TO BUY, OR NOT TO BUY

ON BEING A NEW CAR BUYER IN 2024

An instructive week! Spooked by what turned out to be an ignition switch failure on our C200 Merc last Friday, (possible $5,000.00 job at a dealership), we decided to look at changing cars. The car’s only done 95,000kms but seemingly every year, there’s an expensive parts failure, to the point where our confidence in the car (and Mercedes) is severely dented.

Looking for a new car was an interesting proposition, as we didn't really want a different car and neither of us were in love with a particular car - well we are, but $500,000+ is a touch out of our range! I should add we don’t want or need a 4WD, or massive SUV.

Over the last six days, there have been hours of researching and looking, with several things becoming apparent: With very few exceptions (Toyota / Lexus), nothing is made to last more than 160,000kms these days. Oh yes they might still be on the road, but the electronic stuff will cost so much to repair - everything from mirror engines to computer modules, every repair will be more than the vehicle's worth at that point.

Now to be fair, I come from an age group that worked on trading out at 160,000kms, but we expected the vehicle to be good for another 100,000kms at least. EVs are unjustifiable financially, costing $20,000+ more than their ICB counterparts. Unless you feel you should outlay the extra to be seen as a saint, plus currently EV owners in WA pay no road taxes, they're supported (on welfare!) by those of us driving ICBs.

Hybrids are a really good way of dropping fuel consumption, but if you're driving a car with excellent fuel consumption (we are), then any benefit is not really worth the extra purchase cost and again, there's a substantial penalty of at least $10,000 to buy the hybrid version of most cars. There is discussion around, that Hybrid batteries will need replacing at 100,000kms (most warrant the battery to that point), but as a case in point, legend has it that Toyota / Lexus have yet to replace an old battery, so it’s probably a fair bet that most hybrid batteries will last the life of the car.

So many vehicles are just bloody ugly! Elegance and good exterior design seem to have gone out the window. Lexus is a startling case in point - the gold standard in reliability, they are fugly! Front ends and grills that look like open-mouthed whales searching for krill. Audi and BMW have gone for the same 'back end of a bus' look. Then there are the interiors - drab black is the go, theoretically lifted by lots of ambient multi coloured lights and huge computer screens, which leads to discussing minor controls - manufacturers are doing away with knobs and slide controls. It's insanely dangerous? - the driver has to look away from the road at the screen and scroll through things - look at a bloody Tesla! How the hell authorities let them on the road I have no idea! Yet touch your mobile phone while you’re driving and there go a multitude of points off your licence.? It’s hard to take the authorities seriously on this!

Then there's the spare wheel - if you're lucky! A lot of new vehicles don't even have a Space Saver, they have a pressure can for tyre inflation. Won't that be useful if a tyre shreds! And they do. This ain't the country for 80km/h, 100km range Space Savers, let alone a 30km trip across Perth at midnight with a can of puncture repair - you'll be getting a tow.

One good thing, warranties are excellent these days, with Five Years/ Unlimited Kilometres becoming the norm, Toyota has been dragged into it, although they perhaps needed to offer it the least. The European manufacturers (who most needed to lift their game) are being reluctantly dragged, kicking and screaming into the new order of things. The Chinese are busy doing what they do best - copying with cheap versions of vehicles and buying the market with increasingly long warranties.

Now we briefly looked at the Chinese offerings? - the deals are everywhere and very tempting. On a superficial level, you can see why MG is becoming a huge success, but you are not buying sophisticated taste, or anything well - built. I currently regularly drive a brand new SITRAK prime mover and wouldn’t go near a Chinese car at this point, (based on my experience with the truck). But if none of that matters, buy a Chinese vehicle and trade it in at the end of its warranty period for another one - it'll be stuffed by then anyhow. But be very aware, many of them don't have any sort of reputable safety rating, indeed some can't be insured, to the point where you have to buy the Chinese manufacturer's insurance to get the car on the road! Thanks, but no thanks. Mind you, having said, all that, give the Chinese another five years and I think they'll be offering reliable, very well built (Hyundai standard) vehicles and they'll have completely sewn up the EV market.

