Looking at buying a new car **HELP**

WE are in chch, and are looking for a new car.we have 6-10K to spend (hoping for under 10K) - looking at present at Honda Fit/Jazz or maybe suzuki aerio.A friend has a Fit and says it's very economical. has 1.4 litre motor.
We have two boys to cart around (homeschool MUM) and we need a largish boot as we usually do a monthly grocery shop AND I make wheatbags so need room to cart bags to customers etc.
any thoughts out there.we live outside chch - so we travel into town 2-3 times week (less now as most things we go to are shut!)
cheers in advance

suzuki aerio suck the gas, crappy 4 speed auto. suzuki Sx4 is a far better similar size car, may still be a little above your budget though.

Without putting too fine a point on it, you are quickly going to find that the types of vehicles you are looking at will be too small, I'd be looking at the Pulsar/Corolla and similar size vehicles as a minimum for what you want.

A Jazz/Fit has more usable interior space than a Pulsar or Corolla - its mostly due to the height in the cabin and very upright seating.

Be wary of the CVT transmission in the Jazz/Fit though, can cause problems if it hasn't been properly looked after.

If you can fit into this its an absolute steal. Turners have a buy now of about $5500. Its really hard to get one with this combo of manual gearbox, twin cam engine, NZ New and low KM's.
The Punto is a great option having 4 1/2 Star NCAP safety, its stupidly economical (easily do 5l/100km and around 6 in town).
They have a surprising amount of umph as well. Very similar performance to a 1.6 Corolla etc.
They are reliable, parts are cheap and easy to get and they have some lovely features like a factory subwoofer, and dual mode power steering.

I couldn't recommend this enough, very hard to get that combination especially down your way so I would suggest checking it out while you can.

http://www.turners.co.nz/Vehicles/Pages/Car.aspx!RefId=877197

BTW, to compare it to your friends Honda Fit, it uses less gas but has more go, as the engine is a more efficient design and the car as a whole utilises better technology for fuel efficiency/power.

In general its a little bit more car for quite a lot less money than what you would pay for a Fit with those KM's.

thanks guys.Jazz I remember talking with you before actually.
We are in a bit of a 'to do'!we have a 17 ft caravan and we tow it with a hilux surf.this truck I run around in all week and we use as the family car in weekends.
Hubby uses ford laser 1990 (154000km) to work.When he wants the truck for picking up timber or towing trailer, from me (LOL) I have to work around (sometimes) when I'm not needing the truck and heavens forbid have to get around in the 2 door laser with my boys (LOL in and out of places for the entire time we are in town as we do several jobs as we live on the outskirts of chch) flippen pain of a car!
Do we get hubby a cheapy (realiable!) little farmy type car with a flat deck (not even sure how much these are!) to take to work etc and another car to tow van and cart us all around.Not diesel, road tax too bl@@dy expensive) BUT then are we going to paying too much in petrol.
Or do what we WERE thinking - have hubby use the truck to and fro work (80km round trip) and me a little run around that is comfortable as a family car in weekends.
Not sure what we would get for cars.3 ltr diesel surf 1996 - 275000kms/ laser 2 door red hatch 1300 1990 and 154000kms
Jazz not sure if I can sell hubby on european cars.He is worried about the fact of parts and repairs.can ordinary garages repairs these cars!
look forward to anyones input.TIA

Not in the boot it won't have, I'd put money on that.Reread the OP's requirements.With the rear seats up the load area in those little Hondas is only marginally more useful than the glovebox.

On a delivery day (for my wheatbags) I can have up to I guess 100kgs of weight in the boot of the truck - this is at least once a month - not many times I know but then you've got the shopping, 11 and 7 yr old boys and their gear.room for a bike rack on the back, scooters etc in the boot too.Sh%T! reading this I need a busLOL(this is not carted in the boot at the same time mind LOL)

Perhaps a double cab ute might be more appropriate!

Got some cash then pal. The jazz has an enormous boot in it for a super mini. The first model had 380l and the new model corolla has 354l. Seriously go and have a look in a jazz's boot. It is large.

Hi again Skinner.
Actually I think I remember talking to you about this before. Just before we start, (don't take this the wrong way) but I would suggest that you make sure you look at total costs on things carefully and be very wary of the many silly stereotypes and untruths around in the Automotive industry.

Firstly the Punto, Fiats are super easy to get parts for and parts are cheap. That model Punto is incredibly well regarded world wide and we are lucky over here because they are a bit unknown so they are stupidly under-priced.

Don't think of things in terms of European or Japanese. Cars are cars and each manufacturer and model is different. If you are looking at using a mechanic that says "oh European cars are this or that", step away, they probably shouldn't be trusted with your Hilux.

