New or near new cars. what to buy?

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jezz43, Jan 28, 8:19pm
been looking at a few vehicles. want to buy a newish one.

so far have looked into
BF falcon XR6
BA falcon XR6 turbo
holden cruze 1.4 turbo
mazda atenza 2.3 6sp manual

anyone with a run down of positives and negatives to these cars! or can reccomend something along the same lines. car doesnt have to be quick. but would like a bit of room in it as im quite tall. not interested in commodores, owned 2 and after hearing scottys babble here for months im completely put off.

cowboy110, Jan 28, 8:38pm
Falcon XR6 turbo or Holden Cruze 1.4.What is it you are actually looking for!A family car or a shopping cart!

jezz43, Jan 28, 8:40pm
a decent car i can put stuff in. family car i guess, needs to be comfy on long trips. my old man has a mazdaspeed tuned atenza. gets ridiculous mileage on the open road and appears to be quite good. but im keeping my options open.

jezz43, Jan 28, 8:53pm
il agree, they do look quite good, but havent been a fan of toyotas for a while now. are they reliable or have they gone cheap and nasty!

vtecintegra, Jan 28, 9:29pm
That's a weird list - you need to narrow down what size car you want before going any further

jezz43, Jan 28, 9:31pm
a car i can fit in comfortably, im 6"4. i fit in my commy nicely. so something of similar size. would like something that is relatively reliable yet has a bit of get up n go when i want (overtaking etc)

vtecintegra, Jan 28, 9:33pm
The Cruze isn't the car for you then - performance is pretty disappointing at overtaking speeds.

The Mazda should do a bit better, but those Falcons are going to be much better again (even the non-turbo is hillariously powerful)

jezz43, Jan 28, 9:36pm
thats why i added in the atenza. old mans one is a slightly different model than normal, but he reckons its very quick. and very efficient. open road he gets close to 800kms on a tank

uglychicken, Jan 28, 9:36pm
I am tall too. Looked at Holden SV6, Ford XR6, Toyota Camry. Settled on a Nissan Maxima, very surprised at the leg room, comfort, options, build etc for me. The 3.5 goes real good too.

ninja_man, Jan 28, 9:38pm
have you considered the focus xr5!

jezz43, Jan 28, 9:38pm
thats a hatch isnt it!
im after a sedan

jason18, Jan 28, 9:39pm
We looked at the maxima but it seems to powerful for a FWD. Its also a whale around corners with suspension being to soft. We settled on a falcon.

ninja_man, Jan 28, 9:39pm
ok never mind

uglychicken, Jan 28, 9:53pm
Agree, handling not as sharp as the XR6 but the comfort level is heaps better. The XR6 felt cramped to me in the drivers seat, the Nissan was far more comfortable.

jezz43, Jan 28, 9:59pm
i havent driven the nissan . yet
the reason for the list above is i have driven all those vehicles so far.
only reason cruze was added is i like the look of them.

i am open to any other suggestions tho, but while ride comfort is important, i dont want to drive a boat

jezz43, Jan 28, 10:05pm
does anyone have pros and cons for the falcons!
ranging in the models BA, BF, BF2 and FG

vtecintegra, Jan 28, 10:11pm
Build quality is the big one for me - Ford AU have never worked out how to build a quality feeling interior.

As for those models newer should generally have better fuel economy - they're always tweaking things to get a bit more out of that I6. Also at some point (BF!) they switched from a four to a six speed auto which helps considerably.

xs1100, Jan 28, 10:34pm
vz commodore berlina

jezz43, Jan 28, 10:39pm
not interested in commodores. they drive like crap and feel cheap

msigg, Jan 29, 1:38am
That aurion would be the best car of the lot for reliability.

thejazzpianoma, Jan 29, 3:43am
Near new Passat or Skoda Octavia. VW have been investing eye watering amounts of money developing those vehicles at a time when others have been pinching pennies.
The result is a vehicle that is a good generation ahead of the others in terms of technology and build quality and reliability is excellent. Comfort, economy, safety and build quality is fantastic. You get nice long service intervals and parts are very well priced.
Both the Diesel and Petrol options are excellent. Just ignore any pre-conceptions you might have about engine size. Because the technology is so far ahead even the little 1200cc engine (not a missprint)will push the big Passat along really well.

There are usually a bunch of uninformed haters who have never even sat in one that come along and try and hack them down with lots of silly wives tales. I won't be bothering to rebut them so take my advice and try one or don't. As someone who has had plenty of these modern VW's in the family I can tell you first hand reliability is excellent.

thejazzpianoma, Jan 29, 3:43am
Near new Passat or Skoda Octavia (same mechanics different shell). VW have been investing eye watering amounts of money developing those vehicles at a time when others have been pinching pennies.
The result is a vehicle that is a good generation ahead of the others in terms of technology and build quality and reliability is excellent. Comfort, economy, safety and build quality is fantastic. You get nice long service intervals and parts are very well priced.
Both the Diesel and Petrol options are excellent. Just ignore any pre-conceptions you might have about engine size. Because the technology is so far ahead even the little 1200cc engine (not a missprint)will push the big Passat along really well.

There are usually a bunch of uninformed haters who have never even sat in one that come along and try and hack them down with lots of silly wives tales. I won't be bothering to rebut them so take my advice and try one or don't. As someone who has had plenty of these modern VW's in the family I can tell you first hand reliability is excellent.

jezz43, Jan 30, 3:08am
thanks jazz, il go have a test drive in the next week. ive heard a bit about the new skodas, but never a bad word.

also wanting to know about the hyundai range, more specifically, the i30. anyone!

foxdonut, Jan 30, 3:40am
I had an I30.

Ah - if the Xr5T mentioned above doesn't do it for you, the i30 certainly wont.

Mine was the 2 litre manual (Australia) - Gearshift felt like it was made of rubber bands, but overall the fit and finish of the car was without question. Huge warranty too. Not so impressive around town, but out on the freeway it got good mileage.

It is a hatch though.

Sure you don't mean i45!

jezz43, Jan 30, 3:43am
nope, was just questioning the i30, the bigger cars are for me to drive, the i30 is for someone else who wants to know pros and cons. i used to unload brand new hyundais on the docks years ago, but that was when the grandeur was a new vehicle. never got to play with these new ones, only seen the ad that reckons a diesel one can do auckland to welly and back on a single tank