Hi Any recommendations on a car I could look into buying to replace my terrano. Prefer not 4wd anymore. To $$$. Neeed to tow a loaded trailer at xmas time. Good cruiser on the open road. Fit a family of two adults and 2 kids plus any stragglers. Average size boot space. Economical. travel about 60km per day Not ex[ensive to fix. So I guess Subaru's a no goer. Oh and max I say max $10. $8 would be better.
scoobeey,
Aug 26, 4:21am
resident troll will tell you a punto LOL
vandewc,
Aug 26, 4:26am
we already have a shopping trolley sized car. Thanks
00quattro00,
Aug 26, 4:29am
Get a coon
vandewc,
Aug 26, 4:31am
to $ and not economical I would have thought!
morrisman1,
Aug 26, 4:36am
$10, thats the price of a Mcdonalds combo!
More important that just fuel economy is the cost of servicing. You need to find a car which does not have any expensive inherent faults and general servicing is dirt cheap. This is going to cover many of the common Japanese vehicles and some european numbers, but theres always going to be bad numbers.
Because you travel 60km a day you want something which will be comfortable, well equipped and most importantly safe. I would tend to avoid automatics unless you have a larger engine bolted to it which has the torque to be nice to drive. Most smaller engines with automatics are not particually nice to drive.
When you say tow a loaded trailer, are you talking about a caravan, vehicle transporter, trailer full of camping gear! Most 2.0L cars are happy towing up to about a tonne. Our p11 Primera has a tow rating of 1300kg for a braked trailer. A trailer full of camping gear would be maybe 600kg!
On that note, those p11 primeras and the u14 bluebirds tick all the boxes that you have there. They are basically the same vehicle, with a different body. Nissan's SR20 engine is bomb proof and those later model engines are not prone to the upper cylinder oiling problems that the earlier ones were. Autos are reliable but not too inspiring to drive. Manuals are nice and some have LSD. Safety, well they are a late 90's car so not as good as the modern stuff but hardly shameful. Economy for a manual is 7.5L/100km for some heavy footed open road driving. Reliability! Well they are apparently prone to wearing upper control arm bushes for the front suspension but ours with over 200,000km on it is still tight as and on original parts. Honestly, thats the only point to note - they are genuinely very reliable, not the type of oh its reliable but this and this will break but parts from germany only take 3 weeks and are cheap. As an added bonus, they are regarded as one of the best front wheel drive chassis around from that era - drive one and you will realise what Tiff Needell meant.
Listen to all recommendations as people will tend to only recommend cars they are familiar with (I'm guilty as charged).
vandewc,
Aug 26, 4:45am
We used to have a nissan wingroad 2005 for my wifes reps car. We really like it. We thought maybe that would be a good car t get!
vandewc,
Aug 26, 4:46am
The trailer would be a standard 6x4 with camping gear. Tents, bikes, bar fridge ect.
thejazzpianoma,
Aug 26, 4:49am
1.8's are very thirsty for what they are and the 1.5's are not going to be very good for towing especially if equipped with CVT. You could do a lot better.
motorboy2011,
Aug 26, 4:50am
mid 2000 Stagea, rwd 2.5L
dan.kev,
Aug 26, 4:51am
nissan bluebird ,primera /wingroad great cars
morrisman1,
Aug 26, 4:54am
ok, so dont worry about towing too much, as long as you dont have an econobox then you will be fine. Most 2.0L and up cars will tow the family and the camping gear. I've towed easily quite a few trailers with the 1.6L sentra but I wouldn't do it will a car load of people too, would be a bit much for it.
I wouldn't advise the wingroad much. Not too bad but you can do better. The QG motor isn't nissan's finest creation either.
