I've owned two lasers, a gemini, accord, a feroza and just had a RAV4 (work car)
Car prices in Perth at the moment are out of this world.
Anyone own a Golf before?
Just bought a 1.4l 2000 beast for a runabout.
A sailing friend had a Golf. I'm not sure but I think it was a mid naughties model.
Anyway he said he spent over $1000 on it including new tyres. Shortly afterwards he was driving to work when he saw people driving the other way flashing their lights at him and gestering at him.
He said it took a little while to work out what was going on but when he looked in the rear view mirror he saw a huge plume of smoke coming out the back along with flames.
He tried to stop but the brakes didn't work. He then used the handbrake but it failed to work too. So he drove halfway up onto the medium strip and slowed to a stop. He then bailed out.
Suffice to say he now drives a Japanese car.
I also have a 2000 Golf for my runabout and have owned two Golf's previously over the years.
All I can say from my experience is they are great reliable cars. Only need servicing every 15,000 kms. Parts can be a tad expensive however they last longer. I just had my front brakes done on the Golf and cost me a bit but they had lasted 100,000kms I drive mine regularly from the Goldy to Brisbane (90kms) for work and never misses a beat, only complaint is that they rev a bit high when doing 110+ kmh, great for overtaking but can get noisy.
Other car is a recent XTrail that has just come out of warranty and that has cost me way more in repairs
good luck with yr purchase....as the men from the dog and lemon guide say - keep well clear of cars with indicators on the left hand side of the steering wheel!!! Their main problem is reliability - in most custy satisfaction surveys they rank in the bottom half. For some reason they are perceived as a semi-flash car over here yet in Europe they are like a toyota - just not as reliable!! And can be expensive to fix. They rank well in the safety stakes though!!!
Having said that my Mum brought one recently and I have had a drive or 5 in it when I was last visiting and it goes great. Very comfortable, hardy any road noise, lots of power and fuel efficient!!! As long as she sells it before the 3yr warranty is up I will be happy.
I find though that most newish cars these days are reliable and go the distance....we have two cars in excess of 230,000 km at home and they are travelling beautifully still.
<<spelling, say in a French accent
) and my coke had no bubbles.... now I have Pepsi 
I am not telling about the brunette!
Imo you can't buy more car/$ than Hyundai. Various family members have had a combined total of 6 of them so far, the oldest one has 440,000kms so far and running fine. My dad's Accent only has 60,000km.
