Car fuel efficiency

[ZK-Brock]

Hi guys
Being 15 and all I'm learning to drive so getting a first car in the coming year is a possibility. For curiosities sake I'm looking around various places on the internet and in magazines now. What I'd like to know is the miles per gallon/km per litre data for every make of car in NZ. I should think that the government would have set up a site for this purpose, but I cannot find anything

Any help?

[Jimmy]

Just use your parants car, you wont have to wroy abut fuel at all then! (well put 10buks in it every now and again jsut to make it look as if your paying something) Also if you use your parants car you wouldn't have to wroy about all the other stuff, warrents, repairs (hopefully you wont need many off them haha) etc...

[ardypilot]

I used to always drive my parents car on the deal that I washed it every week

All I can say is don't buy a Hummer lol, perhaps a Nissan Prius may suit ya!

[ZK-Brock]

Hey Trolly, I think you'll find it's a Toyota Prius

Yeah...I don't really know anything about cars, but I did find a cool one locally on trademe here

Can you tell me how you went about buying your first car Trolly?

[Bandit]

I'd recommend you stick with a well known/commonly seen on NZ roads brand for your first wagon. I remember when I started out the initial cost was much higher than todays vehicles but it was the unseen costs.

Good idea to consider fuel effeciency for help with that check here. It is the Land Transport NZ site and contains other info you should find useful.

Another thing to consider is the cost/availability of spare parts and insurance.

Insurance companies tend to get a bit funny about stuff when any under 25 year old shows up to insure the latest Subby or Evo with all the bells and whistles.

Yes you may end up with what some of your mates call a Nanna wagon but it will be your Nanna wagon and they're still walking. When I was doing full time Security work years ago, I drove a Toyota Corolla every night and did over 100kms each night. Did 300,000km no problem and it only required regular servicing. But many other modern cars can do similar.

I'm sure Consumer mag must have done some articles on such things also check out the Automobile Association.

[ZK-Brock]

Yeh I'm not really up for an Evo or whatever, I don't have any street racing planned B) .

So a corolla would be a good first car? If I had my way and spare parts were not so expensive I'd get this 1972 Renault for $1500

[ardypilot]

Hey Trolly, I think you'll find it's a Toyota Prius

I knew that... lol im not really into those electric hybrid cars ay

All my mates have cars, mostly 90's jap imports "cos they are cheap and there are plenty of parts available if you crash. When I had enough $ to get myself a ride, I started looking on trademe and saw a few Beamers I was real interested in, but after doing a little research I found that a small engined, cheap 2nd hand jap hatchback would do the trick.

I was out in town a few days after I had got interested in buying a car and bumped into a family friend who said their son was selling his car on the cheap, and it was listed online, so I checked it out on my computer, took it for a test drive then decided to keep it

I don't know if they have "car fairs"Â￾ down in Nelson, but up here you can go to auctions and bid on cars, usually getting them cheaper than off a dealer and even cheaper than trademe prices. That may be a good place to start.

All the best with whatever you choose, you can gimmie a race when you have bought it. (And proberly waste my 1.5l piece of crap lol)

[Kelburn]

Have you thought about a scooter or a motorbike?
They're more efficiant, on a red light you can skip to the front of the queue, you'll never get caught in traffic jams again and a brand new one casts about $2000 (scotter)
or $???? (motorbike).
Although I read the Consumer magazine and the classification of scooters is weird.

[Bandit]

You're right - I'm damned if I know how they can afford the pocket rockets. Mummy and Daddy must have deep pockets.

I don't know if the Renault is the best choice. Trolly's right - a Jap import would be the way to go unless by some miracle you find an old NZ new wagon in good nick. Nelson used to get quite a few cars in through the wharf so you're in the right place (salt air excluded)

If you do go the import way stay with a fairly standard model, don't go for a weird and wonderful bells and whistle one. A girl I worked with did that and had to special order the parts in at a hell of a price. It is not the only case I've heard about.

My first car was a 1969 Ford escort - cost me $2500 but that was 24 years ago. That little wagon got me places for hunting and tramping all over the place. Was great with the girls if you had your own wheels (apparently).

I like the Toyotas they've just extended the National training/parts centre here in Palmy - very impressive. A tidy Ford laser would be good or Mazda familia but the Lasers used to suffer a bit from the smokies and they both are fairly high up on the most popular to steal ladder.

Whatever you go with make sure you get it checked by someone who knows about cars. Good luck it's an exciting time that you'll look back on in years to come. God I sound old.

[ZK-Brock]

Yeah but I need room for cargo - getting to soccer, going to the airport etc. How much did you spend on your car Trolly?

[BerG]

My dads falcon uses about 12l/hour in the cruise, and up to 70 litres per hour while accelerating hard. But in my 93 Honda Civic 35 litres lasts at least 450kms

Any small 4 cylinder engine is going to give similar fuel consumption. Get something small and light, 1200-1600cc and you'll be good on fuel.

