Family car choice's

Hey guys and girls.
A question for those of you that drive other cars as daily family runabouts.
We are looking at picking up a family car for our selves as the trusty old Ute is soon no longer going to suit our needs.
My question is what sort of family cars do you guys drive?
Whats the best value for money family car out there on the market?
We Looked at the passat but the general maintenance cost on new Volkswagen's is a killer.
Any other suggestions out there?.

I like Mitsubishis Myself...
250,000 kms with no problems on My current Lancer..
Lancers are good car.. and not too expensive..
I also like the Outlander by Mitsubishi..
Mitsubishis have good warranties and on road service..

A nephew just bought a Tucson...
has 8 years warranty....

another Nephew bought a holden Captiva...

and you have already found out about service prices...

Subarus are Good cars but the services on them were a killer 10 years ago...

Most cars out there are Very Good these days...
but I have heard there are lots of problems with Commodores [kept under wraps]

New cars are getting so complicated that Expensive servicing is common on cars like the Passat etc..

best of luck

LEE

Yep, servicing is a killer but you can legaly get your car serviced at any licenced motor mechanic without voiding the warranty and that saves heaps, of course that dosn't help if your vehicle requires special equipment to do the service so you have to watch that. We have had Soobs for the last few cars and can't praise them enough, my present work vehicle is one of the Generals products but not all that happy with it, think I'll look elsewhere next time. Our Soobs have not been purchased as new vehicles but with very low k's on the clock, save a motza that way. In the end there are not too many lemons out there these days, depends on just what type of vehicle you want, sedan, wagon, hatch the choice is bewilderind but you don't need us to tell you that. Good luck in your search, there are some real bargains out there at the moment.

My wife has a 2005 Bora which we are very happy with. My daughter has a 2002 beetle and her husband has a similar model Passat. All these cars were bought 2nd hand, and mostly we don't have them serviced at our local VW agent, but at our local mechanics shop, and don't find it too expensive. My brother has a 2007 deisel Jetta that he bought new. I think he gets it serviced at the VW dealer, but he hasn't complained about service costs.

we have a kia reo bloody great car and takes 4 as stated service can be done by ultra tune mine is a 2007 a very goog year has electric e4verything
my daughter has a hyundi and getting 300000klm without a problem ilike korean valu for money

There are plenty of good, near-new VWs available nowadays. I agree with Jeff - stay with VWs.

2001-on Passats (previous B5 or B5.5 model) are large and comfortable, and can be serviced by any VW workshop. If you don't need something that big, a Jetta or Bora has plenty of room for five people, and a bigger boot than a Commodore, Falcon or Magna and with half the fuel usage. The Golf is the same as the Jetta/Bora inside but with a hatch rear rather than a boot. The Golf's rear is larger than a Mazda 3 or Corolla boot.

If you need something larger than a Passat (big family?), go with a T4 Caravelle. The 5-cylinder ones are Audi-engined and sound great. They are fast and comfortable. The newer T5 Mulrivans are best with TDI engines - 350 Nm is three times what '70s Kombis had.

Volkswagen out-sells Kia in Australia nowadays, as it should, and at current rates will overtake Hyundai in 2010. That speaks for itself. Volkswagen also sells more cars nowadays in Australia than Subaru. There is no reason to buy anything other than a VW.

buy a subi wagon
or hilux twin cab 4wd it drives just like a car. So you can use it for work, to go shopping then take it to the beach on the weekends.

Then you could join the 'Subi' or 'Hilux' forums and car clubs instead.

Volkswagens, new and old, do all of that and more, in much greater style.

Pulsar hatch 4 door, late 90's early millenium 1600cc 4 cyl.

Flippin awesome. Can nab a good one for less than $10gs with low K's, runs on the smell of a rag, easy to drive, and NOT gutless. So economical, heaps of spares. Its a nissan too, great quality. I have mates who each own one. One has the sedan, the other, the wagon, both 1.6 ltr, we have had the car full with 5 adults and luggage and it still manages to fly. I borrowed one for a week, it was a ripper.

I neva had a great reputation with them before till i drove em, and i tell ya what, one of the best small cars i have driven (in all areas of economy, bang for buk, parts, reliability rada rada rada)....

Thanks guys. We are going to take a look at the Volkswagen Tiguan 147 TSI. So i guess we will see what happens there on the weekend😁
I'm not a big fan of the softroaders. but these look well priced for what you get.

For a family car I suggest you look through this list: http://www.ancap.com.au/results/5star/
A few VWs to choose from.

