What car/s do you drive? Help me choose something

[BrightSparkles]

We are looking at buying a new car (not brand new but new).
So
* What car do you drive?
*How many kids do you have?
* Pro's and cons of your car?

Let me know your thoughts

[*Beema*]

I recently bought the new Holden Cruze, mid sized sedan.

Pros:
I got the upgraded model so it has leather seats, heated seats (never thought this would be useful but it make a huge difference on cold nights or mornings.
Massive Boot, definitely worth a look at the size of it, it blew me away!!
Quite roomy
Not too big, it was only a little bigger in size then my previous hatch.
Very fuel efficient

Cons:
It doesn't come with an inbuilt or optional Blue Tooth Kit I had to buy one separately, I work on the road quite a bit going to project sites so needed the handsfree functions.

Children:
One toddler in a S and S Meridian car seat, in the middle, and plenty of room for two more seats. We are thinking of now hiring a S and S capsule for the first few months depending on size of bub, the switching bub to the Meridian and DD to a Maxi Rider.

It has been out for a while now so you would be able to find a demo model or two these days, or even someone selling with low km's.

HTH's

[Mum2SweetCs]

I drive a CRV sports but i only have one kid

Pros:
*High boot
* Big enough to see the whole road but small enough for parking (im not a very confident driver LOL)

Cons:
* Boot is high but not BIG
* can only fit 1 person comfortably the other size is a bit squashed (Car seat in th middle)
* Somehow ours drinks a heap load of petrol but i dont think that is usually the case

DH drives a holden clubsport:

Pros:
* Big inside
* Fits a SnS car seat and still have big room on both sides

Cons:
* Drinks lots of petrol
* Very loud
* big car = hard to park (if was i was drive it anyway)

[~Kim~]

I have a Mitsubishi Outlander that we bought secondhand with only 5000km on (it was a govt health car).
Pros
Fits three carseats across the back
biggish boot
nice and high position for lifting kids in and out of their seats
small enough that it doesn't feel like a truck
feels as roomy inside as our commodore was
the front seatbelts are height adjustable (great when DH is 6'2" and I'm so not)

Cons
only 4 cylinder

[black_rose]

I have a 7 seated Hyundai santa fe, I love it, we wanted the toyota kluger but we couldn't afford it, it has the same kind of features but was half the price.

We have two safe and sound seats and have a capsule for when the baby arrives. We will get a slimline booster when we need a third seat so they all fit in the third row.

It's very easy to drive my previous cars were little so I was nervous about going to a big car but I have been fine. We go away a lot so there is plenty of room to pack all the girls stuff.

Havent really had any cons tbh I have had it for 18 months and I still love it. We may not have got the 7 seater so we had more space in the back but we have used it more recently.

Oh we have leather seats too they are easy to clean up if there are crumbs or spills.

[Miss.September]

I drive a Ford Territory

Pros - It's got grunt
- Easy to drive with good turning circle, usually one swing into a car spot
- Massive! So much room and can fit the pram and the highchair into the boot and still have room and can have the bulky car seat and still fit in two adults in the back beside it.
- Visibility is awesome. Lots of windows, high up so you can see
-Aircon vents in the back for the kids.
- Price - I got a five year old car for 17,000. Brand new they start at 40,000


Cons - Lots of windows meant that the car got really hot inside and quickly, but we got the windows tinted and its now great
- Likes highway driving - easier on the fuel. Running down to the shops seems to eat the fuel
- The only faults Ford has found with them is the ball joints need replacing (expensive!) and the windows have a habit of going down and not coming back up. Both of these things were fixed on mine at the time of purchase.

We used to have a Rav 4 which I absolutely loved, but the boot was poky, the front seat just about had to kiss the dashboard to fit the baby seat in and the biggest prob - the transmission was dying in a six year old car. Apparantly it will happen in every Rav 4 (auto) in the 2000-2004 models and it costs over 5K to fix.

If you want to look thoroughly at a car, I used a site called Complaints Corner. I googled it and thousands of owners are listed, talking about the good and the bad of their car. It's where we found out about the Rav (unfortunately after we got it), and the Territory. The other thing we did was before we purchased the Territory, we took it to a Ford dealership and got their mechanics to look it over. It was more thorough than a RACV check and cheaper too.

Good luck - I HATE car shopping!!!

Corelly x

[Olive]

I have a Mitsubishi Outlander that we bought secondhand with only 5000km on (it was a govt health car).
Pros
Fits three carseats across the back

how!!?? we have one too and i couldnt get butt between the seats let alone another seat!! what seats do you have?? what year is yours?

