Buying a new car? Here’s your 5 top tips

It’s a nerve wracking experience buying a new car especially as we have all heard our fair share of horror stories.

However it needn’t be that bad because we’ve compiled a list of our top tips to stick to when you’re buying a new car.

•    It is essential to have a plan before hand as if your dealing with salesmen you want to have a strong idea about what you want.
•    So decide on the type of car you need before hand, it’s best to have a few options for this. What will the car be used for? You need to think along these lines.
•    Know your budget and stick to it. If you are taking out a loan it is essential to be certain of your total monthly payments, using a car loan calculator will allow you to be confident in your likely costs.
•    Make sure there are no additional extras added to your purchase i.e. delivery charges or the transferring of number plates.

•    Be aware about how much the car I likely to cost you to run; likely fuel costs, common faults, cost of parts etc.
•    Factor depreciation into your decision as you need your car to hold some value if you intend to sell it on after a few years.
•    Test drive. Possibly the most important tip. It’s the best chance you have of identifying faults and issues with the car. Also you need to find out if the car is suitably comfortable and suits your needs.

New registrations are released in March and September, which is also when most people start thinking about buying new cars, if that’s your plan be sure to go for something with an NCAP 5 star rating and for cost purposes some of the new fuel efficient technology that’s available in most ranges.

Fleet of foot: a short history of Audi cars part 1

The name Audi is a real example of visionary branding . Asked for a top-of-the-head to guess as to its meaning, most of us would probably come up with something similar. A surname, a concatenation of two meaningless but attractive syllables, etc. But the name is actually a Latin translation of founder August Horch's surname. So, Audi actually means "Listen!".


Established in the German city of Zwickau in 1909, when Horch set up a manufacturing plant, Audi's first product offerings appeared not long after. Audi won early acclaim with three consecutive successes (starting 1912) in the annual International Austrian Alpine Run - an long distance motor event that was regarded as one of the most challenging around.


The company then continued to innovate - producing quality vehicles (and even the first left had drive car) until the majority shareholding was acquired by a third party and Audi was merged into the Auto Union company.


It wasn't until much later, decades in fact, the Audi re-emerged as a brand in its own right. By time the 60s were drawing to a close, Audi's star was in the ascendant, with the Audi 100 going on to become massively successful and ensure the future of the marque.


Vorsprung durch Technik is now synonymous with Audi - a bold advertising slogan in that it's not only in German, it also uses vocabulary outwith the Ja, nein and Guten Morgen available to most non-German speakers. Pronounced four-shproong- doorch-teknik, it now encapsulates what many value about Audi - its ability to innovate, or as the slogan would have it "advance through technology".


In the next instalment of this occasional series we'll take a look at some of the models the company produced during the 1970s and 80s.

Audi vs BMW billboard wars continue

A fun spat between two of the world's leading car manufacturers?

Or, ad men being silly?

What do you think?

Love the new Audi A5 ad!

Hi - we've always been of the opinion that the A5 is one of the smartest looking cars currently produced by Audi. There is a very smart new A5 TV advert which has been pretty prominent on TV screens here in the UK - incase you haven't seen it yet, here in its in glorious HD! Enjoy........
 
 What do you think of the A5 - is it up there with Audi's best cars? Does it make a good business lease car? Let us know!

Audi cars lead fleet management survey

Leading UK fleet management services company Fleet Alliance have provided statistics on their most popular cars of 2011, and Audi cars come out on top. Audi led the manufacturers table with 19.1% of cars leased, leading VW in second with 15.8% and Ford in third with 15%. Of the individual models leased by businesses the Audi A3 led the way with 7.9%, followed by the VW Golf in second with 6.5%.

Here are the full tables from Fleet Alliance:

Top 10 Manufacturers Manufacturer % Audi 19.1 Volkswagen 15.8 Ford 15.0 Vauxhall 9.7 BMW 8.6 Skoda 4.8 Nissan 3.0 Mercedes 2.8 Kia 2.5 Volvo 2.3

Top 10 Models Model % A3 7.9 Golf 6.5 Insignia 5.6 Fiesta 5.6 Passat 5.3 Mondeo 4.8 A4 4.6 Astra 2.9 Octavia 2.9 3-Series 2.8

Will Audi be able to sustain this fleet performance throughout 2012? We shall see........

Back on the road

After two and a half years in the wilderness, we've decided its time to get this blog up and running again. Most of us who write the blog now have the time on our hands that we need to write about the mighty Audi. We already have some great content planned, which we aim to post over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here's an awesome slice of Audi to get our engines revved up again - Autocar drive two of our favourite cars.

Thanks for reading, enjoy.