I live rural, about 20 kms out of town. What sort of car would be economical for a woman and her dog. I want to have a smallish sort of car, but have no idea on what would be best suited, and dont want to be bombarded by car salesman, so am interested in peoples opinions. Would prefer not to spend anymore than about $10000
franc123,
Apr 6, 1:54am
There is a whole heap of choices, Swift, Demio, Yaris, Ist, Funcargo, Colt, Jazz to name a few. You'd just pick the one you liked the best.
serf407,
Apr 6, 1:57am
What sort of roads - all tarseal? or some gravel? Do you want to tow a trailer at some stage? Do you prefer auto or manual?
twinklestar2,
Apr 6, 2:13am
roads all gravel never towed a trailor in my life auto
kimbo88,
Apr 6, 2:21am
Toyota Allex or Runx hatchback, in the 1500's, or Toyota Vitz (in either the 1300 or 1500). All very comfortable to drive for that distance, and extremely economical and reliable, and the hatchbacks are very versatile.
mugenb20b,
Apr 6, 2:50am
I would probably go for something like a Honda HRV or a Suzuki SX4.
petal_91,
Apr 6, 6:11am
Unless you are driving a lot off road I would avoid anything with 4 wheel drive. All those things do is use more fuel from the extra transmission loss and additional weight of the system. Also any additional road holding ability that these might have had in the past is more than compensated for by the Electronic Stability Progam (ESP) and traction control systems found in most modern vehicles.
tamarillo,
Apr 6, 6:29am
IMO ignore advice about small hatches like jazz etc, they're City cars meant for city conditions and are not good open road cars. Obviously though youbdontvwant anything bigger than suits, so that puts you in the 1600 to 2000 cc class roughly. The reliability king is Toyota corolla but you pay for that reputation. This size car is big enough for open rural road comfort. Others in that size are Ford Focus which is an excellant open road car with a good solid assured feel to it. Personally that's what I'd look at, focus or if you see a good one at play price Corolla. Similar sized is Nissen tieda (my typo) which is much cheaper as it's no where near as good. If you have a euro friendly workshop a vw golf is also great on open road for its size. The 1.4 TSI would be most economical in its class. But they must be serviced fully and properly. There's lots of orphans at dealer, by which I mean Japanese home market cars that are different models to that sold elsewhere so it gets confusing. But avoid small engined city cars. Anything can be driven on open road but if you live rural you want a car that feels like it was born to be on them, not a city car. The Suzuki sx4 is a good idea in front wheel drive. Idea. You might be able to pick up an ex lease focus or Corolla for that money. These are nz new and fully serviced. Google ex lease and see turners too as lots of ex lease end up there.
SX4 would be good, not particularly economical though. Have had a great run out of our one. The Focus is a good car, but the one I had when we lived on a gravel road started getting lots of leaks around the firewall and underneath, not sure if it didn't like the gravel road or if it was something else.
Could even look at a Toyota Rav 4 or similar, bigger tyres will drive better and be less prone to punctures.
twinklestar2,
Apr 6, 7:25am
I wrote that wrong, roads all tar seal.
robotnik,
Apr 6, 8:07am
The Nissan Tiida is quite comfy, with really wide, cushy seats. The suspension also soaks up the bumps on the open road. And the electrically assisted power steering is pretty light. This would be my pick.
buyit59,
Apr 6, 8:16am
I would stay away from diesel unless you are doing lots of kms. ie more than 50,000 per year . We had diesel Hyundai on fleet that had fuel pump failure with cost of $3,000+ and a diesel Focus that had injector plug issues . again the repair cost blew out any savings made with diesel fuel economy. For my money it would be a Corolla , Tiida or similar as that size of car will hanlde the shingle roads a bit better than the smaller cars like Yaris , Jazz etc .Just one guys opinion though !
mack77,
Apr 6, 9:36am
What about a Honda Civic (2006 to 2011)? It has the top safety rating which is something that none of the other models of cars suggested by of the above posters has except VW Golf (1999 to 2009). I probably wouldn't recommend a VW Golf because it's difficult to find motor mechanics that even know how to do the correct routine maintenance on these, let alone any repairs.
robotnik,
Apr 6, 9:43am
I will throw another suggestion in; the Hyundai i30. Had one for a while and it drove very nicely and was not too bad on petrol. Korean cars have really improved in the last 20 years and are right up with the Japanese now. Late model Hyundais are very well made in fact.
tamarillo,
Apr 6, 9:44am
Great car but not much of a dog carrier as only saloon. The hatch didn't get imported till more recently and ten won't buy the euro hatch. They sold some sedans nz new in luxury spec with all the fruit, lovely car. Assuming op wants rear area for dog, hatch or wagon?
franc123,
Apr 6, 9:49am
20km is hardly a strenuous commute, a small Jappa hatch will handle that fine, there simply is no real need to go bigger. There are 13 and 1500cc options that will be better suited than the 1000cc units in some of them.
mack77,
Apr 6, 9:51am
Yes, good point. It is important to keep the dog out of the driving compartment unless the dog has a driving licence.
robotnik,
Apr 6, 10:06am
The size of the dog is not mentioned. That could have an impact on the choice. If for example it is a Great Dane then a Toyota Funcargo would be the best pick.
twinklestar2,
Apr 6, 5:50pm
This one looks really great and I like the low kms. http://www.trademe.co.nz- /motors/used-cars/ford/auction- -857407799.htm
survivalkiwi,
Apr 6, 6:58pm
So what it comes down to is go and find a car that you like so long as it is Japanese or Korean and you will be OK.
oakie,
Apr 6, 7:01pm
Daihatsu Sirion. bomb proof.
mugenb20b,
Apr 6, 7:14pm
The Fiesta is an awesome little car, cheap to run and maintain, very good interior space and handles like a gocart.
mugenb20b,
Apr 6, 7:16pm
That too is a good car, I actually like how they drive but parts availability may be a problem in the future and it just about has no boot space.
twinklestar2,
Apr 7, 3:27am
OOOh I like that, I may just keep saving a little more and wait. Thanks
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