Jeep Cherokee - cheap 4x4?

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LittleGreyCat

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Topic # 68482 22-Sep-2010 21:31

Hi,

we will be looking to buy a vehicle in Christchurch in early November, so looking at TradeMe to see what prices are like.

For some reason Jeep Cherokees seem to be unexpectedly cheap.
For example

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Cars/Jeep/Cherokee/auction-311265363.htm

Others of the same model are more expensive but still this seems cheap for a country where second hand cars are quite expensive.

Never owned or driven one but they seem reasonable vehicles.
Is there a special reason that they are cheap, such as adverse taxation?
Petrol won't be cheap but they look very practical.

Cheers

LGC

P.S. Subaru Legacy and similar are also very cheap - they are a premium brand in the UK and much used by farmers. Are they also unpopular in NZ?

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Reply # 383375 22-Sep-2010 22:57

All vehicles require a Warrant of Fitness to be used on the road in New Zealand. That Jeep, will most likely not require one. And will possibly require some work to make it roadworthy.
Also, 200,000km will be new cam belt time. Again, another large cost vs the cost of the vehicle.

Most of the Subaru's in New Zealand will be cheap 2nd hand Japanese imports, I doubt its the same in the UK.

Below is the list of the most stolen cars in NZ, obviously Subaru would be a type of car to avoid.

1 Nissan Silvia
2 Honda Torneo
3 Nissan Skyline
4 Subaru Impreza
5 Subaru Forester
6 Subaru Legacy
7 Nissan Presea
8 Honda Prelude
9 Honda Integra
10 Nissan Cefiro

nakedmolerat

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Reply # 383378 22-Sep-2010 23:14

personally, i would never buy a jeep. the price is cheap for a reason. high maintenance cost and spare parts, gas guzzler, and can be unreliable.

LittleGreyCat

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Reply # 383389 22-Sep-2010 23:54

rscole86: All vehicles require a Warrant of Fitness to be used on the road in New Zealand. That Jeep, will most likely not require one. And will possibly require some work to make it roadworthy.
Also, 200,000km will be new cam belt time. Again, another large cost vs the cost of the vehicle.

Most of the Subaru's in New Zealand will be cheap 2nd hand Japanese imports, I doubt its the same in the UK.

Below is the list of the most stolen cars in NZ, obviously Subaru would be a type of car to avoid.

1 Nissan Silvia
2 Honda Torneo
3 Nissan Skyline
4 Subaru Impreza
5 Subaru Forester
6 Subaru Legacy
7 Nissan Presea
8 Honda Prelude
9 Honda Integra
10 Nissan Cefiro

Nobody pinching Holdens then? :-)

I always fancied one of the old Holden estates with the V8 engine but I doubt they do them now.
Oh - yes they do :-)
Probably another gas guzzler - no idea on the maintenance.

Cheers

LGC

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Reply # 383431 23-Sep-2010 07:43

nakedmolerat: personally, i would never buy a jeep. the price is cheap for a reason. high maintenance cost and spare parts, gas guzzler, and can be unreliable.

As someone who has had a Chrysler for the last eight years, this is too true. They authorised dealers go for your wallet and parts are really expensive.

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Reply # 383438 23-Sep-2010 08:05

nakedmolerat: personally, i would never buy a jeep. the price is cheap for a reason. high maintenance cost and spare parts, gas guzzler, and can be unreliable.

+1

Initial cost may seem cheap but your ongoing costs start piling up.

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Reply # 383440 23-Sep-2010 08:10

LittleGreyCat:

P.S. Subaru Legacy and similar are also very cheap - they are a premium brand in the UK and much used by farmers. Are they also unpopular in NZ?

Great cars, I had a 96 Legacy GT wagon, loved it to bits but had to sell to fund house. Just be wary, a LOT of turbo (if you look at the Legacy GT series) vehicles in NZ have been thrashed around.

General running costs (petrol) was pretty average (wasnt on the turbos all the time) but maintenance was high - cost me $900 for a split exhaust joint to be replaced - would have been cheaper but they couldnt source 2nd hand parts for it so had to buy Subaru new. Treat them right (regular servicing) and theyll go for years - but could be said about any car.

My advice to car buyers these days is goto your library/spend $20 and get The Dog and Lemon Guide - great source of info on a huge range of car makes and models with the ins and outs - the guys are brutally honest in their reviews.

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Jaxson

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Reply # 383443 23-Sep-2010 08:42

Reminds me of a quote that I really agree with:

"If you can't afford an expensive one, you certainly can't afford a cheap one...."

Paulthagerous

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Reply # 383448 23-Sep-2010 08:52

LittleGreyCat:
Nobody pinching Holdens then? :-)

I always fancied one of the old Holden estates with the V8 engine but I doubt they do them now.
Oh - yes they do :-)
Probably another gas guzzler - no idea on the maintenance.

Cheers

LGC

Aussie built cars tend to be relatively cheap to maintain in my experience. Though they aren't the most sophisticated of vehicles.

