New small car

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#2494715 29-May-2020 23:09

Can't quite understand why no-one's mentioned the Ford Fiesta.

I think we are on our 4th or 5th one, all pretty reliable, never had major works needed, all kept for 5+ years. My partner is just a tad under 6' and it is one of the few small cars she finds comfortable to drive. I really like getting behind the wheel - for a small engine, the 1.0 litre Ecoboost goes like the clappers! It is way quicker than the the previous 1.6 litre. Bootspace is good (for a smallish car). IHMO, it's better than the equivalent Toyotas.

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Aaron2222

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#2494789 30-May-2020 02:26

I had a look through Nissan Leaf spec sheets from the Nissan Japan site archived on archive.org, and with a bit of Google Translate it looks like early on (late 2011) they came with full sets of airbags, but later on (2014) it became an option to just have 2 airbags (with the full set being the default option if Google Translate is translating correctly). Checking on one dealer's website, all 3 2011-2012 Leafs they had have the full set of airbags, but only some of the 2013-2017 Leafs do.

Batman

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#2494799 30-May-2020 08:00

ratsun81:

I wont get into the debate of deceptive car manufacturers. Personally im a fan of Skoda and am fine with recommending them as a brand.

Mercedes also got busted for this as well.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44444361

like soccer, rugby and politics eh. everybody cheats. however you're only a cheater if you get caught.

Scott3

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#2494815 30-May-2020 09:11

My web surfing are now getting flooded with Mirage adds after searching for some details.

I am surprised that Mitsubishi NZ is marketing this as the "All new Mirage", when what they are selling is the second face-lift version of the 6th generation Mirage that dates back to 2012. Seems deceptive to me.

That facelift does get automated emergency breaking, something that the likes of the 2016 / 2017 era cars generally don't have. Personally I think crash wortheyness is more important that avoidance tech, but if it is a must have, it is a good reason to buy new or near new.

MartinGZ:

Can't quite understand why no-one's mentioned the Ford Fiesta.

I think we are on our 4th or 5th one, all pretty reliable, never had major works needed, all kept for 5+ years. My partner is just a tad under 6' and it is one of the few small cars she finds comfortable to drive. I really like getting behind the wheel - for a small engine, the 1.0 litre Ecoboost goes like the clappers! It is way quicker than the the previous 1.6 litre. Bootspace is good (for a smallish car). IHMO, it's better than the equivalent Toyotas.

You can now only get the performance oriented 147kW Fiesta ST. RRP at $35,490 +ORC is a bit more than other cars OP is considering. So the 1.0L you discussed is no longer available new.

Also OP mentioned a specific dislike for small displancement turbo engines. "Not really interested in the sporty / super-small high compression turbo charged options"

Plus the fiesta is getting a bit old, dating back to 2013.

Ford might of fixed the issue now, but this model is tainted to many people because of historic issues with the dual clutch "Powershift" transmission:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/114266351/ford-knew-focus-fiesta-had-flawed-transmission-sold-them-anyway

Delphinus:

You might have included the wrong link, I think you were referring to this one:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/hyundai/auction-2642398078.htm

I also like the Ioniq. Hired one for a bit and found it great to drive, plenty of boot space. They charge quickly, battery cooling, decent range.

I'm in Otago so happy to take a closer look at it for you if you wish.

Yes Sorry. Can no longer edit.

This is the first time I have seem a Ioniq so cheap, and I feel that it would make great buying for somebody (allthough may not be for OP due to exceeding budget).

mudguard

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#2494839 30-May-2020 10:07

mdf:

I know the Toyota is essentially bullet proof reliability-wise, but I was pretty underwhelmed with that. A lot of money for what you get. The boot in particular is tiny.

Yeah it's not the biggest. But passes the most critical test!

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#2494943 30-May-2020 10:46

Batman:

ratsun81:

I wont get into the debate of deceptive car manufacturers. Personally im a fan of Skoda and am fine with recommending them as a brand.

Mercedes also got busted for this as well.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44444361

like soccer, rugby and politics eh. everybody cheats. however you're only a cheater if you get caught.

Yep, you can safely bet if one manufacturer was gaming the system, pretty well all of them would have been at it in some way or another. Simple law of physics, there are limits to what eficiencies you can achieve then after that there has to be some smoke and mirrors/cloak and dagger stuff.

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#2494950 30-May-2020 11:01

BMW is the other one that has extraordinary published fuel efficiency.

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2494965 30-May-2020 11:22

mdf:

Cheers all, helpful feedback.

@alasta You make a good point. I guess the anti-turbo sentiment was a bit of "I don't need a hot hatch", not wanting to have to buy 95+ petrol any more, and a bit of concern about how hard a tiny little engine was going to have to work to produce that output. The turbo would have to be nigh on nuclear temperature by the time you were done. But I should look into it further.

Anyone have experience of these little turbocharged engines.

Yes.

I drive a 2012 Holden Cruze Hatch, 1.4 which is turbo charged. That runs on 91. That car is our only car, and moved into this from a 2006 Honda Civic 1.8 VTEC. Main differences you notice in driving, the torque response down low from the turbo'd motor.

Interestingly, both the Honda 1.8 VTEC and Holden 1.4 produce the same power (103kW) but the torque figure is higher in favor of the Holden motor.

In terms of the the little engine getting hot, I've never had any problems with the engine. We toured the South Island at Christmas last year in it, crossing Arthurs Pass in it fully loaded with 4 pax onboard and the car performed faultlessly.

I day to day driving, you start it up, drive, and turn it off, it doesn't run the engine like a old school "turbo timer". Sometimes, if you drive really, really hard when you park it up, the fan will run on, but that is rare.

In terms of turbo charged motors, a lot of manufacturers are going that way as it a modern turbo engine helps reduce emissions over a naturally aspirated motor.

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#2494979 30-May-2020 12:03

I had a Honda City 1980 that was turbo charged :)
Yup it was powerful and efficient.

I think small engine + turbo works well with small car. It's the 1L turbo in a Ford Falcon that makes brain freeze.

Technofreak

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#2494986 30-May-2020 12:12

Batman: I had a Honda City 1980 that was turbo charged :)
Yup it was powerful and efficient.

I think small engine + turbo works well with small car. It's the 1L turbo in a Ford Falcon that makes brain freeze.

I'm a normally aspirated bigger engine fan, but having said that I think the smaller turbo engines are very good these days and it seems nearly every manufacturer is going that way, some have been going down that track for some time. You don't hear of any issues. I test drove a 2 litre turbo of recent times and was mightily impressed with it. So long as you don't give it death I think you'd get good service out of it.

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#2494995 30-May-2020 12:23

Heh heh yes my 2L turbo makes 220kW and 400Nm pull. But BMW and Audi can just about give 50% more lol

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#2497124 2-Jun-2020 23:26

I find MG (3 or ZS) to have cars well within the budget which offers what looks like great value for money.

You can even get a Haval H2 with that kind of money with some left for rainy days.