Suggestions for a nerdy nana car

Amadio

Amadio

I need to buy a car. Style and branding are irrelevant. Reliability, reasonable repair bills, reasonably economical and good space in the back seat and boot for large musical instruments is important.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a nerdy, nana second hand car about $6-7000 which isn't too small? Prefer 6 cyl to 4 cyl. I drive 2-3 trips a year Brisbane - Syd - Adel.

I looked on carsales, setting it to any car sold by private sellers between $5000 and $7500, and being a car ignoramus, got totally overwhelmed by choices.
 
Get a used Hyundai Elantra, with low kms as your budget will allow. You should be able to find a 2003-2004 with less than 100000km for under $7500.
Not a 6 i know, but they have a good 2.0l engine and they are a large-ish car with a huge versatile boot/hatch, economical, and drive very well. Great reilability too (they had a 5 yr warranty when new). Very few manufacturers provide a 5 yr warranty.

Any how, with $7500, you are seriously limited in choices in the popular brands, unless you are prepared to get an old car with heaps of kms.
 
I just bought THE epitome of a Nanna car, a 2002 Toyota Camry (newer body style) at an auction for $6200. Had 105K on the clock and as you may know, Camrys are indestructible. 6 cyl sportivo, has all the good bits...
 

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Camry's have a great reputation and there are a lot out there.

My mum had a Barina which is the rebadged Opel, a German car made in Spain. That was a great little car with a surprising amout of room and went forever on a tank of fuel.

Anything by Mazda, Honda or Toyota are usually great!
 
units4me said:
Get a used Hyundai Elantra, with low kms as your budget will allow. You should be able to find a 2003-2004 with less than 100000km for under $7500.
Not a 6 i know, but they have a good 2.0l engine and they are a large-ish car with a huge versatile boot/hatch, economical, and drive very well. Great reilability too (they had a 5 yr warranty when new). Very few manufacturers provide a 5 yr warranty.

Any how, with $7500, you are seriously limited in choices in the popular brands, unless you are prepared to get an old car with heaps of kms.
Click to expand...

What he said.

We service stacks of them at my workshop, and we owned a Hyundai Accent (model below Elantra) for about 8 years.

Good value cars, generally.

I would recommend a later model Camry as others have said, but I don't think you'll get one in the price range you are wanting to spend.
 
Thanks for all your answers. I could spend more, a lot more, but that would mean less of a deposit on a property.

However, if my limit is too limited then it would be false economy anyway.

I'll look and be flexible and try not to think about the cute and way too small Citroen DS3 coming out in August for $26,200 as reviewed by Jeremy Clarkson in the Australian today...:)
 
idgo a camry

a 4cyl at that

cheaper than the 6, thouhg not much diff in fuel consumption

KIA today is a very different product compared to even 5 years ago......some of those early Rios, while generally reliable require regular work


ta
rolf
 
I had a used 94? wide body camry for 6 years.
It is a very comfortable ride, and reliable....but it started to leak a bit....rear main seal and other bits.

I don't know if I'd recommend getting one with more than 150,000.
And would be good to buy privately from a conservative driver with complete service history and garaged at rest.

The one I had didn't like being left ungaraged. The internal roof lining separated, the windscreen washer hose and fixtures deteriorated due to hot sun on bonnet (mostly ungaraged while I had it), several internal lights failed (inc gear shift), paint peeled off rear bumper, door light switches faulty. All minor things, but a pain all the same. Not as tough as the landcruisers or even an old nissan sunny I had for years.
 
Amadio said:
I need to buy a car. Style and branding are irrelevant. Reliability, reasonable repair bills, reasonably economical and good space in the back seat and boot for large musical instruments is important.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a nerdy, nana second hand car about $6-7000 which isn't too small? Prefer 6 cyl to 4 cyl. I drive 2-3 trips a year Brisbane - Syd - Adel.

I looked on carsales, setting it to any car sold by private sellers between $5000 and $7500, and being a car ignoramus, got totally overwhelmed by choices.
Click to expand...
When you find a car you like,check this site to make sure you are not being ripped off.

http://www.redbook.com.au/
 
I'd recommend a Nissan Bluebird (96/97 models - series 2) if you can find one in good condition. Mum's had one since new and has had no worries with it and I had one for a couple of years and notched up 150,000ks on it without any worries at all.

The SSS and Ti models are more luxurious than the base model LX and you should be able to find a fair few in your price bracket in good condition. Very good on the highway with plenty of pickup to overtake and quite cheap to run around town being a 2.4L 4 cyl.
 
Update:
Thanks for all your responses which I compiled and researched. I upped my limit to $9500 and got a Toyota Camry 2004 with 115K on it, all up to date log books, exc. condition.

I used a car broker which was ok, but next time if I had more time to spare I'd just use carsales plus http://carhistory.com.au/

Happy camper..:)
 
I had a Camry 6cl for 11 years. Bought it at 18 months old. Only replaced a thermostat in all that time. Never had any problems. Motors never wear out. I used to drive to Queensland twice a year. Could nearly make it on a tank of fuel. Head lining fell down but $200 to replace like new (and door lining glued).


I just bought a Toyota Yaris (nanna car). Love it but miss the V6 grunt.

I wouldn't go past a Toyota.
 
Loooooooooove Corrolla's, kept my first hatch for the daughter and still going strong despite many kms on the clock, still orginal, (touch wood). My second Corrolla is a sedan, love them.
 
I love Toyotas too, although I don't know anything about cars, just from personal experience with them. ATM we have a 1998 Toyota Rav 4. We've had it since new and will sometimes service it, maybe once a year, if I'm lucky. It does serveral interstate trips each and every year. It has only broken down once in all that time, and that was probably from my neglect, if truth be told.

This year it drove from Sydney - Adelaide - Tenant Creek - Longreach - Melbourne - Sydney. The journey to Melbourne in the middle of that was unplanned. Damn kids hurt themselves and you run all over the country to see them. :p
 
Deena said:
Loooooooooove Corrolla's, kept my first hatch for the daughter and still going strong despite many kms on the clock, still orginal, (touch wood). My second Corrolla is a sedan, love them.
Click to expand...

we also "sold" my 12yr old corolla to daughter ... had 170k on the clock and never broke down. she flogs it like any uni student would, been to northern qld and back - with never a hitch.

bought myself another, younger, corolla to replace it.
 
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