New car

[kiwigeo]

Okay its that time that I hate the most...time to buy a new frigging car.

At the moment the options are as follows:

1. Mazda2 - current car is a Mazda and quality of build is good.
2. Toyota Yaris
3. Toyota Corolla - reliable car but in the new models the gear stick is in a stupid place - reminds me of one of those Gestapo Staff Cars.
4. Subaru

Any comments/advice?

Cheers Martin

[Allen]

Speaking purely from someone that has to work on all of these cars everyday I'd stay clear of Subaru. I wouldn't own one if it was the only choice available. Would rather walk.

The choice on the other 3 is purely up to you. They all are well built, easy to work on, and parts are usually readily available, though that rather depends on the local dealers.

Many of these new cars are designed to never come apart without clips and parts breaking. Honda's are one of the worst for this. Toyota is very good, and Mazda is a close second in this regard.

My 2 cents anyway.

[J.F. Custom]

Speaking purely from someone that has to work on all of these cars everyday I'd stay clear of Subaru. I wouldn't own one if it was the only choice available. Would rather walk.

The choice on the other 3 is purely up to you. They all are well built, easy to work on, and parts are usually readily available, though that rather depends on the local dealers.

Many of these new cars are designed to never come apart without clips and parts breaking. Honda's are one of the worst for this. Toyota is very good, and Mazda is a close second in this regard.

My 2 cents anyway.

SUBARU ???

Now you tell me Blimey that's a bad rap - it's a long way from Cairns to Geelong...

I can't help but ask you to expand on this though Allen. I've got a Subaru Forester '04 and love it. Never skips a beat. I bought it because it was, from all reports I read, a heavy well built (Japanese?), reliable and "safe" car. I say "safe" because this is very relative to both how you (the owner) drive, and also how everyone else around you drives... every day. But in the instance of an accident, they rate well. My motivation for this of course was my 20 month old son. Strange isn't it? No consideration for my own safety for all these years, bugger me, but my son pops into the scene and is somehow a whole different matter... Anyway, I digress...

Is this because you are familiar with common problems to these cars or that, as I have heard, they are a real PITA to work on? I know the parts aren't cheap and neither is servicing them but is that where you are coming form or no? Like to hear more if you would.

Martin,

Until now, I would have said the Subaru was a safe bet. But I have no relative or practical mechanical experience to base this on, just own one. They are certainly not the most fuel efficient cars, but then, for their size and AWD class, again, they rate well. The AWD is handy for some of the conditions I am exposed to drive in. Not an off road vehicle though which suits me fine.

Prior to the Subaru though I had a Toyota Corolla. Older model 94? or something?? Anyway, cheap to run, service, parts readily available etc. I ran that thing into the ground and it still wouldn't stop. You couldn't kill it with a pick axe, erm, should you attempt to.

From other owners of same I've spoken to, it's a similar story. Good reliable car. Can't comment on the others mentioned and have no grounds to comment on any but hey, you asked for opinions.

However, that's a heck of a lot of tonewood and other far more important guitar related stuff you could be spending your hard earned dosh on. What's going on? My my, where have the priorities gone?

What about getting yourself some Uni students to build you some solar powered beast? Or then again, there are some impressive electric conversions for small cars available now... Bloody expensive though.

Jeremy.

[Allen]

My assessment on these cars is just from working on them. Nothing more.

I'm afraid that after working on 10's of thousands of vehicles, I'm well past being really impressed with all but one or two models per year. We work on everything under the sun, from Mazda 1's to Mazzaraties. I mostly work on the ridiculously priced European luxury cars.

What impresses me in a vehicle is quality of build. Ease of repair, parts cost and availability. Other than that, it's just a vehicle that gets you to and from work, and lets you pick up some beer and wood. I like great fuel economy, and can't understand Australian's obsession in Fords and Holdens with big V8's .

Subaru's are just plain evil things to work on. When any of the Tradesmen get assigned one to work on, it's like they have done something wrong and are being punished.

Over complicated design purely for the sake of being different, The guy that designed them should be shot. Parts are a nightmare to get. Regularly requiring them to be shipped from Japan. They cost way too much, and while they may have high safety ratings, in real world situations, they are no better than any of the other ones on Martin's short list.

We regularly get 5 or 6 Subaru's in per week. Many having been repaired previously, and all of them displaying problems with quality of repair and fit. This mostly attributed to how difficult they are to work on, and repair to pre-accident condition.

