For a daily driver: AE101 GLi A/T or 7G Galant A/T?

**tanatej** · October 7th, 2010 02:43 PM

Hi,

I currently own an AE101 XE M/T, and I grew up with that car since my dad bought it new back in 93 and I literally learned how to drive in that car. But age, gaining weight and previous injuries in playing football in my younger years have caught up with me and I developed problems in my left foot that causes extreme pain after a few hours driving in Makati traffic. I have no choice but to get me an A/T car to replace it.

I am considering a GLi A/T because it's easy to find parts for it and I'm accustomed to an AE101. But I'm not sure if the 4AFE is built tough like the 2E, but what really worries me most is the tranny, and how reliable it will be at this age. I'm also not sure if it pulls itself well with the aircon on.

I'm also considering the 7G Galant because of its more powerful engine, it's roomier and (IMO) more elegant, and because dad now works with a Mitsu dealer :D I've driven his A/T Adventure many times before and I like how it doesn't lose power even if the aircon is turned on full blast because of the bigger engine, and I like how the A/T allows me to rest my foot. It's really worlds apart from my XE in traffic situations. The drawbacks would be fuel consumption, but I can live with that since I have a light foot, but I'm worried that durability will be an issue for this model since I heard balljoints, suspension and the transmission are the main problems of this car, and I don't have any idea if parts are readily available for this model in surplus shops in Banawe.

So I guess the deciding factor is, which has the better tranny in terms of reliability and serviceability, the AE101 or the 7G Galant?

Thanks for your insight on this.

**niky** · October 7th, 2010 03:12 PM

Transmission? Depends mostly on the previous owner.

The rest of the car, definitely the Corolla. Ball-joints are a common disease of the Galant... but even without that, maintaining a mid-sized car will cost more simply because the parts are more expensive and the fact that a big car will wear down its brakes and suspension more quickly.

But this is a case-to-case basis... A cherry Galant will give you less trouble than an abused ex-taxi Corolla with a blown headgasket. Shop carefully.

**voltscastillo** · October 7th, 2010 03:25 PM

more space and a bigger engine won't hurt. get the Galant. the V6 models daw are especially sweet.

i would recommend cefiro, and the 1st gen camry (1st gen here at least) and the good looking accord. big as quezon city inside, OK fuel economy figures...

executive class cars are also generally built tough and designed to withstand punishment. if you've ever replaced the shocks and springs on a cefiro you'll know what i mean, hehe.

**ronw123w124** · October 7th, 2010 03:58 PM

Why not consider the AE111 Gli? Masyadong luma na yung AE101 IMHO.

**tanatej** · October 7th, 2010 05:01 PM

Budget ko po kasi is only 150K lang, kasama na yung tradein/sale value ng luma kong XE which I guess is 100K? and I guess those 2 cars are the only ones I can realistically fit in that budget na maayos naman pagkatapos ng matinding tawaran. Kung makakakuha ng GLi na AE111 sa ganyang budget why not? Basta maayos which I don't think will fall in my budget since well kept ones still fetch around the area of 200K.

Hirap bang umahon ang GLi A/T pag may aircon, assuming nasa 2 or L ang position? Kasi yung parking namin eh multilevel na matarik kaya pinapatay ko lagi yung aircon ng XE bago umahon kasi di niya kaya, kahit naka first gear.

**fabilioh** · October 7th, 2010 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by tanatej

Budget ko po kasi is only 150K lang, kasama na yung tradein/sale value ng luma kong XE which I guess is 100K? and I guess those 2 cars are the only ones I can realistically fit in that budget na maayos naman pagkatapos ng matinding tawaran. Kung makakakuha ng GLi na AE111 sa ganyang budget why not? Basta maayos which I don't think will fall in my budget since well kept ones still fetch around the area of 200K.

Hirap bang umahon ang GLi A/T pag may aircon, assuming nasa 2 or L ang position? Kasi yung parking namin eh multilevel na matarik kaya pinapatay ko lagi yung aircon ng XE bago umahon kasi di niya kaya, kahit naka first gear.

kayang kaya naman sir, I once used my aunt's 92 GLi a/t and it was not in the best condition, kinaya naman yung matarik sa cloud 9 in Sumulong, Antipolo.

**roberto_minosa** · October 7th, 2010 05:46 PM

4A-FE > 2E in any case. BTW, I vote AE111. More modern looks and interior. Getting a GLi AE101 won't be much of an upgrade.

**tanatej** · October 7th, 2010 10:10 PM

Yeah I know it's not much, limited ang budget kasi may iba pang binabayaran pero ang important kasi sakin yung auto tranny and not necessarily yung looks kasi service car naman siya. As long as its A/C is cool and the tranny and engine works perfectly and reliably I couldn't care kung anu modelo niya.

So far I'm leaning towards the AE101 GLi, I'll never run out of spare parts nito for the next 10 years pa siguro.

**jut703** · October 8th, 2010 02:02 AM

We once had a manual AE101 GLi, and I've had the opportunity of driving an automatic GLi. What I've noticed is that it's much slower to react, but that can be expected of 90's slushboxes. Power-wise, I'd say it's about 10-15% slower when accelerating compared to the manual GLi. However, our old GLi was better maintained than my friend's matic GLi so that could've been a factor.

But clearly, if you're comparing the carbureted 2E vs the 4AFE, well the 4A-FE is leagues better. And is quite economical too. 8.5 km/l city driving for our old manual GLi. The matic would probably get 7.5-8. And even with the automatic transmission, the 4A-FE would still be much more powerful compared to the 2E.

Just be careful shopping around for units this old though. But given the abundance of AE101s, it's not that hard to look for a good one.

**voltscastillo** · October 8th, 2010 08:44 AM

150K is a bit low for your criteria of excellent reliability (i.e., sasakyan na lang).

a 96-97 cefiro goes for as little as 165-170 these days na lang. these cars are worlds apart from your ae101.

big body ae101s, while plentiful, ay marami na rin na pa karag-karag. malas mo pa if you get a flood damaged unit. although mura, you won't get much comfort and amenities in this model.

if all you need are seats, a steering wheel and an automatic gearbox, you can go for a 4 or 5 door kia pride, you know. merong ganito, and they were not used as taxis (a/t eh) so they should be reasonably well kept.

mas mura pa, than say, a run to the ground corolla with a cracked dashboard na binebenta ng 160K (kasi toyota reliable DAW eh). utang loob mo pa sa seller kung patawarin ka nya ng 10K.

tapos pag inuwi mo, mag ooverheat ka... hehe.