Looking at one of these for the wife's daily motorway crawl.
Ideally 2009 onwards, but maybe 2007 on. 2009 on had a few extra goodies added from what I have seen so far.
Any comments, good or bad news stories on these!
carmedic,
Mar 22, 9:51am
I service/maintain several of these (2004-2007); they have all been bulletproof so far (60K-145k). I just did rear shoes and cylinders on one, (2005) I did think the parts were a little pricey as was the timing belt kit.However they??
richms,
Mar 22, 10:19am
They are alright eh. any reason for it over say a swift tho!
bmwnz,
Mar 22, 11:02am
My wife bought her Getz new in 2005. Its been a perfect car for her. Easy to park, very light on petrol consumption, a bit more solid feeling than the other little cars she tried before making her choice. I tried to get her into something more upmarket last year, but she won't change. I've driven it from Palmy to Auckland and back in a day and although at 1.3L it was a tad slow on long hills, it performed very well indeed. Handles quite well (bear in mind its not a sports car) and the only thing I wasn't so happy with was the high driving position, but she likes it.
morrisman1,
Mar 22, 11:06am
we had a 1.4L manual one as a rental in australia, two door sports model! To be honest it wasnt a bad car but certainly not an open road car at all. not enough power to haul up the hills comfortably and if you wanted acceleration you needed to be above 5000 rpm.
Driving it like you would drive a larger car netted an economy figure of 7.5L/100km which is absolutely shocking for a small modern car. You could get it more economical than that if you wanted but it would involve driving like a nana.
Edit: Just to add I agree very plasticy. Interior quiality was good but materials were cheap
johnf_456,
Mar 22, 7:19pm
same here was a fine car, performance was ok they just lack the finish touch very plasticy and some of them do not have any water temp guage either a handy tool for knowing if the engine is going to over heat.
kcf,
Mar 22, 8:34pm
Nice enough commuterbox.
A bit on the slow side.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 22, 10:31pm
For that sort of money in my opinion you would have to be a stark raving loon not to buy a 2004 or newer VW Golf. Its probably bigger than you had in mindbut even in 2 litre form its going to be better on fuel than the getz.
In terms of bang for buck there is absolutely no comparison, you are looking at up to 12 airbags, an amazing 6 speed DSG automated transmission that gives you automatic transmission functionality with all the advantages in economy and power of a manual. Loads of other goodies like cruise control etc as well.
Be aware that secondhand prices in NZ for smaller cars is all back to front. Capable but essentially cheap budget cars like the Suzuki Swift command stupid money for what they are, yet the light-years ahead "proper" German cars like the Golf are insanely under-priced.
Drive one and see what you think.
Oh and be aware of the VW Polo, it might seem a bit more manoeuvrable around the City but its generally not anywhere near as much car for the coin as the Golf.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 22, 10:52pm
Failing that, spend 6 - 7K on a mint condition super low km 2001 or newer Punto and get a better car than the Getz for a fraction of the money. The Punto has 4 1/2 star NCAP safety and the great CVT/Tiptronic gearbox is loads better than whats used in the Getz/Swift etc.
The result is a very capable little car with surprising power that is stupidly economical for your kind of running. Having had these and done similar sorts of running I would be expecting not much more than 5.5l/100km for what you are doing which is much better than the Getz despite having surprising power for the engine size.
With the Punto there is not much point in going super late model, stay under about 2004 and saveyour money because the later model stuff you have been looking at still hasn't caught up with the technology in the Fiat as of 2000. There are some lovely examples around with 20-30K on the clock so you needn't buy something worn out. Go and have some overseas holidays or something with the money you save instead!
If you really want to spend more money then buy the Golf as at least you get something to show for what you have spent.
BTW, parts for the Punto are super cheap and easily available. Service intervals are nice and long so an annual run over to the Italian Auto centre will have it serviced and up to date for very little cash. I would much rather pay for servicing and parts for one of these than pretty much any other car on the road.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 22, 10:58pm
LOL, I was going to do a little homage to that post myself! But you bet me to it!
ashwattau,
Mar 22, 11:24pm
das ist wahr.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 23, 1:19am
vielen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung
thunderbolt,
Mar 23, 4:36am
DSG hand grenade, and what would service costs on that be!
