What to have in mind when buying a new car

What do you have in mind when you buy a car?

Whether is a brand new car or a second hand one you have to consider several factors.

1.   First and most important you have to know exactly how much you want to spend on your future car. Studies have shown that more than half of people who want to buy a new car get to spend more than they had in mind at first. Only few of us can finish with success a price negotiation of the automobile at the dealership. Before you get carried away with your purchase you have to have in mind that your budget is your best friend and your beautiful and powerful new car will cost at best half of its price in a few years. It is known that cars are not the best investment of your money; in fact, a car is not an investment at all. It is a satisfaction of your needs and desires. That being said...let's get to number 2 on our list.

2. How much time will you spend in your car and what will you do with it? I know you’ll say you're gonna drive it but...how will you drive it, how much and where? These are also very important questions to have in mind when you go to the bank and cash out your money for the car.

If you spend a lot of time in your car you will love to have a comfortable and economic car. You drive short distances? Then you don’t have to worry much about fuel consumption so get that v8 you’ve always wanted and enjoy the sound.

Where do you drive it? If you drive a lot in the city you might want to look on lists of compacts and cars that don’t require much parking space and can be handled easily in the nowadays crowded cities because you will be ticketed if you don’t properly park your big SUV. If you live in the country-side and you don’t have to go that often in the city then you can satisfy your forever desires to drive the biggest and meanest car on the road. Go ahead…buy it…enjoy it...you’ll love it…and if you live in the city and you love that kind of car…first buy a cottage or a holiday home somewhere and then you can go for the car. You’ll thank me later for that…

3. What kind of person are you? And I mean…active, laid back, elegant? Your car has to match your life style because you will not look that good in your brand new Mercedes with sneakers, shorts and that sporty t-shirt you love. Don’t you worry there’s a car for everybody and you’ll find “the one” but you have to be in some kind of connection with the car you drive not only for the visual aspect but also for yourself. You will feel better if you drive a sporty car and you are an active person, always on the run and you will love your comfortable Mercedes if you like comfortable and smooth rides.

4. Think also about your family when you buy your car. Do you have kids? Do you have a dog? How often do you go on road trips? Your wife won’t be that happy when you tell her your future car will be a beautiful coupe. Or how will you react when your new born baby will throw up on your leather upholstery? But let me tell you my favourite…think about your dog “playing” with the upholstery and caring less about his master spending so much money on the upgrades at the dealership.

5. That being said the most important advice I can give you after you had the patience of reading this whole post is….choose your next car with your hear! I know you will hear how good another car is compared to the one you like and would love to purchase or how one has the best price/performance ratio in its class. Don’t worry about that…well…worry about that but not that much. Always choose “the one” with your heart because if you like one car and you choose another one just because it’s the safest, the most awarded and with the best reviews you will always look at “the one” on the streets when you pass by it and you’ll have that feeling that you’ve made the wrong choice or that you missed all the good things your dream car would have offered you every day when you would have turned the ignition on. 

Love your car and take care of it because you’ll be almost always paid back.

Would you smash your Lamborghini ?!

Ok…so you are a People's Republic of China resident and you have lots of money. After a long debate about whether you should buy a yacht, a penthouse or maybe a spacecraft you decide that you’d better buy a nice fast car because it would be much easier for you to show off in front of your friends and it would help you highlight your social status. You finally decide on a Lamborghini and you are as excited you can be after a few miles with your brand new car. But, surprise surprise, your car needs maintenance much earlier than you were scheduled. After the Chinese mechanics take care of your car you find out with amazement that your car still refuses to work. What do you do then? You can sue the dealer or you can return the car and ask for your money back. Well, in our story, the owner of the car chose the third option. He gathered a team of workers from a factory he owned and gave them a free hand to trash his car! Good opportunity to get revenge from your boss if he hasn't given you a raise, right?

BMW Audi or Mercedes?

Let’s start with how the three brands were viewed a decade ago and what their brand identity was like back then. Mercedes was the choice of the business man who looked for comfort, safety and a stateliness that you would have find only from a Bentley or Rolls Royce. During this time, BMW was the choice of active people, those who had the money but didn’t share the same convenience to the owners of Mercedes. Audi on the other hand didn’t have a well established place in the premium class. This changed in the meantime. BMW started producing cars that became more and more comfortable and, although sportsmanship is the watchword among the Munich engineers, the emphasis on comfort lately has become greater. Mercedes does exactly the opposite to the astonishment of all and is introducing in its design and road behaviour a touch of sportiness that completely lacked a decade ago. What did Audi do all this time? Audi relies on both comfort and sportiness. Its aggressive design models are showing in their road behaviour more comfort than sportiness in this sense having a word to say also the front wheel drive traction which is predominant between Audi’s models. In the last decade the quality of the cars that have rolled off the factory gates in Ingolstadt increased along with the awards that they have received and exponentially with their increased sales. This way they strengthen the relationship between the brand and their older customers but also with newer ones who came from Mercedes, BMW or ones who just stepped in the upper class of premium brands.

The question remains: BMW Audi or Mercedes?

I would choose all of them….once at a time!