So in short, there is nothing "unusual" about a Punto. Any good regular mechanic can look after it just fine. I know because I have owned them and used them for personal use and work cars for my staff. Any unusual part you need can be ordered off the shelf overnight from the likes of Italian Auto's, Dino Enterprises etc. Oil, filters, cambelts etc etc can be sourced from Repco, BNT etc locally just like any other car.

The Punto is going to cost you next to nothing in depreciation and even less to run compared to the Japanese equivalents you are looking at. No point in throwing away a few thousand dollars to buy a lesser vehicle.

Also, while a Diesel car probably won't suit in your price range Diesel cars often work out more economical overall even when you include the RUC. People get caught up on it because its a seperate cost. What you need to do is look at it as a whole.

Remember the cost of running a car is:
Depreciation + Maintenance + Fuel Usage + Ruc if applicable. You need to look at the sum of all of these to get a picture of the likely cost of running/owning a car.

Anyhow, back to what might suit. I will make a new post below.

Hmmm now thinking about this there are a number of different ways you could go. To give you any definitive guidance though I would need an idea of roughly how many KM's you personally are doing in a week.

You see the Hilux sounds like a very handy vehicle to have around for the towing, carting timber etc. However like most of those older 4WD type vehicles it has quite high running costs. Its not just that it costs about twice as much as an economical car in Fuel + RUC it also costs more to maintain in that it requires frequent oil changes and consumables like tyres cost more.

To put a figure on it, I would say you will burn through a good $2500 per year extra running that for your Husbands commute vs a little commuter car.

Now that said, you can't tow the Caravan with a Punto. So we need to look at how many KM's you are doing. If you are not doing many KM's you may be better to continue using the Hilux primarily but swapping the Laser for a 4 Door car so you are not stuck when you are left with it.

The perfect car for your use would more likely be a Diesel Multipla as it will give you masses of space but retain a very low running cost. However that needs to be balanced against purchase cost and also there is little gain in having one if you are still primarily going to use the Hilux.

Just one other thing, I would suggest with your husband doing that sort of milage as a commute that we try and factor in getting him something safer. Thats where the likes of the Punto is so good. It may be small but with a 4 1/2 Star NCAP rating. 4 Airbags, ABS, Pre-Tensioners, Side intrusion beams etc its a very safe wee car for the money.

Anyhow, remind me of how many KM's you are doing per week and I will have a head scratch for you. Have a great day!

Oh just one more thing, does the Hilux ever actually get used for any 4WDing! Or does it generally stay on the road.

Hi Jazz.thanks for that.I'm not sure what I would do, pre quake (22 Feb) I could be in town 2-3 (sometimes more) per week - now it's down to 1 or 2 (with all our stuff we used to do shut down) but now we have rugby on the weekends and being rural we are all over the show. We use a full tank of gas each week if that's any help.(pre quake) but as I say now with boys rugby it will be easily that again.Jazz a friend showed us her new renault, that looks roomy etc - what are they like.I believe they can only be repaired by one mechanic(!)monopoly springs to mind (LOL)

Jazzjust thinking here.I would probably about 300-500 km per week - we are in southbridge so just to get to town/hornby etc is a 80 odd km trip.

haha as soon as Jazz started talking diesel I knew what was coming next

have you considered a Multipla!

Thanks for that, I was writing my big post when you posted this so only just got it now.
O.K given that you have a bit different situation than before its really important that you can all fit into the Punto and use it at the weekends. You will be blowen away at how much money you will save by utilising the Punto for all for all of these tasks. Its pretty much going to be bang on half the running costs of the Hilux.

You make a good point with the Renault. Like I was saying before you can't split it between Euro and Japanese all cars are different regardless of country. In the case of the Renault they are a bit harder for parts and can have a few more peculiarities and require a bit more maintenance than the Fiat. The advantage of the Renault is you can get some slightly bigger cars than the Punto for very little money. But maintenance and fuel economy is not as good.

So in short, if you can fit into the Punto its the clear winner, and has been amongst all those small economical cars for some time. If you did needbigger come back and we can weigh up the alternatives on a case by case basis.

I am thinking along these lines as well, only catch is it will be hard to find one in that part of the country to buy and its going to cost a bit more to purchase as well. But its likely by far the most economical option if something bigger is required.

I am also thinking the flat loading rear (no lip on the hatch) is going to be a real cracker for dealing with heavy bags of wheat etc.

The more I think about it the more I think it might be worth the extra cost and effort to get one.

With this in mind you will likely find that swapping the Hilux out widens the gap even more. The thing with the Hilux is you don't gain that much more economy on open runs vs a car so the running cost gap widens even before you factor in the extra km's.

I have to go but have a chew on all of that and let me know what you think. Have a great day.

