Once you’ve read these tips, check out our car chooser – it’s a great way of narrowing down your options with just a few clicks.

Budget

Deciding your budget is the first thing you should do – after all, your choice of car will be limited to what you can afford. This also extends to your monthly outgoings – fuel, tax and insurance costs could end up becoming a nasty surprise if you’re not mindful of the purse strings.

Don’t worry, however, because carwow’s car chooser takes all the stress and uncertainty out of the process. You simply enter the price range you’d like to look at and the car chooser automatically shows suitable cars, including any other requirements you’ve specified. You might be pleasantly surprised to see some more expensive cars appear in your price range thanks to the fantastic discounts on offer from carwow’s network of dealerships.

And remember – the majority of new cars are bought on finance, so work out how much you can afford each month too, and don’t discount it as a method of buying your next car.

Usage

The next thing you’re going to have to consider is what you’re going to use the car for. If you live in a city centre and use your car solely for shopping and commuting, you need to take into account the amount of parking space you’re likely to have – you may want something relatively small. Alternatively, if you live in the countryside, you need to think about how bad conditions get in winter and whether you’ll need a car that can handle adverse weather – perhaps you’ll want a 4×4.

Bodystyle

Next, consider what you regularly carry and what styles of car you like. If you often do the school run, you’ll need to plan space for your kids but, if your kids are especially sociable, they might bring friends home meaning you should consider buying a car with extra space – perhaps a seven-seater.

If you’re a dog owner, you’ll need to think about how much space your furry friend needs in the boot and whether they’ll be able to jump up into it. Equally, if you have elderly relatives or very small children, an SUV can be useful because the extra height makes entry into the cabin easier.

Speed

If you’re buying a car as a couple, this is one area you might not agree on. You need to think about how fast you want your car to be. As a general rule – the faster a car is, the less efficient it is. If you’ve one eye on your monthly outgoings, you might want to think about a slower car that’s more fuel efficient.

If you enjoy the sensation of speed or acceleration, regularly spend time on the motorway, or enjoy bragging to your mates, you’ll want a faster one. With more speed comes greater cost – at the pumps, on your insurance and in maintenance – but, for some buyers, a fast car can make them feel special every time they get behind the wheel.

Fuel

After thinking about the kind of acceleration you’d like from a car, you also need to consider what fuel type is most appropriate to your requirements. For city dwellers, we’d recommend avoiding the extra cost of a diesel and get the cheaper petrol option – you save money on purchase price and, for short journeys, the difference in fuel cost will be minimal.

Many think they should buy a diesel to get the best economy and, to a certain extent, this is true. In many cases, however, you have to cover vast milages annually to make back the extra cost of the car and the fuel over a petrol version. Only those who regularly spend time on the motorway or towing should consider a diesel.

Now go choose one!

Visit our car chooser, select how many seats you need, what you’ll use it for, how fast and how efficient you’d like it to be then let our system do all the legwork for you. You can view your chosen car’s review or head straight over to our new-car deals page.

Once you’ve driven on winterlanding tires, you won’t feel the need to stayclose to home and you won’t go back to an all-season tire in the winter ever again. Tire Rack calls it the “Ah-Ha Moment.” It’s feeling the traction and control, the confidence. The difference.

We’ll let Tire Rack and these pucks tell the story.

Known for revolutionizing tire buying since 1979, their Tire Decision Guide first takes Tire Rack’s decades of tire experience, first-hand testing of hundreds of tires in all weather conditions, and a deep understanding of what makes winter tires do what they do. Then combines it all with “big data” — feedback they’ve collected based on billions of user-driven miles — and drills down to one top tire recommendation personalized just for you with up to two additional options for consideration.

Behind the scenes, there’s a lot of programming and algorithms to drive the results, but up front it’s a few questions you’ll answer about your vehicle and how/where you drive it. Easy. Exact. Done.

Additionally, you can browse through Tire Rack’s consumer reviews to see what drivers just like you have to say about their tires. These unbiased reviews help to further validate your Decision Guide results.

About now you’re thinking what these dedicated winter tires will cost you. Consider this. Over the course of six years of vehicle ownership, you’ll likely need to replace your tires after year three. That’s two sets of tires in six years. Tire Rack recommends that drivers who will need the added traction from winter tires for some of the year purchase them the first year. Your three-season tires are in storage while your winter tires are on the road. The expense is the same. And you’re driving on tires optimized for the season you’re in. Here’s how this plays out:

Think about a Winter Tire & Wheel Package to make the install/un-install every winter/spring easier. Your winter tires are mounted on their own set of wheels that you can bolt on yourself. They’re ready when you are and you’re not waiting in line with everyone else the day before Thanksgiving to get your winter tires installed.

Drivers who want to know more can watch Tire Rack’s test results videos and read the full test reports. In this report, for example, the Tire Rack test team hit the local hockey rink once again to experience the glare ice traction of Studless Ice & Snow tires for winter and to learn which tire is best when winter weather is at its worst.