Advice Pls.: Buying a car for a Dummy Like Me

**Saint Charm** · January 17th, 2010 12:35 AM

Hi all, newbie here… don’t know much about the terminologies, the specs etc. heck I don’t even know the types, the brand, the make, not until now that I’m doing research (and still struggling). That’s how innocent I am with cars.

‘Coz for me cars = LIABILITY.

I’ve been a big fan of “saving money”, long term investments, pera mo palaguin mo – Colayco etc. So even if I have the means to buy a car, I rather invest my money on mutual funds etc. But at this point in my life it seems that buying a new car is more of a necessity than a mere want (still single and not getting any younger

). Below are my primary motives in buying a car.

Improve my lifestyle to get more options and opportunity of meeting new people (esp. women ) and experience more out of life (e.g. travel, adventures, social gatherings that I usually don’t go to because of the hassles of commuting etc.).
Going to work (pasig to makati), it’s not the traffic that I hate, it’s the waiting for a taxi, FX, bus during rush hours… I literally hate it! :furious: Grrrr….

With the above, my choice of car should be

A chick magnet. Dapat masculine ang dating and stylish.
Fuel efficient (They say mas matipid ang 1.5 kesa sa 1.3?)
High resale value after 5 years. (They say Honda cars are better than Toyota when it comes to resale?).
Should be worth its price (700k – 800k)
Automatic

Can you please recommend a model, brand, color, etc. And what other things should I be looking for (given my above needs). I’m currently really considering a Honda City… may 2010 na ba? Ano pinagkaiba niya sa 2009 model. Here’s a quotation I got from Honda Makati this January… weird 2009 ang binigay, parang may 2010 na bagong labas.

MODEL SRP
Honda City
2009 1.3A M/T (with abs) 686,000
2009 1.3 S MT (with airbags, abs) 726,000
2009 1.3S AT (with airbags, abs ) 766,000
2009 1.5E AT (with airbags, abs) 816,000
Comparing 1.5E and 1.3S, is the 50K price difference worth it? Konti nalang 1.6 Altis G A/T na.

Thanks in advance!

**ghosthunter** · January 17th, 2010 02:06 AM

Have you also considered the Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris?

**renzo_d10** · January 17th, 2010 09:13 AM

The reason why the City 1.3S and the City 1.5E has a large difference among it's price, because of the features that comes with the vehicle itself.

For example.

The obvious one ... the " E " has a higher displacement, thus more power.
The exclusivity of the color ... only the " E " variant gets the color Tafetta White and the Polished Metal.
The alloy rims ... the " E " gets 15". ( I think )

etc. etc. check honda's website.

One more thing. CHECK OTHER BRANDS AS WELL.

The vios 1.5G gets more power than the 1.5E YET! It's price is close to the 1.3S of the honda city. AND! It gets more amenities than what you can get at the Honda.

**Saint Charm** · January 17th, 2010 08:05 PM

I haven't really considered or looked the details of Yaris and Jazz kase wala silang puwet

. I saw in Discovery or NatGeo that these kind of cars are not safe for their back passengers because they don't have the ability to absorb the impact of a car crash coming from behind, thus all the force will be absorb upto the passengers. Aray! I don't know if car manufacturers today have dealt with this issue for the likes of Jazz and yaris.

**Saint Charm** · January 17th, 2010 08:08 PM

*renzo thanks for the info... what amenities can I get sa 1.5G Vios na wala sa Honda city? They said that it's much easier to get cool add-ins, quality parts for Honda

**niky** · January 18th, 2010 01:50 AM

Originally Posted by Saint Charm

I haven't really considered or looked the details of Yaris and Jazz kase wala silang puwet

. I saw in Discovery or NatGeo that these kind of cars are not safe for their back passengers because they don't have the ability to absorb the impact of a car crash coming from behind, thus all the force will be absorb upto the passengers. Aray! I don't know if car manufacturers today have dealt with this issue for the likes of Jazz and yaris.

Might be an issue for the Yaris, as the rear seats are nearly at the rear glass... but the space between the Jazz rear seats and the rear hatch is pretty big.

The real danger of a hatchback is for third row passengers in small seven seaters, as detailed in the infamous Fifth Gear crash test. But that test also showed how strong the crash structure is... and those third row passengers would have survived the impact if they had an extra foot or two of space between themselves and the glass.

Jazz rear passengers have that extra two feet. A fully grown adult can sit upright inside the trunk behind the rear seats with the hatch closed.

And the Jazz meets all your criteria. Relatively fuel efficient (as much as any small car with an automatic can be), high (very high compared to the Vios and City) resale value, chick magnet.

And the seats are more comfortable than the City's and more supportive (not as squishy) than the Vios's.

And it'll be easy to care for. Oil changes every 10,000 kilometers. Which means you go to the dealership half as often as you would in other cars. Requires synthetic, which adds to the cost... but since you're paying for half the service (and it's the service charge of dealerships that always costs twice as much as it needs to...), it all evens out... and when you consider the savings in time spent bringing the car there and waiting for service to be completed... you'll ask yourself why not all car companies give you this much luxury. (As we put over 4000kms a month on our vehicles... our CR-V's 10,000 km service interval is something of a god-send).

**Sniper Wolf** · January 18th, 2010 02:23 AM

Honda City 2009 is the latest generation of City. What you only get in 2010 was the Tafetta White variant exclusive for 1.5 E.

Just last year, I have to choose between Vios and City 2009. In the end, I chose City. Mas nagustuhan ni misis yung porma. Lalu na yung black.

But my personal choices would be Toyota Altis or Hyundai Tucson.

**number001** · January 18th, 2010 07:58 AM

Yes, its not a chick magnet, but if you were to add the cost of a new I-Phone 3GS to the price of the City or Jazz, you'd be able to net an Altis 1.6 G A/T.

Its a bigger, more spacious and comfortable vehicle than either Jazz or City. Their prices are very close and the fact that the Altis might be more like the proverbial "bang-for-the-buck" vehicle, makes it even harder not to consider it.

**niky** · January 18th, 2010 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by number001

Yes, its not a chick magnet, but if you were to add the cost of a new I-Phone 3GS to the price of the City or Jazz, you'd be able to net an Altis 1.6 G A/T.

Its a bigger, more spacious and comfortable vehicle than either Jazz or City. Their prices are very close and the fact that the Altis might be more like the proverbial "bang-for-the-buck" vehicle, makes it even harder not to consider it.

It's wider, but the Jazz has better legroom (subjective, yeah... but it's there) and the front-footwells are more comfortably shaped than the Altis.

And the new Jazz/City interiors are incredibly wide. You actually have to see them to believe them.

**Lanchong** · January 18th, 2010 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by renzo_d10

One more thing. CHECK OTHER BRANDS AS WELL.

The vios 1.5G gets more power than the 1.5E YET! It's price is close to the 1.3S of the honda city. AND! It gets more amenities than what you can get at the Honda.

Sir hinahanap yata ng TS is:

A chick magnet. Dapat masculine ang dating and stylish.

Kaya malabo siguro ang Vios para dito. Kung commuter magnet siguro hinahanap, pwede. joke