What car to get?

tsume

tsume

The Pervy Sage
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So I'm in to looking for a newish car, hopefully a demo model or newly used with very low mileage.
I don't see the point of getting a brand new car, also hoping to catch some festive/new year manager.

Aside from safety, reliability, cost of maintenance, ride comfort, fuel economy; what I do want is: automatic, cruise control

Added bonus:
-Sports pack
-Turbo/Charger, likely means better with fuel consumption
-Sunroof

My budget is around 250-300K.

I've been looking at the Kia Cerato, Mazda 3, Audi A1 sportback.

What other cars can I get which have the above features?
 
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I just bought a new Mazda 3 1.6 Auto for R240 000 out the door (on the road fees etc. included). It really is a great car. I was shopping around in a similiar price bracket and after some research I narrowed it down to a choice between a low mileage 2013 C 180, Ford Focus, and Mazda 3. After the test drives I decided to go with the Mazda 3, but the gearbox is lazy as hell and the car is slightly underpowered, so unless you drive like a grandma, I'd suggest you look at the 2.0. The Ford is a great car but the Mazda feels a lot closer to the C class and 3 series in terms of quality than any of the other new cars I looked at.

If you stretch your budget a little you can maybe get powder blue 91 COTY Monza, it will be in bad shape, but still...
 
Funny enough my first look was to see if I can pick a W204 Merc, but alas anything I find on auto-trader has high milage. You said the Mazda gearbox is lazy, do you mean on up hills it fails to transition to the right gear?

Frikkie5000 said:
I just bought a new Mazda 3 1.6 Auto for R240 000 out the door (on the road fees etc. included). It really is a great car. I was shopping around in a similiar price bracket and after some research I narrowed it down to a choice between a low mileage 2013 C 180, Ford Focus, and Mazda 3. After the test drives I decided to go with the Mazda 3, but the gearbox is lazy as hell and the car is slightly underpowered, so unless you drive like a grandma, I'd suggest you look at the 2.0. The Ford is a great car but the Mazda feels a lot closer to the C class and 3 series in terms of quality than any of the other new cars I looked at.

If you stretch your budget a little you can maybe get powder blue 91 COTY Monza, it will be in bad shape, but still...
Click to expand...
 
tsume said:
So I'm in to looking for a newish car, hopefully a demo model or newly used with very low mileage.
I don't see the point of getting a brand new car, also hoping to catch some festive/new year manager.

Aside from safety, reliability, cost of maintenance, ride comfort, fuel economy; what I do want is: automatic, cruise control

Added bonus:
-Sports pack
-Turbo/Charger, likely means better with fuel consumption
-Sunroof

My budget is around 250-300K.

I've been looking at the Kia Cerato, Mazda 3, Audi A1 sportback.

What other cars can I get which have the above features?
Click to expand...

airborne said:
/waiting for the inevitable...
Click to expand...

A turbo is not better with fuel consumption. Turbos use more petrol and oil.

I would personally go for a B8 (facelift) Audi A4 2.0T ('strip' lighting) with S-line kit (exterior kit, sport suspension, and nicer seats/steering wheel).

If you don't want a sedan, then the 8V A3 1.8T Sportback with S-line kit (not too common).

You should find 2012/2013/2014/2015 models with low mileage and balance of 5 year plan.

If you're interested in resale value, then a Golf 7 GTI without a doubt. Maybe push a bit more for a Golf 7 R... And with that said, an 8P S3 (previous generation) or possibly an 8V S3 are also options. As is a B8 pre facelift S4 (3.0 supercharged V6).

You will find VWs, as well as Audis due to their recent surge in popularity, holding resale better. The more unique you can get (in terms of add-ons), the better your resale will be to private individuals after the extra desirables. Stealerships will always charge more for these add-ons, but will always tell you that they add little to nothing upon trading back in.

Nothing wrong with BMW or Merc either, but the support and availability of parts etc. (once out of plan) cannot be beaten with VAG.

Personally I would stay away from Korean cars. Definitely look at Japanese cars too if you don't want German.
 
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PostmanPot said:
A turbo is not better with fuel consumption. Turbos use more petrol and oil.
Click to expand...

yup, they are efficient in terms of recovering lost energy from the exhaust to produce power, but they are not economical
 
tsume said:
Funny enough my first look was to see if I can pick a W204 Merc, but alas anything I find on auto-trader has high milage. You said the Mazda gearbox is lazy, do you mean on up hills it fails to transition to the right gear?
Click to expand...

The 1.6 has a 4-speed gearbox, which coupled with the 77kw engine, makes for pretty "gradual" acceleration. It's not slow mind you, but going up steep hills you have to put your foot down and there is some throttle lag. It's really not that bad once you get used to it, but if you're a GTI or STI type of guy you'll probably hate it. I'm more of a stick to the speed limit kind of guy.

Initially I thought "holy hell this thing is slow", but it's actually just a different sensation from driving my old car with a manual 5 speed gearbox.
 
So went to various floors yesterday, the Mazda 3 & MX3 made really good impressions. Think I will take these 2 out for test drives this weekend.
I looked at the Kia Rio/Cerato, aside from having an ugly shape I'm not sure why people didn't mention it as much. What are the pro's/con's to Kia?
Went to Merc to take a look at the A1, the dealer said he will take a look at his pool for something around my range.

Now I understand why BMW drivers are viewed as ass****, cause the dealerships are asses as well. So BMW is definitely out for me.

I will try have a look at the VW Polo range to see what I can get.
 
Off topic but rear legroom in the 1-series is very poor...I know RWD layout & all that but it's properly cramped...way worse if 1 car seat.
 
tsume said:
So went to various floors yesterday, the Mazda 3 & MX3 made really good impressions. Think I will take these 2 out for test drives this weekend.
I looked at the Kia Rio/Cerato, aside from having an ugly shape I'm not sure why people didn't mention it as much. What are the pro's/con's to Kia?
Went to Merc to take a look at the A1, the dealer said he will take a look at his pool for something around my range.

Now I understand why BMW drivers are viewed as ass****, cause the dealerships are asses as well. So BMW is definitely out for me.

I will try have a look at the VW Polo range to see what I can get.
Click to expand...

Such entry level cars. :erm:
 
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