[Cupcake]

Holden Astra. All i have to say is i would never buy one again.

[Visitor7]

2008 Rav 4 V6
We have 2 kids, another on the way.

Pros:
* large boot (can easily fit my P&T and a load of groceries in there without any problems)
* high door opening (good for tall people)
* easy to park
* good on fuel, especially on the highway
* can fit 3 seats across the back
* large interior. My dh is just under 6 foot and has no problems with space or height
* has sunroof & bluetooth

Cons:
I've only had it for 2 years, so haven't come across any yet.

[skybie]

i drive an 03 commodore s/wagon 2 kids

pros-
plenty of leg room
Big boot that i can chuck anything and everything in without worrying if it'll fit
its reliable
if something does go wrong its relatively cheap to fix

Cons-
its HUGE!! feels like im driving a bus!
bit exxy to fill

DF drives a 2010 toyota hilux

pro's-
its auto so i can drive it
it looks good

Cons-
cant put kids in it
costs us a shizz load to repay every month!

[~Kim~]

how!!?? we have one too and i couldnt get butt between the seats let alone another seat!! what seats do you have?? what year is yours?

Ummm yeah not sure but it does. Certainly can't fit another adult in with the two seats (DD is fine though), but recently a friend and I went away for the weekend and we had her S&S Meridien, my FP convertible and DD's Maxi Rider in there no probs at all.
Our is a 2006 model.

[Amity]

1999 Commodore.

Pros
Cheap to buy (bought mine for $10K and it was in perfect nick, 3 years ago)
Cheap to maintain/fix (Kmart Tyre & Auto, never stuffed it up) and most mechanics know how to fix it if something goes wrong
Cheap to repair in a bingle as parts are always available, including on long journeys if I'm away from home...
Can fit three car seats across the back (a bit squizzy but you can)
Easy on the fuel on long trips


Cons
Can be expensive to insure depending on where you live
3.8L V6 so chews the petrol on round-town trips
Not "special" so not necessarily 'noticed" (this could be a pro too)

For me the issues were: price, maintenance/repairs, fuel, insurance.

[Trillian]

I have a Mitsubishi Outlander that we bought secondhand with only 5000km on (it was a govt health car).
Pros
Fits three carseats across the back
biggish boot
nice and high position for lifting kids in and out of their seats
small enough that it doesn't feel like a truck
feels as roomy inside as our commodore was
the front seatbelts are height adjustable (great when DH is 6'2" and I'm so not)

Cons
only 4 cylinder

My IL's brought one of these secondhand a few weeks ago and I couldn't get over how much space it had in it. I'm sure that it is wider than our Captiva. The boot has a heap of space and I was really surprised at the overall size and roominess of it.

[Nai]

Subaru Forester

Pro's
- all wheel drive, awesome in the wet or on dirt
- compact, doesn't feel like you are driving a truck
- based on the Imprezza so handles well
- enough room in the back for carseats and the dog in the boot
- extremely reliable
- doesn't cost a fortune to fill
- has guts

Cons
- is compact so sometimes don't have enough space
- servicing at the dealership is expensive

I have to say I love it and we have had it for 4 years now. They also hold their value quite well.

[AliBaby]

DP says if you want something reliable that isnt going to cost you the earth to service or get parts for you want to stick with the Japanese cars - they know how to make cars - toyotas, mitsubishis and hondas. Do not buy a european car as second hand as parts will be very expensive and a hard to get.

Also think about fuel costs as well. A holden or ford eat petrol like no tomorrow.

HTH

[Cupcake]

Do not buy a european car as second hand as parts will be very expensive and a hard to get.

My issue exactly.

[AliBaby]

Amaki- Dp is a mechanic and hates havign to order parts for European cars. They are so hard to get and cost a fortune and then the customers get upset at the expense. Its all those hidden costs that you forget about whenbuying a car.

[Cassius2]

we have a honda civic '04 model sedan.

PROS:

cheap to run (good on petrol and not too exxy to service)
really easy to drive (good visibility and manouverability)
cheap to insure (bit of a nanna car me thinks lol!)
for a small car it is really spacious. heaps of leg room both at the front and back (no annoying 'hump' thing on the back floor, smooth the whole way).
quality fittings and fixtures, we treat our car pretty bad in that no undercover parking, driven 1000s of km etc and still looks new!.

CONS:

wish it were a station wagon lol! (we have a dog and like to do loads of daytrips with friends, can get a bit crowded when all piled in).