Page 3 - What to buy
What you want and what you need are two (possibly very) different things. When it comes to buying a car, you need to choose whether your head or your heart wins; assuming it's the former you need to condsider the following:
- Think about what you can afford, but don't just look at the price you're paying. It's the total cost of buying and running the car that matters.
- Buy a colour that won't go out of fashion; bright colours such as orange or yellow aren't a good idea, but there will always be a demand for silver, black and red.
- What do you need the car to be able to do? Don't buy a sportscar if you need to carry a family. Don't pay a premium for a diesel if you do a tiny annual mileage.
- Cars are now taxed according to how much carbon dioxide they emit; the greater the emissions, the more you pay. You can find out all about this at Car Fuel Data (www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk).
- If you sit in traffic a lot, it's worth thinking about buying an auto. They're much smoother than they used to be although cars with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) can take a bit of getting used to - as can paddle shifts on the steering wheel. But bear in mind that any car with an automatic gearbox will use more fuel than an equivalent manual.
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