I’m writing this just thinking our loud.

Missy wants a car of her own. Which car?

Must be big enough to sleep curled up in the front seat.
Price range $16,000 to $26,000
Engine size 1.4L to 2.0L

mollwollfumble said:

I’m writing this just thinking our loud.

Missy wants a car of her own. Which car?

Must be big enough to sleep curled up in the front seat.
Price range $16,000 to $26,000
Engine size 1.4L to 2.0L

What colour?

mollwollfumble said:

I’m writing this just thinking our loud.

Missy wants a car of her own. Which car?

Must be big enough to sleep curled up in the front seat.
Price range $16,000 to $26,000
Engine size 1.4L to 2.0L

Umm…pardon my ignorance, but…is Missy a dog?

Probably best to just testdrive a few models. I doubt thst we can tell you what’s suitable for you.

captain_spalding said:

mollwollfumble said:

I’m writing this just thinking our loud.

Missy wants a car of her own. Which car?

Must be big enough to sleep curled up in the front seat.
Price range $16,000 to $26,000
Engine size 1.4L to 2.0L

Umm…pardon my ignorance, but…is Missy a dog?

LOL

First car?

The Skoda Fabia keeps winning ‘Best First Car’ awards. RuleKid2 bought one about 6 months ago and it’s been a big success so far.

Don’t mess about with modern cars, one of these should be adequate.

Peak Warming Man said:

captain_spalding said:

mollwollfumble said:

I’m writing this just thinking our loud.

Missy wants a car of her own. Which car?

Must be big enough to sleep curled up in the front seat.
Price range $16,000 to $26,000
Engine size 1.4L to 2.0L

Umm…pardon my ignorance, but…is Missy a dog?

LOL

I just don’t think there’s been a car built anywhere since about 1968 that any human could sleep in curled up in the front seat.

captain_spalding said:

Peak Warming Man said:

captain_spalding said:

Umm…pardon my ignorance, but…is Missy a dog?

LOL

I just don’t think there’s been a car built anywhere since about 1968 that any human could sleep in curled up in the front seat.

What about an old Kingswood

Cymek said:

captain_spalding said:

Peak Warming Man said:

LOL

I just don’t think there’s been a car built anywhere since about 1968 that any human could sleep in curled up in the front seat.

What about an old Kingswood

Trouble with that is that it can only be registered for vintage car days?

Peak Warming Man said:

mollwollfumble said:

I’m writing this just thinking our loud.

Missy wants a car of her own. Which car?

Must be big enough to sleep curled up in the front seat.
Price range $16,000 to $26,000
Engine size 1.4L to 2.0L

What colour?

Any colour. Any number of doors. Any fuel.
Must have low running cost.
Must have sufficient torque to climb a short hill of dirt road.
Must last a long time.
Main use, driving around suburbs.
Will consider second hand as well as new.

> Umm…pardon my ignorance, but…is Missy a dog?

No. Prefers the pseudonym “Missy” after the character of the same name from Dr Who. No children planned in near or distant future.

dv said:

Probably best to just testdrive a few models. I doubt thst we can tell you what’s suitable for you.

How about which car to avoid?

Rule 303 said:

First car?

The Skoda Fabia keeps winning ‘Best First Car’ awards. RuleKid2 bought one about 6 months ago and it’s been a big success so far.

Good! Wasn’t on my list.

Oh wait, 1.0 litre. That’s why it wasn’t on my list. Great fuel economy, though. Will consider.

I’m sort of ruling out:

Corolla hatch – tiny boot
Elantra & Corolla sedan – too long for easy city parking
Honda Civic – awful turning circle
Elantra, Cerato, i30, Commodore – poor fuel consumption
Rio, Yaris – awful torque and power

How about a Prius? Jeremy Clarkson hates it, so it can’t be too bad.

Also still possible – Baleno, Jazz, Accent, Mazda 2 ?

Mazda 2 has no legroom in the back? With Accent not much better?

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

Probably best to just testdrive a few models. I doubt thst we can tell you what’s suitable for you.

How about which car to avoid?

Rule 303 said:

First car?

The Skoda Fabia keeps winning ‘Best First Car’ awards. RuleKid2 bought one about 6 months ago and it’s been a big success so far.

Good! Wasn’t on my list.

