New Daily For The Missus

[No Crust Racing]

Morning gents,

The missus is looking to switch jobs and if it goes ahead she'll lose her new Mazda3 company car so we've been looking around at mid size cars up to 10k.

Initially we were going to go with a Mazda 6 as we've had 2 company Mazda3s and they have been excellent little cars. Something like this.

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/mazda-6-2003-11728709?cr=0&eapi=2&page=1&silo=Stock&sort=~Price&Range=Price:Min,Max~1|Mileage:Min,100000&__N=1216%201246%201247%201252%201282%204294965340%204294961345&vertical=Car&distance=25

But in my searching I came across the last model of the Vectra (the Opel one) before they brought in the Daewoo based Epica.

The below as an example.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2006-Holden-Vectra-ZC-MY05-Upgrade-CDX-Silver-5sp-Hatchback-/270818490136?pt=AU_Cars&hash=item3f0e0a3718#ht_2317wt_1346

My question is, who here owns/drives either of those and what do you think? The missus leans towards the Vectra because it's newer (so more info on that would be great) but I'm a bit concerned about V6 FWD and the amount of Electrics the Vectra has being a Euro car and top of its range here. I can't imagine it'd be cheap to get parts for, but I also know that Mazda parts aren't cheap. My background in service and repair is mostly Turbo Nissan's or newer Falcons but I'm sure I can handle the vast majority of any service/repair items we might have with either car so labour shouldn't be an issue for the most part.

I note that both cars also list premium unleaded as a requirement, but given the cost difference I'm happy to sacrifice a few killer wasps to run standard unleaded.

Thoughts?

[Nurb608]

I've got a 2003 Vectra CDXi auto. The 2006 has had the gearbox issue update which plagued the earlier model so no issue there. As for parts, dont buy them here As an example, for a water pump for those, Holden wanted $550! From the UK, $55AUD, enough said. Pretty comfy car, plenty of extras etc. In saying that, the Mazda 6 has a good rep, although I haven't driven one.

[No Crust Racing]

Cheers for the feedback. What sort of fuel economy do you get and what type of driving do you do? Is your's the 4 or 6 cylinder?

[jjman]

never forget the nissan pulsar.

my mum had one a few years ago n we hammered the hell out of it and it just asked for more. (n15 model, tho N16 would also be in your range i think)

ran on the smell of an oily rag.

Good unit

[No Crust Racing]

As the devout Nissan lover I am i had considered an N16 but the missus doesn't like it and it's a bit smaller than a Mazda6. A mate of mine has one and her prtner is always complaining about how shit it is, 65,000ks and using oil like it's got 265,000ks, I doubt that's normal though but still surprised me as I've got a CA powered S13 track car and it takes a beating and keeps asking for more.

Other things I'm considering are 07 plated Camry's the newer shape, anyone had anything to do with those? Toyota land scares me for parts though, is that a justified reaction?

[mad082]

sister in law has a mazda 6 (newer shape than the one you posted). she likes it and hasn't had any issues. goes alright too.

[GTR-N1]

...and don't Mazdas have a better resale value at the other end (than most cars)?

I would probably consider a "6", "350GT" or "Accord"

[No Crust Racing]

They seem to hold value well from what I'm seeing Terry, I think some of that is that they don't push fleet and that they are a relatively new family of car compared to some others. 350GT will be out of the price range, Accords are a maybe, we're going for a look this weekend so she can drive a few and we can check out boot space. The car would be with us long enough that prams might be a consideration, though we've discussed that she could drive my falcon and I could drive the smaller car to work if boot space was an issue.

[10 4]

There's lots of V35 sedans, 250 and 300GT in Vic on carsales at 12-14. I'm sure out of all of them there will be some that'll take 10k easily....

Edited December 8, 2011 by 10 4

[No Crust Racing]

I'd rather stick with something that has copious local support for a daily. After having had a GTST and a GT-R as daily drives I know how annoying it can be when it comes time to get some simple things done or get parts quickly when needed.

In the case of the V35, for no real perceivable gain that I can see, plus in my opinion they are quite fugly