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Hey all

 

 

I am looking at replacing my old whip. 

Managed to get it narrowed down to just a few but would like a little first hand knowledge if possible.

 

The 5 cars I am considering

 

Forester XT (turbo) manual 2009-2013 (Third gen) OR Subaru Wagon/estate Wrx 2004-2008 (blob-eye or Hawk-eye)

VW Golf GTI MK 6 2008-2012

Honda Civic Type R (EP3) 2001-2005 OR Honda accord Euro R (CL7) 2002-2008

 

I have taken all but the civic for a test drive and have been very impressed by each of them in their own ways.

The car will be a daily driver that may have customers in it from time to time for work purposes. 

It needs to be reliable and "reasonable" on fuel as it may get driven a good 200-300kms per week. (ideally not worse than 10kms per ltr)

I know the turbo cars will use a little more gas but I would like to know how much they actually use IRL not just what the specs claim. 

 

Before I go any further though I would like to speak with someone who own(s/d) any of these models. 

Most specifically I am after the following information

 

- What is the fuel economy like/Can my target of 10kms per ltr be achieved realistically with sensible driving?

- Has it been reliable?

- Is it comfortable and presentable inside (would you have any issues putting a customer or other guest in the car)?

- What has the service costs been like?

- Anything significant you think a new owner should know before buying one?

- Any other info / overall personal experience of owning the car so far?

 

Please feel free to post your reply info in thread or email me at [email protected] or text me on 027-3925842

I have also posted this up on the VASK (euro forum) and NZ Hondas forum just to cover my bases. 

 

Thank you in advance for anyone that contributes to the discussion.

 

:):):) 

 

Edited by lunchie
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Obviously im going to say 2004-06 Wrx Wagon. Should be okay on fuel if you drive carefully. Loads of room. Reliable.

Golf GTI... meh. I struggle to like them. My brother has an auto and I dont like it. No traction in the wet and axle tramps so bad coz fwd. Going from reverse to drive with the DSG takes abound 5 minutes for it to engage meanwhile your wondering whats happening and why it hasn't engaged. If your lucky you wont need to spend another 5 minutes writing a note to the persons car you coasted into. I wouldn't mind a Manual GTI tho.

I would only go forester if you need room.

Civic/accord.. reliable and good economy I guess.

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Hey mate, thanks heaps for the reply, really appreciate it, do you have any fuel numbers or personal experiences from these specific models, also why are you not so keen on the forester, I would have thought being a subaru you would prefer it? 

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what kind of business are you in / what type of clients? this could be big influence on what you could decide to get also IMO. the newer accords with variable cylinder management could be pretty good choice if economy is a must, though all of the ones listed should be able to hit 10km/litre driven sensibility and also capable of getting much worse when not driven sensibly :) the comments made about DSG on GTI i would class as outlier and not the norm, if you don't mind hatches (used to love them but fell out of love lately after having sedan for some time) then you pretty much can't go past a GTI for performance per dollar when it comes to fuel economy.

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dsg gearboxes generally don't have problems with going from reverse to forward and vice versa.

 

it's down to driver technique, as in any car, just make sure you have stopped completely before changing out of reverse.

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25 minutes ago, newsuba said:

dsg gearboxes generally don't have problems with going from reverse to forward and vice versa.

 

it's down to driver technique, as in any car, just make sure you have stopped completely before changing out of reverse.

Might just be his car, It has a mind of its own. He wants to get an Sti next because even he is not a huge fan of it.

In fact the gearbox for his GTI had to be reconditioned recently which costed a kidney.

A mate at work picked up a new DSG polo recently and it got about 50kms and then the gearbox went into safe mode and was standard. When the tow truck came, the driver said that he often picking up German cars and returning them to the dealers lol. Purely Anecdotal evidence but that is my experiences with them. German cars not actually that reliable or cheap to fix. Im sure they not that bad but if you want reliability I would stick to good old Japanese cars. If you dont mind driving a manual, a GTI would be a very fun car. Almost as fun as a wrx :P

Forester is fine but you might as well get a wrx

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1 hour ago, newsuba said:

dsg gearboxes generally don't have problems with going from reverse to forward and vice versa.

