Yeah, euro cars are mostly leased by people who own a business and because of that (and the potential reliability dramas), they rapidly fall in price... Badge snobbery is another big factor (which is why some people would opt for a base 5 series rather than a HSV) because these people want to keep up with the joneses as J_D 2.0said...
Yeah. I just helped my mum buy a new (secondhand) car. The best small cars that were in budget were the Toyota Corolla and the Mazda 3 as they have timing chains and not a timing belt.
It basically came down to getting an old 2012 Toyota Corolla or a newer 2016 Mazda 3 as the newer Corollas have a CVT. At least Mazda stayed off the CVT bandwagon longer as she ended up getting the Mazda 3 as it was newer with lower mileage on it.
By all accounts it should be pretty decent as they aren’t terribly complicated and there is plenty of room in the engine bay to work on them. They are direct injected but nearly everything is in that age bracket or newer.
Couldn’t find any reports of major problems with carbon buildup on the valves but Mazda did design a large plenum chamber for the oil vapour to settle out from the PCV system before the air goes back into the engine so hopefully that stops the valves fouling up.
An oil catch can will fix that problem... The Mazda's from around that time and the ones from today look extremely beautiful and have the best interior quality of all Japanese cars in my opinion...
