What's the best first car for an 18 year old in terms of reliability? Also want it to be decent looking, not too old and under $9000.
Cheers.
Most Reliable First Car?
H3 on 24/04/2016 - 04:07
Comments
Try a Lancer. Can pick up a 2009ish model for less than $10K.
Yaria is reliable but awful. Same for Honda Jazz.
Would deffz be going towards a Yaris or Corolla.
Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3 or Hyundai i30, as long as it's Japanese, you will be fine :)
Hyundai is not Japanese :P
Don't all Asian cars look the same??? :P
You need glasses :)
Nice pick, of course Hyundai is Korean, i30 is an awesome car :)
Friends new Hyundai felt nice for about first 2000km - after that my 17 year old toyota was much better.
Toyota Yaris - just google the number of recalls it h had. Latest one is the airbags but not in stock in Australia until September.
Airbag recalls isn't Yaris or Toyota specific though.
I use to own one till it was written off a while back.
- Seat tracks
- Power window switch - Master
- Insulation pad - Just a bloody foam on the back that sits behind the door trim
- Airbags
It also has a starter motor recall. My friend has one and this is the third recall she has had. Two for this year. Hers is the first model of Yaris released.
First model of Yaris aka Toyota Echo? BTW I got the information from here.
I had the Yaris 2005 Oct built and never had any issues with the starter motor.
@Speedz: no, the Yaris. While booking in for the airbag recall and finding out about the other, she has booked both in for October. She is off overseas this week.
Edit
Recalls so far
Passenger Side Front Airbag Inflator
The spring mechanism that locks the front seat track into the adjusted position may break. If this occurs, the seat may appear to be locked but not fully engaged.
The sliding electrical contact module in the driver’s-side power window master switch may exhibit a “sticky” feel during operation. This is due to the non-uniform application of lubricating grease, resulting in wear to the internal sliding contact points
an insulator pad was incorrectly installed underneath both of the front seat belt retractors (equipped with seat belt pretensioners) which are located in the centre (B) pillars. There is a possibility that these insulator pads could be damaged following a collision as a result of the high temperature gas generated during the front seat belt pretensioner operation if activated. Fire hazard.In addition, hers was one of 20000 recalled for a potential fire hazard in the starter motor.
I would avoid the Yaris.
Just googled it the starter motor issue.
Ok, my Oct 2005 Yaris build wasn't affected by the recall. So it was a batch related problem.
Airbag issues is related to Takata, who also supply to other car makers. Can't blame that solely to Toyota.
Insulator pad is really a cheap foam block, I actually removed it myself when I was doing sound deadening my Yaris before the recall.
Otherwise my Aurion have the same recall regarding the power window master switch and my Yaris was taken in to replace the spring mechanism.
Sure doesn't really worry me if you want to avoid the Yaris, I actually prefer the Corolla sized vehicle as I've the Yaris was too small after owning it several years.
kia rio - 2011 ish model. had one for a few days and enjoyed it. suzuki shift - had one for a few days and wasn't that impressed.
H3 - what sort of driving? city only, city + little bit of country, heaps of driving, a run about, etc
Corolla. We bought a new one 13 years ago, still going strong.
Falcodore
Someone else's car.
Anything Japanese
Agreed, steer clear of anything Korean IMHO…crafty planned obsolescence & exorbitant spare parts prices sneak up on you IME.
Didn't know that, is this true for the new cars as well?
I presume so, at work we offload our Hyundais from the fleet before warranty expires, but my personal experience from owning a Hyundai in the past is that once the warranty expires, little things start breaking/wearing out, and surprise, surprise the only parts you can get are genuine, and also way more expensive than the equivalent for any Japanese car. My friends reported similar experiences with their Daewoos & Kias.
I won't have another Korean car again, purely for this reason…sure, I'm cynical, but I honestly believe there's planned obsolescence at play here. What reinforced this suspicion was the fact that whenever I tried to get a used part from a wrecker, it invariably had the same problem as the initial faulty unit.
IIRC Choice Magazine (back when they were more reliable) raised concerns over the Korean genuine parts phenomenon & did a costing for building a $13k Hyundai Excel from spare parts prices…I have a recollection it topped out at something ridiculous like about $100k.
At least with the more popular Japanese cars you can get plenty of good, aftermarket parts at a substantial reduction over genuine.
Mazda 6 Hatch (in particular the Luxury Sports model) was a great car for me. I had a 2003 manual model (GG) and that body shapes goes through to about 2007 I think? Was very reliable apart from a warped brake disc and aircon clutch bearing (ended up importing a new aircon clutch for about 1/8 price of local part.)
Can pick them up way under 9K now, and also the next shape up can be had for around that price, not sure how reliable they are though.
The hatch is fantastic, great amount of boot space. A little thirsty at about 9L per 100km though.
Luxury sports has higher end BOSE audio, leather seats etc.
Corolla. Comfortable, cheap and easy to maintain, and they just keep going and going. Also quite pleasant to drive. I quite like the 120 series myself (2000-2006) and you can get one with quite low mileage for about $4000 with Reg & RWC.
Failing that, anything Japanese.
I've had a Mazda 323 for 16 years and it's still going strong and has barely cost me a thing besides regular services and tyres. I'd buy another Mazda 3 tomorrow if this one died. Failing that, a Corolla. Same reasons - they are reliable, cheap to repair, hold their value comparatively well. The only reason I wouldn't buy the Corolla over the Mazda is the spot where I rest my right arm feels like it's too low on the door.
There are no comprehensive reliabilty figures available in Australia because Holden and Ford won't play but in the US figures Toyota is most reliable of the mass brands (lexus is first) and Honda is high up.
Toyota Yaris Manual circa 2007?