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?
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.
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.
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.
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