Used Cars - Has There Been a Better Time to Buy?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Mark_Creese]Mark Creese

There's a winner and a loser in every situation. For every goal Cristiano Ronaldo scores, there's a sobbing goalkeeper picking the ball out of his net. For every Dark Knight, there's a Lesbian Vampire Killers. The struggling car industry is currently a major loser because of the recession, but as a result, we the general public benefit. Yes we can't sell our cars for as much as we could a year ago, but to buy we're in control. The used car marketplace is full of fantastic cars that have plummeted in value, leaving us with a vast array of Harrods quality goods at Pound Stretcher prices.

I recently picked up a Hyundai Coupe F2 Evolution of which only 1,500 were made. It cost £20,000 new and comes with 155bhp, 16 inch racing alloy wheels, deep front bumper, a large rear spoiler to aid down force, leather interior, lambs wool carpets, CD player, cruise control, air conditioning, electric sunroof and windows. In short, pretty much everything you'd want and then some more. The cost of this rare, highly equipped, low mileage and fun to drive car? £1,500. I appreciate it's Korean and their biggest export is Park Ji-Sung to Manchester United, but whilst the build quality isn't the best, it will murder anything up to a Honda Civic Type R on the road. Therefore I've been pretty smug the past couple of months until this week when a friend of mine turned up in a 2000 plate Audi A6. Now as we all know, Audi are made to the highest standards, so the fact this car is nine years old is irrelevant - there wasn't a panel out of place or a squeak to be heard. The A6 came with so many interior toys my head felt like it was going to explode. I even got lost at one point due the seats being so vast. The car had also been upgraded at birth to having the S6 sport pack, which included an up-rated sports exhaust, exterior styling and as far as I could tell, a badge on the steering wheel to remind you of the extra cost. With a 2.8 litre engine pumping out 210bhp it felt like I was driving a 5 star hotel, just really fast. Have I mentioned it was a Quattro? Thought not. Yep not only was the A6 plush and fast but the legendary 4 wheel drive system meant it was so finely poised that instead of it handling like a 5 star hotel, it was much more sports saloon. When it was new, the A6 cost £38,000. Used car price - £2,000. No it wasn't stolen and there really wasn't anything wrong with it. Good old recession eh? Hopefully the above examples highlight just how much metal you can get for your money. My pick of which used car to pick up though has to be [http://www.sytner.co.uk/audi/used-cars.aspx]the Audi TT. With the new model launched last year, there's a wealth of choice on the used car market. This means costs will be lower and the chances of you getting a pristine second hand bargain all the higher.

When it was launched in February 1999, the Audi TT was a fresh blast in a coupe market that was stagnant. The resurgence in the market is in no small part down to the success of the TT and the Hyundai Coupe. The styling to this day is impressive, even if it does have a bit of the Porsche Boxster about it. By this I mean if you don't pay attention it's hard to know which end is the front and the back. The simple shape works well though and needless to say it's put together amazingly well - expect nothing less from any used examples you view. When they were first launched there were a few issues regarding handling at high speed, or more precisely, the lack of it. Never fear as Audi added a rear spoiler and a stability control system (ESP) to overcome this problem. You can contact any dealer to check this work has been undertaken on your car - although the lack of spoiler would rather unsubtly give the game away. The 180bhp standard engine is decent, but keep an eye out for the 225bhp version which will hit 150mph and delivers a 0-60mph time of 6.9 seconds. A 2000 example with 225bhp will cost in the region of £5,500 - £6,500 if you want low mileage. Audi engines tend to outlive everything else, so high mileage examples shouldn't be ruled out if you want to save money. As a friend of mine said the other day "I don't know why everyone is complaining about the recession, as far as recessions go, this one has been a roaring success". In the world of used cars he was spot on.

Mark Creese is a writer and a car enthusiast. Here he discusses the used car market and in particular [http://www.sytner.co.uk/audi/used-cars.aspx]the Used Audi TT.

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