Best value! 2002 - 2005 Fiat Punto. Good safety rating, economical, practical.
rovercitroen,
Mar 3, 1:54pm
Or.if you must go Japanese Mazda Demio, Nissan Micra. Toyotas are good too, but tend to be top money. Look at a Toyota iST.
toyboy3,
Mar 3, 1:59pm
A Suzuki swiftwould be a good choice
rovercitroen,
Mar 3, 2:04pm
I would advise try test driving a few different makes and models. There are SO many cars that fit your criteria. Value is a funny thing to assess. A car that is cheapest to buy now could end up being expensive over the long term if it needs major repairs. A car I didn't mention above that is in your price bracket is an early 2000s VW Golf in either a hatch or wagon. They are lovely to drive with a very solid feel, and are quiet and refined on the road, unlike some of the much newer Japanese offerings.
kcf,
Mar 3, 2:32pm
That being the case, I'd be avoiding the Micra and any of the 1300cc Echo/Vitz/Yaris range, as they're a bit gutless when the car is loaded up.
jono2912,
Mar 3, 2:49pm
Could you call a Multipla a hatchback!
phillip.weston,
Mar 3, 3:02pm
3 children and two adults! How old are these children! What are you going to do with all their gear with a tiny boot! I don't think a small hatch like a Micra, Vitz/Yaris, Punto etc is going to quite suit your needs, especially if two of the children are in child/baby seats or nearly full grown teenagers!
smac,
Mar 3, 3:13pm
Having grown up as one of three kids in the back of a cortina, I think it's child abuse to be thinking of any of those models.
budgel,
Mar 3, 3:26pm
The Peugeot hatchbacks seem good value, millions sold worldwide.
r15,
Mar 3, 4:01pm
dont know how much you want to spend, but you cant go past a common rail diesel with a 'malfunctioning' odometer for economy
rovercitroen,
Mar 3, 4:14pm
You would be brave / foolish to buy any used diesel car in NZ without documentation from new to prove odometer reading is realistic.
stevo2,
Mar 3, 11:26pm
Demio or Ist. Both are available in 1300 or 1500cc versions. Naturally you need the 1500cc. Hard to find in manual though. Maybe a Focus or fiesta! Cheers Stevo
petal05,
Mar 3, 11:49pm
Don't touch a Fiat, expensive to fix! Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, Mazda is the best car on the market, peppy, safe, and a great price!
craig04,
Mar 4, 12:10am
And some of them are still going too.
ringo2,
Mar 4, 12:24am
5litres per 100k will be hard to attain.
fordcrzy,
Mar 4, 4:30am
if you want a small car like that which still has power then the ford fiesta is the best choice with its 1600 engine and best road manners of the small hatches. you can get NZ new ones (don't touch the imports) for your budget.having said that why the heck are you cramming 3 kids into such a small car!
clark20,
Mar 4, 4:39am
i suggest you look at Civics, good room and economy
r15,
Mar 5, 4:01am
my work car is a 1500cc 08 corolla wagon, always loaded up with about 50kg of gear, and im always giving it death, yet it still averages 14.5km/l
i also know the current model diesel rav4 will do about 5.5 l/100km on average
audi_s_ate,
Mar 5, 12:38pm
Best value IMO is the 01-05 xc Holden barina.1.4 manual. Great around town and we have had ours from 70k now done 220k and hasn't missed a beat. Great safety rating too. Plus you can buy one for around $4k or less.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 5, 3:44pm
Hi SpecialK, As said above the Punto really is the car to beat on value. Remember its pointless quibbling over the last fraction of a litre on economy if the depreciation etc is going to outweight that cost many times over.
For that reason the Punto stands supreme, you can get a really top condition one with say 50K on the clock for about 6K.
In terms of economy you should be getting about 5.8l/100km with typical around town usage dropping back to 5l/100km on a trip, that's what we got from ours being used as town delivery vehicles. Thats about as good as you are going to get for something with that amount of power in the price range.
In terms of Power the Punto is also going to be well ahead of the other equivilent ccsmall engine cars. Performance is easily on a par with the typical standard 1.6litre vehicles.
We regually used ours with 5 adults to go over the kaimais to meetings etc, it romped up there at 100km/h (Tauranga side) with ease.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 5, 3:50pm
BTW, Parts for the Fiat are very cheap and easiliy sourced, the body's are galvanised so there are no rust hassles and servicing is easy and straight foward. They are also extremely reliable. If you do have a problem it is likely going to be with something minor like a seat occupancy sensor or such like.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 12:06pm
If you really wanted to spend at the highest end of your budget I would advise stretching to 12K and buying a MK5 VW Golf. Even though the Golf is a 1.6 or 2.0 car I have had 4.7l/100km on the open road and they are still pretty good around town. It also has loads of power compared to other vehicles that are that efficient.
The Golf is simply light years ahead of everything else in the segment and even though the MK5 starts in 2004 its still miles ahead of most of the brand new equivalents.
You can get the Golf in manual but the DSG which is a clutchless self shifting 6 speed manual with tiptronic control may suit you as well. You will likely get better economy from the DSG than the manual version as well.
If a MK5 is advertised as tiptronic or auto it will actually have the DSG box.
Don't consider the older Golfs or Polo's as they just don't have the same level of technology and will fail to deliver the goods in power/economy.
BTW you mentioned diesel before, the Golf Diesels are sublime. If you want to compare diesel/petrol running costs have a play with my web page www.dieselvspetrol.webs.com
Happy hunting!
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