The SA Vehicle Industry Thread

So what is the future of car upgrades in SA, do those of us not earning mega-bucks buy less and less premium cars over time until we have to resort to catching mini-bus taxis to get around?
 
Pakka said:
I'm surprised the Mazda 6 is discontinued - looks like a very nice car. Also surprised to see the MX-5 on there.

Also, I can't seem to find stats for Fiat's bakkie and GWMs (I've noticed they no longer offer their SUV or 4x4 double cabs)
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MX-5 probably because the new model is due soon.
 
StrontiumDog said:
So what is the future of car upgrades in SA, do those of us not earning mega-bucks buy less and less premium cars over time until we have to resort to catching mini-bus taxis to get around?
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Drive your car until it dies. It costs far less to maintain your car in the long run, even taking into account unforeseen hiccups, than it would cost to finance a new vehicle every 5 years.

Don't fall into the maintenance plan trap thinking you have to trade it in before the maintenance plan expires, because you'll be paying car installments forever. Rather save the money that you would have spent on installments, and use it as an emergency fund for basically anything in your life (including services, part replacements and even medical expenses). You'll be surprised at how quickly that fund grows...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Drive your car until it dies. It costs far less to maintain your car in the long run, even taking into account unforeseen hiccups, than it would cost to finance a new vehicle every 5 years.

Don't fall into the maintenance plan trap thinking you have to trade it in before the maintenance plan expires, because you'll be paying car installments forever. Rather save the money that you would have spent on installments, and use it as an emergency fund for basically anything in your life (including services, part replacements and even medical expenses). You'll be surprised at how quickly that fund grows...
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This is not one size fits all. German luxury vehicles can financially ruin you with parts compared to the repayments on a newer low mileage secondhand model
 
FlashSA said:
This is not one size fits all. German luxury vehicles can financially ruin you with parts compared to the repayments on a newer low mileage secondhand model
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When that auto box starting failing in your luxury German sedan, it does indeed rip your wallet apart :P
 
Gtx Gaming said:
When that auto box starting failing in your luxury German sedan, it does indeed rip your wallet apart :P
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Absolutely. However, if like me you aren't spending R7k - R12k a month on your car installment anymore. And for the 14 months so far I've been putting that money into my bond. When I needed to service my car, put new brake pads on, buy new tires. It came out of the savings. When the car is too expensive to repair - then it is fairly easy to put down a large deposit on a new car.

Although it is weird having had a car for more than 6 years already
 
FlashSA said:
This is not one size fits all. German luxury vehicles can financially ruin you with parts compared to the repayments on a newer low mileage secondhand model
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Maybe take the hint and don't buy German? :p

If you can't afford the maintenance, then you can't afford the car. And you'd really have nobody else but yourself to blame for being stuck with car installments all your life. But hey, everyone wants that C-class, 3-series and GTI.

Even on a more modestly priced car, if your installments were R6k (financing say R280k) - at the end of your first year you would have saved up R72k. I'd say that's more than enough for a service and the odd thing going wrong.

Obviously if the car starts becoming unreliable, it's time to get rid of it. And this would be true whether it's within maintenance plan or not...
 
StrontiumDog said:
So what is the future of car upgrades in SA, do those of us not earning mega-bucks buy less and less premium cars over time until we have to resort to catching mini-bus taxis to get around?
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The thought of going back to the taxi rattles me, hope it does not come to that. Maybe the future lies with the Chinese and the Indians if the mainstream manufacturers continue to price themselves out of the market.
 
thechamp said:
The thought of going back to the taxi rattles me, hope it does not come to that. Maybe the future lies with the Chinese and the Indians if the mainstream manufacturers continue to price themselves out of the market.
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...even if said car(s) doesn't come with standard safety features such as ABS, airbags and a horn? :p
 
thechamp said:
The thought of going back to the taxi rattles me, hope it does not come to that. Maybe the future lies with the Chinese and the Indians if the mainstream manufacturers continue to price themselves out of the market.
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Nah.. they gorge equally in quality terms i.e. yes you get a vehicle cheaper but if others lowered quality/features equally it would cost the same :P

I think longer term people will go to where some countries are now.. owning 2nd hand cars mostly and using rentals & airline a bit more for travel. In SA on of the the SA dreams use to be a Car dream of freedom.. this clearly will change and you can see it changing with vehicles which are more fuel efficient being more sort after.