When we had to replace our family car a few years back we went for a Renault Laguna wagon, as it was the cheapest 5 star rated wagon wtih air bags in the back (no point surviving a side impact if your kids don't) It has been a reliable & efficient car, problem was maintenance was a bit pricy, half due to incompetent dealer service and the other half due to scary parts prices (gasket for rocker cover - ~$300 - you can't buy just the gasket, you have to replace the rocker cover with its "special" sealant) You can pick them up from aorund $5k at the moment, but I'd budget a maintenance bill of around $2k per year.

Peugeots are generally safe and maintenance isn't ridiculous, and resale value is very good. Don't get the early 307s though, terrible build quality.

Another vote for Soobies - reliable & safe.

I'd just shortlist a few models & then wait for them to pop up in the auctions - they are getting pretty cheap at the moment.

I bought a `99 VW Passat. It has the 1.8 turbo and gets awesome fuel economy. 5.7L/100km on the highway. In the 8's around the suburbs. I service it myself which is quite cheap 🙂

i love twin cab utes, Hilux, Rodeo, Navara - so resourceful - sucks alot of fuel, unless you go diesel.

I always use my dual cab for its build purpose - though you do acquire more friends with a ute.

None the less i love it. Maybe not so keen on the 4cyc versions

VW Jetta is awesome its even got a bigger boot than Falcodore's!

Greedy cant believe you trust your life in a Korean piece of crap one accident above 60kph and see you later!

We've got a V70T Volvo. 125+kw on tap. Pulls and tows well. 11-12 L/100km around town, 7 L/100km on the highway. Plenty of space being a wagon, with sleeper pulling torque. Plus the added bonus of those extra seats up the back. 1999 model, leather trim, electric seats, all nowadays from about 12k.

Hilux Dual cab !!
had 9 hilux's so far, still got 4 at the moment, cant break 'em...... and believe me i have tried
save your VW for the weekend / special times
very comfortable & great resale value 😊

The trouble with a lot of other cars, especially asian cars is that the wipers put the blinkers on, and the blinkers wipe the windsceen. What is the go with that?

Well Jeff, I think you will find that is quite common for cars in Australia.

I'm going to give my opinion on family cars here, and some people may not like this, but I don't really care.
Mazda make an extremely good product and i think the 3 is a great long distance and town car. There is very few things that you can fault on them. I am a jap car person to some extent, toyota's are very highly rated amongst mechanics, a very reliable car, just like the honda product. I cant say anything good about holden at all.
I love VW's but they are not hugely reliable, and they are old cars, some times I miss driving new cars. Oh yeah, I worked at a Mazda dealership for a year, and I drove alot of mazda's and other cars in that time.

We just sold our '89 Caravelle after 11 years of owning it (as we are past the kiddie seat and pram stage of parenting) and replaced it with an '02 V6 Passat, it is a beautiful car to drive, has electric everything and much better on fuel than the Caravelle.

It was $54,000 when new and we picked it up for $14,000 with 98,000K's

I also went a bit silly when looking for a replacement car and looked at 05'and later Commadore wagons with around the same K's and I must say they drove like steaming piles compared to the Passat.

And I didn't ruin my record of not owning anything but VW's since my 1st car 30 years ago.

Hilux gets about 10-11ltr/100klm around town and a bit less on a trip. has heaps of get up and go when you want to use it.

Mick058 wrote:i love twin cab utes, Hilux, Rodeo, Navara - so resourceful - sucks alot of fuel, unless you go diesel.

I always use my dual cab for its build purpose - though you do acquire more friends with a ute.

None the less i love it. Maybe not so keen on the 4cyc versions

I love my Navara dual cab,the kids love it when they want something carted around,but whinge like all get out about the padding on the rear seat.I haven't noticed any problem in this area as i drive most of the time. A great all purpose vehicle.

I would only drive German car and this is the proof:







Guy survived with a broken patella and a few scratches.

Safety is why I went for the Passat. It's a 99 model but still has side air bags and other good stuff for the era.

rose wrote:buy a subi wagon
or hilux twin cab 4wd it drives just like a car. So you can use it for work, to go shopping then take it to the beach on the weekends.

Sorry Rose.
We use to own a 94 forester. after going through warranty problems over an over again with it. We vow never to buy subaru again.😠😬

We have also owned a 96 Toyota Hilux, which we traded in last year on a V8 Diesel Land cruiser ute.
I have to say the Cruiser leaves the hilux for dead in a lot of ways😎

Jen you will love the VW Tiguan. It is based on the Mk5 Golf platform, so it is a strong, reliable and good looking machine. It won the NRMA Best Car award for Best Recreational 4WD last year.

