Equipment maketh not a good car, ye Mr. Edgar! Of course, I may be biased because of my dislike of the Accord Seppo range (VTi, for those playing by the brochure), especially given how much nicer its Euro equivalent is, but nevertheless!Edgar wrote:If you have not already know, the Germans are the creator of 'Options'.Omicron wrote:Golf GT TSI.Edgar wrote:speaking new cars, I am in the market of getting a nice reliable economic car for daily runabout. Sold my A4, and after visiting the motorshow, some really really good value for money cars are out there.
Examples are:
1) Hyundai i30. I must admit that I was never a big fan of Hyundai cars, but recently, they have improved a lot, thanks to German designed (or could possibly be engineered by Germans too) gave the i30 a big tick. It has got the most efficient diesel out of any passenger cars you can buy out there, it has got an European look, which may claims the rear looks identical to the BMW 1 series curves, the interior is a much improved over the old ones, and the price tags are rather interesting as well. Starting at low $20Ks, you would be paying another $5-10k easily for the competitor's diesel hatch range.
2) The new Honda Accord, not the Euro version, but the new Japanese Accord. Because it is made in Thailand and thanks for the free trade tax agreement, the new Accord is seriously affordable luxury. Starting from only $30k for the basic 2.4l model, to $36k for the luxury 2.4l model. The 3.5l V6 with variable cylinder managements (shuts down 2-3 cylinders depending on loads for efficiency) is a few thousands more, but the 4 cylinder version are where the bargain is.
3) Skoda Octavia, a cut price Volkswagen. If you really like the Volkswagen sedan but cannot afford one, get a Skoda, I swear, they are on par to each other, if not, Skoda outbeat the Volkswagen in everything else except the X-factor. Jump into Volkswagen from the Skoda (From Octavia to Golf), you would feel so inadequate, because for some reasons that the Golf are more expensive than Skoda when they are almost identical, again, everything else except for the exterior look.
There, I said it.
$690 for metallic paints, $590 security system, $790 CD changer, before registration and delivery charges.
If you buy Australia, Japanese, or Korean, most comes standard, and way cheaper too.
Golf GT TSI Auto $37,290, base price before all the basic options fitted.
That price is even more expensive than the Honda Accord VTi-Luxury with leather, 17" Alloy, sunroof, heated seats, electric seats, plus so much more.
It's not that I have never fell in love with Golf, I did before, but considering the fact that all other car manufacturers have really step up the game, hop in to any new cars I mentioned above from a Golf, you would be feeling hopeless if you own one.
So over-rated, so over-priced, and so standard.
Incidentally, an Octavia Elegance 2.0 automatic is still going to set you back $33,290, and at that price, a $26,990 Polo GTI(or even better, an MY03/04 Passat V6, so that the first owner has taken the depreciation hit) looks rather smashing. Of course, I have no idea as to your preferences nor requirements, so my arguments are largely self-indulgent.