Car hunting with the daughter...

[Bytemrk]

It appears I am going car hunting with my daughter this coming weekend.

She has her heart set on a Suzuki Swift.

I'm still obviously somewhat more open minded, but she's 19 and it's her money, so what I say may or may not come into the decision :p

Anyway....Does anyone know of things I should be keeping my eyes open for?

Will be buying as close to new as we can I suspect.

[Ean Austral]

It appears I am going car hunting with my daughter this coming weekend.

She has her heart set on a Suzuki Swift.

I'm still obviously somewhat more open minded, but she's 19 and it's her money, so what I say may or may not come into the decision :p

Anyway....Does anyone know of things I should be keeping my eyes open for?

Will be buying as close to new as we can I suspect.


Sorry to say, been there , done that.. In the end send mum and you sit back and await the call to do the final saying of Yes its great.


We.. sorry they.. went in search of a Swift and in the end came home with a Yaris.


Good Luck.


Cheers Ean

[V8Ian]

Good advice Ean, I've been there and done that too, she also had her heart set on a Swift. :D
I'll relate the tale later, when people have had a chance to offer on topic advice.

[roversmith]

Didn't give our daughter a choice, got her a mazda 3, nice car. She even said thanks dad. With that in mind she is the only one of our three kids to not write of one of our cars, before they had turned twenty.

[superquag]

Mazda. Any one that she likes / can afford. We've had 4 of them, currently own 2. I've pinched one from my son... and its gone from my economical daily driver (work) to my preferred country runner.

Only father-in-law's Merc 380 is nicer to drive...

Just needs a seat upgrade to be perfect.

James in WA

The Lady Sarah, '95 Vogue SE with working EAS.

[AndyG]

I'm sure she really wants a Perentie or Unimog, she just doesn't know it yet.:p
And she will win all those annoying Bingles RoverLord offspring are going through.

Find a nice bland ex rental?

[Redback]

Suzuli Swift hey, drove one when we were looking for a commuter, one word, Noisey, eh, I SAID IT WAS NOISEY:eek:

Anyway we bought a Golf:BigThumb::burnrubber:

Baz.

[Jojo]

My younger daughter has already decided she wants the Discovery and tagged it for her to use in future, as she is not old enough to start driving yet. This girl has taste! Gives me a good excuse to keep and maintain the truck until it's finally time for handing over the keys :).

As for your daughter, as long as she is happy and you can assure the vehicle is technically sound, just let her make the decision. It's her money and she will have to drive around with it. You may give her some unbiased advice about the pros and cons of her respective choices. You will know best what works for her (and yourself, as it probably will be you who becomes responsible for maintenance issues as long as she doesn't befriend a mechanic).

[DoubleChevron]

I'd be taking my kids to look at something like this.

2002 Renault Clio Expression (http://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/details/Renault-Clio-2002/AGC-AD-17247280/?Cr=0)

500bucks more might get you a sport .... AVOID ... she'll never be able to insure it. There a seriously fast car. These appeal 'cos no-one wants them, they have heaps of airbags all over the car and being a small renault I know it'll handle and brake like a car should :) It will likely be 5star safety rated.

seeya,
Shane L.

[bsperka]

Suzuli Swift hey, drove one when we were looking for a commuter, one word, Noisey, eh, I SAID IT WAS NOISEY:eek:

Anyway we bought a Golf:BigThumb::burnrubber:

Baz.

Hopefully the Golf is one that doesn't randomly stop. Like on the freeway when overtaking, in an intersection.
A friend had one with this issue. Occurred 4 times over 18 months; restart got it going again; replacement with Corolla fixed it. Golf have an inherent fault that doesn't show up in the error codes and VW doesn't acknowledge or know how to rectify. Appears to be fuel system related?

[Bytemrk]

Thanks guys,

Appreciate all the input.

AndyG, I've spent 19 years trying to brainwash her on that line... maybe in time she will come to her senses.... after all she is still young :P

DoubleChevron, I looked at a Cleo the other day, nice little car.

