Decent, Reliable, Cheap Daily?

[mafia]

Have not gone through thread but sisters sr20de auto s13 cost 2.5k, probly spent up to 3.5k on it doing major service, new tyres and etc - never put a foot wrong. 9l/100km anywhere and everywhere - 10l if you hurt it

shit what did you must have had a fair bit of work to do to it to spend 3.5K haha

[pipster11]

ABS and airbags only have to save you once to be worth it. As I said above, the reason I want these is because my L plater gf will be driving the car most of the time, and she'll be doing long drives early on.

Corolla would def be the way to go if I could find a cheap and safe one.

There are heaps of 3L magnas around with abs and airbags for less than 3k.

beware of high km magnas

take the oil filler off after a decent drive of one, if there is a smoke show going on in there, walk away

saying that, the are a decent motor if they are maintained

hyundai used that motor in the v6 elantra's too

the 3.5 is better tho

[Ten Four]

shit what did you must have had a fair bit of work to do to it to spend 3.5K haha

new tyres all around - dvd deck and speakers, hids, exhaust... mostly unnecessary upgrades...

Made 104.4rwhp on the dyno yesterday, lol.

Edited September 20, 2010 by Ten Four

[mafia]

new tyres all around - dvd deck and speakers, hids, exhaust... mostly unnecessary upgrades...

Made 104.4rwhp on the dyno yesterday, lol.

ahh fair enough then, unnecessary but needed.haha

hahaha thats hell funny.were you expecting more or less or around that?lost a bit of power though i must say

[Marlin]

1. Avoid Mitsubishi like the plague, great cars when under a few years old, but the engine/driveline just falls to bits.

2. Avoid Camry's, they are the most unreliable Toyota ever, oil leaks, head gaskets, they're shit.

3. Corrolla's are good, but you don't get a lot for your money.

4. Hondas, well, no.

5. Really, 10+ year old FWD stuff is really just asking for trouble, any of it. That goes for all the love SSS Pulsars get here too!

6. Avoid anything European Holden or Ford like your life depends on it (Astra/Barina/Mondeo etc.)

7. Seriously, if you want a car that is both cheap to purchase AND cheap to run (usually mutually exclusive), it is very VERY hard to go past a Falcon, XR6 or Fairmont. I know they're not a 'sporty" car, but they are pretty much bulletproof, and parts are cheap, and they drive quite well. (Much better than similar vintage Commodore)

8. Either that ^^^^, or if she demands a small car, get a 4 year old Hyundai Getz done under 100k. They're tough little buggers.

Edited September 20, 2010 by Marlin

[mad082]

ahh fair enough then, unnecessary but needed.haha

hahaha thats hell funny.were you expecting more or less or around that?lost a bit of power though i must say

why do you say that? they are only 103kw at the fly wheel stock. that works out to be about 100hp at the wheels.

also the missus pulsar with the 105kw version of the engine makes between 110 and 120hp at the wheels with full exhaust (depends on dyno).

[Ten Four]

^Yeah - 140 at fly when new so thats a fairly good number for the kms its done, + auto.

Have to disagree with Marlin though... Cheap daily to me means cheap on fuel - falcons aren't cheap on fuel...

[Marlin]

There's HEAPS around with factory LP gas though, and even straight unleaded ones dont use heaps of fuel.

I got my sister one for when she was visiting Oz for 6 months. Very cheap to run, needed nothing, sold it for a profit.

I promise you, the parts and labour cost advantage of the Falcon will far outweigh any perceived excess of fuel use. If you're being realistic, a typical FWDer uses about 8l/100. A Falcon, about 11l/100.

Up to you bro, good luck whatever you chose

Edited September 21, 2010 by Marlin

[Ten Four]

Fair enough, but my bunky will be 2k max

[mad082]

There's HEAPS around with factory LP gas though, and even straight unleaded ones dont use heaps of fuel.

I got my sister one for when she was visiting Oz for 6 months. Very cheap to run, needed nothing, sold it for a profit.

I promise you, the parts and labour cost advantage of the Falcon will far outweigh any perceived excess of fuel use. If you're being realistic, a typical FWDer uses about 8l/100. A Falcon, about 11l/100.

