New car?

scblack

scblack

Leucocholic
Hi guys,

I have landed a new role for work out at Emu Plains near Penrith (at the base of Old Bathurst Rd). I live at Baulkham Hills, about 40km drive one way. Public transport is out of the question, especially as I shall be working overtime and non standard hours for a pretty senior position.

Thus I need to buy a new (to me) car to get there. I am paying cash for it and my budget is max. $20k (approx).

What to buy? It has to be an automatic as the wife cannot drive a manual. I already have a family car for the wife and kids, a Ford Escape 4WD so I am thinking just a buzz-box such as a Suzuki Swift or Holden Barina as they are cheap to buy and economical to run.

My first preference is the Skoda Fabia, but that is edging the budget upwards as they have it driveaway for $18,990 plus $2,300 for auto dsg. Probably head of the list is a Suzuki Swift, followed by Barina. What are these buzz-boxes like to live with, seeing i'll only be commuting in it basically? Like the economy of the Honda Jazz, but these little things are pretty equal overall.

Or is a better option to go for a used Corolla, Camry, Lancer or similar about 1-3 years old with 50,000km on the clock for roughly $15-18K?

Overall i prefer to buy new cars and keep for a good few years.

Whats peoples suggestions please? I have no concrete ideas now.
 
Nerf Herder

Nerf Herder

Wheel size expert
Get a scooter you whimp :) will be much fun on the freeway with the cross winds

Congrats on the lotto win dood ... that didn't take long at all
 
jaseh

jaseh

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Look around for an ex-demo car. I picked up a Nissan Tiida Ti for my missus with 25km on it for $19990. I'm not a fan of how it looks but the missus loves it and it drives well. I took a Corrolla for a test drive and really wasn't impressed with the amount of road noise and the ride was terrible.
If I didn't get the Tiida for such a good deal I was buying a Ford Fiesta.
 
MATTY R

MATTY R

Likes Dirt
I've got a 2008 Mazda 2 as my daily driver. It's such a fun car to drive!

Pretty cheap atm too. I think the pov packs are about 16k on road. I've got the genki, but they would all be a good fun drive.
 
T

TonyG

Likes Dirt
I agree with the above posts too, I'd go second hand for a commuting car. You're going to knock up the miles on it and you'll be in the work car park all the time (possible damage).
I've got an old golf for my second car. Its only used to drive to the station and back, and it does the job. I'd not get another European car for this task though. If I was to upgrade now I'd be going with a Jap branded small car. Cheaper to service and in my opinion more reliable.
 
Wellsey

Wellsey

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I'll 2nd the diesel i30's. We have them in the work fleet and they are bulletproof, zippy and great to drive. Awesome economy too, as well as full featured (ipod, bluetooth blah blah blah).

Getting cheap 2nd hand. Get the wagon, loads of room in the back, easily fit a bike with the seats down.
 
scblack

scblack

Leucocholic
Cheers guys, I think I agree and am looking for a near new used car.

Hundai i30 is getting plenty of good write-ups, but diesel is scarce. Also Ford Focus looks decent.

Plenty of options!
 
wespelarno

wespelarno

Likes Dirt
Resale on commuting/economy cars is pretty poor last time I checked. Meaning if you buy a new one, you get screwed later, and if you buy a relatively new second hand one or ex demonstrator, you save a hell of a lot of money.
 
A

Arete

Likes Dirt
wespelarno said:
Resale on commuting/economy cars is pretty poor last time I checked. Meaning if you buy a new one, you get screwed later, and if you buy a relatively new second hand one or ex demonstrator, you save a hell of a lot of money.
Click to expand...
As for the wife aspect - we had a 2006 sentra se-r (roughly a pulsar gti-r) she hated (HATED) it. She Loves the MINI cooper s we bought to replace it, which was a toss up between the Mazda 3 mps and a BMW 331i. For what its worth in a different market. (I have a 67 Chev nova with 454 ci and a muncie m22 and cycle to work so I don't care what she drives...)
 
Ivan

Ivan

Eats Squid
Arete said:
As for the wife aspect - we had a 2006 sentra se-r (roughly a pulsar gti-r) she hated (HATED) it. She Loves the MINI cooper s we bought to replace it, which was a toss up between the Mazda 3 mps and a BMW 331i. For what its worth in a different market. (I have a 67 Chev nova with 454 ci and a muncie m22 and cycle to work so I don't care what she drives...)
Click to expand...
I'm envious of the cheap(er) cars over there!
 
ajay

ajay

^Once punched Jeff Kennett. Don't pick an e-fight
Unless you can get a tax right off, it's rediculous buying a new car... Buy 2 years old with under 40k on the clock.

Corollas are great...
 
Bryce88

Bryce88

Likes Dirt
Toyota Corolla or Yaris?

If you already have a big family car and just want a buzz box for around the city I'd say maybe a yaris or corolla. I have an X trail and my partner has a Yaris. My partner can't drive a manual either so we got the auto and it's pretty smooth to drive and very economic. It's a great car to race about town in and still fits the young fella in the back comfortably as well as a couple adults. Only downfall is it doesn't have a big boot. It is under 20k new and we had fixed price servicing so we knew we werent going to get charged ridiculous amounts, I cant imagine how much Skodas would cost to service and also what the price of parts would be. Pretty sure there is also a Low finance deal on Toyotas at the moment if you didn't want to pay cash straight up too.



Good luck with it all!
 
c3024446

c3024446

Likes Bikes and Dirt
1. If you are buying a new car, the price quickly climbs when you add extras such as Auto, stereos, bluetooth, better model etc. Buying a used one with all the features you want, and the right colour that is less than two years old is a great way to save some $$$.

2. Do NOT get paint protection, rust proofing etc. Biggest scam ever, you pay >$1500 for them to detail your car. Best line about rust proofing when they offer it: "I am going to sell this car after 3 years, is it going to rust in that time?"
 
MasterOfReality

MasterOfReality

After forever
Auto is going to be a killer with a 4cyl unless its a turbo diesel.

I drive the wife's Barina to work. Its the last of the Spanish made ones before they went Korean. Little 1.4 litre manual, goes ok for what it is and returns around 6.5 L/100km. Pretty solid little car, which is just starting to cost us money now in maintenance. But we got a good run out of it (90,000km) before it started to cost us money in repairs (around $1k for water pump, link pins, tappet cover gasket, fuel pump) so can't complain. We will keep it until its ready for the scrap heap.

I just couldn't imagine it in auto. I'd neck myself if I had to drive an auto everyday.

I have driven an auto Corolla last time my firm hired me a car in Mackay - was bloody terrible. Then hired a manual version and the difference was like light and day.

If it were me and it had to be an auto, I would pick the one with the most go in it, over looks and fuel consumption.
 
scblack

scblack

Leucocholic
My dilemma has been resolved. They have offered me a company car. So I'm not paying for petrol or nuthin'.

Looks like I'll be in a new Ford Focus Trend in a few weeks. So stoked!
 
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