Driving  a bargain

Two for the price of one. Forty-five percent off.  Car dealerships are starting to look more like  discount stores. Ben Oliver picks the best deals

It seems that an estate agent’s office is the only place lonelier than a car dealership right now – new car sales in Ireland were 54% down year-on-year in October and down in Spain 40%. But if you actually do have money to spend you’ll be met with some astonishing deals.  

For readers based in mainland Europe there is the enticing possibility of ordering a left-hand drive vehicle in the UK at UK prices, which have not yet changed to compensate for the collapse in value of the British pound. This is a complete reversal of the situation when the single currency first launched. Back in 2000 the euro was so sick that a whole grey import market blossomed and suddenly there were continental cars all over London. Now, suddenly, all the movement is in the other direction. An  Audi A5 ordered now in left-hand guise  from Audi UK, including a 10% discount,  will cost you €10,000 less than the same  car purchased in France.  

Meanwhile, the UK is suffering so badly from the downturn that there are crazy bargains to be had, so you might just end up wanting to buy a right-hand driver because of the price. Among the crazier deals is UK online car broker Broadspeed’s offer of two new Dodge Avengers for the price of one. The Avenger typifies the kind of car on which you’re likely to do the keenest deal: a conventional car with a relatively large, thirsty engine and a mainstream badge with little image. It’s also made by Chrysler, the most imperilled of America’s Big Three carmakers and, unlike Ford and GM, the only one that has no local, European subsidiary. As a result buyers deserve deep discounts to compensate for the risk of their dealers disappearing. 

Other UK deals we’ve spotted recently include a new Jaguar XJ at 25% off list price, and the frugal Citroen Xsara Picasso at 45% off its list price of £15,600 (€18,350). The half-price new car might not be far off. 

The used-car market has been  hit just as hard, with industry analysts EurotaxGlass’s noting that the biggest savings are to be had on supercars. Several years of rapid sales growth from Aston Martin and Bentley in particular has meant that large numbers of used cars are arriving on the market at the worst possible time; some models are losing €5,880 a month.  

Take it from bitter personal experience: your correspondent acquired a €94,000, three-year-old Bentley Continental GT  six months ago. Its trade-in value is now  just €62,350. 

Possibly, the gloom will lift in 2009 as pent-up demand intersects with lower prices. Bentley certainly seems to share the optimism: it’s launching a yet-more exclusive version of its fabulous Azure convertible at the Los Angeles motor show. But with a price likely to exceed €300,000, perhaps its buyers are so wealthy as to be untroubled by the world’s woes.  

First Impressions: Skoda Fabia Greenline Estate

This vehicle is good because it’s a Skoda Fabia, not because it’s particularly green. Like all Skodas it has won lots of awards from customers who like robust, straightforward cars for reasonable money. But some of the goodness of the regular Fabia is lost, such as a quiet engine, while the compensatory lowered fuel costs of the Greenline are not sufficiently great to be worth the steep pricing: it costs €300 more than the non-Greenline 1.4 TDI PD 80bhp model on which it is based. 

True, the combined EU urban/extra-urban consumption of the Greenline is claimed to be half a litre of diesel less per 100km. And CO2 emissions are shaved by 13 grams. But we’re pretty sure that all these benefits could be attained by sympathetic driving techniques, which can easily yield 20% in economy terms. 

Conversely, as we demonstrated in our week-long test, drive the Greenline at higher motorway speeds – the typical 140km/h of a European motorway - and the claimed range of 1,108km is a fantasy. The computer suggested that we achieved less than two-thirds of that figure. 

The tricks employed by this car and its VW Polo Bluemotion and Seat Ibiza equivalents, all part of the VW group, involve taller gearing, lowered suspension, high-rolling resistance eco-tyres and an aerodynamic shield under the chassis, plus a diesel particulate filter. We’re left wondering why these very simple tweaks weren’t introduced on all models 20 years ago. As for the particulate filter, the fact that it’s not mandatory is mildly scandalous as anyone stuck behind a smoky, older VW diesel will testify. 

The taller gearing, engine settings and special tyres do make the Greenline a different experience to drive, however. On start up and at all town speeds the engine is intrusively noisy. Meanwhile, first gear is strangely subdued whereas second and third are so long-legged that they burst forth for seeming ages on a wave of torque.  

Paradoxically for a self-professed eco-car, this makes the Greenline clunky in city driving and delightful on longer trips. It belongs on the motorway, where noise is low and 100km/h is a mere 1,700rpm in fourth, yes fourth, gear.  

On the plus side, the three-cylinder engine has an engaging character not totally dissimilar acoustically from an old Porsche 911. On the minus side, handling is not assured in the manner of Renault’s equivalent diesel Clio, and it certainly isn’t ‘sporty’.  

In short, if going green is your thing stick with small diesels but green your driving habits or better still drive less. If you want a Skoda then the Greenline option is only worth considering if you spend a lot of the time covering long distances.