gangzoom

^^ Same numbers give £373 rather than £381, so pretty spot on

The PCP rate offered to the OP must have been half decent to get within £1000 of the Halifax deal at 3.5%. Normally I say 100% pay off early, but we are in a odd situation at the moment. The interest rate on my mortgage is about to fall to something like sub 2%. So although I had planned to clear the mortgage with a lump sum that doesn't seem so clever now. Not if I want to buy a car financed at 3.5% APR, add in Santander giving you 3% APR on upto £60K and it all gets very odd regarding on buying on finance Vs saving. It's almost as though the chancellor wants people to take on more debt

something very wrong with your maths there Yeah, I make that £53,756 total. Clearly a typo... he meant 36x£381 All corrected

Actually if you look at the world population charts people having more kids is the last thing the world needs. We (as a species) can multiply just as well as any bacteria, the difference been when we hit the population limit the ecosystem can support we use technology to rape the natural world surrounding us so we can keep on multiplying. Our existence on this planet is causing mass extinction of animals at a rate not seen before in the fossil records. We breed animals on a industrial scale so we can slaughter them for consumption. We experiment on other animals for our personal gain. We than spend an amazing amount of effort trying to kill each others or no good reason. One thing this planet doesn't need is to have more humans beings. Still I enjoy eatting meat, I work with products that have to be animal tested by law, and I'm about to bring my kid into the world. But that's because I'm a hypocrite like every other human being alive. I respect people who are strong willed enough not to give in to their natural desire to have kids, I know I wasn't strong enough. For thoses people who want to judge others for not having children should read the scorpion and frog story. Did you have a child because of logical/sensible reasons? Or was it just because it's in our nature?? I know I'm the latter. A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream. The scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "because if I sting you while you cross the stream, surely I shall drown ." The frog is satisfied, and they set out. But in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, but has just enough time to gasp "Why? Now you shall surely drown!" The scorpion replies: "Because it is my nature."

Halifax now do a really interesting PCP/HP option for their customers with very attractive APR. For example: £30,000 car. Deposit: £7000 so finance £23,000 36 month finance at £381/month. Final payment is £11,440 Overall APR is 3.5%. Works about £1000 cheaper than going with the PCP deal OP has been offered.

I have bought a little 'pony' for our new arrival to play with. Will be funny to she happens when she goes to play with the toys in nursery

New M3/M4 £5.5k down than £600/m X 47. Clearly more expensive than a civic but not bad for a car with a list price of over £60k....Just don't add up the total amount you end up paying over 47 months http://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=84474

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/feb/16/cost-of-raising-children-in-uk-higher-than-ever Doesn't include private school fees. You can buy your self any number of super cars you wish instead of having a sprog.

Naa forget what other people might think, do what you want. If you don't want kids it's no one else's problem.

^ There is no need for anyone to have kids. The world population is exploding as it is. We're having one sprog because I'm rather interested in the outcome of what happens when me and my wife's DNA mix it up. The love thing is inherent programming most people have, evolution has seen to that. Don't feel pressurised to have kids for the sake of other people, ask you self do you enjoy: 1: Spending £800-1k/month on childcare 2: Been woken up every 2 hrs by a screaming baby 3: Cleaning up vomit/poo etc 4: Not been able to go out because of the need to plan child care The list goes on....I'm excited about the imminent arrival of our child (cannot help it, it's what my brain has been pre-programmed to do), I'm not so excited by all of the above but haven't got much choice now but to suck it up and get on with it!!

There seems to be plenty of choice too!! Why pay a total of £32k on a PCP deal on a 2015 car when a straight foward £20K loan (Persume £7k deposit), from Sainsbury over 3 years will only cost you £600 in interest payments?

^^ Hold on OPs 'deal' is £7k+£300/m(36 months), that's £17k in total. £10K down + £900/m for 36 months is £40k+ in total, more than double the cost. Many of the best PCP deals these days are like best treated as lease deals with some manfac are activity discounting a lot on certain. Golf R and M135i had good deals going last few years. The Leaf PCP deal I got was similar essentially a lease deal when I hand the car back after 24 months. I cannot remember the list price of a Civic R, but £17k in finance costs than £15k for the final payment is £32k. As long as your know the costs involved and can afford it than go for it.