The name 'Tiguan' came from a German magazine competition, where Auto Bild magazine asked its readers for name suggestions. 'Tiguan' comes from joining two German words, Tiger and Leguan (Iguana). Some of the other unsuccessful names were Nanuk, Rockton and Namib.

There are three models in the Australian range to choose from, all of which have 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines and VW 4Motion 4WD. They are all 5-star EuroNCAP rated for safety, and all come with ESP, ABS, Brake Assist, cruise control and Auto Hold. The TDI already meets the strict Euro V emissions standards.

125TSI petrol - 125 kW / 280 Nm. 6-speed manual or 6-speed auto. From $33,990
103TDI diesel - 103 kW / 320 Nm. 6-speed manual or 6-speed auto. From $36,690
147TSI petrol - 147 kW / 280 Nm. 6-speed auto only. From $42,990

When you say trusty ute do you mean the Kombi ute? I have owned my Kombi microbus 2ltr over 25 years and though it does not have the safety features you are after like air bags it has certainly performed the job of being the family car as well as the work horse. Only problem I have had with it is that having 8 seats, its generally me that taxi's everyone. But a better all round car I could not think off.

,but whinge like all get out about the padding on the rear seat.
So what model is that, I had a Navara twin cab 4wd long time ago, spent endless hours trying to get the squeek outa the back seat, spoke to several other owners of simmilar vehicles and all said they had given up on the same problem, just had to live with it, padding was hopeless as well but front seats ok.

Big difference between a 96 hilux and a v8 cruiser 🤪
and also a huge difference between a 96 hilux and a 2007 hilux 🤪

If you can affort a v8 land cruiser ute just go out and buy a lancruiser wagon.

JEN056 wrote:

rose wrote:buy a subi wagon
or hilux twin cab 4wd it drives just like a car. So you can use it for work, to go shopping then take it to the beach on the weekends.

Sorry Rose.
We use to own a 94 forester. after going through warranty problems over an over again with it. We vow never to buy subaru again.😠😬

We have also owned a 96 Toyota Hilux, which we traded in last year on a V8 Diesel Land cruiser ute.
I have to say the Cruiser leaves the hilux for dead in a lot of ways😎

rose wrote:Big difference between a 96 hilux and a v8 cruiser 🤪
and also a huge difference between a 96 hilux and a 2007 hilux 🤪

If you can affort a v8 land cruiser ute just go out and buy a lancruiser wagon.

Yes. There is a big difference between the cruiser and the hilux. The cruiser suits our property needs more so then the hilux..
As for wanting a cruiser wagon. well that doesn't suit my needs at all.🙅 They are to big and heavy on the fuel, to much of a pain in the ass for a tinny person like me to maneuver in the city.😊
Plus I'm not quite ready for the soccer mum title just yet.😂

post 80's crusiers are lame. Bring back the old school!!!!

I love how everyone gets so sad when there is something faulty on a new car and it needs a warranty part. Awww... so sad. Its not a big deal, every car company has warranty issues, every car company has recalls and upgrades. Try finding out what a Mazda 2 rear hub upgrade is, then you will laugh at what goes on with new cars.

And even if you were, you'd buy a VW Touareg or T5 Multiivan instead of a Toyota. The smaller Tiguan sounds perfect. I don't see any differences between a '96 hilux and a V8 cruiser and a '07 hilux - they are all Toyotas, and I don't want one.

VW seats don't squeak unless you give them a really good workout at the drive-in.

Mustard you are quite right. Even the mighty Sopru VW Campmobile (like mine) was recalled in the early '70s. They fitted the lower fibreglass roof to the steel roof with rivets along the gutters, but long self-tapping screws across the front - right over the driver's head! One big bump and the driver's head gets spiked on a screw through the roof lining. They were recalled to fit flush rivets. Camper owners should press the roof lining up with their fingers to see this was carried out on theirs.

Thats probably why the drive-in looked a little umkempt. Last time you were testing the seats and never noticed :-)

No don't mean LAST Saturday! Haven't taken my lady to the drive-in in the Kombi yet, and with my 8-year old girl along too there wouldn't be much opportunity to try that out. That's why I came alone on Sat! No I was thinking of my old 40-horse Beetle and how its back seats used to squeak, back at the old Dundas drive-in (which closed in 1987, how long ago was that?!)

