Unfortunately the male in my family is clueless about cars, so I'd appreciate some thoughts on small sized cars. I previously owned an A3 2005 NZ new and I dont want to go back to a European car as I will be a nursing student for next 3 years and the servicing and parts will kill me.I'd be paying cash and prefer to purchase from a dealer, and yes I've read the threads and I wont be going there to ask "Whats your best cash price!". My thoughts are a Demio 1.5L 2003ish, Getz 1.4L or 1.6L 2004ish. I like the safety features of some of the later modelGetz's such as 4 airbags and 3 full rear belts but theres seems to be a lot more Demios around my way, Central-West Auckland so that many people cant be wrong right!Would the servicing and parts of both cars be about the same! I'd only be going to campus and local driving so maybe 200Km of travelling a week. Im cutting it fine but Im hoping to buy before school holidays start in late July.
moosie_21,
Jun 19, 1:25am
Wait for it.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 1:27am
Forget the anti European to save money thing. Its not that simple and not all cars from Europe are expensive to maintain. Your best option would actually be to spend about 6K on a Fiat Punto 2001 or newer. That model Fiat is well ahead of the little Japanese automatics of similar and much newer age. The Fiat uses a CVT which is going to give you considerably better economy and usable power becuase its much much more efficient. The rest of the car is also built around giving you much better economy by using advanced technology that you don't get in the Japanese equivalents. It does all this yet remains very reliable and cheap to run. PLUS because not only do you get better economy you get a HUGE advantage of less money outlaid and next to no depreciation. If you do the math you will be amazed how much better off you will be.
The best model is the 2001 or newer with the 1.2 litre engine. The 1.2 litre will still give you plenty of go and is much the same as driving a 1.6-1.8 Corolla for power.
You will get about 5-5.5l/100km on the open road and its really hard to do worse than 6.5l/100km in town. It has loads of nice features like dual mode power steering (can be set lighter for parking etc), factory subwoofer, a minimum of 4 airbags, excellent safety rating etc etc.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 1:27am
I would have hated to dissapoint!
rohansmummy,
Jun 19, 1:36am
Thanks Jazz - I totally hear you, I got stung very badly with my A3 and honestly Im just put off owning another Euro. for now as a lowly financially strapped student which I will be until 2015.But once Im out in the work force I will most definitely be coming back to the Euro club. Also I can only drive automatic which meant my DSG was totally wasted on me.
rohansmummy,
Jun 19, 1:37am
Jazz- thanks for the link, that car looks interesting and near me too.haha!
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 1:37am
If you want to save money with a little car Fiat is the way to do it. The small Japanese stuff is over-priced, inefficient and under delivers by comparison. The two cars you are looking at will cost more overall to own/run than a Punto without a doubt.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 1:41am
There are plenty coming and going for sale in Auckland, that one isn't too badly priced but you could get a little cheaper. There are two things you want to be aware of though: 1. That transmission is exceptionally reliable but it must be serviced every 40'000km to achieve that. If there are no service records for the transmission stick to buying one with 60'K or less on the clock and then get the service done yourself. 2. These are timing belt driven engines (which is not a bad thing at all, so don't be sucked into people telling you timing chain engines are the best etc) so do allow in your budget for the timing belt to be changed if it is due.
The Timing belt every 5 years/100k and the transmission every 40K are your only notable service requirements other than oil changes once a year.
vtecintegra,
Jun 19, 1:42am
At the risk of sounding like a broken record (not the only one) you should really take one for a drive yourself because in my opinion the Fiat isn't anything like driving a 1.8 Corolla.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 1:44am
Get over it vtec for goodness sake. Grow up and go away. (sorry OP vtec follows me around and does this every time, I am totally over it.) I say that as a guide only, having actually owned and run two 1.6 Corolla's at the same time as the Punto. The Punto would leave the 1.6 Auto Corolla in the dust. Hop into a Toyota or Mazda 1.3 and you will see what I am on about the Punto punches well above its power range.
rohansmummy,
Jun 19, 1:56am
Yep - its funny how these matchups go with you guys.but will surely take into account your advice and make an informed choice by trying out the cars myself.I was just wondering if anyone had experience with the servicing/parts costs of the Demio and Getz.
