What Car (or 2) for $80K-ish??

[astonmartinv8]

I will soon be arriving in Perth and have really been struggling with what car to get.

My wife and I have always had one car, and it has been a compromise, hence a stream of Lexus GS models for the last 12 years, culminating in a GS430 in the UK. We are used to long distance in comfort (and previously speed, but I have read the posts re the Oz police / tax collectors!!) As a result I am used to reliability and good quality finishes. I am not a fan of Audi (except the A5), Mercedes (except the CL) and hate the idea of paying a premium to get an older model of a car that would cost me 50% less in the UK!!

My wife is the main user of the car and we will do about 30K kms per annum. Could get a runaround and a toy, but would have to be high quality.

If we were to have one car, it would be something GT-like (ideal would be a 635d cabrio), rented one in Germany - it was great, comfortable, wicked brakes and handling, 28mpg and faster than my Lexus. But even a 2004 645 would be $100K (for a car costing south of £15K in blighty now).

I have been sitting on the PC for ages. Can't find anything. Toyota Aurion Presara would be a good $40k alternative for the GS, but I hate front wheel drive. Audi A5 base models are $90K, silly money. I could buy a 2005 GS430 for $65K but then there is the poor fuel consumption. Maybe a smaller car withh good fuel consumption that my wife could drive and a GT for both of us at weekends.

the other thing is that these prices have too come down with the drop in sales volumes and likely over-capacity even of the premium cars, so it will be a poo investment!!

Any tips?

Cheers,

Marcus.

[Fiddlemesticks]

HSV Senator.

Holden Caprice

BMW 5 series (2nd hand of course)

Lexus RX350.

VW Passat R36

Chrysler 300C SRT8


My personal fave would be the HSV Clubsport GTS.

[tim the pool man]

Bit late now, but you should have bought what you wanted in England 12 months ago, and brought it with you.

[astonmartinv8]

Tim,

Thought long and hard about that - GS430 was £18K to buy, £10K minimum to ship and tax, so originally about same cost as Oz. Except that the satnav wouldn't work and it would be worth less money as an import. Lexus Perth quoted me £6K to get a new satnav fitted.

I did think seriously about a CL55, but even then it was a big risk as more than 12 months ago, the UK market was far more bouyant.

All in all, I didn't think the hassle would be worth it.

Cheers,

MW.

[astonmartinv8]

Cheers Fiddlemesticks, hadn't even thought of the R36.

Thanks,

Marcus.

[Fiddlemesticks]

No worries, its an enjoyable game!

As mentioned on here a lot of us regret not bringing a car over.

However as this isnt possible for you it seems i would just remember that quick cars cannot be used to their full potential due to speed nazis and tax is a killer.

If it was me, i'd get a $22k Golf Tdi for frugality and this for fun..

http://www.carsales.com.au/used-cars/dealer/HONDA/...Ns=pCar_StatusSort_Int32%7c1%7c%7cpCar_Price_Decimal%7c0&__N=4294965322%200%20834%20258%20287%20285%201216%204294964914%20&distance=25&RegionID=&trecs=2&__Nne=20&seot=0&silo=1000&__sid=11CF90646DB5&Model=NSX&Qpb=true&Region=All%20Regions&Make=HONDA

[Fiddlemesticks]

Or if you just want to smooth around then how about one of the new style Volvo C70's?

[mgbond]

astonmartinv8 said:

Tim,

Thought long and hard about that - GS430 was £18K to buy, £10K minimum to ship and tax, so originally about same cost as Oz. Except that the satnav wouldn't work and it would be worth less money as an import. Lexus Perth quoted me £6K to get a new satnav fitted.

I did think seriously about a CL55, but even then it was a big risk as more than 12 months ago, the UK market was far more bouyant.

All in all, I didn't think the hassle would be worth it.

Cheers,

MW.

I do get worried when I see this kind of comment. My mate took his elise over a few years ago for 4k and a fellow Noble owner took his over 3yrs ago for 6k (but that was for a model worth much more than mine). so 10k on a 18k car sounds alot? I'm bring mine out next August and I'm basing it on 6k (based on a lower valuation on my car).

