Selling a nearly new car?

[Seastormer]

I did too. And just to clarify, I'm not 'on it' 100% mad-boy committed all the time. I drive slow and sensible, round town and so on. I was expecting better mpg, had I known in advance I'd hate it's lack of traction and fuel economy I'd never have sold that Passat!!

I'll never buy another new car again in my life, what a waste of time this has turned into!

I don't live that far from you, and I have had no traction problems (discounting the snow on Thursday) plus the mpg of 44 is the standard gov approved fig just to compare cars with. I can get this on a long run in Eco mode, but my overall is about 29.5 (measured from fill up to fill up) Comparing this near 300 BHP car to my 1996 Biza GTI that only had 130 BHP and only ever got 28 mpg no matter how carefully you drove, I think the 280 is a fantastic car.
Think you bought the wrong car if you want to get high mpg all the time, but if you sell early you will get really stung in the wallet.

 

[AndrewJB]

1) It's too much power for FWD to cope with

The book figures are always achieved in a controlled environment and to achieve them yourself you will have to drive very steadily down hill slightly.

I got 412miles to a tank on the way back from Spa.. Compared to the 405miles my MK2 LCR achieved, Taking into consideration that the mk3 has a smaller tank than the MK2.

 

[neil_f225]

Interesting that you rate it so badly when it has had various reports saying it is one of the best fwd hot hatches on the market. Recent autocar video had it faster round a track than a golf r. Obviously it won't have the grip of an evo especially in the recent weather conditions. Evo magazine rate their long term cupra highly. Can't see how all these road testers are saying it is great (and they drive just about every car on the market) and yet you reckon it's terrible?

 

[RabRS]

While I understand that you are all leaping to the defence of your cars, I'm not here to discuss if the car is brilliant or not. I am saying that it's not what I expected, it's not as economical as it's advertised at, it's not as fast as I hoped it would be, and it doesn't grip like I want it to on wet bumpy A and B roads. It's just not the car for me. So, I thought I'd ask if anyone has any advice on selling a nearly new car.

If you are only here to tell me I'm a **** for buying the wrong car then stop wasting your time. If it was at all possible, I'd turn back the clock and get my old Passat and Evo back.

I'm not expecting it to give me 60mpg, I was just expecting better than its giving me now.... Maybe it is a bit tight and will improve with miles. Who knows. I'm just pretty low and disappointed that the first new car I ever bought at HUGE expense isn't anywhere near as good as I hoped it would be. Perhaps that's due to me setting too high a standard for it to live up to. Perhaps it's because all the internet vids I saw were on dry tracks in the summer. But now, in rural argyll with no motorways in sight it's not much fun on the twisty wet roads I spend all my time on.

Thanks for all the advice..

 

[RabRS]

Interesting that you rate it so badly when it has had various reports saying it is one of the best fwd hot hatches on the market. Recent autocar video had it faster round a track than a golf r. Obviously it won't have the grip of an evo especially in the recent weather conditions. Evo magazine rate their long term cupra highly. Can't see how all these road testers are saying it is great (and they drive just about every car on the market) and yet you reckon it's terrible?

Go read my first post again and quote the part where I say it's terrible...

 

[KenTT]

After a month and a bit in my new Cupra, I'm not really that impressed with it tbh, and really wish I hadn't bought a new car.

Anyways, has anyone any experience of selling a nearly new car? I would assume that selling private isn't going to be very fruitful as these cars are sold on finance most of the time. Has anyone tried to sell it back to the dealer?

And to answer all the questions before they're asked,

1) It's too much power for FWD to cope with, and it's either understeering or the TCS system has come down like a hammer.

2) Steering has NO feel, so when the car starts it's understeer trick, it's difficult to notice.

3) They said 42mpg. I get 22mpg. I get 300 miles to a 55L tank. With the Evo, I got 240 miles to a 44L tank.

Aside from that, brillliant car, comfy, handles well. I think the 184 TDi must be the one to go for.

My wife likes it, but refuses to buy it off me....

