Thread: small economical car?

If your concern is primarily costs, you need to bear in mind that in most cases fuel costs are way down the list. The two biggest costs are capital cost and depreciation, usually followed by other fixed costs (rego, insurance etc.) and only then fuel, followed by maintenance and repairs. You have to do a lot more mileage than you indicate before fuel becomes a major consideration (or drive something that uses ridiculous amounts of fuel).

Of course you notice the fuel, because you pay for it every few days, whereas most of the other costs you only have to fork out at long intervals.

John

I didn't take a lot of notice of the peugoet diesels I just thought they'd be way out of my price but having done a search they are actually really cheap compared to many other vehicles. If I can find out about extended warranties and get one I may go this way....

Xav

Cheap, small and very economical




Paul

Originally Posted by paulthepilot_5

Cheap, small and very economical




Paul

Lol. I have onejust like it but it is Silver!

D/gas the disco.That is the cheapest.I owned a VW Polo for 10 years and it is the best built car I have ever owned,a relo loves Pugs and has had a long and good relationship with them.Subaru's are the dearest jap cars to own,I worked for one company who ran two of them and the service costs and parts in particular were eye watering.I personally don't think you would save anything getting a different car. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

D/gas the disco.That is the cheapest.I owned a VW Polo for 10 years and it is the best built car I have ever owned,a relo loves Pugs and has had a long and good relationship with them.Subaru's are the dearest jap cars to own,I worked for one company who ran two of them and the service costs and parts in particular were eye watering.I personally don't think you would save anything getting a different car. Pat

yes I have had 3 subaru's, they are good but they like to drink a bit. The manuals use the same amount of fuel as the autos. I would actually not suggest a subaru.

Small FWD use the least fuel & European cars care a lot about the passengers when safety comes into it + euro's have been making better small cars for a long time because unlike the USA a small car in Europe does not mean you are poor and want to drive crap. We get the benefit here in used values because Aussies get a little scared of servicing and reliability, the fact is some cheap euro models here are very reliable.

One other thing the euro hatches do better than japs and lesser is ride quality, every jap car I have ever had, even the mazda/eunos 800 feels tinny compared with bmw's, mercs, and even the RR!

Just my two cents worth but we have a Defender and a Hyundai Accent. We bought the Hyundai new a couple of years ago for $15,000 on road when I was doing 70km/day and more on weekends.

The Accents seem to lose somewhere around $1,000/yr so you could pick up a two year old Accent with 3yrs still left on the 5 yr warranty for less than $13,000 depending on it's mileage. They are excellent value for money and a great run-around, being a decent size with pretty good fuel economy if you don't flog them hard. Worth a look.

I can't believe I'm still looking at cars.... My eyes are going funny and my brain is melting....

I have a little while to decide so no rush at least.

I have gone thorugh maybe 5 car brands and I'm sitting with Hondas currently. Does any one have experience with them? I'm thinking civic. Reviews say the Jazz is loud on the highway and my goodness it is ugly.

Mazda is still on my list and so is Hyundai.

Holden, subaru, ford have been crossed off.