small economical car?

Save the money and the time to pay for uni fees.
Keep the Land Rover!
Look around at what's offered by Distance Education and where.
Get what you have already done credited across to a similar course and use the time that you save traveling to study. Grades will be helped. Typically most universities will credit up to 50% of your current course if it aligns with theirs.

Charles Sturt University Bathurst? (Distance education for other campuses/courses not offered out of Bathurst)
University of New England (another good Distance provider)

What are you studying? Is it limited to where you are doing it!

Good luck!

dont forget to factor into your calculations that the academic year will be a fair bit less than 48 weeks..it may be closer to 38 weeks.. roughly 25% less.

a 48 week year for 3 years at $1.80 and 10l/100km is roughly your figure of 25k...it may be more like 20k

I gather you want to do away with the lift for drivability reasons yes? Otherwise if your gearing is close to equivalent (as you have modified dif ratios I take it) of standard...is it worth it?

It really is a lot of travelling for a long time but I guess you have checked out the alternatives and see this as the best for you.. you are clearly very motivated to do this study so all the best for it...studying when motivated can be very satisfying and this can provide the energy to get to the finish line.

Thanks Eddo, I calculated the year as 35 weeks and that's probably a bit less then realistic but I chucked about 5,000 kms on top because some of the study is placements and I may have to travel a real long way. But also for day to day driving like shopping etc... it all adds up. Especially where I live having to go 35 kms to the supermarket.

And I agree it is a lot of travel for a long time. If it goes well I can consider selling my house and moving there but my partner is not warm on that idea for now. And it is the only place the course is at so I don't mind putting in the effort for 18 months and then if all goes well sell up and move there... Unfortunately I suspect I'll then have to move back to Sydney for work:eek:..... It is a hell of a lot of buggering around but I am really looking forward to it. It is one of those things which I have been thinking about for several years and about a week ago I thought stuff it- this is what I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember and now I'm on my way!:D

If you still had your 2007 Defender I'd happily swap our Corrolla for it :)

Firstly Xavie, it's great that you're really thinking about things now. As so many other people have said, fuel is only one of the costs of car ownership.

Can I just correct a couple of things here?

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Originally Posted by BMKal

I was very surprised and disappointed with the Toyota Corollas. Nothing flash to drive, and bloody thirsty - although I have no doubt they are reliable.

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Yep, toyota selling on it's name again. Only an average car at top price. It wouldn't compete if sold by anyone else... yet it is often Australias top selling car.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BMKal

Ford Fiesta and Mazda 2 - again too small and flimsy for my taste (we just got rid of the wife's Festiva partly for this reason - it was a Ford re-badged Mazda).

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Steady up there! A FIESTA is a COMPLETELY different car to a FESTIVA.

FESTIVA = square shape Mazda 121 (remember the one before the bubble) made under licence by Kia in Korea, and then badged as a Ford. If it had a zipper it would be the perfect Korean Body Bag.

FIESTA = German designed small "supermini" made in Germany by Ford. Due to be replaced early next year.

Mazda 2 = FORD FIESTA. Ford owns a controlling interest in Mazda and gives Mazda their platforms and designs. The Mazda 2 is built on the Fiesta platform in Japan by Mazda with different sheet metal and interior plastics. At the moment they are the first one to use the NEW FIESTA platform which we will see next year. The Mazda 2 and Fiesta also share the same engine /gearbox but with different electronic tuning.

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Originally Posted by BMKal

I'd be seriously looking at a Mazda 3 or a Holden Astra. Both around $20K new, so you should be able to find a good second hand one in your price range.

<SNIP>

If I had the final choice in what we bought - would have gone with the Mazda 3 hatch. From my own comparison, nothing else in the class beats them.

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MAZDA 3 = FORD FOCUS! See comments above. The Mazda 3 is built on the Focus platform. Unlike the Mazda 3 ford has chosen to import their Focus from South Africa (until they start manufacture in Australia) which is not a good thing. Some models, namely the cabrio and the xr5 are built in Spain and Germany and are much better built.

I'm sorry to be the one to break the news that the Mazdas are actually Fords :p Every notice how well they handle lately? You can thank Ford Europes handling gurus for that. Mazda are usually a we bit coy about it for obvious reasons.

On the positive (or negative depending on your outlook) both the fords and mazdas I have discussed were related to our beloved landrovers until recently :)

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Originally Posted by Xavie

. I disagree with rovercare that spending money to save money is stupid
Xav

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That's because you've made your mind up already and you want clarification;)

I won.t bother with rego costs on the replacement vehicle, insurance refund less x% @ pro rata, if you have to loan the coin, its stoopid to begin with, if this is the case, please let me know and I'll babble about % rates and $$$$expenditures that go with it, ao on and so forth, if your merely wieghing in fuel costs, well..................

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rovercare

That's because you've made your mind up already and you want clarification;)

I won.t bother with rego costs on the replacement vehicle, insurance refund less x% @ pro rata, if you have to loan the coin, its stoopid to begin with, if this is the case, please let me know and I'll babble about % rates and $$$$expenditures that go with it, ao on and so forth, if your merely wieghing in fuel costs, well..................

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I had not made my mind up and I'd qualify this by saying I'm 99% sure I'm keeping the disco and just going to bring it back to standard. And most likely put gas on it which will end costing me but for the extra performance I think it would make the trip a hell of a lot easier and I'm meaning I'm out of pocket for the d/gas but not as much as if I sold and bought a new car etc...

I don't have to loan the money either.

I'm not just weighing fuel costs at all I would of thought a small car would be cheaper to fix and less would go wrong compared to a 14 year old landy. I'm not saying I'm right that's just what I would of thought. But it is a big difference per year just on fuel before other factors come in to it.

What I'm thinking currently is if my classes work out okay I'll camp one night a week in the local state forest and use my R licence in there for my hobby and that will cut 40 bucks a week on fuel and give me time to enjoy life between study. It makes sense to me but maybe this thought it silly? When I studied in Sydney and I had no partner or dogs I use to stay 2 nights in the local national park a week and did that for a year.lol.

Anyway. Truth be told I'm happy to be bringing the disco back to standard and using that. I prefer it greatly over small vehicles.

I am interested in Captain Rghtfoot to say more though because I do think he is barracking that a small vehicle would be superior....??? C.R. what do you think?

I sort of get the feeling neither answer is right or wrong and they may come out financially very similar at the end.

Of course you could also look at buying a motor bike and keep the landy. but that does depend on the level of traffic I guess. I did that just bought a Harley 09 FXD super glide. Admittedly more expensive than what you are after but it does return about 4.4lt per 100km. and can go like stink if required.

In a more realistic level there are plenty of 250's out there second hand that get outstanding milage cheap to register and cheaper to run.

Blythe

He already has one, but I think it's not as appealling in a Victorian winter as it is to a Territorian or a Queenslander...

W

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Originally Posted by waz

He already has one, but I think it's not as appealling in a Victorian winter as it is to a Territorian or a Queenslander...

W

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LOL Waz thats funny, I didnt even think to look at location. I moved north almost 30 years ago because I hated winter, never regretted it for a second. I am so aclimatized that now it even gets cold in the middle of the dry in Darwin.

Blythe