Hi, I'm a teenager on my Ls right now but I'm looking for a fairly cheap but good hybrid car to drive around. I'm considering the 2015 Honda Jazz as it's cheap and very well reviewed. But I'm open to any suggestions.
My criteria is:
- Under 20k
- Has to be electric or hybrid at least (unfortunately cannot afford a Tesla)
- Fairly new model with good technology (so after 2010s at least) with good interior.
- High safety rating
PS: I know nothing about cars
Thanks in advance!
Auto kills the Cruze deals. Just priced it on the website.
You reckon the glx is worth the extra $5k? That's a pretty big jump!
I reckon we may get the base model for my wife. It's a pretty solid looking car.
Just too bad about the 6 month servicing and 3 year warranty.
@niner:
My mum had a Cerato as a work car a couple of years ago. Said it was the best car the Dept of Education had ever given her. Others included Camry, Tiida, etc. She nearly bought one for herself.
You should also put in a disclaimer about the warranty..
i believe its 3 years manufacturers warranty and a bonus 2 years ONLY if you service at the dealer or at Suzuki?
It is, but I cbf explaining that each and every time, hence why '5yrs CPS and 5yrs warranty' always get mentioned together :)
still a good deal … With CPS the warranty is a given :P
I was anti (kind of) Suzuki for years.. until i drove a Vitara S… proud owner now
Yeah it's one of those cars that on paper is hard to tell people how good it is, but once you drive it :)
Don't you work for Suzuki? You always recommend them.
Yes I do, I've always disclosed that, but my recommendation comes out of a car that I know is bulletproof, with strong resale and little maintenance costs.
I didn't see the employee tag or that in the first post but thanks for clarifying. I also like the swift, I think it's a really good car for the value. Aside from the suzuki's you recommend, what else would you suggest as an alternative to a Prius.
Dude… disclose that in your post then
Sorry but I can't recommend a hybrid car… It's worse than the premium that people pay for diesel. For hybrid you're paying over $5k compared to the equivalent petrol model, and you'll never recoup that cost.
If you really like Prius, buy a Corolla ffs
BTW keep voting on my comments, I don't care, I just find it hilarious :) use your words, not your votes…
I like some diesel cars but I have concerns over the DPF. Because I don't drive much highway apparently this can cause the filter to clog? I quite like the Prius I test drove because it was comfortable, easy to drive and very quiet. Along with the running costs I will be considering upgrading to this model unless I can find something similar in another car.
BTW, you seem paranoid.
Yeah just because I'm anti-hybrid doesn't make me pro-diesel. Diesel is for 4WDs, country driving etc, not inner-city. As you said, DPFs can really screw with the car, to the point of bye bye engine.
Stick to economical petrol. Few years back when people were worried about fuel hitting $2/L, fair enough look at alternatives, but now it can often be seen under $1/L, it's not as major a blow to the wallet that it's worth looking at diesel etc
hybrids are a scam. there is nothing to be saved by driving one. just get a small engine petrol or diesel.
They are not a scam, just look at the hybrid camry and prius taxi fleets. Very reliable and economical. The trick is to know when it will be economical for YOUR use.
They are not a scam, just look at the hybrid camry and prius taxi fleets. Very reliable and economical. The trick is to know when it will be economical for YOUR use.
op will most likely drive less than 15k p/a. compare to a taxi in syd that does 165k p/a. op will see zero benefit from driving a hybrid. the tco for a hybrid will in fact be more than a small petrol or diesel.
http://www.atia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014-State-Territo…
the only benefit from driving a hybrid is the bragging rights.
Average Aussie user drives 14k km. Like I Said OP didnt give specifics. Most likely it wont be benificial to OP compared to a small hatch but it does not change the fact that hybrids are useful for mid to high km user.
I would choose hybrid over diesel for low KM user. Diesel DPF clogs, has higher servicing cost. Turbo has a MUCH shorter life span than the engine.
And also Taxi's get subsidies for Hybrid cars so initial buying cost is lot lower for them than a Private buyer
I believe in Southpark terms it is called 'smug'.
