Motability Q1 2012 Prices Available

[paul1234]

Just been looking at Vauxhall prices for this quarter and they are really competitive. Astra Elite Auto £349AP, Insignia SE Nav Auto £649, Astra GTC auto £149 and the Antara 4WD Exclusive auto £399 or £999 for the SE Nav version. Many auto's at NIL AP. Only car which is expensive by comparison is the Zafira. Its a pity Vauxhall dont offer a twin clutch semi auto box like Audi, Ford, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo*, Seat, Skoda, VW as their standard torque converter auto boxes are thirsty. A manual diesel (165PS) delivers 62.8 and 53.3 around town; the auto 48.7 and 35.8. On the urban cycle thats almost 50% more fuel. Or an extra £1750 over 3 years at 30k miles.
*Similar issue with Volvo who have powershift and geartronic. The former semi auto is more frugal than a manual the latter burns around 40% more fuel.

[owenb]

yeah vauxhall looks fr8 as i can drive manual might have my eye on the awd se antara for £899 going to havea look tomorrow to see what there like, they look a lot of car for the money


automatic wise i also think vauxhall need an update

[paul1234]

yeah vauxhall looks fr8 as i can drive manual might have my eye on the awd se antara for £899 going to havea look tomorrow to see what there like, they look a lot of car for the money


automatic wise i also think vauxhall need an update

Is it worth the extra £300 for the 184PS version? an extra 21 horsepower? Its bad its now 10.44pm and motability still have last quarters price list.

[owenb]

possibly paul its something im going to look at, not sure about the fuel economy of the antara after looking at a few reviews some people are claiming to get about 25 around town

must admit the elite nav insignia is tempting at £899 so might go to the local dealer and just get a feel for the 2 of them sometime this week


hopefully the prices will be out later today (before i go back to work tomorrow) and i can have a quck squeeze at some of the new ones

[paul1234]

The new prices are out now. 2033 cars and 582 automatics. A better choice in the family segment, 42 automatics from 9 suppliers. Mercedes A class has gone so expect the new one and the Volvo V40 to appear at some time. Vauxhall prices have come down as have VW. Mercedes B class prices are up. Lowest AP on an auto now £2899, was £1799 in March. BMW prices I dont think have altered, likewise Ford; Volvo have come down on the V60, now £1699 for a V60 Auto & 62.8mpg. As forecast the 3 series saloon is on the scheme (316 & 318) also Peugeot 508. Peugeot 208 at £199 and 83.1mpg.
At first look a pretty decent choice as we are now in the 3rd quarter of the new rules. Good value auto's this quarter, Volvo V60 £1699, Golf 1.4 Match £549, Vauhall Astra Elite £349, BMW 318dSE £2899, Antara 4wd £399. Peugeot 208 Feline £1099 and 74.3mpg. Have not found any "bargains" yet but will look again later.
Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Renault and Ford now looking expensive. Vauxhall looking really competitive on price. Mercedes lowest AP's on the B class have almost doubled from £999 to £1899 on a manual and the higher powered petrol and diesels have gone. Given there is a 6-8 month wait perhaps this is a ploy to take business away from motability as dealers were saying in February the AP's were too low! And at the same time getting the waiting times down?

Remember the AP makes up one of four components of a cars cost under motability.
They are
1. Advance Payment
2. Cost of Extra's
3. Fuel Cost. (on 30 000 miles can result in up to £3000 difference, compare S60 D2 powershift and T3 geartronic)
4. DLA. On 3 year leases the largest component.
The latter accounts for almost £9000 over the 3 year lease. Its £54.05 a week now but the increases go to motability (except under a fixed cost lease). So an AP of £1999 may appear double the cost of one at £999 but the reality is car A costs £11000 and car B £10000 over 3 years, a 10% difference excluding fuel.

I have just costed the likely cost of my 3 year lease adding everything, including fuel together and its a mouthwatering £16750, £465 a month. I wonder if I might be better off using Taxi's and hiring a car for holidays? However you cannot put a price on the convinience a car brings.

Getting a bit off topic so time to sign off.

[owenb]

this quarter i cant see how vauxhallcan be beaten there prices are gr8 even high spec models for antara astra and insigna are really low, i been to look at antara today hell of a lot of car for the money the se nav has a gr8 interior and i can comfortably get in it, the insignia elite has a gr8 number of toys is slightly low for me so am thinking about antara the only thing that bothers me is fuel econonomy although i dont do many miles so will talk it over with other half later, price wise vauxhall is king this time around what other car can u get with leather seats a 165 bhp diesel engine and loads of toys for £0 payment (astra elite cdti)

fair play vauxhall done us proud this time around .........

[paul1234]

Have to agree 100%. Will be interested to see what the other mainstream suppliers do next or even this quarter. The Astra Elite auto at £349 is excellent value and the manual at NIL. The only extra is doesn't have is Bluetooth as Vauxhall provide Rear parking Sensors. manual is economical too.
I wish you luck in your search.

[paul1234]

Just 1 day into the new pricing and we have lost 1 car already, 2033 down t 2032 but not quite as simple as that. Medium cars up 1, MPV's down 2.

[paul1234]

Finally picked up our new car. Looking forward to a decent run out this week. Will post some info on fuel consumption etc in due course.

[paul1234]

Achieved 59.6mpg on a 45 mile run which included urban and country. On a new engine thats a reasonable return and encouraging for the future.