Ideas for a daily driver $5-8k

dirtygalant · Post by **dirtygalant** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 3:10 pm

hey guys,

So finally landed me a job here in Brisbane which means in a few months I can afford to move on from the trusty old '92 Camry I have at the moment. As much of a good reliable and no-nonsense car the Camry is, it just bores the shit out of me!

Now I don't quite know exactly what is on offer here in Australia, or what prices I should really be spending on any said example. I like Mitsubishis but I am more than open to anything.

For me I rank things like driver enjoyment, styling, performance, fuel economy and safety features over reliability or cost of parts/maintenance as I tend to do my own maintenance and repairs to keep costs down, but that said I don't necessarily want an unreliable sack of shit.

In NZ I've owned cars such as Peugeot 406, Volvo 850 R, VW Golf VR6, 8G Galant 2.0 4cyl and 2.5 V6, 8G Legnum VR-4, 2004 Ford Mondeo wagon, KN Ford Laser, mid 90s Legacy and Impreza WRX, and even had a KS Verada.

Am looking at something similar to the above but from looking so far even things like 406s which are a sub-NZ$5k car back home are somehow $8-10k here! That's over double when taking into account the exchange rate etc.

Have even been looking at BA Coons on LPG if I could get one cheap enough, but even though the gas is half the price of petrol they seem to consume twice as much fuel and don't work out to be all that economical.

Anyway enough of me prattling on basically am just after suggestions on what good mid-sized cars to choose from and what prices they generally sell for.

Thanks!
Phil

FST4RD · Post by **FST4RD** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:13 pm

http://forums.austarion.com/viewtopic.php?t=13229
:D
Hell i would!

dirtygalant · Post by **dirtygalant** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:54 pm

yeah I eye balled that when he first chucked it up for sale. Just in my mind priced at 75-80% of a widebody, it just isn't anywhere near 75% of a widebody, DASH engine or not. It may be rare as fuck in Australia but I just don't see its value in it to be honest. That and it's on the other side of the country and would be another $1500+ in freight to get to QLD. That's just my opinion anyway. I would love to get a Starion but perhaps not as a daily driver.

*edit* have just seen the price has come down a fair whack from the initial $8700 I was basing my post on. At $6k it's getting close to reasonable but I feel $6k could be better spent on a more comfortable and practical daily driver.

thrash · Post by **thrash** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:51 pm

there's a twin cam starion on sale for 6500... looks like a good deal to me..

bulldogger · Post by **bulldogger** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 1:28 pm

you can get a nice corolla sportivo,200sx s14.mitsubishi 380 easy 8k mark or even a aristo with 2jz goodness :beer

dirtygalant · Post by **dirtygalant** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:54 pm

corolla sportivo.. eww!
S14 maybe, would have to be facelift though. Probably would get stolen too.
380... maybe, they seem like a bit of a flop to me though - I know the Magnas are watered down but the 380 is even worse! No 4WD models, and the fastest model is the base spec 5spd manual ES, the VR-X is not even more powerful!
2JZ Aristo.. maybe, but I'm looking for reasonable fuel economy.

bulldogger · Post by **bulldogger** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:17 pm

dirtygalant wrote:corolla sportivo.. eww!
S14 maybe, would have to be facelift though. Probably would get stolen too.
380... maybe, they seem like a bit of a flop to me though - I know the Magnas are watered down but the 380 is even worse! No 4WD models, and the fastest model is the base spec 5spd manual ES, the VR-X is not even more powerful!
2JZ Aristo.. maybe, but I'm looking for reasonable fuel economy.

550km's city driving............i use to get out of my aristo with decent bpu mods and a very very angry mines ecu

1320ft · Post by **1320ft** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:53 pm

Your going to have to remember, what ever it was worth in NZ, double it!

Can you narrow it down?

RWD, FWD, turbo etc?

leoca · Post by **leoca** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:05 am

We have a 1999 Camry v6 on LPG for our family car.
Got it for 6K through a broker .Then another $1200 for the donut tank conversion (boot space) . Its a manual so theres lot of power when you want it...Its cSI not conquest or touring which would be the pick.

thrash · Post by **thrash** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:56 am

how bout a subaru liberty? Not too pricey, not too flashy, but can definately be coaxed into playting the role of a guided missile - get an awd version and swap in a turbo motor when money allows, or just turbo the existing one.. or of course buy a factory turbo beast, but i believe they are still rather pricey.

dirtygalant · Post by **dirtygalant** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:32 pm

1320ft wrote:Your going to have to remember, what ever it was worth in NZ, double it!