Less fuel consumption and carbon emissions? I know the less carbon emissions reason sounds stupid as I likely won't make a difference but I'm just trying to reduce my carbon footprint. But you are probably right on hybrids not being as fuel efficient as they say. Now I'm reconsidering. Thanks for your help!
I'm just trying to reduce my carbon footprint.
Are you aware of how much carbon is required to make, transport, and dispose of the batteries…? ;)
:(((
Kind of moot given that OP is looking at a secondhand vehicle.
Do you??
hybrids are a scam
settle down Tony Abbott
Ew.. don't use a short url here.
First thing first,
as to OP's question,
I'd say you will find many options in second hand market (2010 to 2012 Prius and 2012 to 2014 Prius C cars), your budget is plenty enough for a prius with less than 100,000 km on the clock.
I saw many comments that are accurate about Hybrids, and many comments that are simply not accurate too.. I don't think it's fair to comment about Hybrid cars without ever driving them or without owning one. (just test driving should not count)
I have driven hybrid cars (all being Toyota Prius and Prius C cars) for 4 years (currently having two of them, one for Uber, one for family) and personally I find it hard to switch back to a normal car. (note that, I drive a lot too)
Pros of Hybrid cars,
1) Smooth and quite drive (Non-jerky automatic transmission, after getting used to Prius I feel even CVT systems as non-smooth)
2) Equipped with many fancy features (if you get i-tech version, you will get leather seats, sun roof, lane assist, auto park, radar cruise control, heated seats, 8 speakers with sub, all electrical controls, auto headlights, wipers etc. pretty impressive package really, even the base car comes with loads of stuff compared to an average car)
3) Surprisingly good pick up (don't get me wrong, it's no racing car, but I doubt many regular cars can beat 0-60 km/h pick up speed of a Prius, unless you're keeping your manual gear at 2, making your engine roar like crazy while Prius is cruising with minimum sound. I have taken many V6, V8 guys by surprise at pick up speeds, at high speeds over 100 km/h it'll be a different story altogether lol.)
4) Minimum engine wear (you can only see Prius cars with 900,000 km on the odometer while having the original engine)
5) 8 year 160,000 km warranty from Toyota for hybrid battery (many people don't know this but fear about battery failure)
6) Toyota reliability
7) Minimum service costs (very similar to a corolla, I do this myself, costs me only 80$ with full synthetic oil and premium filters)
Cons
1) Price
2) Bad resale value (but good for you as a buyer)
3) Battery failures will likely to occur after 200,000 km (but I've seen Hybrids with 400,000 km with original battery)
4) Bad at corners due to automatic traction control (you can't switch that off, well, Prius is not for racing anyway lol)
Many people buy Prius for fuel economy; but that's not going to save you a lot of money unless you drive a taxi or something like that.. So I don't even mention that as a pros (there are so many other cars out there, that are just as economical as hybrid cars..)
Thanks so much! Your advice was very informative :)
My pleasure mate..
I drive for Uber during weekends and I've had many customers saying 'holly s**t, is this a Prius? I never thought Prius cars to be this fancy'. Most of them are fascinated about the cockpit style driving seat (you'll realize what I'm saying if you test drive this car) and some of them are just impressed with how comfortable the ride is (and how zippy it would be when pressed the pedal). If this car costs lot to repair and servicing, Taxi drivers wouldn't be buying them.. They are not stupid.
I can agree the tech pack makes it a nice car and that they do run smooth
Many cabbies in Sydney use the prius and most are over 400k
I get chatting and they tell me they've had it since new , some of the dash lights are on but it doesn't seem to affect its operation when it's running 24x7
A lot of Hybrid hate in here. I don't own one, but I'd like to say that if you buy a Hybrid second hand you are probably assisting the life of a car that was cost a lot in emissions to make not end up in the scrap heap and giving it some more usable life to try and make back the emissions it made in production. I think that has to be a good thing right? (at the right price, after all this is OZB.)
Very very very strange criteria of cars over the long weekend.. we had dreamers, and now we have L platers who want a nice hybrid for 20k.