It's unfortunate, new cars loose some much of there initial value at the very start of ownership. I feel your pain having done something very similar many years ago. Research is so important.

Could you try throwing yourself at the mercy of the dealer to see what sort of a deal you could get on an diesel FR, at lease you would be making monthly savings at the pump straight away.

 

[RabRS]

It's unfortunate, new cars loose some much of there initial value at the very start of ownership. I feel your pain having done something very similar many years ago. Research is so important.

Could you try throwing yourself at the mercy of the dealer to see what sort of a deal you could get on an diesel FR, at lease you would be making monthly savings at the pump straight away.

Tbh, I don't really want an FR. I don't have a commute, so no huge savings to be had there. I'm just disappointed that it's not what I was expecting. If I sell it, then I'd buy something else entirely.

After Christmas I'll phone the dealer and see how far he wants to pull my pants down....

 

[neil_f225]

Go read my first post again and quote the part where I say it's terrible...

agree that you a don't say it's terrible but personally sounds like your implying it...... no grip, understeer, poor steering feel, poor fuel economy. Anyway back to your original question, I was once told that you lose about 20% of the value straight away if you try and sell a new car on within the first few months. We all know dealers never give a great price. Would you try selling it privately as you'll likely get more?

 

[JK1]

The car loses 20% of its value just through the VAT, so I'm sure it'll be more than that...

 

[robin cur]

I do feel for you I made a mistake with my last car, got it brand new could not get any discount on the car as it had only been out a few months cost 19k (208 gti), the car was great to drive, mpg was fantastic for a 16 turbo but just was not the car for me. I just could not get to grips with the way you looked over the steering wheels at the dials and could not see all of see all of the dials. Also timing chain problems just had a few other thing I did not like so was never100% happy owning it.

Took a big loss 7.5k in under a year and had to pay another 10k towards the cupra.
You must do whats best for you and you alone and be happy, life is to short to worry last year at this time 1 had 20k in the bank and a nice 2012 Ford focus now I have a cupra and £350 in the bank could be dead next week (58 years old).

As I said to you in my last reply good luck on what you deside

 

[kazand]

I think , either way , you are going to be shafted. Have a look at what prices used Cupra's are going for - probably ex demos be best - and that will give you some idea. Prices will vary throughout the country and the time of year though. How did you pay for the car, if its on finance you will be stung even more.
Personally I'd give it some more time, the initial large chunk of depreciation happened the moment you drove it out of the showroom , a few more months will make little difference in the price. As others have said, change the tyres. Or, bit of a daft question, have you checked tyre pressures? I bet the dealer didn't on pdi.... What mode are you in, is the diff lock set at 'Cupra' ?
We've had several Leon's, ranging from a Mk1 1.6 to the current Cupra, initial impressions are handling and traction wise it's probably one of the best fwd cars I've driven. I've never driven an Evo , but I would assume given the 4wd and all the other kit it would handle and grip like few others, certainly a Subaru Legacy I had would pull away (initially) better than others particularly on wet/slippy roads.
It's disappointing when something doesn't come up to expectations (my ex wife for one) but I think you may have been a bit optimistic. The official fuel figures are 80110cks , best one to take is the urban (32) and work round that. Don't know your roads, if in the wilds of Bonny Scotland it's difficult as you've no motorways or dc's to do steady speeds on. Certainly on my GF's daily commute the R used to average around 26, weekend runs would see better, but certainly no better than 38-40.
I wish you luck if you do decide to sell, and in trying to find what you want. As someone said previously, you probably won't find it in one vehicle.

 

[JackReacher]

Clean the car up, make it look it's best, phone a few local dealers and book appointments to go on and see them to get offers on the car. Make sure they know you are getting offers elsewhere and they're more likely to give you their best price. Then sell it for the best price you can get. I would avoid private, you're likely to wait a long time for a buyer and likely deal with a few idiots. Very few people buy newish cars with cash when they can get finance through a dealer. I recently sold a 3 year old A1, took 6 weeks to sell a 10k car privately. I had several people ask me if I did finance or monthly payments!! I spent approximately £100 advertising it, and had to deal with timewasters and rearrange my life around people wanting to view it. I've always sold older performance cars very easily privately, but new mainstream cars are a real hassle.

