GRcade

I had a call from the local BMW garage the other day telling me there was a brand new Z4 out that they thought I'd like. I was a bit sceptical but went to have a look at it today.

strawberry floating hell it looks amazing. The interior especially is a thing of beauty.

Went to test drive the Z4 yesterday and it was a really nice drive, and I honestly came so close to buying it. I'd pay £4k up front and only be paying about a tenner more than I pay for the Audi.

One of the big things holding me back is £3-4k negative equity on my Audi if I trade it in, but the BMW garage did bring up a possibility I hadnt considered before, Voluntary Termination. By my calculations I've paid over 50% of the total finance including the balloon payment so I would be able to. My biggest worry though is how that might impact my credit file. Everything I look up online says that finance companies will mark the agreement with a VT market rather than settled, and whilst that SHOULDN'T cause any issues with future finance, it's not a guarantee and there's always the possibility of it being flagged up. So I'm strongly leaning towards just waiting for another year until the finance is over so I can hand the Audi back worry free.

The other drawback is that it is a petrol rather than Diesel engine, which is a concern on a 150 mile round trip to work, but when I was driving the Z4 it seemed to be getting about 45-50mpg at 70mph which is only about 5 less than my current Diesel engine.

Stick with the Audi and wait.

abcd wrote:Stick with the Audi and wait.

That's what I've done. Called the BMW garage this morning and said I just wasn't totally comfortable with the idea of the Voluntary Termination.
Guy tried to assure me he'd done it, they had three customers just this week who'd done it and had no problems, but he's wanting to sell the car.

With a big purchase like that though, if in doubt don't rush in. If they were willing to do a good deal this weekend, they'll be willing next year.

Lagamorph wrote:

abcd wrote:Stick with the Audi and wait.

That's what I've done. Called the BMW garage this morning and said I just wasn't totally comfortable with the idea of the Voluntary Termination.
Guy tried to assure me he'd done it, they had three customers just this week who'd done it and had no problems, but he's wanting to sell the car.

With a big purchase like that though, if in doubt don't rush in. If they were willing to do a good deal this weekend, they'll be willing next year.

I really wouldn't strawberry float with my credit file, so I think you've done the right thing.

I've had real issues in the past after missing credit card payments. They were genuine absent-minded mistakes (two in a row, which didn't help) but I couldn't get a mortgage for six years.

Poser wrote:

Lagamorph wrote:

abcd wrote:Stick with the Audi and wait.

That's what I've done. Called the BMW garage this morning and said I just wasn't totally comfortable with the idea of the Voluntary Termination.
Guy tried to assure me he'd done it, they had three customers just this week who'd done it and had no problems, but he's wanting to sell the car.

With a big purchase like that though, if in doubt don't rush in. If they were willing to do a good deal this weekend, they'll be willing next year.

I really wouldn't strawberry float with my credit file, so I think you've done the right thing.

I've had real issues in the past after missing credit card payments. They were genuine absent-minded mistakes (two in a row, which didn't help) but I couldn't get a mortgage for six years.

That's my worry. My fixed deal mortgage is a 5 year one so will be up before any potential mark on my credit file is gone, meaning I'll either get stuck on standard variable rate because nobody will remortgage me, or anyone that does remortgage me will give me worse interest rates than otherwise, so any money I save now I just end up paying later through increased mortgage payments.

The credit card thing is why I have a Direct Debit on mine to always take the minimum payment if I don't pay it off myself, plus text alerts whenever a statement is generated and payment is due in the next 10 days.


I do absolutely love the new Z4 though, it's an absolute thing of beauty.
This is the exact car I was looking at getting and had a test drive of, the showroom model in the Misano Blue with the M-Sport package with the 20i engine,

Bloody hell, that is a fine looking car. Quite F-Type like. Do they do a hard-top version?

rinks wrote:Bloody hell, that is a fine looking car. Quite F-Type like. Do they do a hard-top version?

Sadly not. It's a bit of a shame as the Z4 used to have a hardtop convertable option, but now it's soft top only.
Gearbox is Automatic only as well, no manual option.

rinks wrote:Bloody hell, that is a fine looking car. Quite F-Type like. Do they do a hard-top version?

If you want a hard top variant thats essentially the new Toyota Supra, also is a manual (not sure if only though?), I know its not exactly the answer you were probably looking for though.

Robbo-92 wrote:

rinks wrote:Bloody hell, that is a fine looking car. Quite F-Type like. Do they do a hard-top version?

If you want a hard top variant thats essentially the new Toyota Supra, also is a manual (not sure if only though?), I know its not exactly the answer you were probably looking for though.

The Supra also starts at about £14k more expensive than the BMW.

Ah well. Maybe they’ll do one later. Cheers for the info, both of you.

Lagamorph wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:

rinks wrote:Bloody hell, that is a fine looking car. Quite F-Type like. Do they do a hard-top version?

If you want a hard top variant thats essentially the new Toyota Supra, also is a manual (not sure if only though?), I know its not exactly the answer you were probably looking for though.

The Supra also starts at about £14k more expensive than the BMW.

Never looked into the pricing of each as both are far out of my budget but I was expecting similar prices, maybe slightly cheaper in favour of the Supra rather than it being a huge £14K more expensive than the Z4.

rinks wrote:Bloody hell, that is a fine looking car. Quite F-Type like. Do they do a hard-top version?

The hard-top version is the Toyota Supra.

I saw one in Munich, nice enough but maybe a but too much black plastic on the grill?

Kezzer wrote:I saw one in Munich, nice enough but maybe a but too much black plastic on the grill?

The black grill surround is part of the sport pack, otherwise it's silver. I think it looks better with the black surround though. The silver stuck out like a sore thumb.

Today was a gooseberry fool day.

Lovely

Robbo-92 wrote:Lovely

I have my car back now, and I'm £523 lighter for the trouble.

Mate that's gooseberry fool. :/

It's not even that old is it? Previous shape Corsa?
Presumably you can get the parts through work?

At least your car now has an MOT..... staying positive