Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
Feb 23rd 2013, 5:27 am
#16
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 1,603
Re: Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
Purchase the most reliable car - spend nothing on service =
By cheap and cheerful = regular service =
Feb 23rd 2013, 9:20 pm
#17
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: The Gold Coast, QLD
Posts: 443
Re: Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
Always liked Magna's but the days of the large engined saloon will soon be over for the average Joe. Just love it when the price of petrol often features in the news and how battllers can't afford it and then get in their 4 litre cars to take the kids to school.
Feb 24th 2013, 12:25 am
#18
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Posts: 16,622
Re: Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
Unleaded standard petrol is $1.50/Litre here in Australia approximately, this is the two star equivalent which will run the larger engined cars. premium unleaded for your European 2 litre cars is 8-10 cents a litre more expensive and so is Diesel fuel.
the larger cars are designed to do the kind of distances that Australians living outside the main centres tend to do, 50,000 KM a year is not unheard of for people commuting from Geelong to Melbourne for example.
The Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore, Toyota Camry V6 and the Mitsubishi 380 are all set up for 30,000 - 50,000 KMs a year and an engine life of 400,000 KM where a european car would start getting very expensive to maintain after 160,000 km.
generally speaking, the 4 "Aussie sixes" I have mentioned will be much cheaper to run when insurance, spares (especially tyres) and servicing are taken into account, particularly at the $10,000 - $15,000 price bracket you are looking at.
I have a 2004 Mitsubishi Magna with 200,000km on the clock, which preceded the 380. It cost me $7000 to buy the car a year ago, I had a major service for $120 including oil and 4 new tyres which cost $60 each ($240 total).
a friend of mine has a Golf GTI of the same age, each tyre costs him about $240 and his last service was $200 plus fluids. also, my 3.5 litre V6 which puts out 148kw (the same as the golf) in a car weighing 1440kg (the same as the golf) gets 6 litres per 100km on the open road (the same as the golf) where he beats me is fuel consumption round town and his car snob image.
the larger cars are designed to do the kind of distances that Australians living outside the main centres tend to do, 50,000 KM a year is not unheard of for people commuting from Geelong to Melbourne for example.
The Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore, Toyota Camry V6 and the Mitsubishi 380 are all set up for 30,000 - 50,000 KMs a year and an engine life of 400,000 KM where a european car would start getting very expensive to maintain after 160,000 km.
generally speaking, the 4 "Aussie sixes" I have mentioned will be much cheaper to run when insurance, spares (especially tyres) and servicing are taken into account, particularly at the $10,000 - $15,000 price bracket you are looking at.
I have a 2004 Mitsubishi Magna with 200,000km on the clock, which preceded the 380. It cost me $7000 to buy the car a year ago, I had a major service for $120 including oil and 4 new tyres which cost $60 each ($240 total).
a friend of mine has a Golf GTI of the same age, each tyre costs him about $240 and his last service was $200 plus fluids. also, my 3.5 litre V6 which puts out 148kw (the same as the golf) in a car weighing 1440kg (the same as the golf) gets 6 litres per 100km on the open road (the same as the golf) where he beats me is fuel consumption round town and his car snob image.
Run an Australian 6 outside of rush hour and off the suburban roads and you can get suprising fuel economy. My wife's Falcon has ticked all our boxes because it is still wide across the rear seats and any other car we might have bought her initially as a runaround would have become too small. It's also got a good sized boot.
We got it at 88k and now it has done 205k...the engine will do another 100k easily and I plan to keep it until it falls apart. Maybe another 5-10 years.
I've also now got a old 7 seater Merc station wagon with full service history which I paid 3500 for which costs the same prices as a Falcon wagon to service at an indy. It's old enough that the parts eg brakes etc are discounted in some instances and it doesn't have the electronics nightmares and it's easy to work on. Also solid 1980s pedigree engineering and build before MB took their eyes off the ball in the mid 90s. I'll keep it another 10 years.
Feb 24th 2013, 12:56 am
#19
CHC-MEL commute since 91
Joined: Dec 2007
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 222
Re: Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
An added bonus for some of the larger car owners is that a lot of them, in Victoria at least, are set up to run on both petrol and LPG. LPG is currently going for 60 cents per litre. The fuel consumption is a bit worse, but it would work back to being the same as petrol at about 80 cents a litre.
another positive is that if you are dual fuel then your range is well over 1500km per fill between the petrol and the LPG.
another positive is that if you are dual fuel then your range is well over 1500km per fill between the petrol and the LPG.
Feb 24th 2013, 2:35 pm
#20
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Epsom
Posts: 1,705
Re: Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
Pretty boring, but you couldn't go wrong with a Toyota Camry or Aurion.
Feb 24th 2013, 11:42 pm
#21
Social Grenade Thrower
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: South Coast, NSW
Posts: 3,625
Re: Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
Also be very careful buying privately as the car may still belong to the finance company not the person selling it.
Our X trail started to cost money at 146,000 kms, dread to think what the Muranos above will cost when the "little" things start to go wrong.
A low km Kia Cerato would have to be a good buy especially if it came with the five year warranty and has plenty remaining.
Our X trail started to cost money at 146,000 kms, dread to think what the Muranos above will cost when the "little" things start to go wrong.
A low km Kia Cerato would have to be a good buy especially if it came with the five year warranty and has plenty remaining.
Feb 25th 2013, 6:24 am
#22
Proudly Deplorable
Joined: May 2003
Location: Alloha snack bar
Posts: 24,246
Re: Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
Hi All,
I'm arriving over in April and will be working in IT on call.
I'll need a company car and also it will be for personal use at evenings / weekends.
I'm not used to a lot of the models in Australia compared to Ireland.
They also seem to be all 4 litres etc, so i'm conscious of fuel costs etc.
I've seen the Ford Falcon seem to be competitive, are these a reliable car?
Any suggestions help much appreicated
I'm arriving over in April and will be working in IT on call.
I'll need a company car and also it will be for personal use at evenings / weekends.
I'm not used to a lot of the models in Australia compared to Ireland.
They also seem to be all 4 litres etc, so i'm conscious of fuel costs etc.
I've seen the Ford Falcon seem to be competitive, are these a reliable car?
Any suggestions help much appreicated
Avoid the yank taxis - Commodore and Falcon
Feb 25th 2013, 6:46 am
#24
Proudly Deplorable
Joined: May 2003
Location: Alloha snack bar
Posts: 24,246
Re: Please recommend a family car (two girls age 1 and 3) for $10 to $15K
I disagree. Older Japanese cars are better value and more reliable.