So what are you actually after in a car? Then we can suggest ones that are cheap in NZ that may be quite expensive in the UK :)

Regs

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Reply # 383494 23-Sep-2010 10:17

freitasm:
nakedmolerat: personally, i would never buy a jeep. the price is cheap for a reason. high maintenance cost and spare parts, gas guzzler, and can be unreliable.

As someone who has had a Chrysler for the last eight years, this is too true. They authorised dealers go for your wallet and parts are really expensive.

same applies for any other 4WD (or 'luxury' car) really. most especially Landrover, Audi, VW, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche.

compare the price of service at a toyota/honda/xyz authorised dealer to the price at a local mechanic and you'll find the price is higher there too. they typically justify it with the 'highly trained in your brand engineers' plus the 'custom diagnostic equipment'. And sometimes that is perfectly true. spending a little more for a qualified person to look over your car might prevent costly problems later. (you wouldnt take your Solaris enterprise server down to the local windowws fixit shop to get checked over, would you?)

I've owned Mitsubishi, Toyota, Landrover and currently have a Jeep Grand Cherokee. So far the only vehicle that hasnt cost me a fortune in repairs is the jeep - but seeing that I bought it new, its not really a fair comparison.

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Reply # 383496 23-Sep-2010 10:28

In NZ Japanese cars are relatively cheap because of the high numbers of used imports (by now in the UK you'll be getting used to the fact that used imports aren't as bad as the initial scaremongers predicted.)

Subarus can be cheaper because a lot are/were imported and the wagons are popular with longer stay tourists because they hold heaps and you can sleep flat in them (though why you'd want to is another issue...). They're not as economical to run as 2WD vehicles though.

European cars here (and American) are expensive for parts and servicing... but theres always folk who must have something a bit different (whether they maintain them properly or not). Whatever you buy here get it checked by a mechanic as it's not usual here for vehicles to come with the maint. history that UK buyers seem to focus on. Even simple checks can save you $$$ down stream.

blakamin

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Reply # 383498 23-Sep-2010 10:29

I wouldn't touch that jeep with a bargepole.
http://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=yn6364
At one stage it went 2 years and only 5thousand ks without getting a WoF???
Dodgy considering it was doing 50kms a day until then... Something broken badly?
And it looks to have been sitting in that paddock since the last WoF ran out 9 months ago.

Mitsi Legnum VR4s (and even the standard V6 4wd) are another car that gets thrashed in NZ. Subys, RWD Nissans, RWD Toyotas, usual teenager cars.

And as the current owner of a BMW and previously a Merc, I can say that parts a bloody cheap if you can do the work yourself! (mind you both are/were over 15 years old.)

graemeh

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Reply # 383521 23-Sep-2010 11:03

I notice the Jeep ad says "as is where is", this is code for "car is broken, don't touch"

Handsomedan

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Reply # 383713 23-Sep-2010 17:06

Jeeps are (by and large) all fairly cheap second hand compared to similiar vehicles as they are (as MF stated) a licence to burn money.

Go Jap or Euro - I am a former european car owner and I have never spent a lot of money on any of the euros that I owned. They've been reliable, relatively cheap to run and easy to have fixed (if you know the right garages to take them to (which is why you immediately join a car forum of similar type to what you own).

Jap cars are great, reliable, cheap to run and maintain, but can be fairly expensive to purchase if popular (see Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic). Generally for all the reasons stated...popular, inexpensive to run, reliable etc.

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VinLew

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Reply # 383714 23-Sep-2010 17:07

We had a 1995 Subaru Legacy Sedan for 12 years. As long as you maintain it well, then Subarus generally run smoothly - ours was destroyed in garage fire a few months ago. 275,000km on the clock.

Often second hand Subarus have been used for ski fields etc, so they may not be maintained particularly well. We have a 2005 Subaru Legacy B4 now.

LittleGreyCat

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Reply # 383866 24-Sep-2010 02:08

Paulthagerous:

Aussie built cars tend to be relatively cheap to maintain in my experience. Though they aren't the most sophisticated of vehicles.

So what are you actually after in a car? Then we can suggest ones that are cheap in NZ that may be quite expensive in the UK :)

We are travelling for 4 months and so far it looks as though buying a car and caravan is going to be cheaper than buying a camper van or staying in motels.

So:

(1) Cheap to buy and run, easy to sell on. Poor gas consumption could be O.K. if the rest of the package is good.
(2) Big enough to tow a caravan.
(3) Reliable
(4) Secure - we will be carrying our world around with us so we need to be able to lock stuff up out of sight.
(5) Big enough to carry a couple of large suitcases without being too obvious about it, plus camping gear.

Most of this suggests a wagon, apart from the security bit where a saloon is probably more secure.

As far as I know we don't need 4WD unless there are a lot of awesome places on S.Island you can only get to using a 4x4.

Cheers

LGC

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