Medium car for $15000, auto

[mik]

My mate had a proton for years, very basic motoring but reliable as hell , used the mitsubishi engine gearbox, I dont know if they still run mitsu driveline, but might be another option ?

[fordomatic]

Ok, so i went to pickles and had a look at what is going for auction tomorrow and also the buy it now vehicles.

Looked at the lancer first, very basic inside and felt pretty cheap as i was expecting. $12300 for a very clean white 2011 ex fleet example with 60,000km on it. There were a few other lancers for the same price but the white one was much straighter than the others. i liked that the front seat can go down a very long way, i am 6'5'' and find smaller cars hard to sit in.

Next was the i30, extremely similar to the Lancer, the stereo was maybe a little better but overall it was almost exactly the same as the lancer, found the engine at idle a little louder (petrol model). Also found the doors were very ''hollow'' compared to the lancer. found two for $13,000 with 60,000km on the clock, both pretty clean and ex fleet.

Next was the Cruze, I had never really payed attention to the cruze before. Well it seems light years ahead of the lancer and i30 to me. I hate to say it but everything felt pretty good, i especially like the interior for a cheaper car, much better than the lancer and i30. There were two examples, one 2011 with 60,000km in white for $13,100 in mint condition and one 2012 with 20,000km diesel going to auction tomorrow. They gave me a price of 13-16k at auction.

I am very impressed with the cruze and i wont be looking at the the i30 or lancer anymore. Unfortunately im heading to Melbourne tomorrow but will head to the auctions next week and see how much the cruze's are selling for. Im not in a huge rush so will just wait for the right one to come up. Spewing i will be away tomorrow, the diesel one looks like a good one to get if it came in my price range. Especially with this bad, cold weather around, cars always seem to go very cheap here in this weather.

To Big Damo and the others that said accord euro, it is too big and not fuel efficient enough for what i want, but cheers for the advice.

[fordomatic]

Argh, now i have researched the Cruze i have found issues with the auto and the air conditioning. Why cant it just be simple haha. It annoys me that both Ford and Holdens mid sized cars are plagued with this auto issue, no wonder they are going under, what a joke.

[XR Martin]

Base model Cruze is painfully slow, drive one first before making up your mind.

[unkey]

I would get a Corolla sedan,my niece recently got an ex churches car,and its absorlutely bullet proof.
The church bought another Corolla,brand new model for its collecting duties.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by unkey

I would get a Corolla sedan,my niece recently got an ex churches car,and its absorlutely bullet proof.
The church bought another Corolla,brand new model for its collecting duties.

Seconded.

Since OP isn't going to get the Focus, even though the previous generation Focus had none of the auto issues that plague the current generation, I think the Corolla is a safe bet. They're generally regarded as bullet-proof, a few friends of mine own Corollas and haven't really had any issues to speak of. As an appliance, the Corolla's pretty damn good.

[08G63T]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

Argh, now i have researched the Cruze i have found issues with the auto and the air conditioning. Why cant it just be simple haha. It annoys me that both Ford and Holdens mid sized cars are plagued with this auto issue, no wonder they are going under, what a joke.

We've got a Cruze diesel (2nd one) in the family. We had a series 1 or JG series as they were called. Was a mid 2011 build, bought in January 2012 for about 22K, with 5k kms on the odo. Car was very good to drive and gave excellent mileage, about 6.5ltr/100k with 4 people, no luggage Sydney to 'gong and local driving was about 7.5-7.8ltr/100k.
Car got written off Feb 2013 (someone failed to give way and turned in to on coming traffic).


My dad drove a few cars for a replacement and settled on another Cruze diesel (series II or JH series) in March 2013. Car is miles ahead of series one. Handles very well for a FWD and the auto is very intuitive and nice.

If it's worth anything, spins tyres when given a boot full.

Only thing that sucks is the massive turbo lag.


Haven't had any issues with the 2 cars during the period of ownership.

[falconnut]

why not a ecoboost ?

why sell the xr6t at all?

Failing that i guess get a boring slushbox i4 soul killing blandbarge from toyodur

[Nova 8]

Don't get a cruze, they look good inside but they are miserable to own and drive. My mother bought one with the holden discount and she was annoyed that she had to keep the thing for 11mths. My brother just got a 2010 VRX Lancer and its pretty impressive and has decent kit to boot. Mazda's are always a fairly sound bet, kinda like Toyotas but with style. What about a diesel 3 series BMW or something European like that?