Jazz - say I went down the path of a Fiat, would I have to specifically find an Italian mechanic/garage or will any garage do!My ex owned two Alfas and used to go to a fellow in Otahuhu, I think he also did Fiats.
Just that my experience with cars is this - whatever I had, it went to that cars manufacturer garage eg Honda Civic;serviced at Honda, Audi;serviced Giltrap Prestige.
shorebee,
Jun 19, 1:59am
id also be thinking mazda axela 3 series 1.5, a little light on power but if you have a child or 2 there is reasonable space, the 02 an later demio is a great car as mum has one but for similar money or a little more the axela gives space and mid size car feel. a focus or fiesta isnt bad car either but creeping in the dollars, also maybe explore kia rio 06 on for 10k if you hunt or hyundai elantra newer shape.Im a euro diesel fan so cant overlook them and like the citroen or peugeot range and a peugeot diesel manual is hard to beet on reliability economy and performance.206.207.306 or 307
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 1:59am
No, anyone can service the Fiat. However if I were in Auckland I would go to Italian Auto's annually as their parts prices are great and they know what they are doing. But any garage will be fine.
Also. have you actually sold the Audi!
I think the reason the Audi cost you a lot is more because you went to Giltrap than anything else.
If you havn't sole the Audi be very careful how you go about things. The Demio and Getz only have 4 gears and an economy sapping torque converter vs's no torque converter and 6 gears in your Audi. This means that despite being smaller those two cars struggle to be any better economy wise in the real world.
rohansmummy,
Jun 19, 2:00am
Scotty - the golf would be far different than the polo driving wise right! They gave that to me a few times as a courtesy car and it was so frightening (A little box on wheels with hard steering, a noisy engine and I felt every bump).
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 2:04am
The Polo's were pretty rubbish and nothing like the Golf, although after your Audi all those smaller cheaper runabouts are going to be tough going. The Fiat will be the best of the supermini's. (The Golf is not a supermini its a size up and will ride nicer than the Fiat even). I totally agree with Scotty about the VW but in your case I am not so sure. You see you have given up your Audi which is basically a MK5 Golf wearing a different shell and the MK5 is better than the Mk4 for economy and reliability (although the MK4 Golf is still very good in those departments). So I ama bit reluctant to suggest that based on your needs of an extreme economy vehicle. I would still rate it above the original two you are looking at though.
I am assuming your audi was a 1.6 or 2.0 FSI by the way.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 2:11am
Demio/Getz parts are O.K, but really I think you are looking at this from the wrong angle. Parts and servicing for most of those little basic cars is much of a muchness. What will actually wind up costing you will be depreciation and economy. The Demio in particular is not great on gas in the city given its supposed to be an economical shopping basket.
Those little Japanese shopping baskets try and struggle away with just 4 gears which is no where near enough for a little engine. Its just like riding an old 3 speed pushbike from the 70's then jumping on a 10 speed road bike. The less power you have the more gears you need.
The other issue is instead of a clutch (like a manual or a DSG) those cars have something called a torque converter. When that slips (which it does a LOT in town with starting and stopping and trying to bridge the gap between not enough gears) you waste a lot of fuel. Thats why the CVT in the Fiat is a much better option. The CVT gives you infinite continuous ratios (think of it like having a 50 speed gearbox, you are always in the absolute perfect ratio).
Even though the Fiat has a torque converter it locks pretty much immediately which turns the fuel wastage off, unlike the Demio etc which will rarely lock up at all in town.
