i'm considering a buzz box, guidance? :D

[ECOJET]

hey ppl

Daily city driving has got to me and im thinking of buying something a lot cheaper to run and better suited to the conditions.. ie a SMALL car.
I been looking at the fiesta and the mazda 2, anyone driven either, what did you think of them?

[Citric GT]

Driven both. Two blokes at work have them for running around. One is a Fiesta Zetec and the other is a 2 Neo. Overall I prefer the Fiesta, but the 2 has one minor thing in its favour - indicators are on the right side! They both go well and the handling is fantastic on both.

[mikestp]

get an old corolla
KE70, AE71, AE86 etc etc
at least the diffs at the right end

[ECOJET]

Originally Posted by Citric GT

Driven both. Two blokes at work have them for running around. One is a Fiesta Zetec and the other is a 2 Neo. Overall I prefer the Fiesta, but the 2 has one minor thing in its favour - indicators are on the right side! They both go well and the handling is fantastic on both.

yeah its hard to pick between the two! even for being "bubble" cars they have some decent syling to them unlike a lot of others.
Im not expecting performance or handling, but as long as it drives nice and refind and has a decent interior and drive ill be pretty happy either way.. plus 16k'ish for a brand new car is very enticing!

[Creampuff]

Own and can't fault the Fiesta(05 model)

[Citric GT]

Originally Posted by ECOJET

yeah its hard to pick between the two! even for being "bubble" cars they have some decent syling to them unlike a lot of others.
Im not expecting performance or handling, but as long as it drives nice and refind and has a decent interior and drive ill be pretty happy either way.. plus 16k'ish for a brand new car is very enticing!

You will not be dissapointed by the way either drives. In fact, I reckon you will be surprised at just how good they are.

[Fairlane]

Ive driven both in the old 05 model. Fiesta is the same, but their is a new 2 out. Back then i prefered the 2, and seeing as its the same old Fiesta, id guess id still prefer the 2.

2 would probably have better resale as well, so it would be the 2 for me. But hey drive both, and see what you like and which dealer can do the best deal.

[Bossxr8]

You're going to spend probably 15k to save what, $20 on fuel per week? Think how many km's you'll have to do to make back the initial investment on fuel savings.

[Fairlane]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

You're going to spend probably 15k to save what, $20 on fuel per week? Think how many km's you'll have to do to make back the initial investment on fuel savings.

Ill not usually defend small cars, but its more than just the fuel. Servicing, Tyres, Rego (4cyl rego), Insurance are all cheaper. Fuel is just one small part, and with the top resale on little cars, i can see how it adds up for many commuters.

I drove a few Hyundai Getz' recently and they were awesome. The manual craps all over the auto, the manual is very drivable. The auto feels like it has no balls and you're redlining it to get up any hills.

This was a rental car so of course I dumped the clutch, did my hand brakeys and all that, still ended up with fuel consumption of 6.7litres/100km. If I drove it gently I would've got 6 I reckon.

I've also drive my friends Yaris, which is pretty nice. I thought the Getz was nicer though. A bit emasculating, but your wallet will get thicker.

I have noticed that the auto's for the buzz boxes really suck. They don't take off well, require a lot of throttling and don't get anywhere near the fuel consumption of the manuals.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by mikestp

get an old corolla
KE70, AE71, AE86 etc etc
at least the diffs at the right end

i agree, some brand's are cheaper to replace the car itself than to replace the CV joint's

[ECOJET]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

You're going to spend probably 15k to save what, $20 on fuel per week? Think how many km's you'll have to do to make back the initial investment on fuel savings.

not just a fuel thing mate, but by city i mean literally CBD driving and sedans just have no business in there.. all u need is something light and zippy to get around, parking is much easier e.t.c
Its not just me i mean a lot of people are making similar decisions which means big fuel thirsty cars are depreciating rapidly and these things will hold their value significantly.

[flappist]

Over the past 3 years I have replaced all my falcons with bubble cars. I have Toyotas, Hyundais and Nissans and my operating costs are less than half.
They are all petrol and manual with aircon, except for the navara which is diesel.

I have also not had a single warranty claim on any of them.

[GTP290]

Ive had many small cars as my daily when I was younger, mainly datsuns and nissan pulsars. Lately we had a 4 door 1.3 litre auto echo which we sold about a year ago and now we bought the misses a manual 2.0 litre focus sedan which was a run out model. Being 2 litres with plenty of room and grunt, it is actually cheaper to run than the echo, and with much more room inside(more spacious than my EB Fairmont), its a fantastic car and very economical to run and best of all its a Ford!

[Miller]

picked up a '98 excel for $800 w/o rego. Cost me 3k total including the purchase of the car to get it on the road, but it's freaking great, costs me around 50 to fill up opposed to 120 for the EF, and I get the same amount of kms too.

