I agree. If you like driving the open road, an Audi or BMW will blow you away compared to the Holden. (Remember the BMW ads! "The ultimate driving machine."
klrider,
Jan 4, 5:59pm
Depends if you want to look like a try hard and pay through the nose for upkeep, if so, go European.
friendly_prawn,
Jan 4, 6:22pm
considering Im a fan of Aussy cars and I detest Euro cars, Holden every time.
wasser61,
Jan 4, 7:02pm
Agreed, avoid anything European that is older than 8 years, you will find that just about everything BMW, MERC, AUDI, VW drops right down the reliability list. Also with the added bonus of the exceptional high prices to get anything repaired just because it is "European". While the Holden may not be the ideal car, they are easy to repair, they do the job and you don't cost a small fortune to service. I don't mind European cars, as they do drive well, but I would never own one that is outside of Warranty.
ksam,
Jan 4, 7:39pm
To be fair, I don't disagree with the try hard bit, but there are few of them in their over spoilered Holdens and Fords too. Often those lot spend a lot of time telling us how they wouldn't touch that Jap crap and look at those tossers in the Euros, so I guess you can't please everyone. Don't get me wrong, I like all the Holdens I've owned, you just seem to get a lot of nice bits in the Euros and don't want too cut off my nose to spite my face.
shuddupowh,
Jan 4, 7:50pm
Why do people like you always try to say BMWs so expensive to maintain! Just like all cars you have to maintain them rerularly (or expect expensive repairs) and even Ford/Holden can be expensive to maintain.
ksam,
Jan 4, 8:12pm
Just one other small point on the 'try hard" thing, I see more people wandering around wearing Holden or Ford t-shirts, jackets and caps, than I do Audi, BMW or VW, who's trying the hardest! Or is it insecurity!
richard198,
Jan 4, 8:45pm
Soon it will be Ford v. Ford at Bathhurst!
thejazzpianoma,
Jan 4, 8:59pm
If you are paying a fortune in repairs on the likes of an A6 you don't have a clue what you are doing.
VW/Audi parts are very well priced and the likes of the A6 is very reliable, all you have to do is follow the maintenance schedule which is easy and not that expensive to do.
The great thing with the Audi is that maintenance to some degree is "forced" as waterpumps, seals, thermostat etc are usually changed when the 5 year big service comes along. This makes them quite good as an older car to buy because most have at least had the fundamentals serviced.
Buy genuine parts from the likes of Qualitat and its hard to go wrong in that area.
The Euro cars are suddenly unreliable after X years is just a myth. Don't you think it odd that a car that's built with better quality parts, bigger budget and more attention to detail would be less reliable than something cheap! The next silly argument to come out is nutters trying to compare the reliability of a quality luxury car to a featureless corolla that is of not use to Poster One.
Obviously though any car can be unreliable if you buy one that hasn't been maintained as it should or has been abused.
I won't be arguing any more stupid myths with people who are not even quoting direct experience with the vehicles involvoed. "Euro" could be french even so lumping them all together and calling them unreliable is just stupid and a show of ignorance.
tonyrockyhorror,
Jan 4, 9:12pm
$4k on a Ford, put the rest in my pocket, FTW.
grangies,
Jan 4, 9:17pm
The rest in the pocket for failed WOF's and cut and welding of rust!
tonyrockyhorror,
Jan 4, 9:18pm
I've never had any such problems.
ryanm2,
Jan 4, 9:21pm
I love people like you - it keeps the price of better built, better spec, higher safety standards, better fuel economy euro cars well priced so smart people like me own them.
by_hdt,
Jan 4, 9:36pm
Aussies all the way. I work at a dealership representing 9 "quality" European brands, and there's a reason I drive home in a Holden.
While Im not questioning the style, how good they drive, solidity etc they are not cheap to own, especially when older as more and more things wear out and fail, I see cars that are religiously serviced crap themselves every day, usually nothing major but expensive spares and lack of readily available (and good quality) aftermarket spares, as well as the complexity of European cars mean that the bills can get very scary very quickly. 15 Hours to do a $75 sump gasket on an X-Type AWD (and that's with the special tools)
I fail many near new European cars for WOF's because of ball joints, suspension bushes, engine mounts etc, often at low mileages because they are lightly built and not capable of handing NZ's poor roads. This seldom happens on Commodores as they are built for tougher southern hemisphere conditions.
Compare a $6K Calais with a $6K euro saloon, you get pretty much the same bells and whistles, a car of roughly the same age, roughly the same condition, the Calais will still have plenty of trouble free motoring ahead of it as they are simple, rugged and reach massive mileages that european car designers would have nightmares over. The euro on the other hand will be a complete money pit and likely cost you $1000 every time it fails a WOF.
tonyrockyhorror,
Jan 4, 9:39pm
Yep. That's philosophy too. Cars are just transport.
bellky,
Jan 4, 9:44pm
good posts there^^
scotty20001,
Jan 4, 9:45pm
with a front wheel drive Falcon! great.
friendly_prawn,
Jan 4, 9:46pm
yep, Aussie cars, reliable and much simpler to work on almost any other make. Love your common sense post by_hdt
friendly_prawn,
Jan 4, 9:47pm
fwd falcon! huh! what you on about!
richard198,
Jan 4, 10:00pm
"This seldom happens on Commodores as they are built for tougher southern hemisphere conditions."
So a drive over the Swiss Alps or Massive Central is not as tough! My Commodore broke from just driving around Waiheke!
vtecintegra,
Jan 4, 10:02pm
The roads are certainly a lot smoother.
richard198,
Jan 4, 10:08pm
Not in my experience. Where did you drive!
craig04,
Jan 5, 2:10am
He's talking about the soon to be released eco-boost falcon. 2.0 litre and fwd.
phillip.weston,
Jan 5, 2:23am
eco-boost falcon wont be FWD. Maybe he's confusing it with the taurus which is meant to be replacing the Falcon line up!
craig04,
Jan 5, 2:42am
Thats good.
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