Hi All, I need to upgrade from my good old VK, looking for a good reliable model with comfort, good handling and reasonable economy (I drive between Adelaide and Melbourne every couple of Months), can I get some recommendations on a good model to look out for a $5000 budget? Many Thanks for any advice and Happy New Year
vs statesman? vx berlina? ive got no idea what theyre going for these days, but remember to budget for repairs and maintenance that will show its face just after you buy it
VQ Statesman V8 on Gas you might just get a VY V6 certainly a VT-VX. If not a commodore why not a manual corolla, good on fuel, throw some decent wheels & tires on it, decent shocks and it would drive pretty nice. certainly be cheaper to run. Scott
May as well buy a camry if you just want a reliable economical family car. Get a V8 Holden when you want to go fast Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
I'd look at a very late VT Calais or VX (if you can find one). Should get to Adelaide on 1 tank even as a petrol V6 + reliable and comfortable.
If you want economy, for your budget get the nicest VS you can find. VS performance and economy is miles ahead of VT-VY models, simply because they are much lighter than the VT that came after it. OTOH if you just want something economical and nice to drive, I'd go with a 4cyl manual japanese car from the 90s, perhaps a Pulsar, Lancer, Corolla. Wouldn't get a Korean car at that price point. They are coming good now but this wasn't the case 10-15 yrs ago......
I wouldn't buy a pulsar, crapolla or lancer if I wanted to over take road trains quickly at 120kph. Id look at a good condition vx of any model. Imo the later model you can get the better.
What do you want to do with the car between the long drives every couple of months? Better to buy a car that suits your every day use, than just for the trips. Pulsar/Corolla etc as said maybe a better option. Can you fly to Melbourne as an option?? I drive a Toyota Echo as one of my work cars, and while I wouldnt like to drive it from Adelaide to Melbourne, it gets 16ks to the ltr. And it doesnt go too bad.
As late model Ecotec powered commy as you can find. Throw a new set of shocks in it, keep a spare DFI and set of coils in the boot and hit cruise!
a statesman would be nice as they do love the open road (so many of them come from the country - both of mine have) and are darn comfy on long trips but the economy just isn't there even if you go for a 6. I feel if you get a statesman a V8 is best for pulling them around. I get about 650K's to a tank in my VR V6 statesman and that's got low milage for a 20 year old car, it's approaching 180k. personally I'd go for a calais for comfort or even just a well looked after exec would do the job. for 5k you could get a really nice VS Calais but finding one that's been looked after is a different story. for a long trip like that anything less than a commodore sized sedan is sacrificing comfort and getting a commodore sized car for a trip like that sacrifices some economy. I guess it's just up to you to decide what you prefer, economy or comfort. it's a pretty obvious rule of thumb when people look for a used car with good economy and that is you just won't get it in a older car unless you get a small car. my stepdad used to drive from Sydney to Perth and back every month in his VS Exec and it served the job well.
I vote for VX calais, gots to have leather, I prefer the VX over VT because of the front and rear end difference, you know it's either a calais or berlina, the VT calais/berlina is disappointing, just looks like a tarted up exec.
