Decent, Reliable, Cheap Daily?

[mad082]

  tridentt150v said:

I'm with Terry on this, Camry is the one to get, resale, reliable, roomy, economical, safe ish, adequate power [for its type], low insurance etc etc etc.

Boring as hell, but sometimes even that is a plus. At least you are never disappointed.

only because they are dirt cheap already. the resale on a late model camry is dead set terrible. you can pick up one that is only a few years old for $10,000. the resale is worse than a late model commodore or falcon.

[pipster11]

  Galois said:

im already glad i posted that lol, have suggestions i wouldn't have thought of. does the r31 have abs and airbags? my gf will be driving it a mostly so i'm a bit keen on safety.

how does the 626 go mate? feel and drive alright?

i used to have a 94 camry and thought it was not too bad for what it was, had the shoes replaced in the rear drums one day and the brake balance has been really rear-heavy since lol

get a 31 mate, i was in a similar boat to you, i needed a cheap car that i could drive for a few months b4 i went to england on my gap year and the mrs needed a car to refine her manual driving in and then drive once she got her p's

so i bought a 31, i think i paid $2500 for it

since then its been driven by her for a couple of years, done a couple of trips from qld to tas and its rarely missed a beat

there was a point when it wasn't running but that was due to me fiddeling and taking bits off and not putting them back in right

if you get a 31, just budget for a new dizzy cos its the only thing that goes wrong with them

if she is learning to drive in it then your better off not having abs cos it means she will learn what to do so that she doesn't need abs kicking in cos she slowed down already

its a pretty durable car, they dont really suffer from rust (some have seen rust under the front quarters so check there, but thats about it)

its not great on fuel but its not bad on it either, it get about 10-12l/100km but its soooooooo comfy on the highway

either get a 31 or a really cheap corolla that uses S.F.A. fuel

[BoyWhoCriedWolf]

Get a 5k loan on top of your current 5k and buy an NA liberty. Cheap to run, cheap to service, cheap to insure.

For example: http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/privat...5&silo=1011

I just had a service done on my Sti Lib, $119.00.

[mad082]

missus sister had one the model before that. was nice to drive, comfy, went well, nice interior (other than woodgrain). was getting a little bit on in life (160,000kms, so not that old) and started to get some issues. centre diff was going (apparently a semi common problem), and a few other minor issues that were going to be rather expensive to fix (about 2k). the mechanic told her that her best bet was to sell it off and get another car, LOL.

[pipster11]

  RBNT said:

Get a 5k loan on top of your current 5k and buy an NA liberty. Cheap to run, cheap to service, cheap to insure.

For example: http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/privat...5&silo=1011

I just had a service done on my Sti Lib, $119.00.

just renewed the insurance on my 31, should have been $270 but went up to $340 cos we changed the address, still cheap tho

the good thing with the 31's is that a new motor is only gonna set you back a few hundred and they don't tend to die (many stories involving motors being pulled down and the factory hone marks are still there!)

would be good if it was better on fuel but i think the handbrake is dragging on ours and the diff is a bit f**ked so it would contribute to increased fuel consumption

[Galois]

  pipster11 said:

if you get a 31, just budget for a new dizzy cos its the only thing that goes wrong with them

if she is learning to drive in it then your better off not having abs cos it means she will learn what to do so that she doesn't need abs kicking in cos she slowed down already

sorry, whats the dizzy?

i have to respectfully disagree with you there, while i agree it is important for all people to know how to stop a car quickly without abs, it is always comforting knowing it is there and there's no doubt that abs reduces chances of an accident

  mad082 said:

the mechanic told her that her best bet was to sell it off and get another car, LOL.

hahahahaha good mechanic!!

[jaxt]

  Galois said:

sorry, whats the dizzy?

rascal!

nah it's the distributor I hazard to guess. bluebirds have the same issue too.

also have you inspected/test driven any of the suggested cars yet?

Edited June 8, 2010 by jaxt

[Galois]

they have a distributor?! lol i havent actually driven a car with a distributor yet

i havent, there's been a couple of deaths in our families lately so haven't been doing much, that and exams are coming up

[pipster11]

yeah distributer

after the 20 years the bearing dries up and heats the crank angle sensor up which is in the bottom of the dizzy

not too complicated to do, just set the engine to tdc, pull the leads off the top, pull it out and slot it back in (remembering the orientation)

i know what you mean about abs, its an excellent thing to have and no doubt it has saved many ppl's lives but i think too many ppl rely on it and dont understand what its designed to do and how it does it

but for the sort of money you are thinking of spending i doubt you will get anything with abs and airbags unless its korean and if you want something safe without abs the 31 is about as solid as they come

mine rolled down my driveway cos i didn't pull the handbrake on enough (its an average design and you're best to leave it in gear too) and it rolled into our house, put a small ding into the bricks but left nothing on the car

i also know someone who had the same thing happen but it took out his shed, just went straight through it lol. car was fine, shed was not

[warps]

  pipster11 said:

if she is learning to drive in it then your better off not having abs cos it means she will learn what to do so that she doesn't need abs kicking in cos she slowed down already

Learning to drive without ABS teaches you the wrong technique for an ABS equipped car in an emergency. If she's likely to be driving a lot of non ABS cars, then it's a handy skill to have. However, if she's only going to drive ABS cars (just about anything made in the last 15-20 years) then knowing how to drive a non ABS car is more likely to cause her to have an accident than knowing what ABS does in an emergency.

When ABS first came out, there wer quite a lot of accidents from people trying to drive them "normally" or even worse panicking when the ABS cuts in and lifting off the brake (because it starts vibrating under the foot)

At the very least, all drivers should get a feel for what ABS does in an emergency, but that's another argument entirely

[maddowse]

my wife had a kia rio and it was great , the only draw back is that aparently u can get some duds , but we never had any problems

[STAGEA_KING]

how about Honda Civic? They are pretty good on fuel and reliable too, especially in your price range, you can get one made in Japan, I reckon the older model is better the new one, like EG.

Corolla is good, but just too many, civic is cool.

[Peter89]

rolla/civic. budget will determine which year to buy.

[xALmoN]

starlet.

[tony lam]

nissan pulsars should be good =) theyre pretty reliable . n15 or n14

[Galois]

just wondering, opinions on a mistubishi magna, 3.0L v6. there's heaps of them with airbags and abs for 3k. missus likes the look (not questioning it) and its cheap and safe.

have a major design project due for final year in a couple of weeks and moving soon after that, then as soon as funds allow will be test driving as much as possible

[mad082]

having owned 2 magnas, i would say go the 3.5L if possible. and if possible get a manual one as they are pretty fast as well (14.8 at willowbank with just a catback exhaust). i had no mechanical problems with mine despite them having a reasonably hard life (especially the first one). only downside to them is the turning circle is pretty shocking, and the front seats really need seat covers as the cover they have from standard is pretty ordinary and a bit coarse.

[Jezza-gtR]

R31 Skyline all the way.

[Equinox]

I have an AE93 Corolla as my daily atm. It's been bloody reliable and gets 6.8L/100km out of every tank on E10 even. Oh and insurance is dirt cheap!

[ClutchBurndout-:(]

just dont get a mistubishu and ur laughing