Hyundai getz

She had probably just run out of gas. The VW is fine reliability wise, I think its fair to say it either is or nearly is the most popular and well developed motoring platforms in the world today. The Golf alone is the third most popular car in the world then you have to add the Audi's, Seat's and Skoda's which share the same platform to those numbers.

Its so strange here in NZ. People can't seem to understand that just because some high end luxury Euro's might cost a bit if you take them in to a dealer to be fixed that dosn't mean that the basic cars from Europe have the same issue.

If you study the top 100 most reliable cars from the reliabilityindex you will see that reliability is mostly a function of how sophisticated the vehicle is (with the odd exception), it dosn't really have much bearing on the badge on the front at all.

Just to give an example of the first two in the list, the Corolla that scores the top place is the 97-02 models which were very basic and in many instances only offered a drivers airbag. As the Corolla's get more sophisticated as they become newer they progressively drop down the rankings.

Likewise the Suzuki is a similar age group ultra basic vehicle.

The first Euro on the list is also the first properly sophisticated modern vehicle (as in not a stripped out shopping basket)

Once you are comparing similar vehicles you mostly get fairly similar ratings regardless of badge.

Anyhow, didn't mean to come down on you gammelvind, great to see you are keeping your eyes open on our highways, no doubt you must see some interesting sights with the km's you do. Happy and safe motoring to you.

Ok, so now I am looking at 2009 Getz with 15-30km on the clock for 14-15K
From what I can see on trade me, Puntos and Golfs for similar money are 5 yrs older than that.
It will be a commuter at rush hour motorway speeds, will do less than 10K per year, and has all the features the wife requires.
So if we have it for 5 yrs, I would be selling a 7 yr old car with 80km on the clock, not a 12 yr plus car.

Because you said "Motorway", get a 4-door car with a boot instead, not a bare-minimum little micro car.

17 airbags will only do so much if the car gets compacted or blown to bits by something large rear-ending it at speed.

Hi again,
I get what you are saying I really do, but here is my thinking.

1. What is newer buying you!

Unusually with the Getz its not buying you more modern technology, safety or features, thats the key thing here that I just wanted to make sure you understand.

Its also not necessarily buying you better condition or lower km's. I regularly see 2002ish Puntos in supurb condition with 30K on the clock for around the 6K - 7K mark.

It will however buy you a little less age in terms of drive belts, rubber components etc but you can have them renewed and up to date for a few hundred dollars and really for the purchase price this may have already been done. There may be a few things like a bit of sun fade that are not worth correcting but are not necessarily a big deal. But in fairness should be noted.

Next point,

What you are saying with the "what do we have in 5 years" question is excellent! Thats exactly what you should consider.

With the Getz you have a 7 year old car worth approx $7000
You have lost 7K to 8K and I am erring on the optimistic side.

With the Punto you have a 12 year old car thats worth around 3K, you have lost 3k - 4K.

Then we have to look at "use of money" or finance charges. If you pay cash and leave the balance of the funds in your savings account, thats another 2K in interest over the time you will make. I think its fair to count this because that really is about what you would make and its a lot of cash saved.

Also say you finance10K of that amount over 3 years you are going to be into at least 2K and if you are financing more than that its only going to be worse, possibly a lot worse as I did not consider a setup fee and used 12% for an interest rate.

That puts us6K - 7Kbetter off over time with the Punto.

So if the extra 6K -7K loss over time does not bother you and you just like the Getz better then by all means go for gold, all I wanted to show you was the economics of the situation so you have something tangible to consider.

BTW, the maintenance might be slightly higher on the Punto being a little bit older, but having run these for work vehicles I know its likely to be fairly negligible if there is any real difference at all, especially given both cars have similar or the same milage on the clock. I have ignored the fuel economy benefit of the Fiat which will cover any maintenance difference (probably several times over) anyway.

Best of luck with whatever you purchase!

Bear in mind the Getz (especially after the facelift) is a usefully more powerful car than either of the 1.2 Puntos

Although you could bypass that and get a 1.8 Punto which is a comparative rocket, they still seem relatively cheap

It might look like that if you only consider the rated output on paper, but look at the 0-100 times (and even better drive one) and you will see the Hyundai is slightly slower, if we are talking an automatic versionthey Hyundai is lots slower.

We really only have the 1.2 Twin cam Punto's here in NZ (both as imports and NZ new) and they are real little rockets for their engine size.

The 1.8 Punto is a great but its offered as a high performance enthusiasts car (Its the Abarth so think HSV or Cosworth), don't think of it as the "larger engined" version of the regular practical line up like you would2.0 Golf vs a 1.6 Golf. The top engine in the regular everyday Punto's is the1.2 Twin Cam.

Have driven both and in the manual at least the Hyundai is significantly better (can't comment on autos).My opinion anyway.

I find the 5 speed vs 5 speed is much of a muchness, if you rev it more the Hyundai has a little more go on the hills I think but its much of a muchness to 100km (slightly slower on paper).

But yes, try the auto version and its a whole different story. But then thats the case with lots of those little cars with 4 speed autos and power sapping torque converters.

I think too thats where a lot of the Hyundai's economy goes.

Just to claify for the original poster the Fiat has an awesome little tiptronic CVT that in practice gives you as much power/economy as the manual. It does lose a little bit of power to its drivetrain but makes up for it in that its always in the perfect ratio.

Fiat were the first to use CVT's in production cars (have been doing so for 30 years) they have a really robust design so you don't have the reliability issues of other CVT's which you may hear about. They are an amazing little transmission and with the engine that gives high torque at low revs you cruise along the motorway at about 1950 rpm. Which is crazy for such a little car.

Have you bought yet!
What did you decide on!