car recommendations

[Guest ingyfikry]

Hello everyone

We are a family of 4 who is really into camping, diving, traveling etc. Will be arriving in august but researching so I can prepare a budget to buy. I am trying to be as prepared as possible ).

 

I am looking at carsales.com.au and have a few questions:

1. Do we need a 4*4 car to get to good camping/diving sites in adelaide regions or will a good station wagon do the job?

2. Also are used cars good in adelaide? Up to how many KM? Used cars i had experience with (but not in australia) were usually a piece of junk as people start selling when cars fall apart so I am a bit wary of buying used. What do you think used versus new?

3. How much as a percentage can we haggle off dealers from asking price 10-20% maybe?

4. Best car brands to buy for resale value and spare parts availability?

Thanks everyone.

PS I have to add that car prices are ASTRONOMICAL in australia.

[srg73]

We have researched this ourselves and have found the following

 

1, Honda CRV are the most reliable SUV's on the market and will do the job you want it to. Nissan XTrail and Toyota Rav 4 also do realy well.

2, Cars are expensive however they are not disposable like in UK, rust is not their enemy.

3, I understand dealers are a good place to start and negotiate, they can only say no!

4, Contarary to no.1 off shore cars can have issues if they need parts, not much is held in stock so order times can be a pain.

5, Diesel cars are not popular however would be my preference.

 

This is a few points which we have found out after deciding not to import our car (my car company car so has to go back when we leave....pity!) Still uk side so only going on other peoples advice.

 

S

[Guest ingyfikry]

Its amazing the feedback that we get gives us completely new info:)

Never thought of Honda being the most reliable. We usually go for Jeeps and Toyotas for 4*4.

Thanks a lot. See you down under:)))

Ingy

[Guest BurgessFamily]

Problem with Diesel is the lack of knowledge in many car garages and the price of parts. If you are going to get one, make sure it's a reliable one - otherwise it could prove costly.

[zebedee]

We bought a 10 year old Holden Commodore and it's been fine as a family car so far, 140,000 km on the clock - great for longer drives outside Adelaide. In retrospect I wish we had got something a bit SUV style but there you go. We bought it from a dealer so it had a 3 month warranty. We also joined the RAA (bit like the AA or RAC) - and they do pre-purchase inspections but also end of warranty ones too - which we need and were then able to take the car back and get the few niggles sorted out.

[flossybeth]

We were rubbish at negotiating so we ended up with just the registration being paid for us but I do know that others negotiate far better and get good prices - maybe next time when we're not so in need to get the job done.

 

As someone else said cars don't rust like in the UK so they do hold their value for longer and it's not uncommon for massive mileage on a car that still has lots of life in it but you have to remember too that mileage will actually be kilometres so it's not gone as far as your brain might be telling you.

 

You'll definitely need some kind of off road vehicle to make the most of camping here (we haven't done any ourselves) but have ended up on unsealed roads after few adventurous wrong turns and our Commodore certainly wasn't built to handle those....

[Guest Guest75]

Diesel is very popular in the larger SUV's such as the Toyota Prado, Mitsubishi Pajero. Much more economical for towing ,long journeys.

They can be kept longer as well - just keep up with the servicing!

[xzibit]

Problem with Diesel is the lack of knowledge in many car garages and the price of parts. If you are going to get one, make sure it's a reliable one - otherwise it could prove costly.

 

The problem with diesel is that there's often only one pump at the servo. The amount of times I've pulled up and had to play hunt the diesel pump and then realised its over the back on its own is annoying.

 

Some of the newer servos have them integrated but many don't. And there's always someone filling their SUV that's never been off road up with 2million litres to get them to the hub shopping centre so you spend half an hour waiting.

 

So you have to plan ahead a little lol.

[Ktee]

I would opt for the 4 x 4 it opens up so much more beautiful countryside/outback areas. We have an old Pajero (diesel) it has done us proud and touch wood despite it being a 1997 has never had anything go wrong with it. We have just done the Gold Country up in FNQ and in 2 months we are going on a road trip with another member from Cairns to WA all dirt/4 x 4 country.

The main players are usually Toyota and Nissan

[Guest ingyfikry]

Thanks very much everyone.

As usual, the replies are a great help to steer me in the right (and different from intended) direction )