Get a nice cruiser run around and then get an elise for weekends

Bondy

[GTR-Downunder...]

Bear in mind that you are unlikely to do the same sort of long distance driving over here than you did in the UK, a much greater percentage of your driving is likely to be urban so the benefits of owning a top quality daily driver are significantly reduced.

[astonmartinv8]

mgbond said:

astonmartinv8 said:

Tim,

Thought long and hard about that - GS430 was £18K to buy, £10K minimum to ship and tax, so originally about same cost as Oz. Except that the satnav wouldn't work and it would be worth less money as an import. Lexus Perth quoted me £6K to get a new satnav fitted.

I did think seriously about a CL55, but even then it was a big risk as more than 12 months ago, the UK market was far more bouyant.

All in all, I didn't think the hassle would be worth it.

Cheers,

MW.

I do get worried when I see this kind of comment. My mate took his elise over a few years ago for 4k and a fellow Noble owner took his over 3yrs ago for 6k (but that was for a model worth much more than mine). so 10k on a 18k car sounds alot? I'm bring mine out next August and I'm basing it on 6k (based on a lower valuation on my car).

Get a nice cruiser run around and then get an elise for weekends

Bondy

Bondy,

That was to ship and tax, even if it were £5K, total £23K - the cost in $ would be more than $55K, for a car I can buy for $65K now, that will be worth less (in my case) and would need butchering for satnav (if I wanted to do this). I must have spent cumulative 100 hours evaluating bringing my car over, and for me, it wasn't worth it.

Now clearly a lot of people have brought their cars over and are happy - especially specialist stuff, but have a look at this for one real world example:

http://australia.wikia.com/wiki/BritVics/Importing...

Cheers,

MW

[astonmartinv8]

Fiddlemesticks said:

No worries, its an enjoyable game!

As mentioned on here a lot of us regret not bringing a car over.

However as this isnt possible for you it seems i would just remember that quick cars cannot be used to their full potential due to speed nazis and tax is a killer.

If it was me, i'd get a $22k Golf Tdi for frugality and this for fun..

http://www.carsales.com.au/used-cars/dealer/HONDA/...Ns=pCar_StatusSort_Int32%7c1%7c%7cpCar_Price_Decimal%7c0&__N=4294965322%200%20834%20258%20287%20285%201216%204294964914%20&distance=25&RegionID=&trecs=2&__Nne=20&seot=0&silo=1000&__sid=11CF90646DB5&Model=NSX&Qpb=true&Region=All%20Regions&Make=HONDA

Fiddlemesticks,

You must have read my mind. I have always wanted an NSX, but I tried one once and unfortunately at 6'4" it is too small for me.

Cheers,

MW.

[Fiddlemesticks]

damn, must try harder!

How about one of these http://www.internationalmotorgroup.com.au/stock.ht... (Nissan Skyline 370GT V36).

My current cruisy favourite.

[TadKa]

Ford FPV GT-E !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The flagship of the Aussie ford range.
All the go but the focus is on Quality and comfort.

[deviant]

GTR-Downunder... said:

Bear in mind that you are unlikely to do the same sort of long distance driving over here than you did in the UK, a much greater percentage of your driving is likely to be urban so the benefits of owning a top quality daily driver are significantly reduced.

Especially in Perth. The most you are likely to drive is 60mins and that will about take you from the far north of Perth to the far south on the freeways at 40-60MPH. You will do a lot of trundling around the suburbs.

A drive to somewhere like Albany is 4-6 hours south.

[mgbond]

astonmartinv8 said:

mgbond said:

astonmartinv8 said:

Tim,

Thought long and hard about that - GS430 was £18K to buy, £10K minimum to ship and tax, so originally about same cost as Oz. Except that the satnav wouldn't work and it would be worth less money as an import. Lexus Perth quoted me £6K to get a new satnav fitted.

