I’m currently in the market to buy a second car for around $10k to $12k, looking at something like a 2012 Ford Focus Automatic. Was after any good advice for grabbing a bargain or any other cars that I should seriously be looking at?
Best Car to Buy for around $11k
Lfry001 on 05/02/2019 - 15:07
Comments
Buy the older one, at least then you'll have some money left over for the enevital repairs that will be required seeing as it's a Ford.
Corolla
This. There's a reason it's the world's best selling car.
To be honest, you will be provided with about 20 different cars that OzB people think are good (in each of our opinions).
Okay, but they want the best one out of all of them.
A 2013 or 2016 Corolla according to Pickles or 2012 Mazda 3 or i30
https://www.pickles.com.au. And choose pickles go fixed price if you do not want auctions
both models are in the family, definitely can vouch for their reliability and good value!
Spare an extra $5k to replace the gearbox on the Ford
2012 Ford Focus Automatic
You obviously haven't done any research. Absolute heap of shit, avoid.
Look at the OzB fav, a Camry. I recommend a 50 series (late 2011 onwards). There's a few floating about with reasonable km within your budget down your way.
Car auction like Pickles or Manheim. I see you are in Melbourne - Pickles have general vehicle auction on Thursday and a government vehicle auction next Tuesday.
Make sure you check the vehicle reports before bidding and set a price limit so you don't act (too) emotionally on the day.
v8 commodore wagon
.Token Ozbargain response - Corolla, Mazda 3, Camry - all Japanese made and more reliable than other cars. I would buy from a private seller (not a dealer or at auction), try to find a car with as low kilometres as possible with a full service history ideally with the manufacturer dealership.
Might sound better if you say from Japanese companies, considering Camrys were built in Australia up until 2017 and some Corollas were built in South Africa (albeit older ZZE-122Rs).
For example these are around $13k, negotiate down another $1k or $2k:
2014 model only 30,000kms on the clock:
https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/Toyota-Corolla-2014…
2016 model with 48,000kms:
https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/Toyota-Corolla-2016…
I would inspect cars like this and make sure they look well looked after and have a good service history.
Thanks for the links, but both of those cars are listed a previously written off but they did look quite good otherwise.
Out of curiosity, how do you know they were previously written off? Does it say somewhere on the listing or did you pay to do a search? I am sure you can find similar cars which haven't been written off!
@pantsparty: No you won't, those are incredibly cheap late model cars purely because they have been written off. If it's too good to be true…
You can't plan for a negotiated price, if you can't afford sticker don't get into the ring in the first place.
You do realise this is Ozbargain right? This is a community entirely based around not paying sticker price! Good luck to you though :P
A question around the transmission issues, how widespread was it? Were there heaps of focus's experiencing the issue? Does the recall have an expiry date, or what date would ford fix up until?
You still want to buy the focus? You serious? Yes its widespread
OPs next thread:
Major faults on recently purchased Ford Focus - What Are My Options?
I highly recommend looking at a Honda Accord Euro Luxury CU2 (08-2014). They range from $8000 to $14000 and come with heated memory seats, sunroof, satnav, leather seats, and are quite spacious.
Might be TLDR for most, but if you're spending (wasting) 1000's of $$ on a Ford Focus, you might wish you'd been here first
https://autoexpert.com.au/posts/ford-focus-transmission-prob…
Corolla if you want a hatchback, Camry if you want a larger car.
Both cars are boring as bat shi7 but will last longer than any granny living in a nursing home.sorry but my old man drives a fancy european car but I still prefer my Corolla.
City driving is the same experience with all cars.
My reference is that these (Toyota) cars last forever.
In terms of same experience between two different cars, I disagree.
City driving is the same experience with all cars.
Cause all em fine ladies be eyeing you in yo Camry same as when they be eyeing homeboy in a yellow Lamborghini.
This.
I have a 1957 Trabant and a brand new Rolls Royce Cullinan and the city driving experience is exactly the same despite one having a 2 stroke motor and the other having a twin-turbocharged V12.
My corolla is not from 1957. Dumb comparison
If you want the focus, buy a manual variant. They did not suffer from the Powershit transmission issues. The 2.0 litre trend or sport variant in manual should be what you go for in a Focus of that era.
If you don't know how to drive manual, learn. :)
Mid-2000's E-Class.
Why not buying a more expensive investment car?
Yeah nahhh, I bought an “investment car” years ago,, paid 49k for it and 3 years later was valued at about $60k. The following year the stock market crashed and I ended up selling it for $39k. It’s all about timing lol.
You cant go past a Toyota corolla , i just sold my 2012 ascent sport ,had it since new ,not a hint of trouble or slightest oil leak they are bullet proof and low servicing costs ,next would be Hyundai i30
Definitely not the Focus.
The auto gear boxes were shite but the electronics are SO complicated you'll be looking at ongoing problems.
Virtually every part of the car has some progammable sensor attached to it.
I rather like the fact that Mazda never went away from timing chains.
The Toyotas use belts so replacement every 80K is mandatory.
Hyundai vehicles seem to be under-engineered for cost savings.I rather like the fact that Mazda never went away from timing chains.
Mazda did move away from timing chains to timing belts, in the 80s like everyone else in Japan. The introduction of variable valve timing in the late 90s/early 2000s saw a return to timing chains.
Toyotas use belts
Toyota use timing chains in all current petrol engines, since the introduction of VVT-i in the late 90s.
Toyota had vvti while they still had timing belts.
Yes, but only in early VVT engines, but not in our market. The only exception for Australian vehicles was one or 2 Lexus engines that had VVT-i added and still ran a timing belt, but only for a brief period.
@PinzVidz: 1uzfe, 1mzfe, 1jz, 2jz, 3sge. Point being a that variable valve timing has nothing to do with timing belt or chain.
I'm a Ford Focus Powershift survivor. 2012 Trend. DO NOT GO THERE !!! They have no permanent fix for the transmissions and will just keep replacing the clutch packs until the extended warranty runs out. Also, when the TCM fails and mine did 3 times, thank your lucky stars if you don't have an accident.The car will randomly choose whatever gear it feels like. Reversing when in drive, when in reverse it goes forward. Great stuff. Plus engine mounts need replacing with the constant gearbox shudder and the mechanics tilting the engine to get to the clutch and also heater cores and the power steering failing.Check out the FB page "Fix our Ford Focus, Fiesta, Ecosport & Mondeo Aus/NZ!". The 3 admins are guns on cars and they recommend Mazda, Toyota, Kia & Hyundai as the top cars to buy.
If you can stretch your budget to $15k you can get a brand new Hyundai Accent Auto, very impressed with ours so far. Only downside is poor rear window visibility and no reverse cam standard, although its only about $300 if you need one. Its an old school 6 speed auto, not CVT like most new cars. 5 year warranty of course.
Corolla. Boring as ever. But gets you to A 2 B reliably. Cheap to run, parts readily available. Have 2006 hatch 5 speed. 210K still on same clutch, meachnically has not missed a beat. I flog the crap out of it and still serves me well.
Buy privately, not from a dealer. And of course remember to negotiate.
Personally I would go for a Kia Cerato. Korean cars are still underrated IMHO.
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-cars-vans-utes/melbourne/carmak…
tl;dr for the OP - any japanese flagship models
Definately not 2012 Ford Focus Automatic. Almost anything else will be better.
Edit: I.e. 2010 Ford Focus is better!