You are spot on JoJo, my role here is purely guidance, she's worked hard and saved the money to buy something reasonable and my view is that buying your first car is one of those big life steps to being a real grown up - so she needs to make the final decision her self.

I just want to hover around the edges and help her spot the pitfalls that might bite hard. I'm sure we've all been there done that :angel:

[Eevo]

she bought a ..... jeeeeep!

[Eevo]

golfs are popular with all the young females but they have declined in build quality over the last 10 years. also the "random" and expensive mechanical problems that have already been mentioned.

swifts were popular 5 years ago but you dont see many on the road today but im not sure why. i assume they didnt last

mazda isnt as popular as it was 5 years ago but still good quality imho and sstill plenty around.

cleo is definitely unappreciated. great car, fun to drive, maybe a bit too fun for a first car

megane is newer and also very a bit too fun.

[DoubleChevron]

Oh ... you have been looking at the frenchies .... This is where you need to listen to me :) AVOID THE 4spd auto. It's an unreliable dog. Known as AL4 in peugeoet/citroen and DPO in renault. French people like manuals .... and there the ones to get.

An older Laguna ... slower, a bit more luxurious ... V6's like to drink. cam belts changes and coils wouldn't be fun to replace. Possibly a Citroen C2, she might think there "really cute" :angel:. I like unloved cars that people are scared of ....makes them super cheap to buy usually.

seeya
Shane L.

[PhilipA]

My 48 years driving suggests one golden rule.
Never buy European car unless you have very deep pockets.
Buy Japanese or Korean.
Suzukis are terrific IMHO and I have owned 2xVitaras. Never a problem
Mazdas are great and I have owned a 121.
Toyotas are bland but go forever. How many old Camrys do you see on the road. They are everywhere. I bought one for my daughter as a runaround with 343KK on it and it went well for 2 years.
My current jap cars are Honda Jazzs. I have now had 2 with the first written off by a tailender. I have yet to buy a replacement part after 5 years . My wife claims that if she won $1million she would not swap her Jazz for anything else as it is just so practical. My daughter bought one also.
Compare this with when you talk to a VW Golf owner. I know this bloke with a diesel and his DSG broke out of warranty, and the DPF died. Cost over 5K even with policy from VW.
Regards Philip A
BTW have driven a Swift a bit. Auto is a dog with 4 speed. Otherwise they feel quite solid and are roomy for what they are. Have driven Polo quite a bit, and have to agree with the VW ads that they have a quality feeling, but that does not mean they are reliable. Don't be fooled by the door clunk.

[simmo]

One daughter has had two corollas, you can't beat them for an all round combination of fuel economy reliability and low running costs, that's reflected in their resale value. The other has VW polo diesel, lovely little car very well built, cheap to run, but every time it goes in for a service you're worried. European cars are unreasonably expensive for service costs, and not worth the effort in my view, More power to to Toyota. cheers simmo

[Redback]

Hopefully the Golf is one that doesn't randomly stop. Like on the freeway when overtaking, in an intersection.
A friend had one with this issue. Occurred 4 times over 18 months; restart got it going again; replacement with Corolla fixed it. Golf have an inherent fault that doesn't show up in the error codes and VW doesn't acknowledge or know how to rectify. Appears to be fuel system related?

I had a mate with a Land Rover, no end of problems, leaked oil, lots of electrical issues, solved it by buying a Toyota:cool:

Our Golf is the base diesel manual, 70,000ks not one problem, oh and simmo, our last service was $380, jeez that's expensive.

Baz.