Up to you bro, good luck whatever you chose

yeah i get around 10-11L/100kms out of the pulsar (lots of short trips, so worse economy than others). when i had my magna i got about 13L-16/100kms (13 driving like a granny, 16 fanging it). the skyline i got 17L/100kms, and had to run it on premium. the big aussie cars you can just run on anything you like. find the cheapest fuel and just put that in it. it doesn't bother them.

insurance on a falcon or commodore will be dirt cheap though, which is offset by the extra cost of rego.

the biggest thing that makes people think the bigger cars are more expensive to run compared to little 4 cylinders is the fact that the fuel tanks generally hold 20 to 30L more, so if you let it get down low it will cost a fair bit to fill up, but you will have gone further between fill ups. for me my actual fuel bill per week was only about $5 more for the magna than the pulsar.

[Ten Four]

The au fairmont (6cyl) dad had consistently did 13.5l/100km - combined, puts me off slightly.

[defari]

3. Corrolla's are good, but you don't get a lot for your money.

ae101 levins (corolla) are around the 4grand mark now days.. 1.6l 8000+rpm all day... easily got 500km+ to a tank.. + the sound of quad throttle bodies at 8400rpm is like a symphony to my ears..

[Ryan180]

AE92 SX Twincam.....great little car that isn't completely gay

+1 FTW

[r32line]

When getting a budget car you gotta go Toyota imo.

Starlet / Echo's are in your price range. For that money you could get a 98/99 starlet or 99/00 echo. Both have drivers airbag, a/c (in most of them anyway, need to check cause in some models it may have been an option), super reliable and seriously cheap to run, sooo easy to drive/park etc.

For $3-5k I don't think there is a better option in terms of cost to run and reliability. There are plenty 'cooler' cars but at the end of the day for $5k its not really going to be anything more than a car to get from A to B.

[JezR31]

As the previous poster stated. I reckon go the starlet. My mate just bought a 98 model for $3200. Its only got 120,000km, aircon, 5 speed. It looks brand new, the engine is spotless and the gearbox shifts like it was never used. He spent $30 last week to fill the tank up and has since travelled 480km. It might not look like the most manliest car but you cant argue with the savings

[r32line]

As the previous poster stated. I reckon go the starlet. My mate just bought a 98 model for $3200. Its only got 120,000km, aircon, 5 speed. It looks brand new, the engine is spotless and the gearbox shifts like it was never used. He spent $30 last week to fill the tank up and has since travelled 480km. It might not look like the most manliest car but you cant argue with the savings

That's it mate, but if you have it as a second car then looks etc don't matter.

I'm seriously considering getting it for a daily. With the petrol saving etc it almost pays for itself... If only it weren't for rego

[iseekool]

I'm going to revive this thread

My cousin is looking to buy his 1st car. He isn't into any sporty cars, more of a cruiser/luxury car. I've looked at small cars and they don't seem to offer good value for money. eg. a 1996 Pulsar with high Ks is almost the same price as larger and more equiped Maxima of the same year.

His budget is around 5K and is willing to stretch the budget to 7K if the car is in mint condition - he is a student and on his Ps at the moment. The car has to be reasonably modern, aircon, automatic with airbags and ABS. Preferably Japanese.

I've narrowed down to 2 cars which seems to fall in the price bracket.

Lexus ES300 or Nissan Maxima J32

Has anyone had any experince with these cars?

Are there any other cars recommended?

[Birds]

Whatever 7k buys you worth of Mitsubishi Magna V6.

[10 4]

Don't buy an early ES300 - they like to pop headgaskets.

Buy a LS400 my dad's got one and its so damn comfy

edit: I see you're in Vic.. That means no V8 right? :\

Next vote would be a Honda accord or Falcon

Edited March 1, 2012 by 10 4

[iseekool]

Don't buy an early ES300 - they like to pop headgaskets.

Buy a LS400 my dad's got one and its so damn comfy

edit: I see you're in Vic.. That means no V8 right? :\

Next vote would be a Honda accord or Falcon

Wow - Thanks for the heads up.

Yeh, no V8s allowed which is a shame - especially since the LS400 isn't that quick - they should really put it in the excepetion list. You get SV6 commodores that are faster. Stupid.