suggest me a daily driver, please

[perfk]

Okay, I've just sold my neat little ricer Levin, so I'm now looking for a new daily driver. I have some requirements, and several quirks...

1. Must be auto or tiptronic
2. 4 doors
3. Nice interior

It seems fairly simple - but I am hopelessly picky about interior. I will go and look at cars in the flesh (metal?), but I need some more ideas about what makes & models to go look-see at.

So far I have been interested by:
*Toyota Altezzas (however I test drove one last night and was really disappointed with the seats - really foamy cheap feeling, and felt like they were covered in a thin scraggly material).
*Mitsubishi Lancers/Galants (haven't gone to look at any of these yet, but used to drive an FTO that I really liked)
*Subaru B4s (but pretty much everyone I have voiced that to has told me to stay away from 2nd hand Subarus as if they are some kind of evil spawn released by satan himself)

I don't have a set price... but I am looking in the 5,000-17,000 range I think.

Other quirks about interiors:
I like odd things - I saw a photo of the 97 lancer - that has 2 gloveboxes and thought that was awesome. That kind of thing excites me.
I like dials (aircon etc) to feel smooth rather than clunky - and am also frequently swayed by nice looking digital interfaces.

I'm not too worried about if the car is fast/powerful as I'm sure we have enough other cars at home to cater to that desire if I ever have it. I just want something comfy to get to & from work.

Ideas?

[HZRDIZ]

Go for a 96+ Lancer GSR or Mivec - IMHO the best standard interior you can get - recaro half bucket seats, good air conditioning control unit, white dials etc etc and for a tiptronic GSR you're getting good bang for your buck. I think looking on trade me you can pick up a tiptronic GSR cheaper than a mivec at around 7-8K.

But then I am biased afetr owning a few of these haha... The tiptronic isnt that bad on them either however doesnt beat a manual

[MikeMan]

I have a Diamante 30M which I like a lot.

270PS 3.0L MIVEC V6
5 Speed INVECS-II Tiptronic auto.

Very nice leather interior

The only thing to watch on them is the gearbox, I had mine done at 125K's with a failed oil pump, was about a $3K repair (Warranty covered half)

Awesome to drive and VERY comftorable.

[perfk]

how do you find the running costs of the Diamante?

[MikeMan]

how do you find the running costs of the Diamante?

On average I get about 12L/100km in my daily driving which is mostly rush hour with some motorway speeds.

On a trip I can get it down to 10L/100km and if I push it I can almost see the needle move

But it is a big heavy car with LOTS of power so I guess I am used to it.

If you want interior photos or anything let me know and I can shoot some.

[perfk]

that's about the same mileage we get from the '96 rx7
I've snooped through some interior pics of Diamantes on trademe, and there are some pretty cool things... I did just wonder if the physical size of the car would be annoying for parallel parking and all those other little things.
I should probably go look at one in a car yard and see what I think of the physical dimensions in person.

do you know what size the fuel tank is in the Diamante?

[MikeMan]

60L

I get about 500km a tank round town.

They are a big car being 4750mm long.

[bluemaumau]

i was using my old mans diamante and it was ok, but the box felt like it was about to go, i couldnt give it a tickle up in fear.

+ its a mitsi, and unless youve got shares in the company and can get cheap parts dont touch them

subarus are never ending .....

my pics would be honda, toyota or nisasan.

you obviously want something performance based???

[HZRDIZ]

How about an Auto BZR???

Theres a few of those on trade me at the moment

[gleem]

just change the seats in the altezza

[Dell'Orto]

Price up maintenance type stuff for V6 Mitsi's before buying one

[2LTR Rona]

which tezza did you take for a spin? Rather intersting you comment about seats feeling cheap...personally i havent come across that

[Mr Revhead]

Price up maintenance type stuff for V6 Mitsi's before buying one

please take note of the above.



i always found altezza seats to be pretty damn good, and thats rare for me in a jap car!
certainly better than the ae111 you just sold, in terms of both fit and material

come along tonight

[cogent]

this was the 'tezza we drove
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 02.htm?p=8

i found the seats to be..odd... aswell actually. hard to put a description on it, but i think the rest of the car had lots of suggestions of being a modern car (the gauge cluster design, the backlighting, the dash layout and highliting) but the seats just felt like, early 90s material type thing. other than that i thought it was a nice car. had a nasty belt squeek though.

[2LTR Rona]

hmm strange....I agree with what rev had to say regarding the seats. Have been in a couple myself and all have been rather comfy.

One option I suppose would be to look at other seats from another Tezza that would bolt in....not ideal, but still an option

[cogent]

imo bolt in the AE101 seats ive got sitting in the garage instead

[Mr Revhead]

sounds like its either got stuffed, or non stock seats

[cogent]

they were these seats.

[Mr Revhead]

yeah they look different to what im used to

[Adamal]

Why not go for something big and luxurious like a Mark II Chaser or an Aristo or something the likes.
They're both quite nice to drive, have a bit of torque, very spacious and have all the creature comforts.