Hi all,
Wife currently has a 2003, 03 plate Rav4 NV - the three door 2 wheel drive version. Its done 64K miles and is in reasonable condition considering its use as transportation for various horse related items!
The thing is in the last two years its done less than 6K, and spends half its life sitting outside - my wife now has someone 'sharing' her horse so does not go up to the stables everyday as previously.
I'm looking at it thinking whether getting rid for a cheap runabout would make any sense. To be honest my wife does not like driving particularly and would not have a car at all if she didn't have the horse, so make/model/fashion status does not matter particularly (I bought her the Rav from a dealer mate on a whim to replace her previous motor which was one foot from the grave).
Any suggestions?
1) as to what the Rav might reasonably be worth
2) a suitable cheap replacement - mileage not important - condition and ability to start after several days sitting outside will be!
Just seems a shame to see the Rav sit there losing money and condition needlessly. Unfortunately I have to have the garage for all my work gear otherwise I'd let her use it.
Edited by Everest Pete on 21/02/2009 at 17:27
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Q1
Autotrader - national search:
0303 RAV4 1.8 NV 3dr 57k £3999 Gloucester (trade)
0303 RAV4 1.8 NV 3dr 55k £4491 Toyota Preston
Q2
Toyota Yaris, Kia Picanto, Fiat Panda .......... or Suzuki Jimny?
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The Rav is worth maybe £2500 or so if you sell privately.
At that price, it often doesnt really make much sense to sell and buy another car if you are doing very low mileage.
No reason it won't live another 5 or 6 years if it isn't abused.
Fuel costs are minimal as the mileage is so low, insurance isn't particularly high (maybe a few tenners per year more than a cheap runabout).
Personally unless you are doing fairly high mileage, it doesn't make a lot of sense to downsize as whatever you replace it with will equally sit depreciating.
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If twer me, i'd keep it (devil you know and all that), look after it, good underbody wash after the winter salts gone followed by maybe a pro waxoyl circa 100/400 squid depending on involvement, it'll last for donkey's years with a little tlc and be more reliable and useful than 90% of what you'd likely replace it with.
Circumstances change, its a canny little go anywhere vehicle.
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I agree entirely with GB. I'd only add - take it for a 20-mile run say every other weekend, or alternatively use it yourself for work occasionally.
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Well decision probably made. Just done a 'tour de dealers' locally to get an accurate measure of what we could expect for the Rav, and what sort of age/condition a replacement would be.
Average trade in seems to be between £2500 and £2900 - maybe £3100 if buying something more expensive (which is not really the point). Realistically then only sub £2000 motors fit the bill in terms of getting some money back on a depreciating asset.
The only car my wife saw that she liked was a V reg Peugeot 206 1.6XS, only 34K miles and one owner. Ours for £2200, with 3 months warranty, full service history and a nice panoramic electric sunroof which I was surprised to find actually quite excited the wife! Allowed £2700 trade in, so £500 in the bank for that rainy day (which will probably arrive next week!)
BUT its an 8 year old Peugeot 206.........Must admit I was thinking more along the lines of a Polo or Ibiza of similar age - but they apparently seemed too small. Wish I hadn't taken the wife with me now.
Anyway, has anyone here had first hand experience of a Pug 206 of this vintage? Do they deserve the poor reputation for reliability/quality they have? I must admit this particular one looked good, everything worked - in fact it looked as good as new (and also I was told was in a trendy colour - Burnt Orange metallic).
Don't want to upset the wife, but my personal instinct does say £500 is probably not enough recompense for the 'downgrade' - however given the mileage my wife does now, the Peugeot will probably not lose much if any further value and is actually in better condition than her Rav. Help!!
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Changing always seems lose you money wether you up or downgrade. If you sell the Rav you will be lucky to get decent price privately or in exchange.
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I think I would reiterate what others have said above. Keep the RAV4. The saving of £500 is not worth the potential hassle of swapping a five year old Japanese car for a ten year old European car.
I could go out now and buy or lease a new Mercedes E-class for silly (cheap) money - certainly affordable for me, but why should I when I have a lovely three year old Subaru in which I do only 9,000 miles pa? Same argument as yours really. Keep the RAV4.
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Have a look at the Car by Car feature on the 206. Reliability is not altogether impressive, but you might get a good one.
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The 8 valve TU petrol engine used in many 206s has been around for donkey's years and well proven, easy to work on, and tough if even half looked after. There are a lot of good 206's out there.
The most offensive thing about this car in my opinion is the plastic on the dash. I think they sent someone out to find the cheapest, nastiest stuff they could find, and then asked the manufacturer to make it cheaper and nastier.
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