evets

Problem with the second hand car market, in Victoria. There is no MOT and what equivalent there is only required when you come to sell the car. So in effect you can buy a car and after that not worry if it is legal to be on the road.

When I was looking to buy a second hand car, I gave up after a few months as I was shocked by the quality and road safety of them.

Amazulu

For a cheap small car at under $12k there is the Mitsubishi Mirage (I've seen it on sale for $10.5k). Yes, it's tiny and would not be for everyone but comes with a 5 year warranty and 4 years fixed-price servicing

Amazulu

There is a big myth that Australia is expensive for new cars. That may have been true in the past but certainly not today. Higher end cars can be expensive because of luxury car tax (when is that going to be got rid of now that our car industry is no longer?) and the manufacturers have a larger profit margin because they can, but most mainstream European, Asian and American cars are cheaper here than in Europe. In fact, I'd say the UK (like for cosumer electronics and tech) is a rip-off

Dorothy

I loved my Barina. I traded it for an ix35 which is ok,.but do miss the little Holden

Gordon Barlow

Tell me, does Australia have access to domestic Japanese used cars? The USA has, and the Caribbean, and the cars are a terrific bargain. I'm told that the law in Japan requires cars to be taken off the road after five years; and also that Japanese car-owners always keep them in tip-top condition. They have no resale-value to speak of in Japan, of course, hence the popularly low prices they sell for to overseas customers.

In my Caribbean island, there are a couple of thousand such cars - a tiny portion of the millions that must become available each year. Is Australia another market? My wife and I each drive twenty-year old Windoms (an early version of the Lexus, I think), with 100K and 150K kms, respectively, and they drive as though they're good for double that. It wouldn't take long to achieve those numbers in most parts of Oz, I realise, but for those whose annual mileage is low they could be just the thing.

Anyway, I'd just be interested to know if they're available in Australia. All right-hand drive, of course. Thanks for any opinion.

Amazulu

They are in New Zealand but currently not here - although there is talk of this changing

louie

Going to have to disagree with you there. In Adelaide I had dealings when importing our cars with a chap whose main business was importing such cars, particularly Nissan Cubes (as apparently very popular with his Asian clients) and small engined Skylines (as P platers could drive them). At least I think it was Skylines.

Gordon Barlow

I should have mentioned the price of the Japanese cars here. 5-year-old compacts usually retail for about US$6000 - that includes our 27% import duty. That would be something in the region of AUD9000, right? And some individuals import them personally, based on ads in the local or Miami newspapers, thus saving the importers' mark-up here. I think the FOB Japan price starts about US$1500. Very good value.

Amazulu

I think it is possible to import specialised Japanese cars that are not normally available here - Skylines for instance - but not mass, mainstream cars. As as I said, there is talk of this changing now that cars will no longer be made here. As you can imagine, car dealers are not happy about this and are fighting it

I did a bit of research and to put it in to some perspective, New Zealand imports about 250k cars a year of which 100k are 2nd hand. Australia imports just over 1.1m cars but only 10k of those are used

BadgeIsBack

MP is bang on. Even living near the sea in Aus is simply not the same as salt-encrusted roads in the UK.


Australian cars like Hondas and Toyotas especially doing country miles or not used for start-stop commuting will do several hundreds of k's quite easily - no rust.


It's quite rare to see a rusty car here in AU.


B

spuddyo

Regarding imported Japanese Domestic Vehicles, yes. I have a Nissan Elgrand which is a JDM car. There are plenty of agents who import them and put them through compliance checks and register them for Australian roads.

swans

They,ve been importing them into WA for 30 odd years that I recall.


Google autojapan ,Albany highway ,kenwick WA.They seem to have been there forever but probably 10 -15 yrs.Usually they have 20-30 in stock and have a service where you order a car and they will source it in Japan for you and give you a price.


There's just never seemed to be any demand for them.I,'ve never heard anybody say I'm going to get me one of those imports.Limited demand means limited supply.


Geordie downunder

NHNH2016

How much would you pay for a 1 year old Audi A4 Sline in Aus?

extrobe

I've been using AutoTrader. 2016 A4 starts at $50,000 - no idea about whether it's s-line though, I think that's a UK-specific trim level.

autotrader.com.au