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

Argh, now i have researched the Cruze i have found issues with the auto and the air conditioning. Why cant it just be simple haha. It annoys me that both Ford and Holdens mid sized cars are plagued with this auto issue, no wonder they are going under, what a joke.

My company has 3 cruzes(1 of which is mine) all 1.4 turbo which is the petrol engine to go for, the 1.8 non turbo is a boat anchor.
The engine itself is peppy and fuel efficient, BUT the 6sp auto is awful, the AC is barely adequate when the temp goes over low 30s according to my hot and bothered co workers.
Our experience with these has been peppered with reliability niggles, theyre not a car which I can see being trouble free for years.
Id concur with others on here, Lancer/Corolla are cheap, plentiful and contain 4 moving parts, even the rental scrubbers clean up ok and will give years of trouble free service.

[fordomatic]

Originally Posted by falconnut

why not a ecoboost ?

why sell the xr6t at all?

Failing that i guess get a boring slushbox i4 soul killing blandbarge from toyodur

Long story short we need to free up money so i can get a newer 4x4 as the current one gets 33l/100km and it costs us $110 every weekend to get to the snow.

The ecoboost is an option but i would rather get a smaller totally bulletproof car for the MRS that i don't have to worry about anymore. If we got another falcon i would still worry about it all the time. I want something i don't have to care about if it gets a scratch or stonechip or spilt drink inside etc.

I could convince myself to keep the FGXR6T and wear the extra costs if i enjoyed it more. Long story short i come from a long line of manual V8's and this was the first turbo 6 in auto i have owned. It just doesn't have the soul of the V8 and the fun factor. It's quick alright but that's not what its about for me. Driving through the hills swapping cogs on a V8 is what i miss. So because i don't enjoy it like i thought i would what is the point in keeping money tied up in it for no reason?

The MRS actually wants to keep it, she asked me to not get her a new car. By selling it and buying a new runabout and a twin cab ute i will save $9000 each year in petrol, insurance and rego. The outlay is an extra $4,000 once i sell both cars, and get the two new ones. I would be keeping the 4x4 for a long time so the decision to change is a no brainer.

I could keep the falcon if i came up with $10,000 for the new 4x4, but even then im saving $3000 a year if i sold it. Not to mention the extra $10,000 i would get from changover of buying a little runabout.

Thanks again for the replys everyone, will do away with the Cruze idea and stick with the corolla or Lancer.

[falconnut]

Why not get a xr8?

Still the i6 is worth keeping in my opinion as i have never seen the point of v8's when we have such a decent array of i6's here but yeah.

Good luck.

[fordomatic]

Originally Posted by falconnut

Why not get a xr8?

Still the i6 is worth keeping in my opinion as i have never seen the point of v8's when we have such a decent array of i6's here but yeah.

Good luck.

Won't ever buy another auto performance car. I also wont burden the MRS with a manual performance car. If i get another quick car it will be mine alone, the XR6T was a compromise as we got down to two cars instead of three and she uses the falcon. We will always have a 4x4 as we are always camping, going to the snow, wakeboarding etc. No point having that as her daily as its just too big and pointless.

[Work Horse]

I'm a Ford man in a similar boat to you.

The Mazda 3 is hard to go past, dam it!

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

Argh, now i have researched the Cruze i have found issues with the auto and the air conditioning. Why cant it just be simple haha. It annoys me that both Ford and Holdens mid sized cars are plagued with this auto issue, no wonder they are going under, what a joke.

Have you actually DRIVEN a new Focus?
(Or maybe even one that has had the transmission reprogrammed)?
Personally, I didn't mind it, although it is clearly not happy at very low speeds. I don't know if its possible, I didn't drive it long enough to figure out, but it feels like it should be de-clutched at close to stall speed (just like a manual.)
In the end we went for a Tiiiiiiiiida. It was cheap and my daughter seems to like it. It also has a standard auto, unlike the CVT in the new Pulsar.

[Mr Hardware]

another vote for corolla
3 years and 50k added to ours without an issue

[simon varley]

Peugeot 207 or 307?
Renault Clio or Megan?
Audi A3?
Volvo S40?

there's just so many