Anybody got £13,500 I could borrow?

[Summo]

The time is fast approaching when I get my Mazda MX-5 1.8i which I've been looking forward to for a couple of years. Here's me on a test drive, though mine will be in Racing Green:

I don't really want to discuss the car here, I like it and that's all that matters. You may call it a girl's car. It may be a hairdresser's car. It may be the most common small sports car on the road, but its a fun little number with lovely curves and the roof comes off. Not too expensive, neither.

Which brings me to my point...

Sadly, I have to pay for the bastard and seeing as there's frequently a car thread on here I was wondering if any of you UK peeps had found a good place to get a car loan. Around the £13,000 mark. (Really want to avoid Mazda's crappy finance deals.)

Anyone? Bueller?

 

[Sar]

Now, if you aske me that question again in two months I might be able to oblige.


Actually no, that money's MINE!

 

[Trem]

Try Northern Rock for a personal loan Someguy, u can do it all online and they seem pretty low with there interest rates, im still deciding whether 2 buy me m8s lancia intergrale *drool*

 

[Summo]

Lovely. I'll give 'em a go. Many thanks, Tremor.

*scare*

 

[Ono]

Girl.

 

[Trem]

 

[Hashmonster]

looks nice summo, if u like it thats all that matters mate

as for finance, your definately right to stay away from dealer finance (in most cases anyway). My finance with peugeot is a bit of a arse as i've still got a final payment at the end of the 3years for like 3 and a half grand eek!

Bank is probably your best bet, u putting a lump in yourself?

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by Hashmonster
...u putting a lump in yourself?

Um... no. You see, my problem is that I WANT IT NOW! I could scrape a couple of thousand together in a few months, I suppose.

 

[Hashmonster]

ah right, soz

what are u willing to pay each month? i don't think i could stand having to pay something off for more than 2-3years

 

[Summo]

It'll prolly work out at around £400 per month for four years. I can cope with that. :/

I guess what I'm really after is a company which says 'yes' easily, to males in their mid-twenties with no property of their own.

Hmm...

 

[Hashmonster]

ouch, does that 400quid include insurance or is that gonna be cheap for u?

what was that company that always used to go on about saying yes?

 

[Summo]

Insurance won't be too bad. The bank that liked to say 'Yes!' was TSB. They're now Lloyds-TSB who prefer to say 'Yes! NO! Um.. yes. Hang on. Fuck off.'

I'm not buying this car new as you might have guessed, and looking around I might have been over-estimating the cost at £13,500. I reckon it'd be more like £11K-£13K. Hmm...

 

[Hashmonster]

here's a couple of quickies that i've found

2000 MAZDA MX-5 1.8i 2dr Convertible
2000 Silver, Black Leather seats, Alarm and immobiliser, Driver and passenger airbag, Electric windows, Remote Central locking, PAS, Alloy wheels, Hard top. Full Mazda Service History, Brand new tyres, 6 months road tax, Immaculate condition. Company car forces reluctant sale. 27000 miles

That one is £12,500

or if u wanted a little older but cheaper u could have...

1998 MAZDA MX-5 1.8i 2dr Convertible
1998 Racing Bronze. ABS, Anti theft system, Electric windows, Power assisted steering, Sony mini disc player & 6 disc autochanger, Alloy wheels, Remote alarm, Lady owner, Company car forces reluctant sale. 28500 miles.

This one is £10,500

There are tons on the second hand market going - mileage will probably be high on most tho

 

[Summo]

Aww... thanks for that. There are a truckload about and I don't think I'll struggle to find one. It'll have to be post-1999 though, as the older 'pop-up headlight' style ones don't appeal.

The ones I've seen are around £12,500 which knocks a year off the repayment period.

Nice.

 

[stu]

mx5's are pretty nice, the new one especially. But umm do you realise you could have a perfect condition low mileage 2nd hand one of these...

...for less than that?

As for loans, Daz just got a phat loan for his Skyline, think he got it straight from Nat West (his student/graduate bank).

 

[Hashmonster]

wow stu, i love the rx7, flippin fast! one of the guys on the evo forum has one and was pretty much pasting a guy with a Golf mrk4 which had a audi TT 225bhp engine in there.

god i dread what the insurance would be like tho

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by Stu-
mx5's are pretty nice, the new one especially...

Blimey. It was for the likes of Stu, Durzel and Perp that I added the 'I don't really want to discuss the car here' comment. Thought I'd get my arse kicked.

I've looked around at alternatives, (Lotus Elise, Porsche and stuff) but not come across the RX-7 before. I'll have a look round.

I want my car to be pretty new. I want comfort and reliability (lots of motorway driving to see girlfriend) and that (to me) means a newer car. Obviously there are exceptions.

