Suggest a car under 10k

[Driftit 2078]

Honestly.  Avoid giving them advice.

You will be the first person they will come crying to when their "Reliable" (insert cheap neglected Jap import here) shits itself.
I only help family now.  And I don't even want to do that.

[GorGasm 563]

yep, only offer advice on what not to buy.

[Eagle 1662]

Fair point but i wouldn't consider anyone a friend who operated like that. No one can truly guarantee any car. Helping people who help themselves is the stance ive always taken, i've done a vast amount of work on peoples cars that they care about maintaining for little reward, but that's because they would help me out if i ever needed it.

[kiwi535 538]

12 hours ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

If you want a $10k reliable car, then that would rule out the Subaru Legacy - when you get down to that price level on those they are entering the "captain, she's gonna blow" period of their life when something has either just popped and the owner wants rid, or owner is scared it's about to pop.

Great cars, great fun, especially the 4wd twin turbos, incredibly versatile wagons, but when they start to go.. wholly hecka.

 

i would think a twin turbo legacy is the last car one would recomend to these people

[GorGasm 563]

You can get newer model Legacy turbo for under 10k and they are actually quite a reliable car, mainly down to their mechanical simplicity.  I had two of them and neither gave any grief.  If you wanted to go all out reliable then pick up a Legacy 3.0R, rock solid vehicle.

The older twin turbo is more fun to drive IMO, and cheaper, but the newer single turbo is a far better car by orders of magnitude.

 

Edited June 20, 2019 by GorGasm

[lord_jagganath 421]

16 minutes ago, GorGasm said:

newer model Legacy turbo

is this the CVT one? 

[GorGasm 563]

Nope, the 4th generation 5 speed auto or 5/6 speed manual.  The 5th gens start to use CVT.

[Azukamii 86]

Late to the party, but +1 on legacies!

BP/BL turbo or 3.0 are both pretty great. though the 3L does tend to suck fuel. They run forever, and do have a bit of punch to em though!
BP (wagon) is certainly the more practical and better option. One regret I had was buying the sedan. was a great car, but my god, the number of times I'd have to borrow a wagon/ ute because it wouldn't fit in the leggy D:<

pricing seems pretty modest too!

[coop 261]

On 6/20/2019 at 1:22 AM, aja540i said:

The simple reality is that even a worn out Leaf has fewer maintenance requirements than even the most reliable ICE car. When I say worn out I am purely referring to battery state of health, which is much easier to check than internal combustion engine state of health!

Your $8k Corolla over 200,000 km will require possibly 20 oil changes, that's 20 more than a Leaf, plus spark plugs, coils, a starter motor and/or alternator, fuel and air filters etc, none of which a Leaf has.

Real world range is a separate issue and one that each potential owner needs to research and compare with their requirements, mine is about 120km, slightly less if the a/c is on, which is perfect for the driving I do. The headlights don't affect the range in an EV any more than they do in an ICE car!

I also think it's a bit .laughable to assume the government won't tax petrol further, or that the cost won't continue to rise for other reasons.

I am not sitting on my high horse saying everyone should drive an EV , I don't believe that, but people who are in the market that they are who just dismiss them without a thought are missing an opportunity. 

Yeah, Im aware a Corolla, or other reliable cars will need most of those things over that time. 

If it costs $5k in R&M to keep on the road over the next ten years ($5k is on the high side), it is cheap motoring.

Not too keen to comment on how a used Leaf will fare over that time though? I guess its an unknown at this stage... 

 

And yes, I fully expect future local and central Govts to impose more anti motorist regulations and taxes in the future, ICEs will bare the brunt of it IMO, especially if the current mob get their way. Wellington City Council have just increased coupon city parking from $8/day to $12!

[318Touring 40]

I'll be doing the same later on this year, and been keeping an eye on this thread.

One area that I put as priorities will be on safety and convenience more than 'fun' because as a daily-driver, I can't remember the last time I could have fun in bumper-to-bumper traffic.  Things like: more than 4 airbags, EBD (ABS is a given), lane-assist, crash avoidance, pre-tensioner seat-belt, active cruise, traction control, auto wiper, auto headlights, Xenon lights (I even heard that some Leafs have LED!).  Obviously the budget is higher than $10k but definitely not $20k for a car that will be left out in the elements most of its life.  

Some of the modern Korean/Japanese runabouts have some or most of the above features.  1 series has most of the above features though, and anything else older is out.

[kwhelan 241]

good visibility out the back and side windows, easy to park,easy to judge front and rear extremities. good stereo and heater, good demister, good steering turn radius, good aircon, not likely to get stolen. plenty of cup and storage holders for the commute. something peppy over the first 100m from the lights and  short enough to squeeze into tight parks for a city dweller with short doors that don't open too wide

Edited June 27, 2019 by kwhelan

[kiwi535 538]

3 hours ago, kwhelan said:

good visibility out the back and side windows, easy to park,easy to judge front and rear extremities. good stereo and heater, good demister, good steering turn radius, good aircon, not likely to get stolen. plenty of cup and storage holders for the commute. something peppy over the first 100m from the lights and  short enough to squeeze into tight parks for a city dweller with short doors that don't open too wide

suzuki swift 

[318Touring 40]

1 hour ago, kiwi535 said:

suzuki swift 

I've got one

[leonf 162]

Anybody ever considered a diesel Mini??   It's almost a kind of BMW.......  Ignoring RUC, they must be hellishly inexpensive on fuel??

[Gaz 1060]

4 hours ago, leonf said:

Anybody ever considered a diesel Mini??   It's almost a kind of BMW.......  Ignoring RUC, they must be hellishly inexpensive on fuel??

Very rare and hard to find, I think r56 was the last diesel mini BMW NZ brought into NZ but I could be wrong

[qube 3570]

Took a while but ended up with a 2009 Honda Civic S 1.8L Petrol Auto with 70kms, NZ new, last owner 7 years by a company but used by the GM's wife, serviced once a year, wof and reg still 6 months to go, new tyres, full tank of gas, for just under 6k. No complaints at all and whilst doing a bit of reading, these R18A engines are pretty much as reliable as it gets and even camchain not belt.

The other contender on the shortlist was the hawkeye subaru legacy.