5 month trip - what car?
Discussion
Hi all,
My wife and I will be arriving into Christchurch mid-December. The plan is to buy a car upon arrival and then tour the South Island. In March we will jump across to the North Island and finish up in Auckland in May where we will sell the car. We will do a combination of housesitting, Airbnb, camping and hotels, whilst exploring your beautiful country.
I would appreciate your thoughts on our current choice of car given our budget of NZD10,000. We are currently thinking about a freshly imported 2006 3.0R auto Subaru Outback. This should give us a bit more comfort on the gravel roads whilst not over compromising the on road handling. Other cars I have considered include a Discovery, Integra, Golf GTi, and a Morris 8. The last one did not go down too well at all with my wife! I also need to consider how easy it will be to sell the car in Auckland however I would think it is like all markets in that if the price is right then it will be reasonably quick.
So, Outback or something else?
My wife and I will be arriving into Christchurch mid-December. The plan is to buy a car upon arrival and then tour the South Island. In March we will jump across to the North Island and finish up in Auckland in May where we will sell the car. We will do a combination of housesitting, Airbnb, camping and hotels, whilst exploring your beautiful country.
I would appreciate your thoughts on our current choice of car given our budget of NZD10,000. We are currently thinking about a freshly imported 2006 3.0R auto Subaru Outback. This should give us a bit more comfort on the gravel roads whilst not over compromising the on road handling. Other cars I have considered include a Discovery, Integra, Golf GTi, and a Morris 8. The last one did not go down too well at all with my wife! I also need to consider how easy it will be to sell the car in Auckland however I would think it is like all markets in that if the price is right then it will be reasonably quick.
So, Outback or something else?
Thanks Ben, I'm a little tempted by a cheaper E39 530i but do you think this will restrict our travel at all? I guess metal roads will be a bit more uncomfortable and so maybe a little slower, but will there be many places we might want to explore that you could in an Outback but not in the BMW?
There are very, very few roads that you may wish to explore that the BMW wouldn't handle. Either of your suggestions would be fine in my opinion. Outback would have an advantage if you were going to drive across paddocks or on a beach though. Bear in mind that rear wheel drive can be huge fun on gravel roads.
That's really great info thank you. We do love touring in convertibles (Caterham: UK to Greece, and BMW: UK to Georgia) so I was a little disappointed that there were not many to choose from in NZ. I briefly considered a Saab convertible but the ones I saw seemed a little pricey, and I can't believe the asking prices for something similar to our 330ci.
We are now rethinking the MX5, as it had originally been discounted due to boot space and I don't think a boot bag would work for us due to security in the more remote areas. We should have a better idea in the next few days once we have packed what we are taking.
We are now rethinking the MX5, as it had originally been discounted due to boot space and I don't think a boot bag would work for us due to security in the more remote areas. We should have a better idea in the next few days once we have packed what we are taking.
Whether you need 4wd or not depends a lot on the places you want to go.
Personally I do take my Legacy places you simply can't get to with a 2wd car (and those trips are much more comfortable with the extra clearance and compliance of an Outback or Forester, I've knocked bumpers off once or twice) - but they are pretty remote and off the beaten track, you probably won't be going there unless you're hiking/climbing etc. In which case you can usually drive most of the way with a 2wd, and walk an extra few hours instead.
Main roads are all sealed, there are a lot of gravel back roads in rural areas but most of them, most of the time are fine with 2wd - just the odd exception with mountain areas and bad weather. And as others have said Rwd is a lot of fun on gravel even if not quite as capable and forgiving.
If you have any specific places in mind then as far as the bottom half of the South Island goes I can give some advice on accessability etc, and others can advise on places further north.
Personally I do take my Legacy places you simply can't get to with a 2wd car (and those trips are much more comfortable with the extra clearance and compliance of an Outback or Forester, I've knocked bumpers off once or twice) - but they are pretty remote and off the beaten track, you probably won't be going there unless you're hiking/climbing etc. In which case you can usually drive most of the way with a 2wd, and walk an extra few hours instead.
Main roads are all sealed, there are a lot of gravel back roads in rural areas but most of them, most of the time are fine with 2wd - just the odd exception with mountain areas and bad weather. And as others have said Rwd is a lot of fun on gravel even if not quite as capable and forgiving.
