Not another Car thread. Advice wanted please.

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Not another Car thread. Advice wanted please.

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jonherries

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#428868 19-Jan-2011 16:01

Make sure it has got lots of cool sensors to connect a griffin CarTrip to...

Jon

Edit: So internal server error is just jargon for you have posted but I am having a saz so won't show you the thread!

NonprayingMantis

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#428887 19-Jan-2011 16:54

jonherries: I wonder why you want to spend so much on a car. Sure I am a car guy, but I hate to part with my cash for something which won't hold it's value.

because I work in IT and earn absurdly large amounts of money I don' know what to do with [/jokes]

more seriously, $20k isn't that much to spend on a car, not when you consider it will be used by both myself and the wife (mostly the wife in fact).

Presumably you don't ever buy a brand new computer or TV then, since both of those depreciate even faster than a car. (albeit from a lower starting point)

Geese

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#428907 19-Jan-2011 17:42

martyyn: Ford Mondeo wagon

Drive like a dream, european quality and IMHO 100 times better than anything from Japan.

Dont be put off by a few kms either. You can save upto 7-8k simply by accepting something with closer to 100kms on the clock. Dont forget these cars are built to do european mileages which is an awful lot more than in NZ.

Its odd. Everyone in the UK wets themselves at the thought of a car with over 100k miles and in NZ the magic number is 100k kms. Ive driven BMW's with over 400k kms and they still drive like a dream.

If youre prepared to consider a little older than 2008 then 20k will get you a cracking 2003 BMW 530 touring. Leather, heated seats, tv, sat nav (which can be converted to work here), phone (bluetooth possibly), electric everything, glass sunroof, xenon lights, dual climate control etc. Way more goodies than a Jap car can offer.

Heres my 1998 Ford Mondeo. Nobody would buy it. I have no idea why? 235,000kms?? Straight, tidy condition? I dropped price over weeks, and in the end at $300, still no takers, so I trashed it and got it taken away!

LookingUp

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#429175 20-Jan-2011 13:25

joker97: ... if you buy a european car, they will die on you one day. maybe the engine maybe the windows maybe some other electronics. servicing can cost you a bomb. this includes subarus (the service bomb bit)

A wise man once summed it up nicely for me - "If you can't afford a new european car you CERTAINLY can't afford an old one!"

+1 on the "nothing wrong with imports" sentiment, as long as you do your homework and make sure it's not an odd-ball model that you can't get parts for.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

martyyn

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#429475 21-Jan-2011 11:03

A wise man once summed it up nicely for me - "If you can't afford a new european car you CERTAINLY can't afford an old one!"

Im sorry but thats nothing more than an old wives tale.

Ive been around BMW's for nearly twenty years now. Ive had very old to relatively new, from the smallest 316i to the biggest 750iL and its stonking 5l V12 engine. Ive just bought my ninth one which is 20 years old and is in absolutely MINT condition. Its done 250k kms and still drives like new. Ive also bought another half a dozen for friends and family.

I can honestly say Ive never had a problem getting parts at reasonable prices simply because I put a little bit of effort into learning what I could about the car and any problems it has and by shopping around for parts and mechanics.

Go to a main dealer for a European car with no idea what youre talking about and the potential to be screwed is high Ill grant you that. But go to a quality independant garage with a little bit of knowledge and you will be pleasantly surprised.

My 20 year old 750iL had goodies on it even top of the line Fords and Holdens still dont have now. It cost me gbp2100 and I sold it two years later for 1800 and spent less than 500 in parts and servicing over that time. I probably more than made up for it in petrol mind you !

Sorry, you can probably tell I wouldnt buy a Japanese car to save my life. Ive tried Maxdas, Hondas and Subaru's and didnt enjoy driving any of them. If you just want something to get from a to b with a minimum of fuss thats fine, but dont just assume a Euro car is going to cost twice the price in parts because 'someone once told me' as its quite likely it wont.

NonprayingMantis

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#429487 21-Jan-2011 11:25

Thanks to everyone in this thread for the advice.

Having had a few more chats with the wife it becomes clear that a station wagon won’t cut it. She wants something higher for ease of getting the kids in and out of the car, and possibly a seven seater.

So I think we might wait a few more months, save up a few more $$ and look at either Ford Territory or Mitsubishi Outlander around the $30k mark. Prefer the look, feel, and spec of the territory but obviously it comes at a fair premium to the outlander, and so you can get a much more recent outlander with much fewer kms for that sort of price.

robjg63

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#429504 21-Jan-2011 12:32

If you are an AA member you can shoot them an email about particular makes/models and they will give you pretty good feedback on things to be careful of on particular makes models - they do keep record on callouts so their comments are worth considering.

I seem to recall recently seeing someone asking about 4wd type vehicles you mention and they highly recommended the Hyundai Tuscon (from memory). Good value for money and very reliable apparently.

Have a look here for some free public Q&As:
http://www.aa.co.nz/motoring/tips/ask-jack/buying-or-selling/Pages/default.aspx

There comments are well worth a read.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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Batman

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#429523 21-Jan-2011 13:28

mmm ... 7 seaters ... i like!!!

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