Taxis.. no, public transit bus/rail(premium e.g. gautrain) will be more of the norm.. haha ironically, it seems like we going back to the 80s
 
Self driving Ubers will be the norm - which makes me think, what will the new status symbol be?
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Drive your car until it dies. It costs far less to maintain your car in the long run, even taking into account unforeseen hiccups, than it would cost to finance a new vehicle every 5 years.

Don't fall into the maintenance plan trap thinking you have to trade it in before the maintenance plan expires, because you'll be paying car installments forever. Rather save the money that you would have spent on installments, and use it as an emergency fund for basically anything in your life (including services, part replacements and even medical expenses). You'll be surprised at how quickly that fund grows...
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Hopefully my Clio 4 lasts 10years as this is my plan.

I am shocked at how much cars have gone up. I hadn't looked at Auto Trader since late last year, check it out with a colleague today who is car shopping and my jaw dropped, cars having gone up by well over R20,000 in the Used market, I'd hate to see how much they have in terms of brand new.
 
StrontiumDog said:
So what is the future of car upgrades in SA, do those of us not earning mega-bucks buy less and less premium cars over time until we have to resort to catching mini-bus taxis to get around?
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The best solution would be for all car buyers to just refuse to pay the ridiculous prices. You will be amazed at how quickly prices come down if sales literally stop dead for a few months.

Sadly this kind of consumer activism and togetherness will never happen, so we bend over and spread 'em instead.
 
The_Librarian said:
...even if said car(s) doesn't come with standard safety features such as ABS, airbags and a horn? :p
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I present to you the 67Kw, 120Nm, 1.3l, na FAW V2 with:
ABS, EBD,15 inch alloy rims, aircon, navigation, Bluetooth & usb, F+R electric windows, 2 airbags.
All of this for a modest R124 995.
 
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thechamp said:
I present to you the 67Kw, 120Nm, 1.3l, na Faw V2 with:
ABS, EBD,15 inch alloy rims, aircon, navigation, Bluetooth & usb, F+R electric windows, 2 airbags.
All of this for a modest R124 995.
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Crash test video needed. We all know that even if a Datsun Go had all that you'd probably die in a 70km/h accident...
 
Tsepz_011 said:
cars having gone up by well over R20,000 in the Used market
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That's nothing, I bought my previous car for R350k, it was 6 months old at the time with 10k on the clock, BMW 325i

At the end of 2015 I shopped for another 10k on the clock equivalent BMW that's less than 2 years old, the 328i would be the closest match seeing as the 325i doesn't exist anymore... It was not possible to find one for less than R550k!?!

That's a 200k (or 57%) increase from 350k in about 5 years, a nice steady 10-11% increase EVERY year. It is simply not sustainable, that is why you see almost every 3 series on the road these days is a 320i or less, and even those are going for over 600k when new ... W-T-F?!?

BMW, sincerely, you make awesome cars, but GFY!
 
NarrowBandFtw said:
The best solution would be for all car buyers to just refuse to pay the ridiculous prices. You will be amazed at how quickly prices come down if sales literally stop dead for a few months.

Sadly this kind of consumer activism and togetherness will never happen, so we bend over and spread 'em instead.
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Yes.. and no. It's basically inflation based.. so what would happen and has happen in SA is that the increases just freezes up while inflation or rather salary growth catches up and sales improve to an 'acceptable' level. I've never seen prices drop purely due to bad sales especially for cars unless dated. The knock on of course is that when costs no longer increase, salaries also will stagnate. thereby restoring the same situation haha
 
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