Trumble

Done some forraging the weekend for a new (1 year old) car for the missus. We need something practical thats a hatch loads of space, leather, cruise, and ideally a ski hatch. Needs to be 2 litre (possibly diesel).

Nothing too big so one of the larger hatches would be good- she currently has a focus 2L ghia with all the toys - but its 6 yers old and has 50K on the clock.

Looked at the new focus - ok its a ford - loads of plastic - a bit better screwed together than the old focus - boot looke pretty darn big - couldnt find one with leather - but they are available circa 13.5K.

So then went for a look at an A3 sportback - really nice in side (as you would expect from an audi) screwed together well - the boot looked cavernous - circa 18-20K depending on spec.

On balance I would say got for the A3 as its better build quality and will have better residuals (having said all that we'd keep it for 5 years so i would make little odds - the wifes car was 12.5K at 1y and I have been offered 3.5K).

Now after ooking at both cars I would have said the auid boot was bigger - but then last night I checked the specs and found to my astonishment that the A3 sportback was significantly smaller than the focus - believe it or not by 4cm, (bear in mind that the regular A3 is 8cm shorter than the sportback!).

What do we do ?

T.

DavidChief

Focus.

The Audi is a nice car to sit in but it's not in the same league as the Focus as a driver's car and the ride quality isn't that special either.

Trumble

I agree the focus is a top car to drive - the ST is a beast - but guzzles more petrol than an STI

Not to mention on the money I'd save - I could have a PPP for my MY06 STI!

T.

Reffro

I'd choose Focus also. The Audi will still loose the same amount of money in depreciation over the time you own it. (And before people get all indignant, I'm talking about cash money, not percentage of original price)

Look around for a Focus, as the price you quote isn't far off a new one. For the record my sister just bought a brand new Focus 5-dr 2.0 TDCI Ghia with met paint and adaptive lights for £13850 OTR, direct from a Ford dealer. Finding one with leather might prove tricky, but have a look for a Titanium trim, its higher spec than the Ghia.

Something like this perhaps........

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW...ch_full=SEARCH

Trumble

Reffo - I agree - but the cruise is a must and the only model with it is the Ghia.

T.

AudiLover

That depends on what spec the audi is as afterall get the right model and its basically the audi version of the Golf GTI.

Both are good cars so its down to general preference, but in going by the last model of both cars once the audi is 5 years old you can still flog it for about 6-7k unlike the focus.

Trumble

I expect the resale would be higher - but then again I would be paying 4-5K more for the A3.

We were looking at the 2.0 FSI SE - with lthr.

In 5 years I would still expect to sell a focus for 4K.

T.

Petem95

Yeah go for the Focus - everyones getting Audi's and its making them too common

Trumble

funny you should say that - but I did notice a shed load of them yeterday pm.

T.