[DoubleChevron]

My 48 years driving suggests one golden rule.
Never buy European car unless you have very deep pockets.
Buy Japanese or Korean.
Suzukis are terrific IMHO and I have owned 2xVitaras. Never a problem
Mazdas are great and I have owned a 121.
Toyotas are bland but go forever. How many old Camrys do you see on the road. They are everywhere. I bought one for my daughter as a runaround with 343KK on it and it went well for 2 years.
My current jap cars are Honda Jazzs. I have now had 2 with the first written off by a tailender. I have yet to buy a replacement part after 5 years . My wife claims that if she won $1million she would not swap her Jazz for anything else as it is just so practical. My daughter bought one also.
Compare this with when you talk to a VW Golf owner. I know this bloke with a diesel and his DSG broke out of warranty, and the DPF died. Cost over 5K even with policy from VW.
Regards Philip A
BTW have driven a Swift a bit. Auto is a dog with 4 speed. Otherwise they feel quite solid and are roomy for what they are. Have driven Polo quite a bit, and have to agree with the VW ads that they have a quality feeling, but that does not mean they are reliable. Don't be fooled by the door clunk.

Well I've been driving Citroens and Renaults since I was 12years old (no exageration ... my first car was a Renault 4 I assembled from boxes of parts)... I grew up in the back seats of Renault 16's and 10's.... and Citroen DS's and CX's. THere's a photo of my grand parents place back in the late 60's/early 70's. Lined up across the front yard is about eight Renault 10's, 16's and 8's. You see, there was my grandparents who had 5kids. EVERYONE had Renaults 'cos they were so cheap to run and so incredibly vastly superior to everythign else.

I drive 'em 'cos they cost next to nothing to run. They rarely if ever break down (my wife "might" disagree on that point :wasntme: ). My current Citroen CX is a turbo charged car from the mid 80's .... It's such an unreliable heap of ****... In the last 20 years we have .... um.... Well I put a clutch it an one point ... and um .... er .... The gearbox has never been touched, the engine has never been touched, the garret turbo still sings it's music and has never been touched..... I didn't put some ball joints in it a couple of years back :confused:

I have a couople of 52 year old Citroen ID's .. they always, start (ticked the manual fuel pump no matter how long they have been sitting .... and were away). We ran a modern Citroen C4 for a few years.... tediously boring modern crap ... but never missed a beat for us. My sisters had a new clio for a couple of years now. 3cylinder turbo manual. Loves it, reckons it's bloody brilliant. It's never missed a beat either (though she complains about boost lag from standstill..... Really?? a 900cc motor is laggy ... she just needs ride the clutch and get it up onto boost if you need to get away in a hurry).

My mother had a Jazz for a while. When they were quite new. We all agreed is was a horrible bloody thing... The interior layout was simply genious, but gee's I swear the axles were welded too the body. The stupid gearbox I didn't like either (I like manauls :) ).

seeya,
Shane L.

[B92 8NW]

I had a mate with a Land Rover, no end of problems, leaked oil, lots of electrical issues, solved it by buying a Toyota:cool:

Our Golf is the base diesel manual, 70,000ks not one problem, oh and simmo, our last service was $380, jeez that's expensive.

Baz.

x2. I sold my Golf to my neighbour's Granddaughter (her first car). Diesel, DSG and not one problem (real or imagined) in the 104,000km I had it. Neighbours report it hasn't missed a single beat...

[incisor]

on the subject of vw's

the dry clutch dsg's were the problematic ones

the 6 speed wet clutch ones are a delight...

[simmo]

It might be her mechanic just taking advantage of her. It always needs something replaced at the service time ( the old classic "needs new brake rotors" etc) It's low kilometer diesel. If I lived nearby and could look after it maybe different. But they're both office folk, and don't know anything about mechanical stuff. I had two Renault 16s and a volvo 265 over 20 years , but did all the work myself. Never had any problems with those cars, but as a European a car owner you're very much at the mercy of the "specialized mechanics" if you can't do the work yourself. If your not technical my advice is buy toyota.:)

[Bytemrk]

she bought a ..... jeeeeep!

Over my dead body :D

[AndyG]

JDNSW has a Citroen DS languishing in his car port, but Hyundai, the new Toyota.

[DoubleChevron]

JDNSW has a Citroen DS languishing in his car port, but Hyundai, the new Toyota.