[ZK-Brock]

Okay thanks Berg. Not really a pressing issue at the moment, I've gotta learn to drive first

[AlisterC]

You can buy this book in most book shops (eg Whitcoulls)

The Dog and Lemon Guide - http://www.dogandlemon.com/

It may include fuel economy. Even if it doesn't, it will help you make a good choice and avoid any deathtraps

Best fuel efficency- aim for a low 1 litre scale car, like a Suzuki Swift or Diahatsu Charade. If you want to live through an accident and have some potential to pass trucks, don't get anything less than 1.3 litres in a modern engine. Smaller cars have less weight to lug around, so will be more efficent. Front wheel drive only has less drivetrain drag, so again, more efficent. Manuals are more efficent than automatics. More modern injected engines are more efficent than older carburettor engines.

[ZK-Brock]

Thanks alistair. What did you mean by "aim for a low 1 litre scale car"?

I'll check out that book BTW.

[ardypilot]

I paid $1000 for my 89 Mazda Familia, then $250 for an oil leek fix, and a further $100 to get it fixed again because the Indian mechanics ripped me off

Around my mates, my car has been nicknamed the "lemon" as I have now paid $1250 for it all together, even though its a old 1.5l jap import lol, but its good on fuel. It only costs me $48 to fill up to the max on 95unleaded, and that gives me a week and a bits worth of driving to school and back each day, driving to work and back twice a week and just short trips around the place (mates houses/shops/airport etc)

[HardCorePawn]

I got a 93 mitsi lancer GLXI... with around 300,000km on the clock for around $2000... they guy had just spent a ton of money fixing the clutch...

as my dad knows so many people around town, he managed to get it all checked out mechanically on the cheap (replaced some of the radiator hoses as the rubber was crumbling! )

since I got it, I have replaced the oil filter once (i think its due again)... and had the windscreen out coz it was leaking... that cost around $150...

the paintwork and body aint all that flash (no rust, just some dings and scratches), but even with 300+ k's... it starts first time, everytime... and always gets me from A to B which was the main purpose of getting it...

parts are easy to get (not that i've needed any yet )

And the best bit, is that its a 5 speed manual... so when some lepper is doing 90 on the motorway I can just drop it into 3rd and power past

I'll get 400Kms out of a tank of gas... so i'm getting around 10km/l... not flash, but considering lots of that is crawling along in Auckland traffic, thats pretty decent...

My wife on the other hand... has a 2001 Toyota Prius... she enjoys something like 23km/l and will get 1000kms out of a tank of gas... its a bit gutless tho... and you have to be careful in carparks, coz people dont hear you coming and step out in front of you without looking!! however, she had to pay like $16k for her car

[kiwiflyboy]

I spend $80 filling my tank, 60litres or so, and its gone within 450km..... those are driving on country roads 80% of the time, it is a 2.5l 6cyl BMW, i can get it consumption down to about 8l/100km, but that is cruising on a flat road at 100k.

[AlisterC]

I meant stick to something lower than a 1.5 litre if you want the best economy.
Just for the record Nelson public library has three copies of that book on the shelf

I drive a wonderful New Zealand New (can't recommend "NZ new" enough!!) 1993 Ford Laser. I got it for $1800. Brilliant economy yet excellent power and reliable! Plus if anything was to go wrong, it'll be cheap. (ok so I do work for Ford lol)

But trust me on the NZ new! I've had a few imports, a brilliant Mazda Familia amongst them. However I work in a workshop, and imports are often a lot of trouble

Fords NEVER to buy:

Taurus, Explorer, Probe. Again, just trust me

[ZK-Brock]

Hi Alistair. Being very car-dumb I want to know the difference between NZ new and imported. I thought they were the same thing?

BTW kiwiflyboy, you've sorta out me off a BMW, sounds like a bit of a guzzler to me. Which is a pity, as some day I would have liked to own a BMW (once im old n grey)

[AlisterC]

New Zealand new started out it's life in New Zealand. From 0 kilometres to where it is when you buy it. It is made for the New Zealand market, and usually has been serviced well in it's life. They also hold their value better.

Japanese imports: Cars used in Japan in the Japanese market before being shipped to New Zealand. More often than not have the speedos wound back, and are often not serviced (or poorly serviced) given the fact Japanese people don't own cars very long before dumping them. They also spend lots of time idling in traffic, or driving in congested cities, which is not good for engines. As they get new cars regularly rather than buy used ones, they don't bother with servicing. Imports tend to have driven further than they seem, and given the lack of servicing, often start to fail a year or two into their life in kiwi land.

They are also often overly complex cars, with all the extras add in. This is ok when they work! But if they fail, parts are really expensive (ask any Honda Prelude Four Wheel Steer owner when the 4WS module fails!), and that includes IF you can find someone to fix it. There are so many misfit models you sometimes can't even find manuals for them. Often NZ computers won't even communicate with the imports, so you can't figure out what is wrong with them.. We have this problem now and again with imported Ford Focus's.

It's not always possible, and you can get great imports, but I personally, from my experience, will never buy one again. (but then I am older and at a different point in life to you- my first four cars were imports. Two were excellent, two were TERRIBLE)



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