Phil74Camper wrote:And even if you were, you'd buy a VW Touareg or T5 Multiivan instead of a Toyota. The smaller Tiguan sounds perfect. I don't see any differences between a '96 hilux and a V8 cruiser and a '07 hilux - they are all Toyotas, and I don't want one.

VW seats don't squeak unless you give them a really good workout at the drive-in.

Mustard you are quite right. Even the mighty Sopru VW Campmobile (like mine) was recalled in the early '70s. They fitted the lower fibreglass roof to the steel roof with rivets along the gutters, but long self-tapping screws across the front - right over the driver's head! One big bump and the driver's head gets spiked on a screw through the roof lining. They were recalled to fit flush rivets. Camper owners should press the roof lining up with their fingers to see this was carried out on theirs.

Phil take off those volkswagen coloured glasses🤪😂
The new 4WD vw looks like they came from the Toyota factory.🤪😂

I'm with Phil, even if you're going to buy a new car, get a VW. Keep the passion alive. Once it's in your blood it's there to stay.

yeah Dont buy a CHRYSLER a lot of the dealers will be closing due to the state of the dollar🙅

colonel mustard wrote:post 80's crusiers are lame. Bring back the old school!!!!

I love how everyone gets so sad when there is something faulty on a new car and it needs a warranty part. Awww... so sad. Its not a big deal, every car company has warranty issues, every car company has recalls and upgrades. Try finding out what a Mazda 2 rear hub upgrade is, then you will laugh at what goes on with new cars.

So would you be saying i am getting sad that something was faulty on my car that was under warranty? I would say i was dam right f*#king pissed off.
The automatic hill hold on the Subaru wouldn't disengage. should i not be upset that a car with less then 2,000K's on the clock stuffs up.
Or maybe i shouldn't of gotten upset when the clutch went less then 100K's latter.
maybe i shouldn't of gotten so sad when the engine developed a rather nasty knock at just over 15,000K's.
Turned out to be a factory issue and the engine was replaced.

I think i had every right to be sad over that.
😬😠

Every company will have a crap car. seriously. Iv seen it before, everything will just go crap on one car and there is nothing you can do about it. Its not that the company produces terrible products, sometimes there are duds and its a bummer for the people who get a dud. If every car was the same as yours, subaru would never make money and would not still be making cars. I know how it feels when your car runs like a bucket of puss, but you should be thankful that new cars have a warranty for a reason.

Jen I'm looking forward to hearing about how much you love your new VW Tiguan, and seeing it at a VW club run. Everyone will be jealous of you - enjoy your new VW!

Ian - taking off my 'Volkswagen coloured glasses' is impossible as they are hard-wired in, and always will be. Maybe the Toyota-loving readers would be happier here:

http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=72

The coming VW Robust does look a bit like a Hilux, but I don't hear people criticising Nissan or Mitsubishi because their Navara and Triton utes do too. It's a bit rich to imply that VW has somehow 'copied' Toyota, the masters at imitation. This is the Toyota 'Mega Cruiser' - gee what an original piece of design. Where oh where did they get the inspiration for this?

The wife and i have just traded in our '96 subi forester for a brand spanking new MK6 Golf. Part of the reason is that we
love our VWs and have always wanted a new one. The subi is a great car, but with the dealings of a VERY crooked service department, and many
warranty claims, it has left a very bad taste in our mouth. The service intervals, the sheer cost and the dumbfounded excuses is completely unnecessary for an otherwise good car. At the last service with subaru (50,000kms) which cost us close to $700, we vowed to never bring it back again out of complete disgust.
While the Subi was still holding a good value and still with relatively low Kms, we decided to trade in while it was still good. We got a great deal with VW. Sad to see the subi go, but it is time for a change.

Wow I haven't even seen a Mk6 Golf on the road yet. Let us know what you think of it.

Phil74Camper wrote:Jen I'm looking forward to hearing about how much you love your new VW Tiguan, and seeing it at a VW club run. Everyone will be jealous of you - enjoy your new VW!

Ian - taking off my 'Volkswagen coloured glasses' is impossible as they are hard-wired in, and always will be. Maybe the Toyota-loving readers would be happier here:

http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=72

The coming VW Robust does look a bit like a Hilux, but I don't hear people criticising Nissan or Mitsubishi because their Navara and Triton utes do too. It's a bit rich to imply that VW has somehow 'copied' Toyota, the masters at imitation. This is the Toyota 'Mega Cruiser' - gee what an original piece of design. Where oh where did they get the inspiration for this?