I hope your right, I've been up for pretty much the last 24hrs with no sleep due to work.....Than my wife is pointing out to me we better get use to it soon because a new born baby is pretty much 24/7 job 365 days a year, with no sleep/brakes .

Humm you might not have noticed but some one has left their ironing board your boot lid.....Make sure you check for a 'M' badge too

If things are that bad than take the pain now, move on, both of you will be thankful it happend sooner rather than later. I've seen a few friends go through similar things, it's always easier to give it a go for another few days and see what happens. A few days than turn to weeks, and before you know it your a couple of years down the line and things are no better. Hope you get things sorted.

I did some numbers. Based on my personal circumstances (aged 35 in 2017), assuming 2% interest rates for the next 25 years (wild guess), £4000 deposit each year for 15 years + £1000 "bonus" 15 years. At the end of 25 years the lump sum pay out would be £107,511. £4000 paid in each year for 15 years without a £1000 bonus at 2% interest will end with a lump sum of £86,008 at 25 years. So the Life Time ISA will pay out £21,502 more than a normal ISA at the end of 25 years assuming interest rates are equivalent. The big unknown is if you will allowed to move the ISA between different providers to take advantage of bonus rate etc. I wouldn't see this as an 'investment' as such, more a retirement product that will give you about 1% more APR than any equivalent 'risk free' product with payout aged 60. Or a way to save for your first house, ideally if you use the money just after your 50th birthday it will get the best overall APR, since that's when the £1000 a year bonus ends. But if you have spare cash now, the Santander 1-2-3 account is still the best choice. 3% APR is currently unbeatable, especially now the tax on savings is only applied after the first £1000/500 of interest depending on your income. We've got three accounts between us, as of next month they will be returning £120/month after the £5/month fee. If your willing to take a risk on other products am sure there are other investments that will beat these numbers. It's all down to how much risk you want to take with your hard earned ££.

So from next April George Osborne is going to give any one under the age of 40 £1000 for £4000 saved into a Life Time ISA. The tax man will than keep on giving you £1000 every year for every additional £4000 saved till your 50, and than once you reach 60 you can take whole lot out tax free?? That's 25% interest backed by the government... I assume the 10 year period between when your 50 - 60 your still get basic rate interest. So if I open one of these ISA next year (aged 35), I'll get 25% interest on my savings for 15 years, and than base rate interest, all at no risk.... Where's the catch?? https://www.gov.uk/g...A_explained.pdf

Actually if your charging to a set range/percentage the answer is NO. The bigger the battery the quicker it charges, rapid charging rates are limited by ability of the battery to take in high rates of charge not necessary by the power of the charger. Think of it like filling a tank through a funnel. The rate limiting step isn't always the flow into the funnel, but the size of the funnel. Current battery technology means the bigger the battery the bigger the funnel can be, which in turn means faster charging. In theory a 150KW rapid charger should be able to deliver 2.5kWh per minute (7.5 miles or range), but in reality there is currently no battery with a big enough funnel to allow that kind of power transfer to be sustained for more than the initial 10-30% of battery capacity.

The rate of charge tapers down after about 80-90% charge status, even on a Tesla supercharger it only charges at 120KW when the battery is under 50%, infact the larger the battery the higher the charge rate can be sustained for. A 85kWh battery pack chargers quicker and harder than a 60kWh, and by a decent margin. A 100kWh battery pack will charge quicker again compared to a 85kWh pack. Add in the fact a 100kWh pack will undergo less re-charge cycles for the same distance covered therefore will supper less degradation due to recharging, it's a no-brainer to go for a 100kWh pack over a 85kWh version. If you charging to 100% than yes, a 100kWh pack will take longer, but not by much on a supercharger. Once over 80% charge all the packs taper to the same charge rate, and the 100kWh pack will get to 80% almost the same speed as the 85kWh due to been able to handle a higher rate of charge for longer. When charging overnight it makes next to no difference the size of the pack, since unless you charging up from absolutely 0%, a 8-10hr overnight charge will deliver 70kWh+ of electricity, which at 3 miles per kWh is 210miles+ range. No one has seen just how much usable battery capacity the 100kWh Tesla pack will have, but even if they leave 10% for bricking protection and 3 miles per kWh that's 270 miles of real life range. My old 335i use to get barely more than on a tank of fuel. I wasn't going to order a brand new Model S, but if the 100kWh pack version really does deliver more than 250 miles+ of range it'll be hard not to go for that version. Especially if the rumour about Tesla uprating the superchargers to 150KW is ture.

