Holden Captiva or Craptiva?

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MikeAqua

7785 posts

Uber Geek

#1622906 5-Sep-2016 09:55

In the 1990s Holden sued to distribute Opel (GM Europe) cars in NZ. One of them was little hatch back. We had a few in the rental fleet and they were nice zippy little cars to drive once you got used to the gearbox much more pleasant car than the modern small Holdens.

Mike

cbdkid

129 posts

Master Geek

#1626668 9-Sep-2016 18:41

Test drove one when we were looking at a new SUV. Also tested a Mazda CX5 which rated much higer than the Captiva. Ended up with a Subaru Outback which we are pretty happy with and fuel economy is not overly different from the Suzuki Swift we got rid of (6.2L per 100KM vs 7.3L per 100KM).

If you have young kids, I'd recommend getting leather if available. The extra cost for leather interior paid for itself when my 3 year old was sick driving up to Cape Reinga earlier this year.

ScuL

487 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#1631407 15-Sep-2016 23:26

We recently purchased a 2013 Holden Captiva (mostly for my wife) and she absolutely loves it.

In our search for mid-size SUV we tried the following:

Nissan Qashqai
Mazda CX5
Hyundai ix35

The CX5 drove like a tractor, very heavy engine even though it was petrol. The Hyundai was way too snappy, you couldn't drive properly because the slightest touch of the accelerator will make it respond immediately. Some people might like it but it wasn't for us. The Qashqai was the favourite choice however it was hard to come across a vehicle of the right age, colour, spec and price. Plus you encounter many "Dualis" imports from Japan.

Then we came across a car yard that had this Captiva for sale, which we hadn't considered previously. It was a luxury LTZ version with reversing camera, parking sensors, leather interior etc.
Test drove it and it was by far the smoothest to drive out of all of them. AA check came back very positive, low k's and full service record so there you go.

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

mattwnz

20162 posts

Uber Geek

#1631415 15-Sep-2016 23:38

ScuL:

Then we came across a car yard that had this Captiva for sale, which we hadn't considered previously. It was a luxury LTZ version with reversing camera, parking sensors, leather interior etc.
Test drove it and it was by far the smoothest to drive out of all of them. AA check came back very positive, low k's and full service record so there you go.

It is interesting how different people have totally different impressions after driving a car. If you like driving the captiva, I would have suggested test driving a Rav 4. Being a toyota they are very reliable (apart from the 3 or 4 recalls ours has had), tend to retain value better, and drives more like a car than an SUV. The proof of a good car though comes over time.

ScuL

487 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#1631418 15-Sep-2016 23:43

Yea I am not that concerned about lifetime of a vehicle. If a car reaches 5 years of age I tend to sell it. I tend to buy vehicles when they're around 18~24 months old so they've lost the huge margin of a new vehicle but still have plenty to give. With most modern cars you will not encounter issues up until that age.

I wanted to try the Rav4 but the wife didn't want to because she doesn't like the name. :D

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

Dingbatt

6756 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1631432 16-Sep-2016 06:03

ScuL:

I wanted to try the Rav4 but the wife didn't want to because she doesn't like the name. :D

I think there was a GZ thread devoted to weird car names, but to my knowledge the RAV4 didn't feature. I'm glad you put a smile at the end of your sentence because a car's name obviously matters to some people. In my recent car shopping it has been interesting to talk to salespeople about rationality vs emotion when buying a vehicle. In the end there's no point in having a super reliable car that makes you want to vomit every time you see it. Conversely, there's no point in the best looking daily driver in the world if it cant be relied on to get you home again.

Hope your Captiva works out well for you. In the end it only matters that you are happy with your purchase. As you say, you're only going to keep it a couple of years, so if it's the wrong choice, just move the replacement schedule up a bit.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

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