DECISIONS, DECISIONS!

[the_great_she_elephant]

OK folks, I need advice. the Elephants are looking for a new car. Our little shopping trolley (Suzuki Swift)  has served us faithfully for 21 years and has nearly 300,000 ks on the clock, but it is  now fast approaching retirement. We want something small, nippy and cheap to run  - a car that will only be used around town as we have a Lancer for longer runs.

Options we are looking at are Mitsubishi Mirage, Suzuki Alto, Volkswagon Up!  Nissan Micra, or Mazda 2.

Which one would you recommend and why?

Or would you suggest something other than any of these. (I would dearly love a smart for 2 but Mr Elephant says no and anyway they are a bit outside of our budget.)

[joz*garage]

surprised to hear the flaws in the Vdub gearboxes viewmont, generally a quality build but no-bodys perfect (not every manufacturer are consistant with using quality parts

[the_great_she_elephant]

Wow! thank you so much everyone. This is great stuff - really helpful.  I'm going to print it all out to show Mr Elephant. We are having a few differences of opinion at the moment as I want an automatic and he is happy to settle for a manual.

Our Lancer is an auto with 'that cvt thingie'. it runs beautifully but Mr Elephant reckons it takes a long while to warm up sufficiently so you can push it without over revving. Mind you he is ultra careful with his car engines - which is probably why our current little 1.0 litre Suzuki has done 3000,000 ks without a single engine problem. 

Joz, I just love your pic. would you mind if I 'steal' it?

Please keep the advice and comments coming, everyone. I notice nobody has mentioned the Smart for 2 or the Geely or the Chery. the only comment I've ever read concerning the Chery was ;DON'T EVEN think about it!!!'

[the_great_she_elephant]

surprised to hear the flaws in the Vdub gearboxes viewmont, generally a quality build but no-bodys perfect (not every manufacturer are consistant with using quality parts

There is an article about it in this mornings West Australian, Joz. Nothing has actually been proved yet and VW are disputing the evidence, but they are looking into it.

[joz*garage]

There is an article about it in this mornings West Australian, Joz. Nothing has actually been proved yet and VW are disputing the evidence, but they are looking into it.

be interesting to hear updates of this, perhaps there was only a faulty chinese batch. If it does come to the crunch.. mebbe choose the manual?

altho the ford festiva is a lot more expensive i'd be leaning towards the new model that will be out soon [might pay to wait] these are rebadged madzas btw (tick)

Joz, I just love your pic. would you mind if I 'steal' it?

no need to ask if you want it for an avi, nobody else does

[freakiness]

I would love a new Mirage. My poor old one wrote off a wallaby a few weeks back and is waiting from new bumper bar.

[karliandjacko]

They're all too small for us. We need a Territory  😄

[debra9275]

I honestly have no idea She-ele. but good luck in your search, whichever one you choose

[lakeland27]

i do know that mazda topped the 'Dealer Customer Satisfaction Surveys'  for quite a few years in recent times. industry sources use those figures.  possibly why you have a 50% for the mazda 2 she ele. but , if the swifty did that good a job why not stick with a suzuki ?

[poison_ivys_pen]

i do know that mazda topped the 'Dealer Customer Satisfaction Surveys'  for quite a few years in recent times. industry sources use those figures.  possibly why you have a 50% for the mazda 2 she ele. but , if the swifty did that good a job why not stick with a suzuki ?

Yes they probably have Mazda but they are rather persistant with or more like stalkers lol! with sending out these lovely little surveys they want you to fill out for them saying how much you love their service etc etc which reminds me I think I've been ignoring the last few 😄

She ele, check this video out of a Fiesta, just a little bit of a fun car :^O

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuDN2bCIyus

[madammuck]

I have a Jazz, very zippy, easy to park and good on fuel. The back seat can be laid flat down (not at an angle like many hatches) so it's like having a station wagon rear. So much more versatile than a sedan. It's also quite high so someone a little taller won't need to bump their heads against the roof. We tried other small cars but the roof height was too low for the males in my family

I don't know about the auto gearbox as I have a manual but it's a really easy manual to drive - a great first car for the manual learner.

At the time we purchased it, it rated 3rd in the under $20,000 new car category by the NRMA.