So finally went test driving today

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Chevron

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So been wanting a new car for a while now. Finally got all my ducks in a row.

First thing I wanna is sales people are evil :whistle:

I went to test drive Fiesta, ended up the Focus.

Went to test drive Accent, ended up in Elantra.

But that's besides the point really.

I also test drove the Rio. Was actually surprised by how much grunt that little 1400 pushes out.

Test drove the 1.8 Elantra next. Very luxurious and all. Nothing clicked with me though.

Drove the Focus 1.6 Ambiente after that and now THAT clicked with me. So much fun to drive. With the Elantra it almost felt like driving a plane. detached from the road. The focus felt like I was a part of the road.

Drove the Honda Ballade after that. Perceived quality was by the best in opinion. Loved the seating position and instrument panel. Loved that it had electric aircon as well, meaning no sapping of engine power.

Only problem is less fun than the Focus to drive.

So head is telling me go Ballade, heart is telling me to go Focus.

Ballade elegance is R184000 with demo model with 48km on the clock.
Focus Ambiente is R197000 new or the Trend for R218000.

I'd want extended service plan with the Ballade, but insurance should be cheaper, while the Focus Ambiente is missing mags and lots of other stuff so Trend would be the one I want.

Any advice or words of wisdom? I know you're gonna say it's my choice, but I want to make sure my choice is an informed one :D

P.S. Gonna test drive Nissan Juke tomorrow just for the fun of it.
 
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Take the Honda. Much more reliable than the ford IMHO.
 
Bah, how many times do cars breakdown really? So tired of hearing the "Honda and Toyota is more reliable" song (true as it may be).

Personally, to me it is all about luxury so i would go with Elantra. Sad that you didn't "connect" with it. I'm looking at buying a new car soon so some feedback on the Elantra would be nice. All I ever hear is how awesome it is and clearly you don't think so, so pwetty please :)

Between focus and Honda - Honda Ballade kinda looks "meh" from the front. Focus (Hatch) is a much nicer car IMHO but that R35k difference does suck. Did you consider looking at more high speced 2nd hand cars?
 
Hamster said:
Bah, how many times do cars breakdown really? So tired of hearing the "Honda and Toyota is more reliable" song (true as it may be).

Personally, to me it is all about luxury so i would go with Elantra. Sad that you didn't "connect" with it. I'm looking at buying a new car soon so some feedback on the Elantra would be nice. All I ever hear is how awesome it is and clearly you don't think so, so pwetty please :)

Between focus and Honda - Honda Ballade kinda looks "meh" from the front. Focus (Hatch) is a much nicer car IMHO but that R35k difference does suck. Did you consider looking at more high speced 2nd hand cars?
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The ford I owned (territory) went back to the garage 5 times in the 6 months I had it. Based on that experience, never again.
 
Hamster said:
Bah, how many times do cars breakdown really? So tired of hearing the "Honda and Toyota is more reliable" song (true as it may be).

Personally, to me it is all about luxury so i would go with Elantra. Sad that you didn't "connect" with it. I'm looking at buying a new car soon so some feedback on the Elantra would be nice. All I ever hear is how awesome it is and clearly you don't think so, so pwetty please :)

Between focus and Honda - Honda Ballade kinda looks "meh" from the front. Focus (Hatch) is a much nicer car IMHO but that R35k difference does suck. Did you consider looking at more high speced 2nd hand cars?
Click to expand...

If you want luxury then the Elantra is for you. I'm test drive again tomorrow as I'm hoping I'll be more objective as I'll have a better idea of what to expect now.

Today was my first time ever test driving new cars.
 
yeah if you read all of the Hyundai/Kia reviews of late they have all received great reviews but the one thing that is constantly criticized is the steering. It is Electric and very light at low speeds and stiffens at higher speeds but some say they feel disconnected.

The Ballade is very meh.

If you are looking for a sporty drive the Focus is the logical choice.
 
What is the general census on after sales service Ford vs Honda?
 
I would go with the Honda. More reliable and will last you longer before you have to sell it.
 
The current range of Hondas is really very boring - this coming from a Civic owner. Until Honda does something exciting with their cars and designs again I'll be looking elsewhere (and I did - opted for a Fiat 500 Cabrio over a Honda Jazz for my wife last week).
 
Brawler said:
yeah if you read all of the Hyundai/Kia reviews of late they have all received great reviews but the one thing that is constantly criticized is the steering. It is Electric and very light at low speeds and stiffens at higher speeds but some say they feel disconnected.

