The Volkswagen Polo has been named the European Car of the Year 2010. The new supermini beat stiff competition from the Toyota iQ and Vauxhall Astra to secure top spot.
The European Car of the Year is decided by 59 car experts from 23 countries. Their objective is to choose the most outstanding new car to go on sale in the past 12 months. Jurors vote twice: first to select a short-list of seven from the new cars launched in Europe, then again to choose the winner.
This year’s competition was especially close, with the Polo top of 25 judges’ score sheets, and the small Toyota iQ city car the favourite of 20 jurors. One of the UK judges, Steve Cropley of Autocar magazine, said: “This year’s results show that the body of COTY jurors firmly believes that small, economical cars to run were the best of this year’s crop.
“The Polo is a very complete, very refined car which delivers all the consistent qualities VW has become so well known for. However, given its unusual layout, controversial looks and premium price, the iQ did amazingly well, and it was nice to see good support for the Astra, whose maker, GM Europe, was victorious this year with the Insignia executive car. The E-Class Mercedes, considered by many to be the maker’s best saloon model for years, was also well supported.”
Prices for the new Polo start from £9,435. That’s a lot to pay, even for a supermini car as refined and classy as this one. They might not have that showroom-fresh smell, but Autoquake.com can put a used Volkswagen Polo on your drive from just £4,590 – less than half the price of the cheapest new Polo.
Like the award winning new model, the previous Polo is a refined, roomy and comfortable small car. There’s no doubt the new Polo is impressive, but is it worth double what a 55-plate car would cost you?
The new car scrappage scheme won’t be extended again. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has confirmed there will be no more financial incentives for scrapping old cars when the current pot of money runs out.
Funding is expected to last until the end of February 2010, when the revival in new car sales looks set to stagnate.
That’s bad news if you’ve been thinking of buying a new car next spring and have a suitable trade in. It’s really bad news if you sell new cars for a living.
However much the scheme has benefitted new car dealers, the truth is that only a limited section of the car buying public has a decade old car to part-exchange and the money to pay for a brand new car. Even before the pot of scrappage cash runs empty it pays to remember that for most of us, a used car continues to be a more sensible buy.
A new car, even one with a scrappage discount applied, loses value most quickly over the first 12 months it is on the road. The rate at which cars lose value slows as they get older, so why not let someone else take the first big hit of depreciation and buy a used car at a fraction of what it cost two or three years ago?
By the time a new car reaches its third birthday, it could be worth just a third of the original list price. Is that new car smell really worth it?
Scrappage scheme or no scrappage scheme, the smart money continues to buy used.
It may be cold and dark outside, but now is the time to buy a convertible at Autoquake.com. We have over 50 drop-tops in stock at prices which have plummeted by an average of £1,403 (10%) in just two months.
The market for convertibles always goes quiet in winter, but this year’s price drops are steeper than normal. Smart buyers can take advantage of this seasonal trend to buy a car for hundreds of pounds less than they might pay in spring or summer.
The Autoquake.com stock of Audi convertibles is on average £1,923 (10.7%) cheaper than two months ago. Used Peugeot convertibles are down £960 (11.5%) and used Renaults have dropped by £1307 (15.1%).
In spite of Britain’s reputation for bad weather, wet days make up less than half the year (153 days annually in London according to the BBC Weather Website), and winter is only slightly wetter than summer, so there’s no need to be put off running a convertible all-year round.
There are 15 wet days in December. That’s just three more than in July. Even if the weather turns, modern drop-tops are well insulated against the cold, and the latest generation of cars with folding metal hard-tops in place of a fabric roof are just like coupés with the roof raised.
The speed at which convertible car prices are falling is outstripping the rest of the used car market. Autoquake.com’s stock has seen an average fall of 7.6% from September to November. While convertible prices have dropped 10%, estates have fallen by 8.3%, five-seat MPVs have dropped by 7.9%, and executive saloons have lost 6.9%.
Buyers shouldn’t expect these low prices to last forever. Autoquake.com expects prices to stabilise or rise slightly in January, and convertible prices will pick up in the spring. So now is the time to buy a bargain.