Oh wait, 1.0 litre. That’s why it wasn’t on my list. Great fuel economy, though. Will consider.

I’m sort of ruling out:

Corolla hatch – tiny boot
Elantra & Corolla sedan – too long for easy city parking
Honda Civic – awful turning circle
Elantra, Cerato, i30, Commodore – poor fuel consumption
Rio, Yaris – awful torque and power

How about a Prius? Jeremy Clarkson hates it, so it can’t be too bad.

Also still possible – Baleno, Jazz, Accent, Mazda 2 ?

Mazda 2 has no legroom in the back? With Accent not much better?

We have a Mazda 2. Fantastic fuel economy. Last tank 53 mpg. Previous 51.5 mpg.

I’d certainly ignore anything Jeremy Clarkson ever said.

Didn’t he have one of those Ford GT repros that had such shit fuel consumption that a full tank would barely get you to the next nearest service station?

If it’s her first car, then things like rear seat legroom and boot size probably don’t matter that much.

Unless she already has a partner and a brace of offspring and she’ll be going on family driving holidays.

If she’s a young single woman, then ease of parking, economy, reliability, and a wee bit of stylishness matter a lot more to her.

I love Suzuki. Our first Swift back in the 1980s ran on an oily rag. I presently drive an S-cross.
I’ve driven a lot of Mazdas over the years too. Previous to the S-cross I had a Mazda 2. It was also very economical and plenty of space inside. You could flatten all the back seats down.

I love my Mazda 2 which replaced a Suzuki Vitara. The Mazda is like a Tardis inside. My daughter had a big Toyota, but rang me one day to pick up a cot for her as her car wouldn’t fit it in. It fitted in my littlun with all the seats down. The Suzuki was equally useful, and economical, and I will be going that way again when the the little purple beasty succumbs to rust.

We have a Mazda 2. Fantastic fuel economy. Last tank 53 mpg. Previous 51.5 mpg.

I’d certainly ignore anything Jeremy Clarkson ever said.

If it’s her first car, then things like rear seat legroom and boot size probably don’t matter that much.

Unless she already has a partner and a brace of offspring and she’ll be going on family driving holidays.

If she’s a young single woman, then ease of parking, economy, reliability, and a wee bit of stylishness matter a lot more to her.

I love Suzuki. Our first Swift back in the 1980s ran on an oily rag. I presently drive an S-cross.
I’ve driven a lot of Mazdas over the years too. Previous to the S-cross I had a Mazda 2. It was also very economical and plenty of space inside. You could flatten all the back seats down.

Ta for advice. She has partners (her love life is complicated way way beyond my comprehension) but no children planned.

Mazda 2 and Suzuki Baleno have claimed fuel consumption way below anything else with a comparable size engine. Mazda 2 also has the best turning circle, and last time I looked I liked the modern instrument panel.

So Forum recommends (leaving out antique giants) Suzuki Swift, Suzuki Baleno, Mazda 2 and Skoda Fabia. Will try out those first.
But must check power and torque per unit weight for Swift and Fabia first.

Last time I looked, I was disappointed by the Hyundai Accent, too old-fashioned.

Throughout the whole of my life I’ve never had the same car maker twice (and that includes parents cars): Holden, Chrysler, Volvo, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Morris, Ford, Hyundai, Honda, Chery, grandmother had Peugeot, aunt Citroen, father-in-law Humber. So Suzuki, Mazda or Skoda would be keeping the tradition alive.

I mean if it is Missy’s car, I assume she is driving, so what is the size of the person curling up in the front seat?

dv said:

I mean if it is Missy’s car, I assume she is driving, so what is the size of the person curling up in the front seat?

Well we don’t know, how big is a piece of foam?
The owner might be petite but on the other hand might lend it to a friend, might lend it to Bubblecar.

Peak Warming Man said:

dv said:

I mean if it is Missy’s car, I assume she is driving, so what is the size of the person curling up in the front seat?

Well we don’t know, how big is a piece of foam?
The owner might be petite but on the other hand might lend it to a friend, might lend it to Bubblecar.

I’n‘t think Bubblecar can drive so that might not be good strategy.

I’d be looking at a grey import Nissan Leaf

Very minimal servicing required, and with the range of the later ones they will cover probably 95% of your trips.