The Ballade is very meh.

If you are looking for a sporty drive the Focus is the logical choice.
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Ford, my mom has a Focus( brilliant car) and my dad has a 10 or so of the last batch of bantams that he uses for his company, Neither my mother nor father have had a days trouble.
 
Qwikslver said:
Drove the Honda Ballade after that. Perceived quality was by the best in opinion. Loved the seating position and instrument panel. Loved that it had electric aircon as well, meaning no sapping of engine power.
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Where do you get that from? (sounds like someone lied to you..)

Air conditioners don't get more efficient by running them from battery power, they only get LESS efficient. Electronic air-conditioner would just load the engine more and be less reliable.

Air conditioners compress air, air compressors require rotation (it is impossible to compress a gas without movement). Taking rotation from the engine, converting it to electrical energy and then converting it back to motion is less efficient than just running the compressor directly from the auxiliary drive belt.

Doesn't make sense...
 
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Gnome said:
Where do you get that from?

Air conditioners don't get more efficient by running them from battery power, they only get LESS efficient. Why would any manufacturer put in an electronic air-conditioner? It would just load the engine more and be less reliable.

Air conditioners compress air, air compressors require rotation. Taking rotation from the engine, converting it to electrical energy and then converting it back to motion is less efficient than just running the compressor directly from the auxiliary drive belt.

Doesn't make sense...
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Not strictly true I don't think. An electric compressor can be run at the optimum speed for the conditions, and is not slaved to the engine's rotating speed.
The 12000 btu inverter aircon in my bedroom is a lot more powerful than the one in my car and it draws max 1kw. I think the car aircon pulls more power than that.
 
Well ended up getting the Focus anyway. They sweetend the deal a bit.

Should hopefully get it Saturday.
 
Sinbad said:
Not strictly true I don't think. An electric compressor can be run at the optimum speed for the conditions, and is not slaved to the engine's rotating speed.
The 12000 btu inverter aircon in my bedroom is a lot more powerful than the one in my car and it draws max 1kw. I think the car aircon pulls more power than that.
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Car air-conditioners just have less BTUs at lower RPMs (have you ever noticed your air conditioner is better on the highway VS stand still traffic?).

It is also a lot more complicated than that, firstly your air-conditioner in your room has a massive radiator, no weight restrictions. Then we get to the fact that car alternators get less efficient as they draw more current (amps). 150+ amp alternators (which you would need for such an air conditioner) are usually fitted to buses and are usually water cooled units that are quite heavy with lower efficiency than your car alternator. We are talking 12volts DC here so it is going to take massive amps to drive a 1kW (84amps) motor. Not to mention that AC motors (the kind used in your home unit) are usually more efficient, much lighter and more reliable. With a brush-less DC motor, which you would need for this kind of load, you have permanent magnets which are both expensive and super heavy (they are composed after all of rare earth metals).

I could list many more reasons :)

There are solid state cooling solutions, called Peltiers but they have efficiencies lower than 40% typically VS 60%+ for Carnot heat engines.

Also you'll notice very expensive cars actually turn off the alternator when you accelerate hard, it makes a huge difference. The only reason people don't know is because the alternator is always running so you just think, well this is what 75kW feels like ;) Turn off that alternator and your car will feel even more lively.

You see where I'm going with this?

I did the research a few years ago after hearing rumours of electronic air conditioners and had lengthy talks with some engineers also. Fact is, car air cons driven by the crank are going to be around until we have battery cars.
 
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I got myself the Hyundai Elantra 1.8 GLS Automatic last week. Fabulous car! I am in the lucky position to get a car allowance, and the vehicle is also insured by my company. That really helps a lot!
 
Hamster said:
Bah, how many times do cars breakdown really? So tired of hearing the "Honda and Toyota is more reliable" song (true as it may be).

Personally, to me it is all about luxury so i would go with Elantra. Sad that you didn't "connect" with it. I'm looking at buying a new car soon so some feedback on the Elantra would be nice. All I ever hear is how awesome it is and clearly you don't think so, so pwetty please :)
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Wisdom! I'm almost stunned - you're a BMW boy, no Hamster?
 
Oh, I haven't ruled out BMW as my next car but not really a fanboy of any make out there. If it didn't guzzle that much fuel and wasn't so flippen expensive I would have a serious look at the Subaru Forester XT ( just to make my friend in his Polo GTI cry).
 
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