 

it's down to driver technique, as in any car, just make sure you have stopped completely before changing out of reverse.

Yeah I quite like the dsg in the gti. There is a little bit of weirdness on the initial take off as the clutch slip point tends to respond slightly differently depending on you throttle pedal position, it takes a little while for me to get it to be smooth. It is well worth the minor drawback on take off for a much better driving experience over a crappy torque converter.

 

@lunchie

I really like the 04-07 manual wrx wagon but for what you said you want to use it for I would probably take the dsg gti. The gti gets excellent fuel economy for how fast it is, the dsg gearbox is actually fun to drive and it is a much nicer place to be on a long drive or daily commute than any Subaru I've ever been in. The only thing I don't like about the gti is that it is fwd and it isn't much good for driving around in winter where I live. The service costs of the gti will be slightly higher than the Subaru but if it is lower kms and has been looked after they are certainly not unreasonable. If you like to work on your own car go for the wrx wagon as everything is so much easier to do. One minor drawback is the gti takes a wee while to get to operating temperature so not the best if you do mostly short trips.

 

I would comfortably own a Subaru with 200kms on it but I wouldn't say the same for a golf. Make sure you get a lower kms car with good service history if you go down the gti route.

 

Source: One of my parents has a mk5 gti which I have serviced for ~40k kms and have driven a total of around 3-4k kms in, I have owned two turbo Subaru wagons and I regularly fix both Subarus and Golfs.

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service costs higher for a gti ?

an older sti would be on a 6 mth schedule at $300-400 a time ?

a golf gti is about $400 every 12 months, and that's from an official dealership.

the only real biggy with a dsg golf is the 60,000km dsg service at ~$600.

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On 30/06/2018 at 4:51 PM, newsuba said:

service costs higher for a gti ?

an older sti would be on a 6 mth schedule at $300-400 a time ?

a golf gti is about $400 every 12 months, and that's from an official dealership.

the only real biggy with a dsg golf is the 60,000km dsg service at ~$600.

I only said slightly higher. The longer interval service items on the golf tend to be a little more expensive. Also to replace wear items like suspension bushes tends to be more expensive for the parts and more time consuming to replace.

 

2 hours ago, preim said:

ive owned a golf before and wouldn't again unless it was new.

 Yeah for sure, it is a really nice refined car when it is early in its life. Once the age and kms start climbing the chance of expensive unique problems do too.

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Hey Guys thanks heaps for all the replies.

 

To elaborate a bit more the job would be something in realestate so mostly driving around clients. It would be my daily in and around town so mostly shortish trips of between 5-20 mins. IF I bought the GTI I would absolutely be buying it from a dealer and getting a rock solid warranty on it too. I should have also mentioned that I am about 6,6 or 199cm tall so the hatches really suit me better as they have lots more headroom in them. TBH the car I have enjoyed driving the most ( by a considerable margin) is the forester. Its the much newer 2012 model so doesnt look like such a boyracer model as the original (no offence but they do sorta have that rep these days). Also I know that with a simple ecu reflash I can gain a good 20-30hp and probably pick up some fuel economy too. I really enjoy the GTI too and was talking with an owner today who told me he easily sees fuel economy in the 8ltr per 100kms range during normal around town driving. Quite impressive imho. 

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On ‎30‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 5:46 PM, Andy_Mac said:

Geez... do people actually pay $600-800 a year servicing their Subaru’s. Would have to be doing some serious km’s to justify that cost. Suppose dealerships like to rip you for things like genuine cabin air filters...

Winger Subaru economy service is $200 .. no air filters.  And I think about $350 for full service with airbox filter.  Main difference seemed to be that they don't take the wheels off to inspect just look at brakes and the like with them on.

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GTI too can be tuned for some gains mate. the fuel economy in them is super impressive for what they are, sure they are FWD which is a deal breaker to most but the only one who can answer that would be you. i honestly don't see them in same class (forester vs GTI). if i needed the extra space, something that makes for a great family tourer etc. then would go for the Forester but if wanted nicer handling/ride then the GTI. since you're getting via dealer, getting warranty and all that too then you do lower a lot of that euro anxiety.  since you're working in real estate i'm not sure if either of those hondas you put up would reflect well on you when asking clients to get in. not that theres anything wrong with those cars, but it was my understanding that fair bit of studies have been done on the topic of how people associate your success/trustworthiness in certain trades  based on what you drive.