Best to go for a small economical car, it's not hate, it's just with 20k you won't be getting anything decent. Go for a corolla, vw golf, i30 etc.
… or even the petrol Honda Jazz. Supposed to be a very good car
2 Prius owner
Hybrid use less brake if you are gentle when braking. Energy transformed to electricity.
If you drive more in city or in traffic, it save a lot.
The air con is always on when during stop, not like European stop start engine, they kill ac.
You can't just compare fuel economy between Prius and swift. The back and cargo space are not the same. Prius are much larger and comfortable.
Prius max fuel usage is 5.5l/100km and that's 800km+ average. and I am very hard on my throttle. If I want mini fuel
I could get average 4.0l/km on a total 800km+. This is not a short trip and 4-5.5 is easily achieved.
Normal engine could get 5.x, but only on some occasion.
Service is easy just oil and filter, normally less than $100.
Find a trust technician. Toyota is reliable.
Don't worry resale value, you are buying second hand.
You don't need premium fuel.
Engine is very reliable, it turn off often. So 200k mileage is about 100k running time.
People referring top gear data, It is simply a joke.
"The air con is always on when during stop"
Not the earlier model Prius. The air cut out.
OP is looking for a car newer than 2010. You're talking about a car that first came out 18 years ago. Lol
Budget for battery replacement, most of the 2nd hand market is because of this reason, you'll end up wearing the cost if the battery unit is just about stuffed
8 year 160,000 km warranty from Toyota for any Prius after 2009. Why worry?
That's 2017…
It's October 2016
OP is probably someone in to tech stuff. I seriously recommend you to have a look at an i-tech model of Prius.
Out of curiosity, is there anyone who can find a car 2010 or newer with below features under 20k..?
Leather seats with heated seats, sun roof with solar panels (car stays cool even under direct sun without using fuel), proximity sensor (you never take your key out from your pocket/bag), auto park, lane assist (see utube videos), sat nav, reverse cam, premium audio, all electric and automatic, radar cruise control, 9 air bags (obviously 5 star ANCAP), head up Display plus more..
Fuel economy is not the first reason to buy Prius..
Hi, my recommendation would be a Honda Insight.
I had the 2011 model and it was a great car!
You should be able to find a low km model at around 10k.
Hybrid LOLOLOLOL That toxic battery isn't very environmentally friendly.
Just buy a cheaper small petrol car, they money you save will more than offset any extra petrol.
So you thought about dump mobile phones. It requires a battery to operate . Old model is nimh battery. Latest is lithium.
Basically it's a bunch of AA cells. You also thought about not using AA battery? What about smoke detector using 9v battery.
And that battery last more than 8 years. Suddenly battery in car are the source of pollution while people using them everyday.
If you really worry about battery should focus on pure electric cars. High current charging and discharging damage battery.
Tesla and those electric require battery change much more often.
Wait..
teenager
How are you going to afford a $20,000 car? This is OzBargain.
Can get a new VW Polo for $16k wife has one is good on fuel and capped price service. 4.8 per 100 on cycle (claimed)
(claimed)
But what's she actually getting…?
We did a short test drive of a Fabia 81TSI a couple of months ago and it was sitting under 6L/100km doing some backstreet stop start driving as well as giving it a bootful uphills to test out the torque and DSG. I reset the trip computer before the testdrive as I was keen to see how economical it was with the testdrive. I imagine driving it more carefully would drop that significantly.
I'm just more after a proper real-world result after more than 1000km because of this statement:
wife has one
So not sure why we got a claimed fuel figure, when it's easy enough to know what it's actually getting.
I missed the wife has one bit. Regardless, my example is a real world example of a short suburban trip people might do to the shops, train station etc. Which is why I reset the computer to test it, as the wife does a lot of short trips, which in her old Jazz leaves it sitting more around 8.5-9L/100km.
A friend's wife has a Swift and is quite happy with it, my wife hates the tiny boot in them though.
will have to look she only does city driving so won't be great. I have a 320d BMW which has claimed 6.1 and I get 6.9 on a fair bit of city some highway.. She had a Mitsubishi Mirage which claims 4.5 and she got 6.9 but again was city driving..