Can you narrow it down?

RWD, FWD, turbo etc?

Yeah that tends to be the case with early to late 90s cars, but not for 2000s cars. Ie a 2006 Falcon XR6 is not going to be half the price in NZ as they are in Aus, in fact it's just about the opposite.

I have no preference to FWD, RWD or AWD but I think the only turbo I would consider would be a turbo diesel. This is going to be a daily commuter doing 300-400kms weekly so I want something cost effective to run. I thought I narrowed it down somewhat by suggesting what cars I had similar while in NZ, and was asking for opinions of what else to consider in the same class of the vehicles above. I just don't know the Australian market well enough yet to narrow it down.

leoca wrote:We have a 1999 Camry v6 on LPG for our family car.
Got it for 6K through a broker .Then another $1200 for the donut tank conversion (boot space) . Its a manual so theres lot of power when you want it...Its cSI not conquest or touring which would be the pick.

I have a Camry at the moment, and while it's a good enough car for what little money I paid for it - simply put, it bores the SHIT out of me. A later model Camry is not high up on my list of enjoyable vehicles to live with daily. I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of reliability and even some fuel economy for something somewhat exciting to drive - but I believe there are many cars out there which are practical, fuel efficient and economical to run.

thrash wrote:how bout a subaru liberty? Not too pricey, not too flashy, but can definately be coaxed into playting the role of a guided missile - get an awd version and swap in a turbo motor when money allows, or just turbo the existing one.. or of course buy a factory turbo beast, but i believe they are still rather pricey.

Sorry I should have put in my first post that I once owned a Liberty instead of a Legacy (which is of course the same car with just different names). The Liberty/Legacy is fine enough but I'm unsure if I can warrant the need for AWD over the FWD versions. My 2.2 Legacy GX wagon back in NZ was fine but not outstanding in any field, including fuel economy. Also not keen to have a project car as a daily driver, in regards to converting to turbo. This car would be replacing the Camry and then I may pick up a project car later on if I still feel like tinkering with cars. At the moment I'm happy having a break from lifting spanners every weekend just about.

thrash · Post by **thrash** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:32 pm

dirtygalant wrote:At the moment I'm happy having a break from lifting spanners every weekend just about.

bullshit LOL

if that is the case, find yourself a manual v6 commodore. the autos have ultra crap economy imho, but the manuals can be cruised along in at 0000 rpm. The vn wagon i had, 3.8L manual, I got about 10L per 100kms out of it.. amazing considering it's a bomodore, a wagon, and with me behind the wheel. Have also driven around in a vt 3.8L manual, and a later model 3.6L one, and all of them have given me decent economy despite my lead foot. I got crappier economy from my old 89 auto 4 cylinder camry.

Cheap as chips to repair too, as long as you don't try to buy new parts from holden. Good value for money, despite what people say about em.

Stay away from the autos though.. baaaad economy.

enthuzed · Post by **enthuzed** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 7:26 pm

thrash wrote:
dirtygalant wrote:At the moment I'm happy having a break from lifting spanners every weekend just about.
bullshit LOL

...find yourself a manual v6 commodore. the autos have ultra crap economy imho, but the manuals can be cruised along at 0000 rpm.

Ultra reliable at that many revs, like any car really.
If you leave it parked, it never breaks down! LOL LOL

dirtygalant · Post by **dirtygalant** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:02 am

your '89 Camry must be stuffed as my '92 SV21 with 2.0L 3S-FE and automatic done 330,000kms averages about 8L/100km combined running. I got from Brisbane to Sydney (950kms) on a tank and a quarter, with the tank being about 45-50L/$70ish to fill up. Around city only running I still get about 550kms out of a full tank.

1320ft · Post by **1320ft** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:17 am

I hate to say it, but what about an N15 SSS?

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Ideas for a daily driver $5-8k

Ideas for a daily driver $5-8k

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