New Car Buyer's Guide - Part 1

CHOOSE THE RIGHT CAR

You probably have a good idea about what sort of new car you want, or at least you know the basics.

And you made your choice because a particular brand has made you happy in the past, because you are jealous of the features in your friend's new car, or because you've had a recommendation from somebody who knows the sort of thing you're after.

But stop for a minute and consider the 6,000+ new car models available to buy on buyacar. What's to say you have considered all the options and that there isn't something which would be a better choice for you?

CHOOSE THE RIGHT CAR

You know what you need in terms of space and practicality. Be honest and decide whether you need a load lugger or a sports-poser (though of course manufacturers, with their endless niches, will now offer you a sports-lugger or a load-poser should you desire).

CHOOSE THE OPTIONS THAT ARE RIGHT FOR YOU...

If you spend a lot of time in your car you will come to love things like air conditioning and a great stereo, whereas longer distance drivers will not end up loving sports suspension and mega alloy wheels.

You can specify your car precisely online, right down to the very last windscreen warmer.

Be advised that everybody is buying diesel, and for good reason if your journeys include the long haul.

Buying a smaller petrol engined car may however be a better option if you only do the school run and weekly trips to the shops. It will be cheaper to buy and almost as economical to run.

New engines generally are spectacularly efficient, not to mention clean, so as to pass increasingly stringent EU emissions tests. Efficient and clean cars mean low (or even zero) road taxes, an idea developed in our second guide to follow next week.

Low-powered cars are fine around town but not so good on motorway journeys. In terms of fuel consumption, smaller engines can be very thirsty when you choose to work them hard.

THE INTERNET IS YOUR BEST RESOURCE

The internet is a great resource for finding all the information that you would typically find in a manufacturer's brochure. It's good to try and work out what features or statistics you are using to decide on your car and then use the same features to find other cars that match and then compare them against each other.

Buyacar's site allows you to compare cars by such things as fuel economy, luggage space, 0-62MPH times, number of doors, insurance group, wheel diameter, type of satellite navigation... You get the idea.

BE OPEN MINDED...

Use our website to compare your early choice of vehicles with similar alternatives. You will not only find some great deals but if you broaden your search some results may surprise you completely, helpfully randomising your early choice processes, if that doesn't sound too painful.

CONTINUE ON TO PART 2 >

Author: Ben Williams