The p12 shape primera came out with a SR20VE with 6 speed manual, be worth buying one of these just for the engine and drivetrain combo. They have very very good low end torque and rev out well too, will tow piece of cake but you will probably have to put the towbar on because they are all imports. Being a newer car than the p11 the safety standards are higher too. The p11 is still regarded the better car though.
jmma,
Aug 26, 4:57am
You seen it here first, morrisman and jazz have agreed on something (o:
morrisman1,
Aug 26, 4:58am
Jazz will have printed this thread out for safe keeping!
vandewc,
Aug 26, 4:58am
What car do you recommend then!
morrisman1,
Aug 26, 5:06am
Id probably recommend the p11, which is the same as the u14 bluebird, so either of them. It looks like the bluebird will have a bit more boot space. The primera has reasonable boot space but a smallish boot opening. One thing that will be good for you is that the p11 primera has boot hinges that dont take up space in the boot meaning at xmas time you can pack that boot chokka and not worry about it not shutting. U14 Im not sure about
I always recommend getting a manual one, more economical and nicer to drive.
I don't know what the bluebird has but the primera has a good tow kit for the size of car. 1300kg braked (650kg unbraked I think) and 90kg of tongue load, so you wont have to worry about the towing kit not being strong enough. Many vehicles only have 50kg tongue load which on a heavily loaded trailer you will be exceeding.
When you do a pre-purchase inspection on one of these theres nothing really specific you need to look for, just the general stuff that applies to every car
edangus,
Aug 26, 7:04am
Altezza Gita, 2.0ltr for economy. 3.0 for fun.
msigg,
Aug 26, 2:15pm
Yea most of those suggested here are all good, honda, camry, mazda, any of the mid range car will do , iDon't get the diesel if your on a budget, if things go wrong then your going to be very sad, keep to the fleet type vehicles for the cheapest running, anything different then things could get costly for repairs. good luck.
kazbanz,
Aug 26, 3:53pm
For every other use I'd say go the wingroad.Ive been driving a kiwi new 06 1.8 and can't work out where the gubbiment got its economy figures from. I find it comfortable and great on the open road economy wise. Mrs Kaz raved about them. Untill on a long drive and she commented that the seats weren't as comfortable as she expected. BUT-it simply will not work for you for towing. An alternative might be the 1800 Avenir. which has a huge boot .The same 1800cc engine but has a normal auto or manual box. This will fit your budget. Two alternatives that may work are the toyota spacion 2001 or later 1800 or the Honda Stream 2.0l
thejazzpianoma,
Aug 26, 4:01pm
Those familiar with the VW Diesel understand it is a very simple engine, exceptionally reliable, cheap to service and cheap to repair although unlikely to ever need repairs.
The likes of the Camry is surprisingly thirsty and parts are no cheaper (often dearer in my experience). The Camry will generally cost about 70% more to run than a Diesel Passat. That's a huge difference.
Plus of course its no where near as nice a vehicle as the Passat.
v8_mopar,
Aug 26, 4:11pm
Wingroad and I use to tow a 5 by 10 trailer around town just fine but couldn't tow it on the open road. It could tow my 4 by 6 trailer fine on the open road and the car was a 1500. Better still would be what im selling, they are not as bad on gas as people seem to think. Just drive it normally and it costs about $10 more per tank than a 2l car
tazcsv,
Aug 26, 4:31pm
Nothing wrong with the right subaru at all, Iv done 80thou ks over the last 3 years in my 2002 gtb and iv just had to replace a coil so i call that a great run out of it and cheap to fix. It great for the kids and dogs and will tow the trailer easy. 550ks to 50l i think is good to when you look at the performance you get back from it.
monaro17,
Aug 26, 4:53pm
Really! What is your current model year terrano! petrol or diesel! Because if youre running the petrol ones they are atrociously bad on fuel. The 3.0 diesel is very very good on fuel but unfortunately its unreliable, the 3.2 diesel is economical and powerful.
fordcrzy,
Aug 26, 5:07pm
buy a hatch and then rent a car at xmas time.
shorebee,
Aug 26, 9:50pm
sonata diesel sedan, massive boot, massive power, huge economy, plain and simple and much cheaper than a passat. good 50-70k examples on here 07-09 under 15k. one done 285ks sold 5300 another 115ks sold 9500 so the 60k ones at 13500 look good buying, cambelt due at 150ks, look at sante fe diesels they get huge money on high mileage as engines so strong as are the autos.
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