So what's Aussie like for cars? edit: now with added Wheels

[Sick Puppy]

Hi everyone, after several months missing from here (and not much lurking either), I'm back in the fold, only in Sydney. We'll be looking for a car shortly, I thought I’d ask those on here who are based in / lived in Australia about the state of play about where to look – there’s just eBay and gumtree... I may bitch and whine about it, but darn I miss Trademe!

Any thoughts on these sites, and is there anywhere else to look please? How different is it to the NZ market? From the looking we’ve done so far, I get that the prices are higher, the selection is less due to the Aussie govt wanting to protect their car manufacturing industry (or what's left of it lol). It does suck though that there are no Bluebirds, Primeras, Coronas/ Carinas, Levins, etc.

So, any thoughts / advice please?

[diss7]

www.carsales.com.au

Silvias are about the same price over there.

They also aren't as aware of old toyotas. Seen a few cheap ke20/25's etc, much cheaper than NZ.

www.carpoint.com.au is just a copy of carsales, same cars.

[diss7]

Also, Aussie generally don't look after their cars as well as in NZ. Mainly because they don't have a wof system at all. You are only required to get the car inspected when selling it; this is called a road worthy certificate. (RWC)

Aussie's don't haggle like NZ/Trademe does either. When a car is advertised in NZ for $8k, you might start an offer at $6k, hoping to get for below $7k, in Aussie you will be doing well to get it much cheaper than its advertised.

The whole lack of wof thing put me off 2nd hand cars there. Aside from a couple of old corollas and a silvia, I only bought new cars.

[Toby]

Used car market here is a tragedy, sooo many backyard dealers that get RWC (called safety certificates in some parts) from their buddies.

So yeah - the only way you would buy anything 2nd hand is by having some form of independent checkover.

I have seen some nice Jap cars here, but everything was a lot more expensive than a comparable Holden when we were looking.

We bought a cheap Astra (lol) we had to take it off the road soon after as it was genuinely $&#$% from suspension to electrics Do not trust in safety certs and try to buy from an individual - the backyard guys turning over tradeins and other shitboxes are arseholes. (we were desperate for a vehicle so may not have paid as much attention as we should have - but ya know... you can mostly trust the WOF in NZ; we made a mistake).

On the plus side - brand new daily drivers are cheap here, and if you work for not for profit/government you can pay less tax as well via salary sacrifice etc. (explained below )

[diss7]

FYI Salary sacrafice basically means your car loan payment comes off your income PRE tax, your after loan payment income is then taxed.

If you're high income its a great idea.

Most employers will do it, I do it. From an employers point of view, its much better than giving a company car. Even if you're not saving any money, the bigger issue with being an employer is being left with company cars when/if an employee leaves.

The bonus from the employee's stand point, is you can buy what ever you like.

[Toby]

FYI Salary sacrafice basically means your car loan payment comes off your income PRE tax, your after loan payment income is then taxed.

If you're high income its a great idea.

Most employers will do it, I do it. From an employers point of view, its much better than giving a company car. Even if you're not saving any money, the bigger issue with being an employer is being left with company cars when/if an employee leaves.

The bonus from the employee's stand point, is you can buy what ever you like.

Ah yeah, Mrs explained it to me but I was too busy playing Streetfighter to listen properly. So hard to be stay at home Dad ya know.

[spoonza6]

Buy a Holden Apollo or a Holden Nova.....laughed seeing these driving around

[RS13]

Buy a Holden Apollo or a Holden Nova.....laughed seeing these driving around

Lol, aka a Camry or a Corolla.

[gasman]

I have more or less given up on owning a modified car over here in aussie, so i went and bought the most family spec car i could find, a Volvo XC70.

and like others have said, can get pretty fairly priced daily drivers brand new.

[MAC_HATER]

bunch of friends over there in the mines got off the plane first time there ever, 4 of them, and they bought a immaculate VS V6 Commodore in the parking lot off a guy for $450 and spent their first week yahooing about in that

they are rich miners now and all have <5year old XR8's and HSV's

so the older more plain holdens and fords seem to actually be a "dime a dozen" over there

stuff like NA supra's and Skylines go for crack money on the other hand due to P plate laws in whatever state they might be in - or you see stupid shit like a R33 GTS 25T having its turbo removed, leaving the exhaust housing which is then plated over, rendering it NA, they then get to drive about in a wet towel that gets torn up by people in Sirions and shit

[Lurkin]

I'm in Melbourne.