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Hey mate, 

 

If you are planning on doing modifications to it I would grab the Forester just because Subaru's are the best ;) ha ha

 

However for your purpose of driving a lot and taking clients around you probably would like something that is quite nice on the inside and you can modify a bit without it being super loud etc. If placed in your situation I would get the Euro R accord. my close mate had one he got 800kms to a tank driving nicely. Also they look the part on the outside and the inside is quite nice to. He had an intake headers and exhaust and think CDM tuned it to approx 170kw atw. 

 

I LOVE honda's though so may be overlooking the GTI they are also nice haha. 

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Client perception can be a big thing in sales.

If just going for impressing clients then I think the Golf would be the way to go.

Remember impression counts a lot, and I think the other cars would not be quite suitable.

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23 minutes ago, SpeedySub said:

Client perception can be a big thing in sales.

If just going for impressing clients then I think the Golf would be the way to go.

Remember impression counts a lot, and I think the other cars would not be quite suitable.

 This. Boring, comfy and respectable.

 

Newer Hyundai / Mazda have offerings which their brand appeal has yet to catch up to. 

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6 minutes ago, Berg said:

 This. Boring, comfy and respectable.

 

Newer Hyundai / Mazda have offerings which their brand appeal has yet to catch up to. 

 

Mazda make some of the best new cars on the market imo.

My father is very good friends with the local Mazda salesperson - so I always get a chance to check out the newest stuff.

Checked out the new Mazda 6 Takami the other day. It's VERY nice. Has the 2.5 Turbo petrol from the CX9.

 

@lunchie maybe add a Mazda 3 SP25/SP22 (the current shape) to your list.

Not the sportiest, or fastest car in that group. But very fun to drive.

And Mazda have excellent after sale support.

The only thing to be aware of is that the infotainment system is VERY dated. But there will be an update later this year which will bring in AndroidAuto/Apple CarPlay/etc.

 

Fuel economy wise, I think you'll be very happy with a Mazda's fuel economy. Easily under 10L/100km.

Edited by Individualities
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14 hours ago, lunchie said:

Hey Guys thanks heaps for all the replies.

 

To elaborate a bit more the job would be something in realestate so mostly driving around clients. It would be my daily in and around town so mostly shortish trips of between 5-20 mins. IF I bought the GTI I would absolutely be buying it from a dealer and getting a rock solid warranty on it too. I should have also mentioned that I am about 6,6 or 199cm tall so the hatches really suit me better as they have lots more headroom in them. TBH the car I have enjoyed driving the most ( by a considerable margin) is the forester. Its the much newer 2012 model so doesnt look like such a boyracer model as the original (no offence but they do sorta have that rep these days). Also I know that with a simple ecu reflash I can gain a good 20-30hp and probably pick up some fuel economy too. I really enjoy the GTI too and was talking with an owner today who told me he easily sees fuel economy in the 8ltr per 100kms range during normal around town driving. Quite impressive imho. 

 

not tried a 2012 forester xt manual but the auto was ok.

only 4 speed but still better than a wanky cvt.

 

8L/100km around town in a gti ?

nana driver !

 

xD

Edited by newsuba
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was leaning to say the cl7 EuroR comfortable on long trips IE dn to queenstown and if you aren't too heavy on the go pedal then you can get between 7-8l/100km. Then I read real estate I would then choose the XT forester just due to appearances.  And appearances sells homes 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey guys, thanks heaps for all the feedback.

 

I have pretty much decided it will either be the 2012 forester (because it looks like a flash outdoors/suv type car) or the Golf GTI.

 

As to which I will end up buying? Will probably come down to whenever I find an example of either that meets my very picky high standards. 

I think honestly I would be happy with either as the Forester kinda says "hey im doing ok enough to have a new looking car and I probably do cool NZ outdoors stuff" Where as the Gti kinda presents an effortless modern appearance without being too showy. 

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