Well, I googled for five minutes before starting to talk "from my brain", people. Let's serve as an example. Ha, ha.
After all, everybody knows my neurons are at the end of their design life, and few were left intact in my wild youth. So, I investigated for half an hour, for Nacho. I wish everybody could do the same: the net is wonderful.
For example, now I know (or, better said, I guess) that you can sell your car for 45 thousand devaluated argentinians, or so.
Now, a 1.2 Clio costs around 45.000 ar$.
I guess you're thinking of going even in that business: you exchange one car for the other. I confess I didn't read the thread. You, people, or some newcomers, fight and drift, drift and fight. What I mean is that you might already said so or rebutted what I'm saying, sorry. Anyway, I go on.
Perhaps I'm overvaluating your car and the flames on the sides of the car, the extra wide tyres, the 20 inches subwoofer and the vibrating turbo unit shows you never go below 200 kph, or maybe the odometer says 190.000, or EVERYBODY knows you work as a race engineer... and you won't get for your Audi what the Clio costs.
Let me put it in the simpler way possible:
I would go for a Logan or a Megane. It's only 8.000 or 10.000 ar$ more.
You will miss the 220 HP of the 1.8T, but not so much as in a Clio.
The difference with the Clio is that a Megane (or a Logan) is a car you can sell in a couple of years very easily. I think that (if Argentina moves as Colombia) the Megane is an older design.
So, a Logan it is... for the moment. I will contradict myself in a few paragraphs, as usual.
Yes, I know. A friend bought one... for his wife. She doesn't drive (at least she doesn't do that thing I call "to drive").
The issue is this: a Clio depreciates in a quicker way. I estimate you will be spending 3.000 to 5.000 more in that depreciation (in two or three years). So, why don't you spend them now on the car instead of giving it away to wear and tear?
Even Chapman knew how fast depreciate cars that supposedly "fell to pieces after the finish line", remember?
To be sure of depreciation, you could try your local insurance companies confederation or whatever the name is in Argentina: the insurer's association.
In Colombia, we have FASECOLDA. They keep a list of prices for their members, on the net. Those are the best evaluated (and lower than market, slightly) prices. Those are the ones used for insurance agents to make the insurance policies. Ask around, Argentine should have one (I'm sure Manchild can find it, ask him, jajaja). Compare the prices and the depreciation there. It's easy.
My advice: when you buy durables (car, house), stretch your budget as much as you can. You could regret your "Clio" decision for five years...
I remember when I bought my first apartment. I didn't dare to spend more money. I had just married.
I was your age and I did not take in account that my income grew all the time.
I regretted buying that apartment for 10 years... it was too small. Altough I was earning more, that pay increase wasn't enough to get again in the pain of getting a loan, etc. So, I had to live there for a long time while I saved enough money to move. When I finally moved, the price gap between my smaller apartment and some bigger ones in the same building had increased a LOT.
So,
make an effort now: find an extra job, talk to people, get a loan: you will be happy for years and you won't make a bad business when you sell your car.
It's not the same as buying, I don't know, a wallet, that you change almost every year. Invest a little in a "durable". Yes, I know a car is not an investment, is an expense, but you can find yourself trying to get a new one sooner than you think. You can think about the resale value NOW.
I also would go for a japanese car, instead of an european one. Nissan comes to my mind: you can get a basic Tiida for 19.000 dollars, according to nissan.com.ar. So, you need like extra U$5.000, don't you?
I believe (and I might be wrong, and if I am, people will tell me...
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
) that Nissan is the cheapest japanese brand, pound for pound, as they say in boxing: it "gives away" a premium to compete with Toyota, Honda, and even Suzuki (because Suzuki sells more trucks) and competes head to head with Mazda in Japan.
Speaking generally and without any intention to create polemics, japanese gives you durability and efficiency, while europeand brands give you handling and speed.
Legend has it that some Nissan engines can last for 500.000 km. Rumours give you 700.000 km for some Nissan taxis in Mexico City.
Yes, I know those numbers could sound extreme to European or American ears. Belatti understands: you know those cars: the kind they make in Mexico, cars with old technology but tested in customer hands and in latin roads, made in the same plant for 10 years, that probably are pushed by customers beyond manufacturer's cycle of design, because of the cost of capital and taxes for a new car "down here".
Anyway, make an effort, Belatti. Get an 1.6, you won't repent. An alternative is to get a 2 years old car to lessen the "impact": Nissan Argentina gives you a 3 year guarantee and you know that if you choose the owner carefully you can get a car that has been repaired or mantained only in a dealer and driven by the proverbial "old lady" or "careful old man".
Me, I just gave away my last car (you know why) and I'm getting my own version of your Audi. I think I'm getting a BMW 318, 1998 these days. Wish me luck, the bills will kill me.
Oh, and JET, listen to me: don't say to mx_tifosi what to do. I'm not in the mood for mod nagging. I rarely come to the forum, but sulphur rains every time I do, I'm a little worried by the attitudes taken by some newcomers.
This is not a forum for opinions, but for technical discussions. You have to understand the difference, is one of form, but lack of this form is interpreted as rude.
Let's also make clear that mods have to take action in public and we do when appropriate and very rarely. We only use PMs to give people a chance to explain themselves and to confirm to someone that we have taken action on some issue, we don't use PMs to explain forum rules nor to kindly correct members.
I apologize
a bit for the previous paragraphs, I'm working a lot these days (and, confusingly, very happy, btw), so I ONLY spend a lot of time in friends like Belatti here. And friends don't tell irritable, old aged (or even young aged), hurried and under-pressure ex-mods what they can or should do, don't you? Thanks in advance for your silence on this matter (or for only saying: "How wise you are, exalted ex-mod"). I have no time for anything else.
C'mon, guys, we give a lot of time to the forum, give us something back: your benevolence and understanding. I swear to heaven that mx_tifosi, the guy that goes to find news and redact them for you BEFORE going to his uni exams, deserves it.