Hyundai and Toyota? Absolutely, I confess I've looked very closely at Hybrid Camrys - they are bloody brilliant, BUT and for me it's insurmountable - every second car on the road is a white Uber car (apologies, I didn't mean that as a bad joke), they're like penises - half the population's got one! I did look at a red one and blue one, they're the perfect car really, with better cabin materials than Hyundais, but I just couldn't end my motoring years in something so bland. (probably the last car I'll buy).

The Europeans? You have to be sensible - from 100,000ks, they are all going to be trouble and parts are atrociously expensive and often with a six to eight week supply lag from Europe! Plus dealership charges are horrendous, you need to find a specialist out of the warranty period, as we have with the Merc. Mind you, parts from Asian manufacturers are just as bad in terms of pricing, so long term warranties are an essential part of any shopping exercise.

We did find a car we both really loved - a CUPRA Leon Tribe (not an EV or hybrid). It's effectively a luxury Golf GTi, only got a Space Saver, but the car is so lovely in so many respects, I decided to ignore that fact, plus the deal was brilliant, we decided we'd go with it. But this morning, it all came to a thundering stop. I'd told the sales guy it needed a towbar (we have ebikes and once or twice a year, hook up a trailer for garden stuff and we do trips to the tip. He said the factory hadn't mentioned them. I emailed Cupra Australia three days ago, as I write this, still no response! Now that doesn't auger well for any future issues! Their website is all friendly / get in touch, but it ain’t necessarily so if the question’s not to their liking.

Ann looked it up on the internet, yes, they have tow bars in Europe. I emailed Parkside Towbars this morning. No, they seemed to think it couldn't be done. More frantic internet searching. They're right, it can't. Like most EVs and more than a few Hybrids, you can't have a towbar! Which is an interesting omission for a vehicle aimed squarely at the younger hip market, who all ride bikes. No wonder they don't tell anyone.

Luckily, under the new factory-based buying system, I hadn't signed an Offer to Purchase. It's a weird buying system these days. No more negotiations, everything is set by the factory, so you can't even get the dealer to throw a set of floor mats in and you don't sign an OTP, first you make a $1,000.00 deposit, then you go home and they email you the paperwork for you to sign electronically. However, you can't alter the OTP, or add a condition, it's very cunning, effectively restricting the buyer in terms of negotiations, it actually made me angry, just too clever by half.

I know I'm old fashioned, but I like to negotiate to the point of a fair deal for both parties. This system is totally weighted to the dealer and the factory, very clever, but the consumer is an irrelevant pawn in the game. No thanks.

I emailed the sales guy, who is a nice young bloke and asked him to make the OTP changes I wanted, however during that same period (early this morning), I discovered the truth about the towbar and we decided there was no sense in paying $49,000 for a new car that wasn't fit for our lifestyle. What to do? Eric (AutoEurope), who I ‘d trust with my life, has pleaded with me not to sell the Merc- "It's a beautiful car Greg, unfortunately you've been hit with the three major issues that model has. But the big one was fixed under warranty and other two are now fixed. I can assure you it will go forever, you'll need to do the timing chain at around 150,000kms or so, but that's two years away at least. Think about it."

A banking chap yesterday made an interesting suggestion, asking me if I'd thought of buying an aftermarket warranty. I laughed and said, "Mate, I was in the car industry, I know they are absolute bullshit rip-offs!" He laughed and replied that that was correct, but consumer affairs actions had considerably cleaned the industry and there were a couple of genuine warranties available, albeit not cheap. He's right, we can buy a three year warranty for around $1,500.00? that pays out up to $5,000.00 per claim (not on consumables of course). Then it costs about $250.00 per year for top of the wazza RAC membership, with towing included. So we've decided to keep the Merc and get the warranty and RAC membership and re-evaluate in two years time.

Greg Ross

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