Plow King
Little bit.
As i said there are exceptions to that rule but GENERALLY a newer more expensive car is gonna have a shitload less issues than a cheap old car?OK. I am talking from a recent and current experience here. Hopefully this will help you understand what you and everyone is talking about.
Me and my Dad went halves in an $8000 VS Commo Ute III. We test drove it, had it checked out by a mate who is a mechanic and we generally know our stuff. Driving it from Wagga to Canberra after purchase, the clutch starts slipping and the gearbox is clearly shat. We soon find out the reverse switch on the box is shot, the bendix drive in the starter motor is f**cked and the rear suspension bushes are buggared. The brake pads are on the way out and the previous owner didnt do any maintence for a very long time by the looks. After some general maintence and some help from Tony we are $1200 worse off.
We did our research and did all the right things when we were looking and also thought buying an expensive car would be less an issue than a cheap one. We were wrong and while we didnt pay full price for the repairs its definetly hurt my pocket. Expensive first cars and second hand cars in general always have problems. Buy a cheapy and your wallet ends up better off.
Trust me.
Yeah, I might start looking into the RS 2.5 Version although they're more expensive I dare say I would have some more fun in it. Plus when im off my { P's I can always throw a turbo in iti just got rid of my old gx liberty after having a reasonable quick RS liberty. underpowered awd is for the lose. not fun at all and a waste of time as far as im concerned. not even enough power to get you out of trouble (in the wet sometimes power is the answer). forget "getting used to" (underpowered) awd. it is like getting used to a lazy boy. doesn't take any skill or effort
step 1: buy old rolla with blown headgasket off someone who doesn't know shit
step 2: fix head gasket (<100 from autobarns)
step 3: bombproof and you have a car for <$500 that you don't care if it gets driven into etc.
alternative is buy something (anything) <1000 for your first car. spending any more a) makes you look like a wanker and b) is a waste because it will get scratched/driven into/drive into stuff etetc etc
Has anyone got any recomendations for any good cars that are p plate legal for around 11-12-13k?
I should mention that I have been driving for over 2 years so I'm not exactly a terrible driver. The work I do at the moment essentially has me driving all over the shop in big izuzu fuckers.
Thanks alot for your reply and I've spent a fair bit of time saving up this 6-7k and I was looking forward to getting an impreza so I didnt really have the need to own any car I wanted a nice one. It doesnt neccesarily have to be the fastest, one that handels well, has decent resale and is roomy and comfortable (pretty sure the impreza ticks all boxes)I gave it to a friend, for various reasons, but I could have easily have sold it for what I paid for it. That's no loss. When your buying a dirt cheap car (and even though I'm crapping on about this, this may not be the best option for you) your buying something that's already done all it's depreciating.
The two biggest costs in buying a newer car are depreciation and interest on the loan. If your parents are happy to put it on their home loan, then that's awesome. But I ,like you, have looked at vehicles in the past and thought that they hadn't depreciated much in the year I had been looking at them, but then when it came time to sell I was never able to get my money back. Perhaps you will have better luck than I have had?
I drew up a car cost calculator in excel that covered a five year period and included things like insurance, depreciation, running/servicing costs, fuel consumption and interests paid on loans that was a huge help to me when I was looking at different cars. Maybe it's something you could look into. You would not believe how much more my second-hand XR6 turbo ute was costing compared to a brand new small car or even a little shit box.
I don't normally post in this thread, but I'm personally familiar the logic your using. And, I may be looking for a second car in the price range your looking in the near future.