Toyota Runz

My wife has a little 1300 Corolla 5 speed hatch which has proved exceptionally reliable, but she has recently been diagnosed with a genetic muscle weakening condition andis now finding the lack of power steering increasingly difficult when parking and also constant manual changing a hastle when she has to take our daughter to medical appointments (same condition) at peak times with heavy traffic on the motorway and getting in and out is also more difficult than it used to be.Her model also lacks central locking and electric windows so I am thinking of upgrading. Budget would be max of $10,000.
The Runz seems to tick all the boxes, such as reliability, and being reasonably economic to run.
Chain drive also means no cambelt change, not sure about the waterpump which is done at the same time!
Would be serviced each 6 months by our local garage.
I would be interested in your opinions - we live in the Henderson Valley area.

Just wait jazz will be in here telling you how good a fiats and multiplia's are.

Hey Kaz, perhaps you could tell him what they are.
Cheers Stevo

Kaz, do mean a model such as the Raum!

Actually, I would suggest you consider a Fiat, primary reason being the two stage electric power steering. It has a button on the dash you push which lightens the steering quite a bit more than normal, its intended function is for city driving but one of my workers just used to leave it on all the time so its obviously fine on the open road.
Well worth some thought. Pretty much all Fiats from about 2000 Have this feature.
Only catch is the Punto's etc have the lower seating position, there was the ideal machine for sale here a while ago being a Fiat Idea which also had the high seats, but they are hard to get in NZ.
There have been a few Fiat Panda's on here of late though that I suspect may have high enough seating for your purposes. Worth having a chew over.

The likes of the Punto etc are easy to get parts for, very reliable, parts are cheap and they have lots of nice features like extra airbags and a much nicer transmission than Toyota use. They are also a lot better on gas than any of the small Japanese automatics.

Coming from the 5 speed Corolla you may find the little Japanese auto's fairly hard work. The combination of a small engine with a torque converter robbing it of a fair bit of power then the lack of gears makes fairly hard work of it all. It also robs you of a bit of economy.

Thats why I like the CVT in the Fiat Punto so much. It allows the engine to hold the exact revs required for the given job so you get a lot more out of the small engine. It also has super relaxed cruising with just 1950RPM at 100km/h on the flat.

Just don't get tempted by Honda's CVT unit, unfortunately its just not as well designed as the Fiat unit and dosn't last the distance.

Best of luck with whatever you decide on. Sorry to hear your wife and daughter suffer with this disease, long term illness is no fun at all. I am lucky in that while I am sick at least I am getting better over time. All the best.

Thanks Mellisa! Will do, yes, very helpful of you - actually a person you may know in a road named after a vineyard was really helpful when I was asking about jump starters for camping recently, often helps folk on this board! I'll be ringing him.
Thank you Jazz for the Fiat suggestions but this time I'll stick to Toyota - however I'll certainly be checking outVW / Volvo etc when it comes time to replace my trusty Camry wagon - at the moment I need loads space for 2 hounds / camping gear etc. I always enjoy reading your detailed posts and I'm sure others appreciate your research and enthusiasm.
Missing Papa's posts though.

Thats all cool, given the seat height necessity the Toyota may be the best machine for the job, just thought I would mention the power steering in case it was a help. Your not the only one missing Papa Ricks posts its a real shame he's been booted.

Incidentally if steering becomes an issue further down the track I suspect that any car with electric power steering could be easily modified to be even lighter again than the city setting on the Fiat.

Hopefully if that became an issue it would be well down the track and given most manufacturers are slowly making the switch to electric it bodes well for your next vehicle change even if that's another Toyota.

Best of luck with it all.

hi just read this and would you consider selling the car and for how much as we have a boy getting his licence and looking for a car this size

Not quite ready yet - starting the process!

stay with a toyota,a fiat will be in the garage more than on the road.

I met him and no, I wasn't kidnapped! Will be back in the next couple of days, saw several cars that would fit the bill. Very very helpful.