There is a reason why Tesla is valued so highly on the stock market. The Model 3 is about to be announced at the end of March with pre-orders been taken at the same time. They are also likely to introduce a 100kWh version of the Model S, that's enough electricity to run our house for a week!! (My Leaf is only 24kWh). Stupid 0-60 times, battery capacity THREE time more than the nearest competition - a newly released 30kWh Leaf at 100% charge only has 30% the charge capacity on a 100kWh S, auto-pilot, falcon wing doors, to be very frank the rate at which Tesla is pushing out updates they are making even brands like Nissan/BMW who have invested in EVs look like amateurs. Yes the price of entry is high, but so what, nice things in life cost £££. I cannot wait to order mine (8 months to go ). http://www.theverge....ngeles-march-31

If you get the time get a bus/train/taxi to New Jersey for the skyline at night. Cities in Asia are getting close but the sheer size of Manhattan is still impressive. World trade centre memorial is sad/amazing at the same time, I was lucky enough to go to the top of the two towers years ago, hard to believe how the world had changed since. View from the empire state at Sunset is still pretty impressive. Grand central station is worth a visit, but I have a feeling it's just a bit less special these days with Apple having taken over half the first floor.

Never realised people here cared so much about the interior of a car If you want a see a nice interior go and spend a day in the new £50k+ Lexus RX. It's got more leather and soft touch plastics in than every car I've ever owned combined!! Really nice place to sit, and doesn't even look too bad. Sad thing is once you start the engine it's all goes wrong. Not all that quick, throttle lag worse than any blown machine due to an outdated 'hybrid' drive train, and only 26mpg. Surely the drive train is the heart of the car, if you don't get that right everything else is just like trying to polish a turd. Ford though seem to have got the most important bit right, everything is just window dressing. If soft touch plastics is your thing than I suspect a V8 Mustang isn't really targeted at you? Maybe try your nearest Lexus show room, even the sofas they have in the reception area have really soft leather!! I may not be interested in combustion cars for my own uses but I like what Ford is doing with the V8 Mustang. At £35K it's a hell of bargain compared to the £70K Lexus wants for their V8 machine....and I bet the Lexus doesn't come with a line-lock mode . Cannot wait to see what OP thinks of the car when it finally arrives....I suspect the rear tyres wouldn't last too long.

I'm not sure anywhere I have said I went for an EV for 'eco' reasons?? Yes my commute is only 7 miles at the most, but I bet 90% of the people I work with do a similar commute, and I actually cycle 50% of the time which I suspect is more than 95% of the public who live within 10 miles of their office. The 'average' UK motorist do less than 8000 miles a year, that's bare more than what I've covered in the Leaf this year. Yet I see plenty of cars I cities. I agree more people should cycle rather than drive, but we all know how some people on here feel about cyclists http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28546589 I've just seen another review of the Model S by another apparent 'petrol head'. I should add I have no idea who this person is, and nor did I have input into what they wrote, but the comparison of a combustion of car with a out dated Nokia in a world of smart phones (EVs) I fully agree with . http://www.evperformance.co.uk/electric-dreams-our-first-drive-in-a-tesla-model-s/

Good luck. Some years ago I had some 'fun' issues with a parking fine I didn't know about till at 6Am the bailiffs were banging on the front door!! As some of the others have said, if the appeal fails just pay the fine. It's annoying but there's other things in life to worry about. With-in a week of paying the fine I bet you wouldn't even remember it.

Did I start this thread