We also regularly get the other models on Martin's list and don't see any of the same problems.

[J.F. Custom]

So there you go. Thanks Allen

What this translates to is - use the car until it needs repairs, then sell it right? Or at least, use a different mechanic each time so they don't feel you hate them...

Jeremy.

[Hesh1956]

Martin one of my bros has a Yaris and he loves it more than any other car that he has ever owned. He has had it for over 6 months now and the only thing that he has had to do is put some gas in it every other month....

Interestingly this guy is a big guy too, 260 lbs, and he finds it to be very roomy and it is surprisingly roomy too when you look inside. He also has to carry band equipment frequently and uses the Yaris for that too.

The only problem that he has had is that he got into a fight, and won, with someone when he was coming out of a beer store. This is ground zero for the American auto industry with many now boarded up auto plants and supplier plants in the area. Unemployment is over 25% in this county because of the decline of the auto industry.

When coming out of a store several punks gave him shit for not owning an American car. He tried to ignore them but when they spit on his Yaris enough was enough...

Anyway my bro is a former tank driver when in the army and found a great additional talent for the Yaris - it breaks heads quite well.....

Anyway great car, the only one that I would avoid is the Mazada which are not rated well here for quality.

[Kim]

Ask ur husband if he will let you have a Monaro Martin

[seeaxe]

Mostly by accident at first, but now by choice, we have four Toyota Corollas. Two of the kids have one each and the boss and I have one. They are all 1989 or so. Two of them have done over 300,000 km and are looking a bit tired, but go fine. If you add the cubic capacity of all of them together, its about the same as a Holden Monaro, but you could buy all four for half the cost of one of those!

Mine and the wifes have bugger all mileage on them, under 70,000 k. The wifes WAS actually was used by a little old lady to go to church on Sunday (well, the RSA, actually). I reckon they are basically a new car and have at least 230,000 k of cheap and fun motoring left in them.

I consider mine a kind of groovy, urban Hilux. When its gets really old, I'm going to offer it to Jeremy Clarkson to drop off the top of a building he is blowing up, or something like that.

Also, consider the aging process Martin. When you are older, what car can you take to bowls and will fit right in!! - Corolla, of course.

So if you are looking for reliable, buy a Corolla. If you are looking to shift your tonewood stash around you may need a Mack truck.

PS., Subaru Legacy and WRXs are also supposed be the most stolen car in New Zealand. Obviously crims cant be bothered getting them fixed either!!!

Good luck!!

PPS, why not build one? Can't be harder than a lute can it?

[Nick]

I would go for either the Mazda or the Toyota (in that order). Mazda is a good performing, well put together vehicle, the old man had a Mazda (under the guise of a rebadged Ford Laser) for years and it never missed a beat. Apart from putting fuel in the tank, water in the radiator and the mandatory oil change, no other work had to be done to it in all the years he owned it. My Sister currently has an MX5 (great little sports car btw, she loves it to bits) and has had the same run out of it. Toyota's just go and go and parts are cheap, of all the Japanese cars I've seen more older Toyota's driving around than all the others, so that says something about their longevity.
I'm with Allen on the Subaru's, wouldn't touch another one with a barge pole. Looking back the only redeeming feature it had was the all wheel drive (safety issue). I had a Legacy GT (the turbo'ed model) so was a gas hog (My current 3.8 holden has a better around town mileage & far better open road figures than that 2 litre had). Parts are expensive (I had to replace all 4 coils at once at $150 each, not to mention reconditioning of the turbo!!) and the engine is a bastard to work on! I used to think after a few years of being around race cars and their engines that I was fairly handy in that department but I couldn't even change the spark plugs in that engine! Being a flat four, there was no room to get into the spark plug well with conventional ratchet and socket.
Anyway, not a Subaru fan so I wouldn't have another.

[sebastiaan56]

Get a Prius ya woos. The one Im getting rid of has done 200k in 5 years at an average of 5.5l/100k. No major work and runs like a dream. Up and down the motorway everday at 110kph (give or take), can carry a pallet of paper, or the missus and two teenagers, JBL stereo, etc. It has been an exemplary business delivery vehicle.

There is a tax incentive for businesses that ends in a couple of months, so, along with that and a bit of clever financing and a trade in means the business is paying around half ticket price. I cant say no to that.

