FTO AUSTRALIA

Hey guys and gals, you may have heard in another thread that me and the missus are looking at getting her a new car.. problem is.. we are looking at
a very small budget.. so like $0 - $8000 haha so not necessarily a NEW car..
but one different and smaller to her 1994 AUTO Mitsubishi Magna - its a shitter.. so anyhow.. i was just after some advice on what decent and kinda recent (check out my freestyle wicky wicky lol ) model small hatch manual transmission vehicle we could get her... As much as i would love her to get
an FTO its just not in the right price bracket.. i know there is a few people
on this forum who have ogne through a few cars, i was just after a guide..

The sorta cars we have looked at lately has been the 1998 holden Barina..
she likes that shape.. so i dunno.. any advice is very appreciated!!

So key words are:

- Small
- Manual
- Newish '95 onward
- Under $8000

Cheers

can't go wrong with a 95 civic

Can't kill a CE Lancer, either

Could always look at a mirage - should be able to pick up a good late 90s one for that - Mitsis have never held their price too well.

thanks everyone, shes a fan of the civic and the mirage, she doesnt mind the lancer, but shes after a hatch i think, cheers for the help!! i will let you know what she ends up getting maybe post a pic of it..

thanks again!!

If I was your i'll spend a bit more and get a Ford Fiesta. My sister has one and its a joy to drive.

excel! LOL

I like them little GTi corollas with the 100kw engine my neighbor has one and he loves it i think its a '92 model though but goes hard still looks pretty good and their damn comfortable only thing is they only come in white or red

we test drove a barina... it sucked the accelerator had so much tension in it bleh.. you had to really put some force on that sucker to move.. its shite..
i think we are looking at a toyota starlet - they aint bad.. ill check out some of your suggestions too.. except for sublime... smart arse.. hahaha

Im with hobbsie, can't go past the civic.

well apparently china just signed a thingo with aus to start exporting cars to here, could start as early as next yr

and APPARENTLY, they will be selling for under $10k new

if there is one thing that i do know about chinese companies is that their first wave of products into a new market is always dirt cheap and damn good.

so if u can wait, that may be somethign to look into, either all that will drive the price of other new and used cars down dramatically anyway.

i think our 1st tv, vcr and fridge were these 1st wave chinese products, tv is still going (20something yrs now i think), fridge didnt have a problem for 12yr till we threw it away, vcr.... 10yrs till i jammed eggs into it to see how it'll work with eggs (apparently not very well)

BorepYano wrote:well apparently china just signed a thingo with aus to start exporting cars to here, could start as early as next yr

and APPARENTLY, they will be selling for under $10k new

if there is one thing that i do know about chinese companies is that their first wave of products into a new market is always dirt cheap and damn good.

so if u can wait, that may be somethign to look into, either all that will drive the price of other new and used cars down dramatically anyway.

i think our 1st tv, vcr and fridge were these 1st wave chinese products, tv is still going (20something yrs now i think), fridge didnt have a problem for 12yr till we threw it away, vcr.... 10yrs till i jammed eggs into it to see how it'll work with eggs (apparently not very well)

Did you read this on the back of a beer coaster in your local?

no no, unlike just about everything else i say, i actually heard this from a decent source.
just know a lot of business ppl that do exporting and importing between aus and china, and the likes

BorepYano wrote:no no, unlike just about everything else i say, i actually heard this from a decent source.
just know a lot of business ppl that do exporting and importing between aus and china, and the likes

Drugs?

BorepYano wrote:well apparently china just signed a thingo with aus to start exporting cars to here, could start as early as next yr

and APPARENTLY, they will be selling for under $10k new

if there is one thing that i do know about chinese companies is that their first wave of products into a new market is always dirt cheap and damn good.

so if u can wait, that may be somethign to look into, either all that will drive the price of other new and used cars down dramatically anyway.

i think our 1st tv, vcr and fridge were these 1st wave chinese products, tv is still going (20something yrs now i think), fridge didnt have a problem for 12yr till we threw it away, vcr.... 10yrs till i jammed eggs into it to see how it'll work with eggs (apparently not very well)

Logically it wouldn't make sense, as that would kill our local car market.

Since our local manufacturers aren’t healthy like Mitsubishi, what makes you think the federal government will let a "wave" of cheap import into Australia? Don't forget they already change the import rules to RAW to keep the local boys happy.

Supplanter wrote:Drugs?

lol, nope, not that exciting, mostly things anywhere from $2 jobs to electriconics (computers from taiwan, household appliances from china) etc... basically anything you see at shops, markets that have that shinny, gold oval "made in china" sticker lol

and a couple bigger boys that... well i'm not sure exactly what they import now i think about it, but they r always busy and drive around in expensive 4WDs lol (1 guy all he does all day everyday is meet important ppl... i think what he does is just meet ppl with money and businesses, and find out what they want and just import it and make a bucket off them)

FTO338 wrote:Logically it wouldn't make sense, as that would kill our local car market.

Since our local manufacturers aren’t healthy like Mitsubishi, what makes you think the federal government will let a "wave" of cheap import into Australia? Don't forget they already change the import rules to RAW to keep the local boys happy.

i know where u r coming from, but then again at first glance these wont effect new car market that much, form what i heard, basically these are going to be the poor man's car, little pissy <1.2L bubble jobs etc... so it's more like creating a market of their own rather than musculing in. i guess the biggest effect its going to have is driving the used car market down (i.e. $9K for a 10-15 yr old car, or a brand new one)
with that said, i have this feeling that what they r going to do is establish this market, plant themselves with cheap but good bang for buck cars, get a reputable name then move on.

i dont know, i'll go do more research (aka. have more dinners with ppl lol, i love the chinese way of business )

BorepYano wrote:with that said, i have this feeling that what they r going to do is establish this market, plant themselves with cheap but good bang for buck cars, get a reputable name then move on.

If they really do, it would be the dumbest move IMO, just look at Hyundai as an example, no matter how well they build their car to handle or perform these days, people will always look at them as cheap and nasty.

Yep, the gov wouldn't wear it. The import taxes that would be slapped on it would make it completely un-worthwhile for China. And who wants to line the pocket of a dodgy nuclear quazi communist country anyway....

FTO338 wrote:If they really do, it would be the dumbest move IMO, just look at Hyundai as an example, no matter how well they build their car to handle or perform these days, people will always look at them as cheap and nasty.

true.

Bennoz wrote:Yep, the gov wouldn't wear it. The import taxes that would be slapped on it would make it completely un-worthwhile for China. And who wants to line the pocket of a dodgy nuclear quazi communist country anyway....

also true.

as i said i'll go have more dinners and see if i can milk these ppl for more info
i guess from china's point of view is that they have to export their cars somewhere, they r going to get hit with massive import tax etc... everywhere (everywhere with a decent market for cars anyway)

i have an urge to say "let's just wait and see", but i'm worried about my info being wrong now >.< damn you all lol jk jk

btw sry about hijack this topic , i'll post in a new topic when i find out more

Seriously why does China need to export their cars? There’re like 1.3 billions people living in China, just that market itself can turn them into the biggest car maker in the world.

Plus, China already have factory for ever major car manufacturer. And they planning buy out few "trouble" brands too. So IMO, that’s a better strategy, as sooner or later China will make almost every dam brands and models of cars in the world, and we will have no choice but to import them.

The new WM series (The Long wheel base version of VE) Statesman are made in China now, while just last series was made in S.A Elizabeth Factory. So China is already slowly taking over, but people just doesn’t know it yet.