Skinner2, exactly what kind of Caravan have you got!
I was just wondering about going Multpla and using it as the town wagon as well which would save you a lot of coin and give you a really versatile every day car.
The catch with towing a big Caravan with the Multpla is not weight but aerodynamics. If the caravan is a full height one because of the shape of the Multipla the wind dumps down the back and creates annoying drag that makes it feel like you are towing the caravan by a bungy cord. However if its a lowish van then it may well be an option. You certainly won't run out of towing pulling power ina hurry.

You could be a two multipla household! What a concept!

thanks Jazz.we have a chevron 1700.but you know we have big decisions to make here.do we get rid of the van - kids are older now so they can help put up tents etc.when we get old(er) we won't be putting up tents - so the van would be gr8.but then we could buy a bus.we love going camping etc - so will do it until our bodies give out (LOL) but then caravans are great as they are instant, don't spend 1/2 a day setting up and taking down.I wish I could click my fingers and decision made.what about this car 365976339!
I typed in multipla and it came up with this.hubby is worried about 1300cc car -as the laser is pretty gutless.but are the newer type 1300 better!

Yes it'll be much better than an old Laser.You'd be much better off with a manual though with an engine that small.

Hi again, firstly CC rating on a modern car means nothing, some are gutless and some are surprisingly powerful, same goes for common rail diesels the 1900cc Diesel Multipla will out accalerate and out pull many 3.0 litre old school diesels. You have to take everything into account i.e weight, actual power output, etc.
An easy way to do that is to look at 0-100km/h times for the vehicle in question.

The 1200cc Twin cam (Thats important it must be the twin cam 80ELX version) Fiat Punto goes very well. Its about on a par with a 1600-1800cc Corolla in terms of actual get up and go. The best thing you can do is take it for a drive and see what I mean.

You want to be wary of the likes of the Toyota Vitz. It suffers from a very old technology automatic transmission that sucks both power and economy, transmission is everything in a small car. To compare it to the Punto it dosn't even come close to being as good, it lacks the features of the Punto, costs more to run and is slow by comparison. Don't kid yourself about parts or service being cheaper, Toyota parts can be very pricey at times and even if it was marginally cheaper to service you would never make up the massive price premium. Small Toyota's like that, Suzuki Swifts and the like are all badge and no substance. and hideously overpriced.

Any rubbish you hear anecdotally about the likes of the Punto being expensive to service or parts being difficult to get or it being in any way strange is just that. rubbish. This sort of thing is started by car dealers and the like who have never owned or driven a Punto but will happily discredit anything that isn't what they import.

Interesting you bring up the campervan/caravan issue. I was actually wondering whether you might be better with a campervan. Its that towing ability thats going to cost you extra for running and going for a smaller van and putting the kids in a tent may make a lot of sense. If you were to tow with a Multipla its more about getting a van with a sloping front than anything.

Of course getting a campervan won't necessarily work out economically in that the extra registration, insurance etc would eat up what you would save in fuel. However if you were leaning towards a campervan anyway then you could think of it as being partially subsidised by being able to run a cheaper every day car.

Also, oddly enough some of the Common Rail camper-vans can make great occasional tow vehicles. So if you had smaller cars you could always use the van for the occasional load of wood etc. My parents do exactly that and it works well.

It all comes down to whether you want to save that last dollar or not, and what else is important.

In the meantime I can't stress enough that you go and test drive the Punto at Turners. If you decide you want it that may be your last chance to get one that good for that money in your area for quite some time.

In terms of small cars that have a low total cost of ownership the wee Punto reigns supreme. Just look at the purchase price of anything with similar km's and year for starters. Then when you consider how much more car the Punto is verses the others there is no comparison.

Ford Falcon station wagon to replace the Hilux for hubby, for big shopping missions and for towing.
Engine size really really does matter when you are towing.

Look at a Honda Avancier before you buy yourself a micro-car. These are all imports but they are a taller sort of station wagon body on the same platform & engines as the old 1999-2003 NZ-new Accords (before the "V6" and the "Euro" Accord became completely different cars). I haven't driven an Avancier but I have driven the equivalent Accord and they are beautiful cars.

I really can't believe you will fit two rugby boys and a month's worth of groceries in a small hatchback, and I make this comment as someone who drives a new Corolla every day at work!

/ 2 cents

You make a good point about the Falcon for towing, its actually quite economical for a heavy tow vehicle when in every day use especially for this kind of running. Thing is though you have to weigh up whether you are actually doing any properly heavy towing and whether its worth the extra $3000 a year to run a Falcon + Honda combination vs Punto + Multipla combination.

A big engine is always better for serious towing but then the Diesel Multipla's towing ability is actually pretty good and with some possible tweaking of the caravan situation this may not be an issue. If you want to keep the big caravan and are going to move it regularly then the Falcon will be much better.

With using the Punto for the husbands commute the Multipla is available for shopping etc and there is absolutely no shortage of space in the Multipla so the shopping issue really dosn't matter. assuming of course you get both a Multipla and a Punto.