Depends on your mix of Highway / City driving..
Kia cerato or Hyundai i30.
Swifts afe solid little cars but personally i find the build quality of the interior to be a bit more questionable.
Forget the audi, cooper etc they are shitboxes at this price range.
I'm laughing at this guy arguing about how great the golf trendlines are and completely ignoring the lack of warranty, service costs and gearbox problems. That's before even discussing the dodgy fuel claims by VW that got them in hot water.
I used to own a golf GTI. Great car but very expensive to maintain and not what OP is looking for.
Honda civic, corolla, i30, cerato or swift are all excellent cars. Drive them and pick the one you like the most.
Check out the 1.6 litre Kia Rio too. I believe it's the same engine as an i30.
check out lexus ct200h i quite enjoy mine
These look like good value. I'm assuming it's a camry hybrid chassis and engine?
Lexus = luxury export to the US (toyota).
Suspension in lexus' are always nice.
How are the service costs?
I'm not quite sure about the chassis and engine
but for first service, It came for free (if u buy it brand new) but the guy at the dealership said like $400-$500 but the guy who dropped off the car after the service said $900-$1000 and servicing is once a year
2007 Prius driver here. I bought my 07 Prius in 2010, at auction for ~9k. I'll explain my reasons for getting this car, and my experiences so far;
I bought this car for a pretty cheap price - Prius' and other hybrids do not hold resell value due to people thinking batteries are an issue. The fact is that batteries are generally covered under a 7-10 year warranty. And even if your battery starts to fail, the cost of getting another good battery from the yard, and installed by a specialist is 2k. The cost of doing this at dealer is around 3-4k. But remember, the cost of the car at 4years old, was almost 30% of what the retail price was. Furthermore, most 2nd hand Prius/hyrbids have either: a) done low miles, b) done by high miles but were well maintained fleet vehicles. My car was bought with 110,000 on the clock. (7k @ auction, + buyers premium + rego).
In terms of experiences with my hybrid-
Just drive it like any other car. Some might judge you for having a hybrid, but meh, I got a good deal on a good 2nd hand car.
Hybrids require less maintenance in that their engines don't run too often. These last 2 years of ownership, I've only really needed to change my engine oil. (Change Transaxel fluid ever 3-4 years, Tyres when required, and brake pads when required). So far since owning the car my expenses have been:
a) I've only had brakepads changed once in 5 years.
b) A full set of ecopia tyres in year 3. I'll probably buy a new pair every 3 years and rotate.
c) Oil change every year ($50 at a local garage - don't go to dealers, they will charge you $120+)
d) Transaxel fluid change (think of ti as gearbox fluid change) $200 , will do it once every 3 years.
e) Spark plug change - Iridium spark plugs, only changed once in year 3 as preventative maintenance. Sparks are still fine.
f) Normal Aux Battery- (bike battery) $120 at Year 4 - you'd normally expect to change this every 4 years anyway
g) NO change required for hybrid (the big) battery - battery health is still fine. It might not be what it was when it was factory new, but I haven't noticed any degredation since I bought the car 6 years ago. I'll budget for a replacement probably in year 8 , if I chose to drive this car to the ground.
In the end, a hybrid is just a souped up Toyota Echo, or Honda. It has the same engine as their smaller hatch counterparts, but has extra comforts for a little higher price.
Would I recommend a NEW hybrid - No - not unless you specifically want the premium. if you're buying a new car for your first car, I'd go with the tried and tested. If you're open to buying second hand - I'd absolutely go hyrbid - you save a tonne of $ due to people believing it needs a high amount of maintenance. Just bear in mind it takes a little used to driving.
Next car I'd buy: Given that I'm 29, I'm thinking of putting some $ down for the Model 3 Tesla. Else I'd probably be looking at a newer CT200H. I'd happily hand this car to my parents to replace their aging cars.