 

[JackReacher]

I'd also add, you'll experience the biggest hit selling now. Percentage wise you won't loose much more relatively keeping it an extra 5/6 months to see how you get on with it in better weather. Best of luck anyway.

 

[dieselface]

I would stick with it for now. Yeah the cars not what you wanted/expected but I'm sure you can live with it for the time being.

Then when the loss figures are not as ridiculous you can take a more palletable loss by which time you'll have eyed up and hopefully researched to death a suitable replacement.

 

[simonali]

I know how you feel. The car is nowhere near as good as all the magazine reviews made out. They probably all drove the car on a smooth track in Spain, where it probably works quite well, but it's a poor road car that is unable to put its power down properly on anything but warm dry Tarmac. I fail to see why I would want a car with this much performance when I can't use it 90% of the time? To counter this, though, I have recently put 18" wheels and tyres on the car and it has made massive improvements. The tyres are Goodyears, which usually have softer sidewalls and the car is now much more comfortable and breaks traction far less often.

To add to the misery I was offered just £17,985 for mine a couple of weeks ago as a trade in against a Golf R. As the dealer hilariously failed to offer me any sort of discount on the Golf I walked out with only a brochure!

 

[kmanmx]

I can't really imagine any powerful RWD cars being any better (in regards to traction) in cold wet weather.

 

[simonali]

Evo magazine rate their long term cupra highly. Can't see how all these road testers are saying it is great (and they drive just about every car on the market) and yet you reckon it's terrible?

Magazine testers don't pay 30 grand of their own money for the car, though, do they?! They get given the car by the press office and can't really give it a good slagging off because said press office might be less inclined to deal with them a second time. It's a lot easier to overlook the shortcomings of a car when it hasn't cost you anything...

Speaking of evo, the tester reckons dropping the front tyre pressures down to 28-30 psi has helped enormously. There's a free mod that might be worth trying?

 

[RabRS]

Thanks for all the good advice. I will just have to live with it for the time being unless any of you lot want a Cupra. I'm not really keen to lose 10 grand just now, so will live with it. It's all minor a roads here, with some b and some unclassified. No dual carriageways or motorways in sight. Probably why the economy is crap.

 

[kazand]

Speaking of evo, the tester reckons dropping the front tyre pressures down to 28-30 psi has helped enormously. There's a free mod that might be worth trying?

I'd be careful of dropping pressures by much, the 35 series fitted are prone to pothole damage ( I know from experience) on the sidewall, given the roads you are on I'd be tempted to change to 18's anyway. I reckon the 19's were one of the minus points on previous R and if 18's had been an option on the new one I'd have had it. Standard Golf R comes on 18's

 

[mrlynch]

This is an interesting thread, i've had similar feelings on and off over the last couple of months, although mine is leased so i've got it for 2 years regardless.

Your economy seems quite low, I average 30mpg and that's driving hard - on a run I often see 37ish.

For me the main issue that lets the car down is traction in anything other than perfect conditions.

I think there are 2 reasons for this, firstly the Bridgestone tyres aren't all that. I'm seriously considering ditching them for some Pilot Sports at some point. I might also try lowering the PSI that simonali mentioned - have you got a link to the Evo article?

The second reason is most of the traction the reviewers rave about seems to come from the diff doing it's thing. As I mentioned in one of my own threads I haven't quite found the diff to be 100% dependable - sometimes there is a small delay before it kicks in. You almost have to think against your natural instincts to get the most out of the car. When you are accelerating our of a corner and the under steer kicks in it's natural to back off a little, instead, it seems you have to keep it nailed to get it to kick in and transfer the power.

Obviously if you are going to try this find a corner with a couple of lanes to slide into if it all goes wrong