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

Probably best to just testdrive a few models. I doubt thst we can tell you what’s suitable for you.

How about which car to avoid?

Rule 303 said:

First car?

The Skoda Fabia keeps winning ‘Best First Car’ awards. RuleKid2 bought one about 6 months ago and it’s been a big success so far.

Good! Wasn’t on my list.

Oh wait, 1.0 litre. That’s why it wasn’t on my list. Great fuel economy, though. Will consider.

There’s been a couple of engines. 1.2 and 1.0. Both turbo’d petrol engines that are putting out about the same power as a 6 from the 80s, for a third of the petrol.

All the tech and power train are WV. The vehicle is based on the Polo chassis.

dv said:

I mean if it is Missy’s car, I assume she is driving, so what is the size of the person curling up in the front seat?

Only she can tell me whether that size is adequate. She spent months living homeless in a car, with partner, She will know what she’s looking for. 4 inches taller than the average Aussie female.

> Nissan Leaf.

A bit pricey to buy, but cheaper than other electric cars.

I’m not ruling out hybrids at this stage, such as the Corolla Hybrid at ~$28,000.

> There’s been a couple of engines. 1.2 and 1.0. Both turbo’d petrol engines that are putting out about the same power as a 6 from the 80s, for a third of the petrol. All the tech and power train are WV. The vehicle is based on the Polo chassis.

I won’t fit in a Polo Chassis, but she might. I’ll look up both 1.0 and 1.2, thanks.

For info on depreciation, insurance and running costs, I’m looking up the RACV “carculator”.

https://www.racv.com.au/carculator.html

Tells much the same story.

But I don’t get it. Why should some cars have an “on road price” that is $2,000 less than the “list price” and other cars have an on road price that is $4,000 more than the list price?

mollwollfumble said:

For info on depreciation, insurance and running costs, I’m looking up the RACV “carculator”.

https://www.racv.com.au/carculator.html

Tells much the same story.

But I don’t get it. Why should some cars have an “on road price” that is $2,000 less than the “list price” and other cars have an on road price that is $4,000 more than the list price?

Had a look at Skoda Fabia and Suzuki Swift and Baleno. Nothing objectionable in any of them.

A station wagon with a 1.0 litre engine seems like a recipe for disaster – but it isn’t. The 1.0 Litre engine is turbocharged so there’s plenty of power, and the station wagon is shorter than a Corolla so there’s no trouble parking. And it has unrivalled interior space, even to plenty of headroom and legroom for a 6’4” person in the front and back seat. A bit ugly, though.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

For info on depreciation, insurance and running costs, I’m looking up the RACV “carculator”.

https://www.racv.com.au/carculator.html

Tells much the same story.

But I don’t get it. Why should some cars have an “on road price” that is $2,000 less than the “list price” and other cars have an on road price that is $4,000 more than the list price?

Had a look at Skoda Fabia and Suzuki Swift and Baleno. Nothing objectionable in any of them.

A station wagon with a 1.0 litre engine seems like a recipe for disaster – but it isn’t. The 1.0 Litre engine is turbocharged so there’s plenty of power, and the station wagon is shorter than a Corolla so there’s no trouble parking. And it has unrivalled interior space, even to plenty of headroom and legroom for a 6’4” person in the front and back seat. A bit ugly, though.

Bought it.
Ended up test driving 4 cars, the Corolla hybrid, Suzuki Baleno, Skoda Fabia and Suzuki Swift.

Nothing terribly wrong with any of them. Corolla hybrid not so comfortable in the drivers seat, expensive, and we found out that it could have adequate power and excellent fuel consumption – but not both at the same time.

Skoda Fabia had annoyances, a blind-spot indicator that stayed on too long, a double power delay when accelerating from lights. The delay was double because the first was the engine switching on (stopped at lights to save power) and the second was turbo lag. Also, the demo we drove had no GPS or cruise control.

The biggest difference between the two Suzuki models was the price – so we went for the cheaper, they quoted us $3,000 less for the new Baleno than for a new Swift. And it had noticeably better torque than the Swift. And is prettier.

Being in the Suzuki showroom was fun. They had a “talking car”, rigged up so that opening the visor, the glove box, lifting the arm rest, and opening the boot set off talking bots that were so funny. And free finger food. It was as good as going to the Melbourne Show.