In terms of how easy it is to pickup to drive -
You can simply drive it like a Toyota Echo, but then you'd get roughly the same (or lower since it is a larger car) milage. But in the end it is just a normal car. The hybrid aspect is completely self managed - you don't need to do anything different if you don't want to.
If you do chose to adapt to driving for economy, you'll usually end up driving far more conservatively (except on long highways, when you'd try to slipstream a Woolies truck), you'll learn to anticipate traffic so you can ease off the accelerator earlier, and learn to brake in a more smoother fashion.
Great feed back. I need to start saving and considering a replacement for my own vehicle in the next few years. Have looked at the Prius' among others. Will keep your feed back in the memory bank for future use.
How and where is this auction. Damn it paid more than twice amount,17k for 75000km Prius 08.
12v battery in my car last about 7 years. I had several total flat battery occasion.
Spark plug is premium one, I was told it usually last about 100k.
I'm still using the original brake already 8 years.
I got mine at Pickles - it went 3 rounds before they relunctantly sold it to me at that price.
thanks for the feedback. so far i m loving my prius v. it's doing incredible 4.2L/100km : D
Good grief, don't take this the wrong way…. but you're a teenager & want a hybrid car and something under $20k?????
I brought my first car when I was almost 22. I paid $1k and was grateful for the absolute luxury of having 4 wheels to get around in. The OP's opening comments kind of explains how our young ones can't make it onto the housing ladder in the 21st century! Alas though, I have digressed.
My advice is to stick with something basic whilst you are a new driver. Let me tell you, it's going to get scratched, dented, and swiped during your first few years of driving. Toyota, Honda and even Suzuki are reliable brands. Even early model cars such as 2001 models are likely to offer ABS and twin airbags. I'd be looking at the safety features of what you intend buying rather than the latest craze of a hybrid and whatever else is in fashion.
Try and remember what you are buying is not an asset. It's a liability and will depreciate year after year.
Prius c ?
All of this depends on usage. Each car has its pros and cons.
Hybrid - if you are starting / stopping in the city a lot and do lots of driving generally (like a Taxi driver or dial a home doctor) sure then consider the economics of buying a hybrid. As people have mentioned it has higher purchase costs you also need to recover and possibility of higher costs if batteries need replacing etc (but timing is debatable).
Diesel - also has higher purchase and servicing costs, not so good for short runs / low KM usage. Good if you do a lot of highway KM, want a large vehicle, and keep it a long time (longer engine life, no batteries to replace) - better in a diesel in the long run.
Petrol - Mix of driving conditions, don't drive a lot of highway nor lots generally (like a taxi), then just buy a cheap / economical (4 cyl) / simple petrol used or near new car. This is best for most people all things considered. IMO the 'near new' part is the key provided the model is right - still reliable, but lost its 'drive out the door' depreciation that a new car has, that's the main cost of car ownership unless you drive heaps.
As much as I'd love a Hybrid Camry, for the money I'll keep my 10+ year old (non-hybrid) Camry that never misses a beat, is well maintained to keep it off the scrap heap, costs only slightly more in fuel to run than the best of them (negligible for the low KMs I do), and cost about $5K - so effectively barely even registers in my household budget.
Honestly there is that much mis-information flying around about the environment just throw those arguments out the window and replace it with being sensible about a normal car choice (i.e. don't buy a large 4x4 or a supercharged V8+ and you're fine).
If you want to be green, you should either use a push bike or buy an old car and save it from the scrap heap because 'embodied energy' from the production process and importation of a car is the real killer. (As a side gripe, when the UK decided to buy back 'gas guzzlers' and crush them I still believe it was a wasteful environmental disaster - it is not green to throw away a car and build a new one made with energy and from mined minerals and manufactured plastics).
On the other hand, there is also value in buying a Telsa or other Hybrid if you fancy being a pretentious "eco-snob" and flaunting it in other people's faces!
Up to 20k to spend as a first car? Generous parents.
@blergmonkeys:
Great value for money, 1.0T is a really good engine
Cruze on run out right now @ $18,990 (demo's for less) is proving a really good value for money proposition too!