so i'm looking for a 2nd car...

[touge_ae101]

need to find a more practical car at some stage soon. looking for a nice roomy car which can fit 5 people in and good for long roadtrips.

doesn't have to be the most reliable thing in the world as long as parts are cheap as i'll fix anything myself and still have my car on the road.

have been thinking recently of a peugeot 406. i really like the look of these i think they would look great on some tidy rims and slammed a bit. has anyone had experience with these?what are they like with high kms?i would be looking at a diesel.

other options are a legacy, either GT-B or TS-R. any other options? wanting to spend around $4K or a little over if necessary. 4wd would be nice as i get round on backroads + gravel a lot and decent towing capabilities would be nice for when i can afford a race car.

am i asking too much?

[3T-Rona]

2.5 n/a legacy's are great, plenty of tow grunt, pretty reliable, not bad on gas either

[metal_sean_head]

Honda shuttle.! BAD ASS!!

[NILPSI]

viewtopic.php?t=81175 ???

[touge_ae101]

http://forums.toyspeed.org.nz/viewtopic.php?t=81175 ???

i wouldn't touch a 3sgte with a 10 foot pole. i'm sure they aren't that bad but caldinas aren't a desirable enough package for me to want to deal with one.

def no hondas! had thought of a later model accord but not well suited to backroads.

2.5 n/a legacy's are great, plenty of tow grunt, pretty reliable, not bad on gas either

my brother has one and this is what got me thinking of legacys in the first place. i like the subaru chassis its a solid piece of kit.

has anybody had experience with stageas? very large cars but i can imagine being good tow vehicles and easy to find parts for RB's etc.

[Leon]

[quote="touge_ae101] piece of kit.
[/quote]

I would have summarised the driving experience of driving a non turbo Legacy as being something that rhymes with this statement.

Fuel economy was not very wallet friendly, particularly when combined with the not very rapid transport.

[cogent]

cheap ae111?

[touge_ae101]

have looked at a cheap ae111 but really need something a bit bigger and with enough tow to haul a car on a trailer.

olds have offered to sell me their adventurer for bugger all but theres no way i could afford petrol for that beast!

[cogent]

beater hilux

[Distrb]

Shitty old falcon or commodore. Mid 90's ish. Can be had cheap as a cheap thing and will haul everything everywhere. I went that way with a Falcon wagon i picked up at auction for next to f**k all.

Friend has a rb25de stagea that did ok at most things incl towing. Not sure how pricey they are though.

maybe a van of some description?

camry of some variety perhaps?

options are endless.

[touge_ae101]

beater hilux

haha this has been suggested by friends. but i don't really want a ute and am getting sick of only having two seats
...only ute i would drive is a oldschool subaru brumby! then drop an ej20t and running gear in it...

but i think thats a project i should keep for when i have a bit more cash floating around!

[touge_ae101]

van... definately not

i have driven enough vans and utes to know how uncomfortable, slow and annoying they are to drive on a long trip.

will have a look at commy station wagons might be an interesting (+cheap) option

[levinguy]

newer fwd cefiros, 3litre ones tow mint, plenty of room, and cheap as.

[RS13]

has anybody had experience with stageas? very large cars but i can imagine being good tow vehicles and easy to find parts for RB's etc.

Very nice cars. Roomy, smooth and comfortable, the one I drove had an RB20 so wasn't the fastest but still went well. Not too badly priced either.. if I had a need for a wagon, I'd definitely be rocking one.

Commodores.. looked around for a decent one, but even the older models hold their price well, you'd struggle to find a mint, later model with less than 200kms for your budget.

[metal_sean_head]

def no hondas!

Hater.

[celica_xr9145]

have been thinking recently of a peugeot 406. i really like the look of these i think they would look great on some tidy rims and slammed a bit. has anyone had experience with these?what are they like with high kms?i would be looking at a diesel.

My old workmate used to have a silver one with a nice kit. Not bad cars but not good either. Couldnt tell you about reliability as he never had it long.

Would take a legacy over it any day.

[cogent]

def no hondas!

Hater.

bro he wants a tow vehicle, that means he needs torque.

honda dudes everywhere just snapped to attention in the direction of this thread.

[Leon]

newer fwd cefiros, 3litre ones tow mint, plenty of room, and cheap as.

The old ones had serious transmission issues (which is why you can find them SO cheap on trademe when the auto trans goes bung), so I'd research to make sure you aren't going to have that issue with other Maximas / Cefiros. Towing is really hard on auto trans if they're not too strong to start with.

[1I1]

Galant GLXi, meets most check points and you can go for a ride in mine to confirm the awesomeness of them....

[fuel]

I owned a '97 406 ST 2.0 petrol auto for a while and I found it to be a great car - the suspension was soft enough for a nice ride but it still had little body roll through the corners. Main things to note is basically build quality, the door skin fabric on the pre 2000 models gets shabby as it gets older, and you get the occasional electrical gremlin like fan blower not working, wipers not working etc but the good thing is they're a popular enough car in Europe/Australia and even in NZ that there's plenty of forums for help.

I would also agree to the above regarding a Galant GLXi, I had a 2000 model 5 speed manual - don't be fooled by lumping them into the same group as the GDI Galants and Legnums, the engines are world apart in reliability and the SOHC 16V 4G63 can easily clock into the 200-300,000kms with minimal troubles, and the rest of the build quality is just like any other Japanese car. The suspension is multi-link all round and gives a good ride, although perhaps a little too on the soft and wallowy side. One main flaw with them is increased road noise over other cars in the same class.