I think the Toyota hilux loving fans are OK here on this forum.
After all. VW has been stealing their Toyota hilux for years in the US.😂

Looks to me like Toyota has actually copied the hilux from Volkswagen.

Jen,

I think you should broaden your range of choices away from the run-of-the-mill.

Three suggestions:

1. The Canyonero
Not a Volkswagen, but as a family car, can't be beat.
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Canyonero

2. Bugatti Veyron
It's a Volkswagen.
There are some minor clauses in the purchase contract you should be aware of:
- there is a non-refundable PST 200,000 deposit
- you have to agree to let Bugatti do all the servicing and repairs. Which means that either the engineers have to fly in from France, or you could, of course, drop the car off at the factory yourself
- when you want to sell it, Bugatti have to approve of the buyer before the car is sold. If they don´t like them, Bugatti reserves the right to buy the car back themselves.

3. Toureg R50
Also a Volkswagen.
To quote from the VW Australia website:
"Sport design and blue brake calipers highlight the off-road character of this ultimate SUV."
How could you resist qualities like that?

I'n sure that when other forumistas think about it, they will be able to proffer some other suggestions to open your mind and wallet.

hth

the wife drives a '97 tf magna wagon altrera, we have had it for 6 years and done 60 000km, never let us down. very nice to drive but has no resale. we paid $14000 for it and now it is prob worth about $4000 if that. not real good on towing a car trailer tho

matt

There was no stealing or copying.

There was a deal done between Toyota and Volkswagen in 1988, whereby Volkswagen would assemble Toyota Hiluxes in VW's Sarajevo (in what was then Yugoslavia) and sell them in Europe as 'VW Taros'. This was done for two reasons:

1. Toyota wanted market share of the European 1-tonne commercial market, which VW dominated with its T3 Transporter pickup and double-cab pickup
2. Volkswagen wanted to sell a commercial vehicle in between the Golf-based VW pickup and the Transporter, but did not want to invest in designing its own

The Taro was also made at VW's Hanover transporter factory. They were all Toyota CKD kits, with Toyota running gear and Toyota engines. The joint venture ended in 1997, when the vehicle's sales failed to meet the expections of both makers. This happens a lot - Nissan once assembled Passats in Japan. Commodores were sold as Toyota Lexcens and Nissans were sold as Fords in Australia. Fords were sold as Volkswagens in Argentina. Chrysler mini-vans are sold as 'VW Routans' in the USA now. But the new VW pickup - the VW Robust shown above - is NOT a Toyota.

And the VW Taro was not sold in the USA.

Jen has already decided on the VW Tiguan (good on her!) so now we can be a bit irreverent. Never mind the Canyonero, isn't the ideal family car in the US the famous Wagon Queen Family Truckster?

The Canyonero is the best suggestion anyone has given.

I hear what you are saying Phil74Camper, lots of examples come to my mine. the barina/swift - nova/corolla - laser/323 - exploder/tribute(terrible car) - courier/mazda b series - Alot of those are fomoco just being really lazy and not designing a large range of cars.

As the salesman said to Chevy Chase, "If you think you hate it now, just wait til you drive it!"

I remember the Button car plan was behind a lot of those weird Australian joint-efiorts - who would believe that a Corolla was a Holden, or that a Commodore was a Toyota! No wonder it didn't work. And they all 'badge engineer', all around the world, today. I guess money talks.

I wish I could say that VW was above that dirty business, but they aren't. The VW Taro/Toyota Hilux is just one example. The VW Passat/Nissan Santana is another, and so is the VW Routan/Chrysler Voyager.

Perhaps the weirdest of all was the 'VW 1500' sold in Argentina from 1980 to 1988. It was a Chrysler Avenger/Plymouth Cricket with VW badges on it!

Ok. Thanks for that Phill. The only place i could find pictures of those utes were in US classified pages, so i just figured they were a US thing.😂

As for deciding on the Tiguan, Well we haven't been sold on it yet.😀
We have decided on sticking with the Volksies but Hubby likes the look of the R50. I've got my hopes up that he will spend that little extra cash on me and get the R50😂

Touareg R50 - wow. 5.0-litre V10 TDI diesel engine, 258 kW, 850 Nm (!). 6-speed DSG. Very nice but prices start at $134,990...a bit more than a Tiguan !

I got the option to drive one for a week in exchange for my '95 Golf (for the Golf 6 launch) but I chose the Eos instead. I felt very nervous about driving someone else's $135K car in Sydney traffic for a week...

Would have been fun though.