I'll also backup Shounak on the Hyundai Getz. Hired one of them when I was in townsville over christmas. I drove from townsville out to Tulley, then out to Cairns and then made it 1/4 way back from cairnes till I needed to fill it up. Mind you it was pretty gutless

[Ives]

Smart ForTwo should do the trick.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by ECOJET

not just a fuel thing mate, but by city i mean literally CBD driving and sedans just have no business in there.. all u need is something light and zippy to get around, parking is much easier e.t.c
Its not just me i mean a lot of people are making similar decisions which means big fuel thirsty cars are depreciating rapidly and these things will hold their value significantly.

Fair enough.

[ECOJET]

Originally Posted by Ives

Smart ForTwo should do the trick.

na, i have limits :p

[NIK516]

lol , yeh i was looking to replace the mazda bravo in a year or two with a fiesta, then dump some bucket seats in her and light weight rims all in black, dam should be nice.

i love driving over things in the bravo but its to big and most of the time im in traffic and dont like going city because its a killer to find parking.

wish i could put the 3.5 v6 in the fiesta omg that would make the thing fly.

good luck thow

[Rev28K]

As well as owning Nissan Renault also owns Dacia. In South Africa they are just starting making a RHD version of a car called the Sandero.
While it doesn’t sound all that exciting the price definitely does.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/9080516....ched-in-france

There was talk on The Age/SMH site about Renault Australia importing it for around $10k, which would make it cheaper than anything on the market at the moment. Getz is around $14k isn’t it.
There are also rumors about supercheap Indian and Chinese hatches coming in.

While a lot of people turn their nose up at the shallow end of the market if you have one of the cheapest cars on the market you will sell heaps (look how may people bought the original Hyundai Excel) which can make up for the razor thin profit margins. I think that the only way petrol prices are going to go in the future are up.

If you have to buy a car right now I’d be going for the Mazda 2 or the Fiesta (you could get a run out deal on the current Fiesta as it is going to be replaced by a new model that is based on the current Mazda 2’s platform), I’d also look at the VW Polo, maybe the Nissan Micra (bit old in the tooth now) or wait for the new Honda Jazz model to be released (get a runout deal on the current Jazz model?).

Re: running costs of four cylinders – as long as you don’t cane them they are quite good. I’ve had Honda 4 cylinders for over 10 years that are my daily drivers (as well as doing double duty regularly sprinting on race tracks) and the consumables (pads, discs, bushes, tyres, stuff wearing out) have been negligible compared to trying to do the same with a bigger car. They are still affordable to run, even on Premium 95 petrol. A freind who races his Mini in Appendix J against Mustangs & Falcon Sprints found that his running costs were considerably cheaper than the "big iron" guys.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by ECOJET

hey ppl

Daily city driving has got to me and im thinking of buying something a lot cheaper to run and better suited to the conditions.. ie a SMALL car.
I been looking at the fiesta and the mazda 2, anyone driven either, what did you think of them?

Go to the auctions and source a Corolla or Dahwoo
should find a early 90's toyota ( maybe a Camry) for around 600 needing some work or a 96>7 excel for around 600.

[ECOJET]

Originally Posted by atec77

Go to the auctions and source a Corolla or Dahwoo
should find a early 90's toyota ( maybe a Camry) for around 600 needing some work or a 96>7 excel for around 600.

nah mate if i go one of these cars its gotta be new and have a warranty e.t.c, not interested in old rattly rust buckets

[mr smith]

Missus has a new colt, looks a bit pox at first but grows on you. CVT auto takes off with plenty of go but settles down to just over 2K rpm on the highway. Awesome to park and so far not a thing has gone wrong. 10 year warranty was hard to pass as well.

[mikestp]

Originally Posted by Rev28K

As well as owning Nissan Renault also owns Dacia. In South Africa they are just starting making a RHD version of a car called the Sandero.
While it doesn’t sound all that exciting the price definitely does.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/9080516....ched-in-france

75hp?

The other thing is that you saying their gutless is irrelevant. It's like when I tell people I get about 13l/100km in my BA XR8, small car drivers often say it's pathetic and they get 6l/100.

But you have to look at the purpose of the car. My XR8 is purchased as a beautiful fastish car to drive, not because it's the best on fuel.

The buzzboxes are small, but adequate. They're not designed to be quick, just fast enough to maintain awesome fuel consumption.

If it's just for driving around town, you really don't need anything more than a buzzbox.

[Kommandant]

Suzuki swift best car i've ever bought

[ECOJET]

i see the mazda 2s are $18,150 new from the dealer (plus other costs)
ive never bought new before, what sorta price should i be expecting, drive away? how much do they wanna negotiate if any?

[Darthur]

I suggest a new Swift too, awesome little car!