uk_grenada

I have been visiting the caribbean for along time, and its time to buy one... Generically it think

European made cars regardless of make die quickly. I have seen range rovers, fords and vw's just curl up their clogs in a few years.

Japanese manufactured cars do seem to age better, is this cause they were made for tropical environments, or because their painting allowed more VOC's than the eurocrats allow.

Light 4x4 cars seem to most prevalent. There are a lot of hills and poor roads, so quite torquey big engines are good.

In Grenada, with its poor roads the most popular seems the suzuki vitara, as hire cars they seem pretty indestructable, i have often hired cars with 100 to 150k on the clock, and they go.... Toyota crew cab trucks also.

Local mechanics seem to know toyota and suzuki most.

There seem to be a new crop of kia/hyundai, even a few nissans but they havent got old yet? I have a nissan qashqai in the uk, and it has lots of points that look rust worthy...

Anyone care to give their thoughts?

dfjordan

As a rule, no matter where you live, you wont go wrong with Toyota. I've had Audis, Mercedes, Volvos, which are OK, but where they lose out is the maintenance costs. Mercedes come with no end of fancy computer controlled extras, but if they go wrong, they are very exoensive to fix. I have found that whilst Toyotas may not be the most stylish vehicles around, they are very reliable, easy to maintain, parts are always available, and hence as a result of all this, they keep their value.

Gordon Barlow

Damn right, Jordan. My wife and I both own "deportees" - five-year-old Toyotas imported from Japan with low mileage. Ours are 1996 and 1997 Windoms. They never break down, and require minimal service. Mind you, ours is a small island, and we don't use them off-road. Before these, we had Toyotas from earlier years - and before those, Toyotas from even earlier years. When these two finally do require repairs and too-regular service, we shall buy two more deportees.

When the VW Beetle went out of production in Germany, I never expected to find a vehicle that matched it. But the Toyota is that vehicle.

dfjordan

Gordon, my daughter and her husband who live in NZ also drive used Toyotas that are sent over to NZ. What I cant get over is the showroom condition of them when they arrive in the country. They are usually 5 year old cars, but they look as if the Japs keep them tucked away in garages and never use them, as they show no signs of use. They've recently updated their 15 year old ones with 5 year old ones, and no doubt they'll still be OK in 10 years time.