Thread: Car hunting with the daughter...

she bought a ..... jeeeeep!

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.

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" . I like unloved cars that people are scared of ....makes them super cheap to buy usually.

seeya
Shane L.

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.

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

Originally Posted by bsperka

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

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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 ). 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

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.

Originally Posted by Redback

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

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...