Not listening, .... fingers in ears ..... LA LA LA LA .... ( imagine me shaking my head say no way) ..... Ok, ok .... Is it an early DS19 with hydraulic gearchange :whistling:

[Redback]

It might be her mechanic just taking advantage of her. It always needs something replaced at the service time ( the old classic "needs new brake rotors" etc) It's low kilometer diesel. If I lived nearby and could look after it maybe different. But they're both office folk, and don't know anything about mechanical stuff. I had two Renault 16s and a volvo 265 over 20 years , but did all the work myself. Never had any problems with those cars, but as a European a car owner you're very much at the mercy of the "specialized mechanics" if you can't do the work yourself. If your not technical my advice is buy toyota.:)

We could probably do ours ourselves, but to keep the service history of the car, makes for a good quick sale at the price it's worth, so far it has a perfect history, from the dealer services to our current mechanic:D

Baz.

[DiscoMick]

The wife went through this exercise a couple of years ago. She started off fancying a Mazda 2 (which would have been a good choice I think), looked at a Suzuki Swift (which would have been another good choice I think) but decided the boot was too small, she didn't like the Ford Fiesta I recommended, or the Honda Jazz (not sure why) and ended up buying a Yaris. She refused to look at Europeans.
The Yaris has been utterly reliable, but boring. I'm trying to talk her into a Mazda 2 next time, but she's playing coy...

[winaje]

My daughter wants a "bug". I told her that there is no way I'm doing anything on a VW... So she has "settled" on a D2a, hehe...

My work here is done. Well it will be when she has finished TAFE, has a job, saved for the D2a, bought it, moved out..... Oh crap.

[Epic pooh]

My dear old mum has a Honda Jazz and I reckon it is a great little car. As is the swift. Don't reckon you'd go wrong with either. Jazz has a more practical interior. Swift is a bit more sporty.

[33chinacars]

There is a reason why Hyundai is growing it's market share . And that':BigThumb::BigThumb::BigThumb:s all I need to say

[1950landy]

YEP, Hyundai best value for money on the market , we just bought our 2nd & our daughter is on her 3rd. Wanted to buy a Hyundai last new car but wife wanted a Citroen ( Lemon) that was a mistake , had my way this time.

[Bushie]

Daughter had a swift for a number of years, it never gave her any problems. She now has a Mazda CX5 and loves it.
Other daughter had a ford focus (from new) - biggest heap of crap ever, couldn't wait to get rid of it, into a Mazda 3.

Wife is on her second Mazda 3 - not a problem along the way.

Son - well he has a Puma :D


Martyn

[Bytemrk]

Thanks guys!

All day looking at and test driving cars ... and not 1 Land Rover! :mad:

Anyway I think we are making progress.... no final decision yet, but a 2014 Mazda 2 demonstrator looks like it's leading the pack at the moment...


Appreciate all the helpful comments..

[SSmith]

YEP, Hyundai best value for money on the market

Odd. When i bought a new car for work (December 2011), an i20 was $500 cheaper than a fiesta (at equivalent spec), but if you wanted the i20 painted anything other than white, you guessed it $500 extra. 104000 km later the fiesta is going strong.

Sent from my GT-S7562L using AULRO mobile app

[Bytemrk]

Job completed this morning...

She picks up a 2014 Mazda 2 demonstrator Thursday in dark blue and she is a very happy camper...

Thanks for all the help guys.

[Eevo]

pics of car & daughter

[Bytemrk]

Pics Thursday.....

[Eevo]

ok, pics of daughter now then.

[Bytemrk]

Now why would I want to do that Eevo.......

Last thing I think most dads would want to do is feed their daughter to the trolls... :p

[Eevo]

Now why would I want to do that Eevo.......

Last thing I think most dads would want to do is feed their daughter to the trolls... :p


trolls? (plural) whos are the others? I'm just one troll.

[Bytemrk]

Just covering all bases in case you have any fans..... ;)

[V8Ian]

Just covering all bases in case you have any fans..... ;)...

[Eevo]

...

shes a looker!

[Bytemrk]

Oh Eevo.... you are a worry.....

[Eevo]

all in good fun byte

[Pedro_The_Swift]

as long as she didnt pay 23K for a certain D2----:angel::whistling:

[Eevo]

bargin!