 

[Hashmonster]

is the mx5 u be wanting a soft top (do they do a hard top one?)

cos motorways in it may be a bit of a killer on the old ears summo, but with a hard top i'm sure it'd be better

 

[Summo]

All MX-5s are soft tops though you can buy hard tops as accessories. Good point, though. Took one out on a fast A road and didn't notice any noise. Something I may need to get in the future, though...

In summer though it'll be roof down taking the B-road route. Might take an extra couple of hours but who cares?

 

[Hashmonster]

u wouldn't of noticed the noise cos u were probably having the drive of your life but after a couple of hours sitting at 80mph+ i'm sure it would grate a bit - maybe see if u can talk to a local mazda dealership to let u have one for a extended test drive, maybe a weekend.

if u get one for a extended test drive, make sure u rev the balls off it heh

 

[Recoil101]

Loan

Try cahoots.com they have a real cheap rate right now (about 8%) and its wierd, its not like a loan... basically it works like a biig overdraft. You have to pay a minimum amount per month BUT that is usually a quite low payment..... er its wierd but cheap go have a look

 

[]SK[]

Gimme a BMW

 

[stu]

Originally posted by SomeGuy
I've looked around at alternatives, (Lotus Elise, Porsche and stuff) but not come across the RX-7 before. I'll have a look round.

I want my car to be pretty new. I want comfort and reliability (lots of motorway driving to see girlfriend) and that (to me) means a newer car. Obviously there are exceptions.

Bit of a history lesson in order

RX-7 is not in the same bracket as the roadsters. It's a SERIOUS performance car, in the same sort of category as a Toyota Supra or a Nissan Skyline. Mazda made about 3 iterations of it, the third one, which the picture above is of, was the last, and ceased production about 3 years ago. There are VERY few in this country - for some reason Mazda never seemed interested in selling them. Around 5 years ago (when they were still in production, and therefore should be readily available) my dad was looking at getting one and tried to organise a test drive with a Mazda main dealer. It took 4 months, due to the fact there was >1< dealer owned car in the country, that basically toured the various dealers doing test drives. What that does mean is uber-exclusivity - you're never gonna see one of these coming the other way imo they are far sexier than the Supra or Skyline - they're considerably smaller and sleeker.

Under the bonnet you'll find a rotary engine - the RX-7 is the only (iirc) production car to use a rotary rather than a traditional cylinder and piston ce. Advantages of rotary are massive power output per litre (the RX-7 Mk 3 is actually only a 1.3, and outputs in the region of 250bhp), and a wonderfully flat power output - it'll accelerate hard from 1000 revs in 5th gear. Disadvantages are absolutely abysmal fuel economy (we're talking 17mpg CRUISE, 10mpg if you hammer it) and less than perfect reliability. For those reasons it's probably not the car for you, definitely not a motorway cruiser. Oh, and the insurance will be sickening as well. But if you're gonna look at an MX-5, while you're there ask the sales rep if he can source you a late RX-7 to have a test drive in. I guarantee you'll be smiling for weeks

As you can probably tell, I seriously like RX-7s - I was a gnat's pube away from buying one a few months ago.

 

[throdgrain]

sorry m8 no offence but...mx5 = hairdressers car.ive had about 15 of em to sell and i sold em all to women except one,and he was buying at as a present for his...wife

 

[Summo]

Thanks for taking the trouble to write that, Stu. I was flicking through some websites about the RX-7... exclusive club indeed. . Mazda does seem to have just dropped the idea in the UK, though one site suggested two reasons: apparently it just didn't sell well over here and it would have been too costly to modify to meet new UK emission standards.

Throdgrain - can't you read, man?

 

[Ono]

Doesn't the RX-7 use the Wanker Engine?

 

[Hashmonster]

Originally posted by Ono
Doesn't the RX-7 use the Wanker Engine?

lol! yeah

methinks it was something along those lines, Wanker, Wankel....

 

[Wilier]

Mazda, pfffffffft jap crap, go German m8.
Me BM coupe (whilst being common) is a beutifull drive, and goes like hot snot if you wanna. (fekin tyres aint cheap tho)

Theres always the Sensible Family Option, of French crap moulded into the shape of a Scenic. Which I am also the proud *cough* owner of.

 

[Wilier]

And in reply to your first origional question.

No.

 

[bodhi]

MX-5's are nice cars yes, but for that sort of money you could prolly find a good condition Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo. Insurance could be a mare, and the early ones enjoyed going wrong, but the go like absolute stink (0-60 in around 6 seconds and faster than an Imprezza to 100mph), still look gorgeous to this day - 6 years after they were released (altho they still remian a like em or loathe em shape) and stick to the road like a fly on shit.