new car for mum

[NicFromLA]

Lotus Capri?

Lotus Cortina. Sorry about the confusion.

[kingofthering]

They have cars in NZ? Sorry, I was watching Flight of the Conchords.

But if your Camry is like our Camry, don't buy it unless your mother likes driving a gigantic car and the Mazda6 doors feel a bit...cheap.

[motorsportnerd]

Mazda6 is the best all-round option of the ones you mention. Japanese reliability and quality. Drives very well. They do suffer from road and tyre noise, but other than that they are an excellent all-round car.
Ford Mondeo would be ok if well serviced. Unless you get the top-range ST model, they don't have the performance of the Mazda. Nor do they hold the same resale. And parts/repairs can be expensive. But, get a well serviced example and look after it and it should go the distance.
Toyota Camry will hold value better than the others and you can guarantee it will easily do 300,000km. Parts/repairs will be easy and relatively cheap. For the non car person, its the one to go for. The drive well enough, but don't have the performance, handling or charisma of the Mazda or Mondeo.
With the Nissan Primera - they all have the CVT transmission. Make sure that transmission is working well. They look distinctive, and should last well. But they aren't in the same league as the Mazda or Ford for driving.
The Holden will hold value better than the Mondeo, but won't drive as well. Probably similar to the Ford in terms of reliability and cost of servicing/repairs.
With the Saab or Volvo - well they're in the next class up from the others really. They will have Euro charisma. And potentially they'll be less reliably and cost more to repair than the Japanese cars. And they'll be older. I've drive a S60 T5. Nice enough car - but I'm not convinced it drives better than the Mazda6.

So, I'd recommend the Mazda as the best all-round option. It has enough charisma, performance, and dynamics to keep most enthusiasts happy, yet still has excellent reliability and quality.
For the enthusiast, the Mondeo ST (although it'll be a 2003/4 model) would be my next pick - but get it checked carefully.
And consider the Volvo/Saab if you really don't want Japanese and want to avoid Ford's poor resale.

[clutch-monkey]

VJ charger, the straight six one. i saw it for 13k.

[Kitdy]

How do the Camry, 6, and Mondeo compare price-wise?

I think offhand the Camry would be a good choice - Toyota quality and reliability. Maybe not the fun choice as motorsportnerd said, but they are quality vehicles no less and it doesn't seem like your mom is going for fun exactly anyhoo.

[NSXType-R]

The 2005ish Accords are more expensive than the others mentioned, and if we were looking at earlier model ones well I think a Saab or Volvo would be a better option.

Found a 2001 BMW 728i in the price range too...another thing to consider!

Do you need something large like an Accord (American) or Accord (Euro)? If not, you could get a Civic, which is probably cheaper.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Subaru Legacy. B4.

/end discussion.

Failing that, Volvo S60.

[Spastik_Roach]

Thanks motorsportnerd. mums just looking for reliability and not a particularly exciting drive so Camry on face value is the best bet. I'd say if another car was significantly more comfortable than it then it'd gain favour (Saab and Volvo might just score points there). However Sportivo Camry's can be found in the budget and maybe they're a bit more exciting?

Kitdy, Mondeo and Camry are the probably the two cheapest out of all the cars I mentioned. Mazda 6 has held its value quite well and we'd probably be looking at the japanese imported Mazda Atenza (same car diff name) which isn't all that bad cause it comes with a DVD screen which I don't think NZ new ones had.

Civic is a bit too small NSXType-r. Theres just nothing about the Accord that would really justify getting an older one over a newer say Mazda 6.

[clutch-monkey]

Thanks motorsportnerd. mums just looking for reliability and not a particularly exciting drive so Camry on face value is the best bet. .

damn...just tell her this is a camry:

VJ charger, the straight six one. i saw it for 13k.

[Ferrer]

What are Alfa 156's like in the reliability stakes?

I was going to suggest you that, but would mum be happy with an italian car that rusts and breaks down?

[Roentgen]

I've got a Saab 9-5 SE that I want to sell. It's unfortunately a year 2000 model, but it's only done 23k kms. I called up Saab, and they said it's worth around $14-15000 NZDs. We did a valuation on it like 2 years ago, and it was at $15000. Not sure if you're interested. I'm in the Auckland area btw.

[LeonOfTheDead]

I was going to suggest you that, but would mum be happy with an italian car that rusts and breaks down?

it doesn't
neither the 164 did, in 420.000 km
the last car I can remember having so many problems I would have sink it in the river near home was the first Phedra, which is French. While the first gen Clio we had was perfect.
the Croma is working perfectly to date.
Mum's Stilo has just an issue with the an ECU saying an airbag is out of service when it's actually ok.
Even the (shame on me) Duna Weekend or the Ritmo we had a lot of years ago were working properly without problems of sort.

now that I think about it it seems that daddy is a little into national cars, even if he owned Volvos, Minis, Citroens (DS too), but since the 164 he never came back, maybe even before.

[Ferrer]

it doesn't
neither the 164 did, in 420.000 km
the last car I can remember having so many problems I would have sink it in the river near home was the first Phedra, which is French. While the first gen Clio we had was perfect.
the Croma is working perfectly to date.
Mum's Stilo has just an issue with the an ECU saying an airbag is out of service when it's actually ok.
Even the (shame on me) Duna Weekend or the Ritmo we had a lot of years ago were working properly without problems of sort.

now that I think about it it seems that daddy is a little into national cars, even if he owned Volvos, Minis, Citroens (DS too), but since the 164 he never came back, maybe even before.

I was being sarcastic and playing a pun, while asking mum's prejudices about italian cars in a subtle way.

[LeonOfTheDead]

I was being sarcastic and playing a pun, while asking mum's prejudices about italian cars in a subtle way.

I knew, still I could stop myself

[Ferrer]

I knew, still I could stop myself

And you know, as much as I do, that a 156 V6 would be epic.