Moving to Switzerland - car needs

[dicktracy]

Hi all,
Having first been a long time lurker and then a member, but still a lurker, this is my first post. Can you believe it?

Anyway, it is a happy post ! After 10 years in the UK we are moving to Zurich. The initial plan is to get a fairly sensible car, but one that still satisfies the petrolhead in me. I am kind of thinking hot hatch or similar. A couple of criteria:

- It can't be too large, as my wife prefers small cars.
- It needs to be comfortable enough to go on holiday in and to drive back to Denmark from time to time.
- Ideally it should have some form of fun factor build in
- As it will be our only car to start with, it needs to have some form of practicality. Note we have not children (yet!).
- Don't want to spend a fortune, so am thinking used here - although can be flexible.

At a later stage once we are settled and the need arrises we will probably get a second car.

I initially thought about something as different as:
Audi S3 (previous model)
Golf R32 (previous model)
Alfa 147 GTA (had an alfa once, and have lately felt a strong urge to get back in one) Also love the look of the GT
But this list is changing by the hour, driving my wife nuts...

One big question I have is, does one need 4x4 or are good winter tyres enough? Bearing in mind that we will be living in or close to Zurich. But that we of course also intend to take advantage of the mountains for skiing in the weekend.

Hope to get a chance to catch up with some of you

Thanks
J

[UltimaCH]

Leave the choice of the future car to you, but the list looks good!

Concerning 4x4 or not, a full set of winter tyres (front and rear) and good quality snow chains should see you through most winters we see here. Snow comes and goes but it seems we get less and less in the lower altitude areas. Not to forget also that the "green" minded "save the planet" types are pushing more and more against a banning of big 4x4's and SUVs. Crazy but true!

[Whitean3]

^^^

What he said! Winter tyres should be fine, even for trips to the ski resorts- I've certainly had no problems at all. As for your list of cars, looks like a good set of choices to me. Plenty of VW golfs, Audi S3s and Alfa 147s here- try autoscout.ch or comparis.ch, to see what is out there. Depending on your budget, you might also find the latest golf mk5 is in reach; as are current A3 3.2 V6. The Focus ST might also be worth considering as they tend to be a bit cheaper than the germans! Not so many 147 GTAs around that haven't been chavved up though.

[dicktracy]

Thanks for the answers. That was pretty much what I thought. I had a quick look at Autoscout. There doesn't seem to be many ST's around, although I will certainly do some further research.
J

[smilerbaker]

if your planning on living IN zurich then make sure you place has a parking space, they are like rocking horse poo (and expensive) the local police / traffic wardens in the town also love non swiss cars, if you pick a speeding ticking etc they will clamp your car, they have little pda's that they run all non swiss cars plates through, a guy here has been clamped 3 times, twice for speeding and once for not wearing a seatbelt (camera picked it up).

Cars here are also really really expensive, really, stupid expensive, eg we saw a wreck of an mx5 the other day, mk1, faded paint, cloth, no alloys etc for 11k chf!!!!! (about £5k gbp) in the uk that would have been 1k tops.

[dicktracy]

Thanks for the Zurich warning. We will in all probability live outside Zurich when we find a permanent home (am going to be in a company flat for the first months).
In terms of prices, yes I have been spoiled here in the UK. But I am originally from Denmark where car tax is 180%, so everywhere else is cheap in my eyes...
J

[Notanutter]

If you're thinking of living just outside Zurich, try Langnau am Albis, about 15 mins drive from the centre of Zurich. I lived there from 1973-83 and the daftest thing I ever did was leave ! I imported (sorry) the first TR7 to have Swiss plates, and one of the first TVRs seen in Switzerland. Good luck with the move.

[dicktracy]

Thanks for the tip. We are currently considering Horgen and Waedenswil. But will also give Langdau am Albis a look. The nature here is breath taking.

[Notanutter]

Horgen is more expensive, because it has the ferry across to the E.Shore of the lake of Zurich. Both Horgen and Waedenswil (or rather, the peninsula known as Au-Wadenswil) are also closer to the Morotorway than Langnau. However the Albis "hills" behind Langnau are fantastic for hiking, and I used to be able to pick baskets of wild strawberries there for breakfast - but an amount of over-development took place in the 1990s, still a fantastic place though. And I recommend the Landgasthof Löwen am Albis (if it's still there) for the best chateaubriand ever !
....Waaaah - homesick !

[RainerM]

...have a look here: this should be the place

http://www.loewen-hausen.ch/

excellent place, much nicer to meet customers than ZH-Airport ;-))

Rainer-CH

[dicktracy]

thanks for the tip. Will certainty try it out.