I did think seriously about a CL55, but even then it was a big risk as more than 12 months ago, the UK market was far more bouyant.

All in all, I didn't think the hassle would be worth it.

Cheers,

MW.

I do get worried when I see this kind of comment. My mate took his elise over a few years ago for 4k and a fellow Noble owner took his over 3yrs ago for 6k (but that was for a model worth much more than mine). so 10k on a 18k car sounds alot? I'm bring mine out next August and I'm basing it on 6k (based on a lower valuation on my car).

Get a nice cruiser run around and then get an elise for weekends

Bondy

Bondy,

That was to ship and tax, even if it were £5K, total £23K - the cost in $ would be more than $55K, for a car I can buy for $65K now, that will be worth less (in my case) and would need butchering for satnav (if I wanted to do this). I must have spent cumulative 100 hours evaluating bringing my car over, and for me, it wasn't worth it.

Now clearly a lot of people have brought their cars over and are happy - especially specialist stuff, but have a look at this for one real world example:

http://australia.wikia.com/wiki/BritVics/Importing...

Cheers,

MW

Cheers, thats a good link. I'm told the key is the valuation and to get it as low as possible. It would be worth it for me as the car is worth about double out in Oz but would take some time to sell as its a bit specialist.

However, as of this morning the GF was told the job she had secured for next year is no longer and as the hospitals don't start taking new people until feb-march nxt year its to late so it now looks like it will be 2010 when we come out. Gives me a chance to pay the car off and get it to where I want it, I have a few more things to do to it

Bondy

[ajg31]

Skim read this so apologies if this is not what your after, but if your lucky you could pick up a Maserati 3200 for about the 80k mark. I know its cheaper at home, by ALOT but what isn't....

[thehawk]

The sporting/luxury versions of Ford and Holden are actually reasonably good places to be and reliability is not an issue. A Holden Calais or Ford Fairmont etc could certainly be worth a look. Even more so for the HSV/FPV versions.

How about something like a V6 Accord?

[astonmartinv8]

By way of an update, we decided to get one car (for now) as a daily driver. Decided against the Holden / HSV's as there are hundreds. Tried the following:

2008 Toyota Aurion Presara (well specced, but FWD and a bit boring)
2008 Subaru Liberty STI (nice engine, slightly narrow, could be wearing)
2008 Subaru Liberty 3.0R B spec (not enough torque, STI better)
2006 Audi A6 3.2 Quattro (expensive, difficult to get a good spec, doesn't wear well)
2007 Lexus RX350 (good spec and value, old design, wallowy)
2006 BMW X5 3.0d (good to drive, all poor spec, expensive)
2006 BMW X5 4.4 (better to drive, all poor spec, expensive)

And decided on a 2007 Lexus GS430 with 14k kms. Total on-road cost $88K (whic was the lowest price in Australia) down from $137k new, and three years warranty left.

Having been here a month, the view was that any car can be fun thrashing away from the lights to sit at 60-80kph, but as the distances for us will be slightly longer might as well get a quiet, refined cruiser that you can have some fun in if you want.

Interestingly the rental car (the Totota Presara) averaged 11.6/100km and the Lexus is doing 12/100km on the same runs.

Cheers,

MW.

Edited by astonmartinv8 on Monday 17th November 23:34

[thehawk]

I rented an Aurion actually and was quite impressed, FWD of course, but it had much more pull than the Holden Calais I rented a week later and the build quality was in a different league. In fact I've been put off Holdens because of their shabby quality (interior plastics are pretty dire). The Aurion wasn't that sporty to drive but there is a TRD version that could be interesting.

Top of my list now is an FPV F6.

[jimmyV8]

Hi guys just read most of the thread and noticed a post mentioning that alot of the British guys had regretted taking their car over? I am considering a permenant move over to Oz in the next few months and toyed with the idea of bringing my TVR with me. The import costs appear to be very expensive compared to my cars value, so had planned on selling up and buying something else out there. Are cars generally more expensive over there and should I consider exporting my own car?