Autocar - First for car news and reviews

My dream car right now is an Audi RS4 Avant, the most recently discontinued model.

Sadly despite rising fuel costs, astronomical road tax and barny insurance, the cheapest decent second hand one is still £37k.

Question is, what novel ideas do you boys have on how can I buy one?  I have heard of various financing packages, but none have really caught my eye.

My situation is that I could afford to spend around 400 quid per mth and there is probably £3k of equity in my current car.  Your input most welcome.

Oh Dear!

How can I break this gently : Ever heard the term never in a month of Sundays?

An RS4 will be your sort of money in about 4/5 years time, probably just about when they are going to cost a bomb to run.

Better off lowering your aspirations to an S4 Avant at about 16k-20k. You will get very similar everyday performance for half the money.

Its a sugar coated bitter pill.  

Late Knight was Right last Night....bit of poetry there, short of saving up there never is a short cut to the car of your dreams and then there is no point if running one is a bit of a financial stretch...personally I like the old RS2 although they are in the £9-10K envelope still. Certainly the S cars seem to depreciate quite rapidly and offer a lot of car for not a huge amount of money.

If you're prepared to take 10 years to pay for it, own your own home and want to take an equity release loan (assuming you have any equity) £34k will cost you around £380 per month on SVR.

To get into the car of my dreams, at the time, I had three jobs.  I was shagged most days, but soon saved enough (basically what I earned from the two part-time jobs over and above my full-time job).  The most important thing about that though, was that it has made it easier for me to trade up when I want to change.

Aside from the answers above of earning more money, the only other obvious answer is "rob a bank" (or better still, set-up your own bank).  Alternatively, how about finding something much cheaper as the car of your dreams?

Schwenck:

(or better still, set-up your own bank). 

In the current economic climate?

ah pants.

i quite liked the idea of setting up my own bank and then robbing myself.

sadly taking on additional jobs isn't really an option since i seem to work 10-12 hours shifts now as it is! 

i could take equity out of the house.... that is an interesting option, though given current market i don't fancy being in negative equity.

an RS2 is a nice idea, though i always seem to own cars costing around £10k.  typically i have bought using personal loans over 3-5 years, usually costing a matter of 300-400 per month.  though it is true that an RS2 if it went wrong, wouldn't be a cheap car to maintain.

all this makes me think of another idea to get me kicks.... i'll start a new thread for that.

 Friend never buy such a car thats going to cost something you can't afford.Better choose something that is close to your realistic budget and buy that. Even if you somehow finance your car, the spares and repair costs may put your finances in dire straits. The Audi RS4 Avant, your dream car, I suggest, should remain a dream till you can easily afford to buy and maintain it. Work harder, get pay raises, earn more  and these will lead you closer to your dream car.

The best advice I have ever read was from Steve Cropley years ago - work out how much you can actually afford at a stretch, then halve it and spend that amount on the car.  This way you will get more enjoyment by not worrying about it breaking, getting nicked, or where you leave it etc, you will also not be worrying about money!

Well beleive it or not the economy isn't going as far down hill as you might be told to believe by the news or press so setting up a bank is still an option. Unfortunately you would have to take a loan out to set it up! In the end the only sure fire way of doing it is to take out a loan.

Either that or sell everything in your house you don't want and your current car and get a different car that is similar but cheaper.

Unfortunately a compromise has to be made but if you decide to do it i'm pretty sure that you won't be longing the RS4 as much.

I personally would have 2 cars. One for everyday mundane stuff, shopping, Kids etc. and one for the weekends.

 For 30k you could buy a very good second hand V70 Volvo. More luggage space than you could ever want and fairly entertaining if you opt for a T5 (try one before you laugh!). The change would be more than enough for.. well.. You don't need to think about luggage or kids anymore..so.. Lotus elise s2 ? caterham r500? mitsibushi Evo ? the choices would be endless.

Just a thought :)