[Nick]

Not knocking your upcoming purchase or previous ownership Sebastiaan, I just can't understand people buying the Prius for it's "green" hybrid image. Well tuned small Diesels have been shown to pump less pollutants into the atmosphere. The new Mini Cooper has a diesel version that has a smaller carbon footprint and is quicker yet (i don't know about in Australia) in NZ you can get concessions to buy a Prius but not the Mini Go figure.

[Allen]

You don't ever want to have to repair a Prius. Everything on them is designed to break when you dismantle it, so need new, Most of the common crash parts (front end parts) take about a month to arrive. And the life span of that battery is about 5 years, with a replacement cost of nearly $5,000 the last time we had to get one in. When you factor that in to the fuel savings, they go out the window.

[J.F. Custom]

So there you are Martin.

The choice is obvious isn't it?

Clear as walnut grain filler...

Good luck

Jeremy.

[Paul B]

My neighbor has both the Toyota and a similar looking Mazda. He says the Mazda handles a lot better and is a way better car. He used to race bikes at Bathurst, so for him it's all about handling and pickup.

[Craig]

Mazda , Subaru, Toyota ???? Sheesh , you may as well get a pair of roller scates instead


Go HOLDEN V8 Martin ( ya bloody wimp )


A REAL man's car ! Vroooooom!




Or better still :




Now THAT is just sheer " style"

[sebastiaan56]

Not knocking your upcoming purchase or previous ownership Sebastiaan, I just can't understand people buying the Prius for it's "green" hybrid image. Well tuned small Diesels have been shown to pump less pollutants into the atmosphere. The new Mini Cooper has a diesel version that has a smaller carbon footprint and is quicker yet (i don't know about in Australia) in NZ you can get concessions to buy a Prius but not the Mini Go figure.

A Mini Cooper wont carry a pallet of paper when I need it in a hurry, I will also explore converting to Gas/petrol hybrid when I get a chance.

Part are not an issue in Silverwater in Sydney Allen and the batteries, well I got given the warranty extension to 180K after I had finished 195k. There are really no signs of performance problems.

But seriously Martin why dont you use all those BRW offcuts and make something like this, lute, schmoot....

[Nick]

What The ?????
Does beg the question, why would you bother?
Looks like one of them there laminated flow vehicles.

[tbkmagic]

I work in an engine re-conditioning shop and would have to say we see the least of the mazda's. toyota's come in fairly often but the subaru's are a little bit less regular. The horizontal 4 that is in the subaru's is and absolute pain of a motor to fix! we generally have no trouble getting parts for them though.

Toyota's are in a lot and need simple fixes but are easy to fix and quite cheap as parts are cheap.

Can't even remember the last Mazda i fixed but it would have been awhile ago. Still they don't have too much trouble finding parts and are good motors as well.

Paul B said his neighbours Mazda goes and handles better out of the two which is prob about right. The toyota's are still good cars though.


I guess the question is how late model are you going? brand brand new? or couple of years old but new for you?

I'm not sure what motor the latest subaru's run so that could be a perfectly good motor?

Whatever you get if you can afford it , service it at the dealer or someone who does log book services. AND do it on time!! i've seen dead motors from people not servicing way too often!

3.6 litre alloytec holden does 30,000 kms and needs a new motor because it didnt get a single service from new!! AGH!! messy.

[kiwigeo]

Driving a Subaru Imprezza rental car here in NZ at the moment. Gutless piece of rubbish. Ya put the pedal down and the bldi car thinks about it for 5 minutes before accelerating.

Might give it a crash test sometime.....might as well get my moneys worth on the excess waiver.

[Lillian]

We rented a Mazda3 when we went to NM. I hated just about everything about the car. The acceleration was counter intuitive. If you floored it, it hesitated and eventually got around to moving. If you went about half way, it would pick up faster.

[jeffhigh]

Why not a nice English car, Refined, quiet and with those nice reliable Lucas electricals?

[Allen]

Reminds me of a Sienfeld episode where Jerry says "Yah, give me all the insurance. I'm going to drive this thing into the ground" .

[Nick]

Why not a nice English car, Refined, quiet and with those nice reliable Lucas electricals?

[kiwigeo]

We rented a Mazda3 when we went to NM. I hated just about everything about the car. The acceleration was counter intuitive. If you floored it, it hesitated and eventually got around to moving. If you went about half way, it would pick up faster.

An automatic? I dont like autos generally.....Im a manual man.

[kiwigeo]

Why not a nice English car, Refined, quiet and with those nice reliable Lucas electricals?

Yeah how about a real chick magnet English car......perhaps a Morris 1100 or maybe a Morris Marina.