Austarion

- max budget of 8k
- better than average safety rating
- 4 doors
- good highway fuel consumption
- something a little less boring than a camrolla, without being too unreliable.

am i missing anything?

yeah that's about it mate ;) perhaps with an emphasis on not being boring at all, and has more than above average level of features (ABS, leather, electrics etc).

what did you win the camry in a raffle?
the market is similar in most places, you get a car if you hand money over.
doesnt carsales or the cars guide is brissy give you a general idea?

Forgive me if I'm trying to gain input from other members on here. I think I've given more than my share of helpful advice to others on here, and when it's my turn to ask for advice back I get your responses. Maybe I'll think about that before posting on here again.

dry your eyes mate and get down off the roof.
just stirring you up, all this time breaking down every car stat in history you may have missed a bargain already

this looks ok but like any car need to inspect it

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1995-MERCEDE ... 1c1ff42f7c

I doubt you'll find anything that satisfies all those requirements for anything less than about double what your budget is (eg, 15-20k range).

Otherwise you will simply be getting a car that is too old and therefore either unreliable, bad on fuel or not upto safety specs.

Good luck with your search and I hope you can prove me wrong.

Cars here cost a lot more than in NZ apparently.

Dude, just take the good with the bad... there's some opinions in the 6 pages that are ok. You know there will always be conflicting stuff when talking about cars... (like who started a fire ..lmfao....lots of red faces on that other forum now... and locked in)

Go drive some cars you like and report back to what to us on your thoughts of them. Seems you started a popular thread so give it a crack.

Been looking @ that merc. Seems like someone went to a lot of trouble to get what they wanted. Have to admire their efforts and the outcome. Worth a look and a steer if that's you thing.

check this out bit over your budget but you can find better exmaples at better prices..........but is a jappa limo fully electric option everything......... you name it its got it

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/dea ... 1&__N=1216 1247 1252 1282 4294954592 4294962861&silo=1011

that's a pretty damn nice merc.. except for the seats.. yuck!! Seriously, why would you take out merc seats on put in civic seats??

incidentally, i don't think either of the cars linked fit the criteria DG is after.

Also, considering your screen name is dirty GALANT, you're a blasphemous bastard for saying the last of the vr4s are a crap car rofl

thanks mate!

don't get me wrong the 8G Galant and VR-4 models are a nice car, but what I am saying is that in this day and age (ie they are now a 15 year old car in terms of style, safety and features) they aren't worth the AU$10k+ they are selling for. They are only selling for that amount over here because they represent great value for money in terms of performance over many other cars in the same price bracket. In NZ and now in Japan and the UK that's no longer the case because you can get much newer, safer and with more features for not much more. Because they are now older and with examples having more kms on the clock many are proving to be unreliable. Both of my tiptronic Legnums had shuddering from the torque converter lock up clutch which is a really common issue. Obviously I don't buy Mitsubishis for their reliability - I buy them because they are usually fun to drive and represent good value for money in terms of what performance and features are on offer for the money you spend.

I've had 6 8G's to date:

2000 NZDM Galant GLXi sedan, 4G63 SOHC 5spd 140kms. Sold in 2010 for $4600
1997 NZDM Galant VR sedan, 6A13 V6 N/A 5spd 260kms. Sold in August for $2200
1998 NZDM Galant V6-24 sedan, 6A13 V6 N/A auto 210kms. Sold in August for $1900
1997 JDM Legnum 25ST-R wagon, 6A13 V6 N/A tiptronic 4WD 123kms. Sold in 2009 for $4150
1996 JDM Legnum VR-4 wagon, 6A13 twin turbo tiptronic 4WD 206kms. Sold in 2010 for $3760
1998 JDM Legnum VR-4 facelift, 6A13 twin turbo 5spd 4WD 170kms. Sold in 2010 for $4500

For AU$10k I would rather be in something newer like a BA Falcon/VZ Commodore. Surely BA Falcon XR6 turbos with higher kms are coming down in price to match what the 8G Galant and Legnum VR-4s are selling for in Australia?

And just because I love pictures so much, here's a parting shot of my last 8G Galant I owned right up until I left NZ, the '97 Galant VR - one of the very last cars to be locally assembled in NZ before the Jap assembled V6-24 replaced it in '98.

I should also note, in regards to the value of 8G Galants in NZ, the whole range has been tarnished by the lower-spec JDM models which have GDI. Because we were absolutely flooded with them, in the early days mechanics had no idea or had the equipment to diagnose and repair faults with the GDI system, which always resulted in costly repairs. The GDI system works great in Japan on their high octane and low sulfur content fuels, but elsewhere in the world with not so high octane and higher sulfur content fuels they tend to block up the inlet manifolds and damage the ultra high pressure fuel pumps. Basically all Mitsubishi GDI models got a hugely bad reputation, despite some models being very reliable compared to the selected few models which gave the most trouble.

Australia is lucky that the importers are only willing to import the select few top condition high spec/performance variants rather than the NZ importers bringing in anything they could get their hands on due to the rather cheap importing costs in comparison to Australia.

By all means get a BA XR6, shows you don't do any serious homework.

Enjoy the valves frying. :)

Protip: You want at least a series 3 before you buy one or budget for a new engine.

bulldogger wrote:check this out bit over your budget but you can find better exmaples at better prices..........but is a jappa limo fully electric option everything......... you name it its got it

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/dea ... 1&__N=1216 1247 1252 1282 4294954592 4294962861&silo=1011

No, that's not a Japanese limo, but rather an otherwise boring car with a powerful motor in it.

This is a Japanese limo