Beginners guide to buying a new car

Buying your first new car is definitely an exciting and memorable experience. Read on and you will be one step closer to purchasing your new car! I believe for the most part, when you are reading this article, you have roughly decided on what car you already want to get! Be it a sedan, a hatchback, a SUV or even a sports car there are always different factors that you should consider before purchasing one. There are two phases here, one where you do your research and the second would be to test for your ideal car.

The Research Phase

To us, budget is a key concern. Ensure that the vehicle’s cost, included of road tax, insurance and the yearly maintenance cost is within your planning. Always be pessimistic and assume that you will be spending more than what you have calculated just to be on the safe side. Often you might just give in to temptation and purchase additionally accessories/upgrades.

Now that we have your budget in check, you have a variety of cars to look at. Within your affordability, look for a brand that you resonate with. Choosing from too many brands is just too taxing and you will end up wasting a lot of time. In general, we suggest Japanese car makes for an affordable and fuss free experience while European makes often offer a more luxurious and prestigious experience.

Following the guides above, we also suggest that you narrow down the list to 3 to 5 different cars models and begin the journey to the dealerships.

The Physical Phase

The car showroom is a place where interested buyers, like yourself go to before making the final decision to purchase. You will meet with various car salesperson who are incredibly skilled into making you make your purchase decision here and now. Be sure to resist such temptations and make a wise decision at the end of your journey.

What most is important here is test driving of your preferred vehicle. If this is your first car, it may be hard to differentiate between a good car and one that is not as good.

We recommend that you test drive different cars as you should when you are going through the list that you have curated. It is important to not stop at one as you would not know how other cars feel when compared to the one you just drove. When test driving, there are a few key factors to help determine whether the car is the one for you.

Main 5 things to look out for when test driving

1. Ride Comfort

To get a feel of the car, drive it on different roads where you can experience imperfections, bumps and cracks. Strive for an in-between where you should feel that the car is tight and is controlled over bumps, where there is not too much of a bounce when going through humps. Additionally, do pay attention for creaks to and road noise as it may start to get annoying after owning the car for a period of time.

(We suggest that you bring along a friend to help with checking boot and cabin space if it is your concern)

2. Acceleration

This may seem intimidating for a start however, to make lane changes or when cutting through busy traffic, what is even scarier is when the engine refuses to perform. Floor the pedal and see how it reacts.  A “happy” engine in would be what you should look out for. For the most part, cars in Singapore do not go very fast and often we are limited by the speed limit.

(We suggest one that does not have too much of a throttle lag and get your in and out of traffic safely.)

3. Braking

Try to get a sense of how the braking is like, try to get the perfect pedal feel for you in between where it is too soft and you have to depress the brake pedal too deep in to comfortably stop and slight press to the pedals cause you and your belongings to topple around.

4. Steering and Handling

With the evolving technology, there many different steering systems.  In general, a good steering should feel easy and controllable not too quick additionally, you should get this “feedback” feeling of the road through the steering wheel.

5. Visibility

Every vehicle is different and this should be the easiest to tell between your test drives. Check for the rear visibility which includes the rear blind spot as well as the front where the A-pillars of your car which may obscure vision.

The Purchase Phase

Once you have test drive all the cars that you have shortlisted, it is finally the time to make your decision. We suggest that you test drive the car that you have chosen one last time before purchasing to make sure that you will most definitely enjoy your purchase!

Find out how to get the most from a new car purchase.