If you have any specific places in mind then as far as the bottom half of the South Island goes I can give some advice on accessability etc, and others can advise on places further north.
Thanks Ben, I think I will see what catches my eye when we arrive into Christchurch on the 16th. Christmas and New Year to be spent at Lake Hawea, I can't wait!
Can I ask which network to go with for a PAYG SIM? My main priority is data when outside of the large population areas which I guess is going to be pretty tough if it is anything like Scotland.
Can I ask which network to go with for a PAYG SIM? My main priority is data when outside of the large population areas which I guess is going to be pretty tough if it is anything like Scotland.
evoMerlin said:
Thanks Ben, I think I will see what catches my eye when we arrive into Christchurch on the 16th. Christmas and New Year to be spent at Lake Hawea, I can't wait!
Can I ask which network to go with for a PAYG SIM? My main priority is data when outside of the large population areas which I guess is going to be pretty tough if it is anything like Scotland.
Can't speak for the other networks but i've gone with Vodafone. $19 per month and I get 100 texts, some minuits and 500mb of data p/m.Can I ask which network to go with for a PAYG SIM? My main priority is data when outside of the large population areas which I guess is going to be pretty tough if it is anything like Scotland.
I'm quite happy with that.
You'll get wifi in the places you're staying in so you'll only really need data whilst on the road (as long as you're not camping)
Another vote for MX5, incredibly reliable cars, perfectly suited to our swoopy roads and low speed limits plus you'll be amazed what you can fit in with careful packing.
I did a 3 month trip in one carrying a 4 man tent, gas bottle, stove, clothes and stuff for two people - great adventure.
This is $7k and in Christchurch:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mazda/au...
Be sure to pop in for a cuppa on your way down south and show me the Nissan Micra you end up buying
Good luck!
I did a 3 month trip in one carrying a 4 man tent, gas bottle, stove, clothes and stuff for two people - great adventure.
This is $7k and in Christchurch:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/mazda/au...
Be sure to pop in for a cuppa on your way down south and show me the Nissan Micra you end up buying
Good luck!
Edited by cheddar on Thursday 4th December 20:55
IMO an MX5 wont have the storage you will need for a 2 week holiday let alone 5 months.
The outback is a good idea, petrol is pretty cheap at the moment, £1 a liter
A vodaphone PAG sim is good value and a decent network.
4WD mostly not needed unless you want to get off the roads or go skiing(sometimes).
The outback is a good idea, petrol is pretty cheap at the moment, £1 a liter
A vodaphone PAG sim is good value and a decent network.
4WD mostly not needed unless you want to get off the roads or go skiing(sometimes).
Hi all,
Well we have arrived into Christchurch and have bought a car. Not my first choice however the price was too good to refuse, and so we are now the proud owners of a 2008 Passat 3.2 V6 FSI 4Motion DSG (stop yawning at the back
). The MX5 idea went out the window when we maxed our luggage allowance by bringing over half the contents of an outdoor store!
After spending days on Trademe and talking with sellers I found that anything I was interested in that was reasonably priced would sell pretty quickly. So, when the price on the Passat dropped another $1300 from what was already a cheap price we snapped it up. It is reasonably quick on drop-down and should be a good companion for our tour, plus we should have no problems getting our money back in Auckland in May.
Akaroa for the weekend, then heading for Hawea early next week. Let the adventure begin!
Merlin.
Well we have arrived into Christchurch and have bought a car. Not my first choice however the price was too good to refuse, and so we are now the proud owners of a 2008 Passat 3.2 V6 FSI 4Motion DSG (stop yawning at the back
). The MX5 idea went out the window when we maxed our luggage allowance by bringing over half the contents of an outdoor store!After spending days on Trademe and talking with sellers I found that anything I was interested in that was reasonably priced would sell pretty quickly. So, when the price on the Passat dropped another $1300 from what was already a cheap price we snapped it up. It is reasonably quick on drop-down and should be a good companion for our tour, plus we should have no problems getting our money back in Auckland in May.
Akaroa for the weekend, then heading for Hawea early next week. Let the adventure begin!
Merlin.
Gassing Station | New Zealand | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff