Choose a new car for my Missus

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s_nz, Dec 11, 10:12pm
Pity about electric, but you need to give your spouse what they want.

Just brought one for my spouse. She didn't really care what the power train was, but since the purchase has said she isn't going to have another non-electric car. Having a fixed ratio gearbox makes it quite nice to drive. Has ended up being our main vehicle for trips within it's range, despite having a 200kW luxury hybrid SUV sitting next to it in the driveway.

Ours is just a short range 2014 leaf. The one I linked above has roughly a 250km range. Obviously not ideal for trips to say wellington, but quite fine for a morrensville Tauranga round trip, and Auckland round trip would need 15-20mins on a fast charger somewhere along the way. Makes sense if you have another vehicle in the household that can be used for occasional long road trips. Much cheaper to run and maintain.

Hybrid cars economy advantage is bigger in city driving, but still significant on the open road.

Looking at the camry, The 133kW petrol one gets 11.0l/100km in the urban cycle & 5.9l/100km in the extra urban cycle (on 91)

and the 160kW hybrid gets 4.3L/100km in the Urban and 4.2L/100km in the extra urban cycle. (on 95)

Clear improvement in economy despite having more power. They can do things like tuning the engine to be more efficient at the expense of peak power, which is not an issue when the electric motors can chip in for hard acceleration.

Some hybrids (especially lexus ones) do loose a bit of boot space to fit the batteries in, But I think the new Camry has packaged them under the back seat.

With regards to body style, the smaller SUV's are sure popular these days. Generally you don't really get any more passenger / cargo space than a comparable hatchback, but many like the styling, or the little bit extra ground clearance. Must say, you catch quite a bit less of others headlights in your eyes in an SUV compared to a lower vehicle at night. Often they are built on fairly cheap light hatchback platform's, so not much attention paid to acoustics, and fairly stiff suspension is often included to contract the impact of increased ride height on handling. This is not ideal from either a safety or comfort perspective.

Medium and up sedans tend to have better acoustics (a separate boot helps with this), and non-performance versions are often set up with fairly soft riding suspension too. Also having the boot separate means no chance of luggage entering the passenger compartment in a crash / roll over etc. But they tend to be longer and less convenient vehicles to park.

serf407, Dec 11, 11:13pm
Subaru - short warranty because they know some of their cars get driven by idiots.

Maybe discuss and research - third party extended mechanical warranties when the factory warranty 3 years/ 50K km runs out.

Just because the warranty has run out does not excuse Subaru from the consumer guarantees act. Articles for sale/ purchase - being of good quality and fit and proper for the use intended etc.

tygertung, Dec 12, 6:21am
Engines tend to be most efficient at a certain speed, so if it was a petrol / electric engine or a "hybrid", the engine could just run at that speed and turn a generator to get the electricity.

Trains have been doing it for a very long time. Maybe ships too, who knows?

nice_lady, Dec 12, 8:12am
For mostly using for commuting from Hamilton to Morrinsville why would they need something turbocharged ? We have two Elantras and they're very well sized and have quite sufficient power to pass quickly where required etc, and drive well.

cjohnw, Dec 12, 8:42am
The hybrid Camry is the best suggestion for this situation in my view.
The latest Camry is a very nice vehicle indeed, the ZR would be my choice.
4.5l/100 is pretty good for a large(ish) car.

sw20, Dec 12, 9:20am
You also think modern TV speakers are satisfactory to listen to. What you find good enough may not be good enough for someone else. The OP clearly wrote they found the a more powerful car than your Hyundai underpowered.

nice_lady, Dec 12, 9:22am
Why don't you take your attitude and stuff it somewhere

sw20, Dec 12, 9:24am
Nice reply. Perhaps when someone has a different opinion you can reflect on it rather than get upset.

cjohnw, Dec 12, 9:43am
Wow! A bit unnecessary really.
Sorry, but I agree with the earlier comments about the Elantra as well.
If the OP thought the Mazda was underpowered he would be totally underwhelmed by the Hyundai “appliance”.
Everyone is allowed an opinion.

3tomany, Dec 12, 9:53am
They are great cars. we have had 3 in our family and all have been faultless.

tygertung, Dec 12, 10:37am
Why not a Suzuki Swift? Should be rapid according to the name and way easier for parking.

tamarillo, Dec 12, 11:46am
So looking at larger engined/ turbo medium to large and good for country roads. Comfortable suspension too. So many new cars are stiff and ride badly.
Peugeot 308 or 508 maybe? They’d seem to have found their form again after long wait and the top models have nice turbos. Great ride handling set up. I seem to recall a Peugeot dealer in that part of the world years ago but maybe gone now.
Or go get a good deal on a last Holden like the company car.
If has to be Japanese latest Mazda 6 is sophisticated bit of kit though without a turbo might lack the torque wanted.
Left field choice as more expensive is any modern Volvo, so comfortable and great touring cars.

As for all this bickering over how much power is needed. it’s what customer wants that is enough not up to other opinions. However good a Camry is some find it so incredibly boring it’s not option. Each to own.

tamarillo, Dec 12, 11:47am
is a city car whereas they are looking for a larger open road country car.

sw20, Dec 12, 12:17pm
Only if you hate yourself. Having to drive one of those on the open road every day would get real old, real quick.

rovercitroen, Dec 12, 12:28pm
I commute Hamilton to Huntly (30 mins) in my 2005 Smart ForFour. Does the job just fine and very economical. When I feel like a bit more comfort I take my 1997 Jaguar XJ6. Combined value of both cars about $7k!
Hamilton to Morrinsville is not far.

s_nz, Dec 12, 12:34pm
The name is just that. I don't think the the Ford Everest would be that suitable for climbing mt Everest etc.

Base swift is 66kW, but it also has a 82kW verson, the 61kW hybrid and the 103 Kw swift sport. Given it is such a light car, the more powerful variants probiably go fine, but I think the 61 & 66kW variants would be working hard on the open road.

OP's primary desires were comfort & Safety. Generally subcompacts like the swift are built to be lightweight, cheap, and to have nippy handling, tight turning circles etc. Their small size means they ride on short wheelbases which is bad for comfort, and to give nippy handling they often have fairly stiff suspension also bad for comfort. Cost and weight saving desires mean that they have less acoustic insulation than larger cars.

As the other poster said, they are targeted at city commuting, errand running etc, where due to short trip length and lower typical travel speed (and high quality seal on motorways), comfort and acoustics aren't big concerns.

Being a smaller car there is less space for crumple zones, and being lightweight means it will come of worst if hit by a larger car.

Of the car is replacing a ZB commodore (one of the larger cars on the market) and parking ease was not mentioned, one would assume it is not a big deal for the use case.

saxman99, Dec 12, 12:59pm
Going on the info provided a Lamborghini Aventador would be suitable.

nice_lady, Dec 12, 1:12pm
#30 was a comment in reply to my #28. It seems to say I am NOT allowed an opinion as the writer on #30 knows better. They even brought an entirely unrelated situation into it. That's why I told them to keep their opinion - unless they can be polite why should I in reply ?

And also the numbers are:

Elantra 1227 Kg. 110Kw = 11.15Kg/Kw 8.7sec 0-100kmh

MAZDA CX-30 GTX 1442 Kg. 139Kw 10.37kg/kw. 8.74sec 0-100km/h

According to that it's no 'appliance' and it's not any kind of 'underpowered' either. Both wrong. Do some research.

Also I was merely posting based on having driven one around 90,000Km.

Also I'd say the Elantra fills the 'comfort and safety' requirements, (5 star safety and nice and comfy). And it's not bad to park either - carparks are indeed getting smaller.

Anyway the OP - well the only way to find out what the Mrs really likes is to take whatever for a test drive.

yendor, Dec 12, 2:34pm
Interesting the CX30 and Elantra 0 - 100k time's of 8.7, she is currently driving my Ecoboost Mondeo which does it in 7.4, so a second and a half quicker. The ZB does it in 6.9.
We did try a Swift Sport 1.4 turbo, and it went and handled great but the road noise was terrible.
The Pug 508 would probably be good but mostly seem to be Station Wagons and are to expensive at 60K.

cjohnw, Dec 12, 2:40pm
If you want a performance sedan how about a late model WRX?
0-100 in 6 secs.

tygertung, Dec 12, 7:29pm
I think you are over thinking things a bit. The old DX corolla with a 40hp 1300cc 4k managed to cruise at 100 Km/h no problems.

We rented a 1200cc Suzuki Swift with an automatic gearbox in the north island a couple of years ago when we went touring and it had more than enough power. The modern engines are more efficient and powerful than in the old days so a 1200cc now will have a 4 valve head with double overhead cam so will make quite a lot of power.

With regard to the big vs small car crashing debate, well you aren't making the roads any safer by putting more big heavy dangerous cars on the roads are you?

pico42, Dec 12, 8:52pm
Post 30 was direct. But it was also well reasoned using a suitable analogy and reference to OPs stated preferences. That’s the thing about opinions, they can be argued and poor opinions don’t stand up to much scrutiny.

Your reply however was downright rude. Quite disproportionate to the post you took umbrage with.

nice_lady, Dec 13, 6:53am
That's your opinion. Mine differs.

jmma, Dec 13, 7:21am
What does Hubby think Lol

cjohnw, Dec 13, 8:12am
They took offence to the suggestion the Elantra was a bit underpowered, but then they posted figures showing it was exactly the same as the Mazda CX30 - which the OP had described as “gutless”.
Irony.