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 23, 5:34am
Actually, the original DSG has proven exceptionally reliable. I think its safe to say its the most popular gearbox in the world by volume now.
Service costs are much less than a regular automatic.
Thats great but lets look at the same site a little differently shall we! http://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100 No 1 is corolla No 77 is Multipla No 83 is VW Golf In Fact 8 of the leading 10 are Japanese. Not sounding to good for a Euro site on Euro cars Cheers Stevo
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 23, 6:30am
Of course the Corolla rates first, it has no features to break in the first place. Look at the two links I posted and you will see the Golf rates quite acceptably and is rated much the same as the Toyota Avensis. It also rates ahead of the Toyota Rav4 ,Toyota MR2 , Toyota Landcruiser and Lexus GS.
There is no Hyundai or Suzuki Swift in the data but the Suzuki Swifts sister product the SX4 rates in at 101 behind the Golf.
Nothing wrong with where the Golf rates given how sophisticated the car is etc. For what its worth the Volvo S40 rates at number 6 and is the first properly equipped vehicle on the list (as in not a shopping basket) with up to date technology.
Thats all I am going to say on the matter, no need for this thread to descend into the usual nonsense that dosn't help the original poster at all.
craig04,
Mar 23, 7:08am
No point having these "features" if they don't work. Since your rational to the Golf being less reliable than a Corolla is due to features.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 23, 7:22am
LOL, I don't know about you but I would rather take my chances with more than the one airbag generally offered by the Corolla in the number one spot.
craig04,
Mar 23, 7:23am
52 minutes.
gammelvind,
Mar 23, 8:04am
Well Jazz, you got me looking around for your beloved VW's, I drive about 1300km a week. The rather rare Touran was one that I hadn't seen before. Seen 2 now, 1 in Te Puke and another dead in the middle lane on Hewletts Rd, with a rather embarrassed lady getting out of it. Must admit it is quite a nice looking car but obviously not too reliable, seeing it broken down with a que behind did bring on rather a rye smile. I was going to pull over and help her push, but a couple of lads in a reliable jap car beat me to it.
bmwnz,
Mar 23, 10:38am
Refer to the OP - wife's daily motorway crawl.
If I understand that correctly, surely all she needs/wants is a reliable car to commute to/from work! Extras, top speed and flash bits etc are meaningless for such a ride as are high repair costs and over-heating problems often associated with Euro cars. I don't live in a city, but I would have thought during a daily crawl that a good stereo was more important!
greeny,
Mar 23, 6:35pm
My corolla has 9 air bags not counting any of the passengers
specialk11,
Mar 23, 7:12pm
I rented a getz about 2 years ago in Auss and I found it to be great. The power is what you would expect from a 1400cc but if you drive it like you stole it [or rented it] she wasnt to bad. Best of all it was bloody cheap on gas. I think with all of these small cars if you did some cold air ducting to the airbox and than a more freeflow rear muffler the differance is amazing and done right the noise level is slightly more than stock.
thunderbolt,
Mar 23, 9:12pm
Exactly, and the 09 on model has MP3 input plug and bluetooth as part of the stereo, which she liked. Also liked the seating position and size of the car. Thanks for the replies Gents.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 23, 11:51pm
You miss the point though, you can have all the same basics that are in the Getz for a third of the price by buying a Punto which is also better on fuel. My point was simply if you are going tospend as much as what a nearly new Getz costs at least get some actual car to show for it.
The actual cost of owning/running a nearly new Getz is massive vs the Fiat for no real advantage at all.
Anyone who thinks a Punto has high repair costs or is unreliable clearly hasn't owned one.
Anyhow, best of luck with whatever you get thunderbolt. Remember I look hard at the economics of the situation which might not bother you in the least.
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