Which should I go for?

FuLL_MeT4L

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So my wife needs to replace her 14 year old car; I drive an '06 Fiesta and that's still going strong. We don't have any kids or dogs. Reliability is a key factor. I would be financing whichever option I decide on - the options below range from around 90-130k.

I've got three options in mind:

(a) Give her my '06 Fiesta and buy myself a 2008/2009 Honda Civic or Mitsubishi Lancer - both supposedly reliable models and I'd really like more power than my Fiesta 1.4 currently provides.

(b) Keep driving my Fiesta and buy her a new Hyundai i10 - with pros and cons of buying out of the box.

(c) Keep driving my Fiesta and buy her a 2010/2011 Hyundai i20 - it seems like a pretty good car.

Any other good options I've neglected? Which would you pick?
 
Toyota Etios? Rented one last week and was very supprised.

OUCH! :sick:

had the misfortune of trying to sell those horrible little cars last year - over priced and shockingly thrown together. The Toyota badge means that people in SA who are very closely related to Lemmings, will buy one....sad.
 
(a) Give her my '06 Fiesta and buy myself a 2008/2009 Honda Civic or Mitsubishi Lancer - both supposedly reliable models and I'd really like more power than my Fiesta 1.4 currently provides.

This is exactly what I did when I needed to replace my 15 year old car. Got myself an 06 Honda Civic Sedan for an absolute steal with the safety and reliability in mind (wasn't really a power increase from my old A3). Just factor in servicing costs when looking at the Honda's, they like to eat up the OEM brake pads every 30,000kms and they'll try sneak all sorts of weird costs in (like R750 to replace my windscreen wipers, wtf?).

I'd go this route if I were you, you'll then have a nice family car (not that you have kids) for when you and the wife go away on weekends while the wife still has a capable town car.
 
This is exactly what I did when I needed to replace my 15 year old car. Got myself an 06 Honda Civic Sedan for an absolute steal with the safety and reliability in mind (wasn't really a power increase from my old A3). Just factor in servicing costs when looking at the Honda's, they like to eat up the OEM brake pads every 30,000kms and they'll try sneak all sorts of weird costs in (like R750 to replace my windscreen wipers, wtf?).

I'd go this route if I were you, you'll then have a nice family car (not that you have kids) for when you and the wife go away on weekends while the wife still has a capable town car.

Awesome, thanks for your personal input TehStranger! I'm definitely partial to this option.

Is nobody going to advocate a Hyundai? :D
 
OUCH! :sick:

had the misfortune of trying to sell those horrible little cars last year - over priced and shockingly thrown together. The Toyota badge means that people in SA who are very closely related to Lemmings, will buy one....sad.

Pretty funny since you're selling Alfas now :p

Anyway I'd give her the existing car and get the Civic.
 
I bought a 1.4L i20 when they were just released in 2009. Had no real issues with it, until I sold it over a year ago. Descent drive. My SO is on her second i10. She had the base model and then upgraded to the top model when the facelift came out... Descent drive too.

Bottom line is, car buying is a personal thing. Go and test drive all your options, then make an informed decision. From your list, I would say Civic...
 
Rather the Honda Jazz over the Hyundai i20 any day.

2011 - 2012 between 100k - R130k.
 
Seeing as you are paying for it, do the right thing. Give her your old car, and spoil your self to something with some extra grunt. Nothing like a bit of self indulgence in the morning.
 
Get the new polo... Just because it looks better then the i20. Dude your young... Get something sporty. Bolt a set of 17inch rims on and a Kick ass sound system. It'll be a million more times better then a i20. Don't get the viva it's the next citi golf.
 
OUCH! :sick:

had the misfortune of trying to sell those horrible little cars last year - over priced and shockingly thrown together. The Toyota badge means that people in SA who are very closely related to Lemmings, will buy one....sad.

Hahaha, I test drove one, and the speakers covers literally fell off while I was driving, which revealed a speaker so small it could be used in your cell phone. Sounded like it came from a cell phone too.
 
Nobody in their right mind would recommend an i10... I drove one as a rental and the thing was horrible
 
I would say that keeping the Fiesta is the best decision. You always lose out when you sell a car.

As for the new one, the i20 glide is nice. I don't like the i10 at all. Personally, I would look at a Kia Rio, Opel Corsa, Honda Jazz, Peugeot 207, Polo Vivo. Demo models.
 
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