[mowflow]

Hmm, a PCP on a 6-12 month old car will no doubt be worse. The % rate on the AUC cars is hideous so for a car that is still relatively new it can often work out cheaper to finance a brand new one with a good discount on it.

As an example. A friend was recently thinking about getting an M135i. he went to the sales guy i used and got offered a similar discount to myself. He then spotted an ex demo for sale at another dealers. It had only done 2k miles and had over £6k off the price, the salesman said he was sure it would be cheaper than a new car but when he worked it out it was £50 a month more due to the used finance rate.

It seems that one of the big factors in this is going to be the excess mileage charge. How many miles over will you be at the end of the agreement on the 116i?

The diesels can be very efficient if you aim for it. Even in my 125d I can get an indicated 60mpg on my commute if I put a bit of effort in i.e. don't touch sport, keep it to 60mph, eco on the motorway etc.

I really wanted a 125i (135i really but I'm not completely unrealistic) but after using the whichcar? diesel v petrol comparison thing it showed me that the break even point would be in the first year and the overall difference in the cost of ownership would be close to £3k in 4 years.