We've been here for a year now, and managed to avoid buying a car.. for the time being.

Instead we've used public transport and cycling to get about. tricky, takes more organisation, but ultimately much much cheaper.

What isn't mentioned in this thread, is that hire cars are actually pretty cheap here.

Rego here in Victoria is much more expensive than NZ, being basically double that than in NZ. Insurance quotes weren't cheap either.

Your correct about the import rules, driving the price of cars here.

Its worth asking if people have kept a service history as already discussed, there's no requirement for check ups (like wofs) to maintain a vehicle, until it needs to be sold.

I inspected a couple of cars on arrival.. and was very very unimpressed at the ratio of car/money. Its common for cars to be purchased, maintained like garbage and onsold of under 100kms.

Hence the long term plan of bringing parts from NZ to Aus to bulid a ke70 slowly...

[FST4RD]

Still got that manual v8 bmw here?
I'll take it off your hands if you like
Be a good transplant for the Starion.

[Alex B]

Buy a Holden Apollo or a Holden Nova.....laughed seeing these driving around

At least stick with Toyota and get a Lexcen

[spoonza6]

Buy a Holden Apollo or a Holden Nova.....laughed seeing these driving around

At least stick with Toyota and get a Lexcen

Yep seen few of those around too, wonder what you quote when you get parts for them?

[Sick Puppy]

Still got that manual v8 bmw here?
I'll take it off your hands if you like
Be a good transplant for the Starion.

Nah, goneburger - sold it before I left as shipping it to Oamaru was gonna be too much hassle & $$$. That, and leaving it in a field to rot made me wanna

(it was only a 3.5 inline six BTW )

Sold the Caldina too... and in the UK got an Avensis, basically a liftback Caldina (still for sale if anyone here happens to be in the UK ) - damn good car too! But I digress...

But yeah, the whole car to money ratio here ain't flash! lol And the number of 4 door AE92 corolla GTI's I've seen advertised...

We need a set of wheels for now having two kids and all, so getting them around is key. Using public transport for now, but when we are both working, it will be a PITA. Wife is working now, so looking at salary sacrifice for new(ish) car, also second car for me to consider once I cease being a jobless bum that no one wants... yet.

Alrighty, will get anything I look at checked, cross fingers and look for unicorns horn too from the sounds of it! lol Thanks, keep it coming!

[TRD Man]

– there’s just eBay and gumtree... I may bitch and whine about it, but darn I miss Trademe!

www.tradingpost.com.au

[TTEETT]

From the looks of things on Ausi forums I think the scene is vastly different.

Looks like most buy decent modern cars cars, new or near new and leave them relatively stock.

The trackday's and drive days look like they are quite expensive compared to here.

The cops look like they are a lot harsher than the cops we have here.

IMHO you should just buy a fully sik VL Calais Turbo, fit a BOV and boost around town.



Depends on what you are into but I am on a forum called ozrenaultsport and they have some awesome club runs and drive days, looks like a great group of people, I'm sure there will be similar clubs for whatever Asian cars float your boat.

[Sick Puppy]

Thanks guys - always good to get views of others, especially when it's something I know nothing about!

No particular cars in mind yet, just not European. Reliability is what we want, and ability to salary sacrifice makes price too good...

Wife likely to get new(ish) Aurion or Corolla, I'm probably going to get an older (and much cheaper!) Corolla - while I've love to get a Silvia, Skyline, E30 Beemer etc, rear leg room and reasonable pricing is needed lol A ED or EXIV, heck even an old Bluebird would have been acceptable, but nup, not in Aussie! lol

I've idly been looking at the AE92 hatchbacks and lol-ing at the 4 door GTis, and the rusted heaps wanting silly dollars... Screw it, I need a job first - wife sorted, now for me!

[TTEETT]

E30's seem to be quite expensive if you want a decent model, seems we got a better line up of BMW's than Australia.

Have noticed that they have great finance/Finance Lease deals on cars, I know some dealers are offering 0% finance on some models..

[Lanius]

To be honest, best bang for buck over here is to just buy a Holden or Ford. Parts are everywhere, prices are decent. You'll get a decent (albeit high km's; normally 180k and upwards) Holden SS for anywhere between $7k and $18k depending on the year you go for.

Have a look on Carsales.com.au and you'll see what I mean.