Cheers Qfragger

Thanks very much for the advice........I must admit I still can't grasp that you would have to pay tax on a private buy of a second hand car
Can I ask if you have ever known dealers offering help with insurance costs to get a deal......or is that asking a bit too much for a newly landed immigrant.

Thanks

In Canada are the roads salted properly in winter or, because of the lower winter temperatures, is a 4WD a bit more necessary than say in the UK?

We all live in igloos in the winter and rely on a dog team to get us to the seal fields

OI what about the summer????
Its so cold in the Northern 'burbs of Calgary we only have one week were we dont have to dig the dogs before they can be tied to the sled.

Sometimes!

AX, where did you get that photo of me and the mrs?
I only took it Saturday!!!!!

It very much depends on WHERE in Canada you mean .... hence the "tongue-in-cheek relies you got! In parts of BC you don't really get much lying snow at all.

In the city of Calgary, because I work in home care and a lot of the side roads are not cleared at all, and even the main roads sometimes fill up quicker than the ploughs can clear or become extremely icy, I opted for a 4WD vehicle. In point of fact I was very glad I had it...... but for a few days only last winter, which apparently was unseasonably mild. The majority of Calgarians don't drive 4wd. You soon find out how your car behaves on slippy surfaces and learn to drive accordingly .... unfortunately most people forget and have to relearn each year .... hopefully without hitting anything in the process!!

Some people use winter tires, but most are ok with all-season tires. You can buy chains to put on tires, but these can wreck the road surfaces even more than the snowploughs do when driving on bare pavement!

I'm fine. The bruising is getting much better, and I'm getting more used to driving my hire car, which is probably a good thing, as by the looks of things I'm going to have it for a long time....

Serious answer....One of my cars is Subaru AWD on all seasons, the other a FWD mazda on winter tires. Both cope admirably with snow on the road on the the few occasions that its necessary. With 2WD winter tires are worth the investment in the parts of Canada that get a real winter. Most cars here are 2WD, front drive, and winter is no problem, so no, 4WD is not at all necessary, unless you intend to live off the beaten track. A lot of people with 2WD dont bother with winter tires, we didnt for a long time, but having tried it, we are not going back to all seasons.

Before those vehicles I owned a 4WD jeep. 4WD as opposed to AWD was a nightmare as in some marginal conditions you dont really know whether to put it in 4WD mode. If its not slippy enough its possible to do serious drivetrain damage. Not all "4WD" is created equal, so do your homework. In reality true 4WD is for off roading.

Generally roads in Ontario are cleared very efficiently, and traction not really an issue anyway. Freezing rain is far more of a safety issue than snow here, and the rule of thumb then is dont travel unless you really really have to.

With 27k in my pocket, and no family to transport around, I would get a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla, a set of snow tires, and pocket the rest.

Having read the bit about scuba gear then I would also seriously consider a Mazda 3 "sport" (wagon).

Hi,
I've just bought a Honda Pilot (probably much too big for what you're looking for!) and the build quality and engine is great. I worked for Volkswagen in the UK and know they are a great product but not as competitively priced in Canada as the Japanese - enormous boot though.

I just wanted to add my experience of Honda dealers ....... (hope its okay to name and shame!). I went to Ready Honda in Mississauga and whilst they were really happy to do a deal on the car there interest stopped from that point on. The service and information I was given was so bad that I wouldn't go back there again, even if they were offering free servicing. I have since been to Oakville Honda who are a much more professional and customer orientated business.
Hope that helps,
Tara x

Hey Woofwoof,
As far as i know no car maker offers anything like free insurance in Canada. Even of they did a landed immigrant wouldn't have any chance of getting it. When i bought a jeep liberty i tried PC Insurance and they wouldn't even insure us for any amount of money because we had never had a class 1 & 2 g licence and went straight to a full g licence. Please don't quote me but i think when you first pass you get a class 1 then after a few years you get a class 2 then finally after 5 years you get a full g licence.

Anyway the only insurance i could get was through a broker and it cost me $4500 a year, the insurance was with Pilot.

Laters Woofwoof

It's really a personal thing. One thing I think you should do immediately is subscribe to ConsumerReports at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm. In fact I recommend this to anyone new to the country as well, as this will provide some insight for your buying strategy if you're buying appliances/cars etc. CR have detailed objective reviews of most vehicles, plus factor in actual ownership satisfaction rates which is crucial. I was originally planning on a Jeep GC when I first moved over, until I realised that owner satisfaction according to the Reports is very low. I decided to start by targeting brands that have a high satisfaction rate, to narrow the choices. Then within each brand there's probably one or two models per brand that are suitable for you. You can realistically test drive all, and make a decision. A simple answer would be to target Honda and Toyota. There's few that would disagree these to be amongst the highest satisfaction brands, by ownership.

For me, I love my Infiniti QX4 which, unfortunately, are not still being mde. I wanted an SUV with excellent reliability and a luxurious feel inside without being over the top. The QX4 is an expensive original vehicle with a very high minimum specification. For this reason, most original owners go for all the options. This simplified the choices. I'm very glad that I waited a looooonnnnnnggg time before deciding, and rented about 40 different vehicles to really get to know the brands.