Just don't get tempted to get a Honda with the CVT, their unit is not properly designed like the Fiat one and is prone to failure. CVT's get a bad name from the likes of the Honda unit but the Fiat unit is really bulletproof. Which is not surprising considering Fiat basically invented the CVT for car use an have been using them for over 30 years.
rohansmummy,
Jun 19, 2:16am
Yep- the Audi went once the repair job was done some catalytic converter thingy, part was ordered from Germany, it was a 2L Turbo and Im glad its gone - a TVNZ reporter bought it funnily enough. Now Im confused, haha, I can only look at cars on Sundays and possibly Sat. mornings so I cleverly thought I'd narrowed down my choices to just the Getz and Demio as I have an Aug 1st start date and want the car for a few weeks before that.Its just me in the car weekdays and 2 adults and my little boy on weekends so I dont need a large car, i dont mind petrol costs, I used to fork out $120 weekly.Im on the motorway weekdays for maybe 3 exits and then 50km/h driving.The important factor is keeping those repairs/servicing levels to a reasonable amount.For me thats a budget of $800-$1000 yearly.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 2:24am
The Turbo version + The combination of Giltrap definitely explains the service cost issues. With your next VW try Qualitat instead. My Punto's were used for commercial use and I did not exceed $500 a year in servicing/tires although I was quite astute with where I got things done and ordered my parts from Italian Autos myself. Given you are in Auckland I think you should easily be well within budget for servicing on the Punto.
If you can, take the Demio an Getz for a run up the Bombay hills and do some hill starts from the bottom of other hills where you can stop then do the same in the Fiat. This will quickly wise you up to the difference the transmission makes. Keep the Fiat in Economy mode and you can use full throttle without revving it to bits. The other cars will struggle and chop noisily between gears.
Also, I edited my post above with some more info on the CVT gearbox and economy. Even though you don't mind paying more for gas its important to note you don't get any more power for it with the Demio and Getz, I don't see why you would want to just throw money away as a student!
Why not chuck what you save in fuel aside each week and enjoy no service bills at all!
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 2:28am
But why compromise and put up with a revving roaring thirsty under-powered slug up hills when the CVT in the Fiat is every bit as reliable! Not sure what the go is with the Fiat you drove, aside from a little road noise on the open road course chip I much prefered travelling in my Punto to my NZ new Corolla.
vtecintegra,
Jun 19, 2:31am
Well stop making your stupid claims,Seriously.
rohansmummy,
Jun 19, 2:34am
Thanks all for your advice/experiences - you have given me a lot of other options to mull over, so much for my past few weeks of research.Day one of the search begins tomorrow with dealers out my way, (fingers crossed for no rain) and armed with all this I will hopefully come away with something Im happy with.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 2:36am
Go and look up the 0-100 times of an auto Corolla 1.6 and the Fiat Punto. Then come back if you have any questions.
The point I am trying to make here is that a 1.2 Punto for example is considerably faster than a 1.5 Demio for example which is what is actually important to poster 1.
The Demio for example despite its heavy thirst for fuel takes over 16 seconds to reach 100km/h vs just 12.6 in a Punto.
Even the 2.0 Golf that was mentioned is only about half a second quicker to 100km/h than the Punto.
My statement is meant as a generalization only and for people who think that the 1.2 Punto is going to be like a 1.3 Toyota, Suzuki or whatever.
Your comments do absolutely nothing but confuse people and piss me off.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 2:38am
Be VERY careful of what dealers say (no offense to Kaz who is pretty good) they are usually horribly biased towards peddling their under performing, under featured Japanese stuff because thats what they buy cheap and will try and make exaggerated and untrue claims about Fiat servicing and reliability. unless of course they happen to have one on their yard!
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 19, 2:38am
LOL, top marks for giving it a go!
ringo2,
Jun 19, 2:50am
Talk nicely to one of the Hyundai dealers and you should be able to get a lowish mileage 1.5 2006 or maybe later Getz. Owned one for 5 years did 60k in that time and all it cost was routine serviceing and gave no problems whatsoever. I wouldn't take too much notice of jazz's talk of 0 to 100 times etc. You are shopping for a round town buggie not a drag machine.
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